Adolph Schmitt

Adolph Gregory Schmitt, C.M.M. was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was killed by a black nationalist guerrilla during the Rhodesian [Bush War] in 1976.

Biography

Adolph Schmitt was born in Rimpar, Germany, ordained a priest on 19 March 1931 from the religious order of the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries. On 23 December 1950 Schmitt was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the then Vicariate Apostolic of Bulawayo and ordained on 2 April 1951. He retired on 9 May 1974.

Death

During the Rhodesian Bush War, on 5 December 1976, Schmitt and two of his companions, a nun and a priest, were shot by a black nationalist guerrilla on the way to a hospital visit. The sole survivor of the attack, the nun, said that their car was stopped and the guerrilla demanded money but then opened fire with a machine gun.