Brother Carel (Coenrad) Swennen,
Missionary of Africa.

1923 - 2005

Our brother, Carel Swennen, died at Heythuysen on October 27th 2005. Carel (Baptismal names Carolus John) Swennen was born at Rotterdam, January 4th 1923 in the close family of John Swennen and Adriana Biemans. In the family were also one sister and four brothers. After primary school, Carel attended the St Joseph’s trade school and obtained diplomas in carpentry and painting. His marks were excellent as he was endowed with good intelligence. He was strictly honest like his father and professional in all his works as well as being a cordial man. He dared to take the first step in many enterprises. He had inherited his sense of humour from his mother.

After two years of professional work Carel decided in 1940 to become a missionary-brother, was accepted and trained at St Charles’ in Boxtel. The work required there in the garden and the laundry, were frustrating for a professional man, but it was wartime. Yet Carel persevered and on taking the temporary oath on September 8th 1943, he chose the name of the saintly brother Coenraad. (Brother Coenraad or Conrad of Parzham was a mendicant friar in the Franciscan order). He fully joined the society of the Missionaries of Africa by taking the solemn oath on September 27th 1949.

By that time he had been appointed to the Tanganyika Printing Press, an undertaking that was being built at Kipalapala near Tabora and belonged to the Tanzanian episcopal conference.. His work there was preceded by a course in Utrecht to study this trade. Carel specialised in bookbinding. His confreres Jo (Damian) van Doorn and Jan (Alfridus) van Alderen specialised in printing and typesetting. Together they became the pioneers of the printing press. He also learned how to make plate and block for printing and together they produced bibles in Swahili and in Cibemba as well as thousands of small gospel booklets and catechisms, and papers like the Kiongozi (in Swahili) and the Lumuli (in Kisukuma), and also schoolbooks and booklets on spirituality.

In 1972, Carel became the director of the press. With the help of gifts and donations from family and friends, he could replace the older press with a new typesetting machine. He attracted Dutch volunteers and later, in 1974, he got the African Benedictines from Hanga interested in his work. He trained some of them and in 1992 could hand the printing press over to them. They greatly appreciated him. When his work was completed, Carel returned to the Netherlands for good.

Carel was fully and deeply aware of the brother-vocation. In letters to his superiors and for the different Chapters of the Society as well as in personal conversations he always stressed the common calling of missionaries, be they brothers or priests. To him there was an equal calling though the works might be different. A brother is not a second-class missionary.

In his articles, Carel suggested different works for the brothers. He emphasized his arguments with references to previous Chapters and even to quotations from Cardinal Lavigerie who argued that brothers could be directors of schools, orphanages, and catechetical institutes, which brothers could take care of the formation of people and take care of the sick. To this end the formation of brothers should be adjusted.

On his return to Holland Carel settled in the provincial house in Boxtel and took it upon him to sort out the archives. Later on, in order to be nearer to his sister, he moved to Leidschendam. When he grew weaker, he moved to Heythuysen, where, initially, he felt ill-at ease there but eventually, due to the good care he received there, he settled down and was a happy man.
        
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