Stefano Kaoze information

Stefano Kaoze (c.1886 or 1890 – 23 March 1951) was a priest who has been described as "the first Congolese intellectual". He was the first African to be ordained as a Catholic priest in the Belgian Congo in 1917. In the following years, he wrote widely on a range of subjects connected to history, linguistics, ethnography and folklore of the peoples on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika with a particular interest in his own Tabwa ethnic group.

Kaoze was born in 1886 or 1890 and gained an education at a nearby mission station of the White Fathers and his intelligence was quickly identified. He came under the patronage of Monseigneur Victor Roelens who assisted his passage through nearby seminaries and his ordination in 1917. Kaoze visited Belgium with Roelens in 1920. He had already written on philosophical subjects and soon became involved in various studies on the history, folklore, and language of his own Tabwa ethnic group.

In later life, Kaoze held a number of official posts on the Commission for the Protection of Natives (Commission pour la protection des indigènes) and became one of the first Africans to sit on the Governing Council (Conseil de Gouvernement) advising the Governor-General of the Belgian Congo. He died in 1951.