Life and ministry
Wolde Sellasie Kenfu [EAe: Wäldä Śəllase Kənfu] was born in the Semien area in 1841. From 1855 to 1860, he studied at the school for debteras at Gondar.
1860-61: Wolde Sellasie accompanied Emperor Tewodros II on his journeys, carrying the imperial tabot.
1862ff: Wolde Sellasie taught at the Hamasen Province Training Centre for teachers and priests
1866ff: Amharic Bibles sent by Martin Flad and deposited at the Training Centre. Some students read the Bibles in secret. Beginning of a revival at the Centre.
1869: Wolde Selassie Kenfu established contact with St. Chrischona missionaries.
1871-72: Wolde Sellasie met Bishop Gobat in Jerusalem and stayed for one year at the Bishop’s school (receiving instruction and supervising others)
May 1872: Wolde Sellasie arrived with Mr. Jäger (Spittler’s right-hand man) in Basel and began his studies at St. Chrischona
February 1873 (- _ _ _): Wolde Sellasie went to Korntal and helped Dr. Krapf revising the Amharic Bible translation
Spring 1874: Wolde Sellasie returned to Hamasen as an evangelist (employed by St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission).
He assisted members of the revival movement who had come under pressure of the governor of the Hamasen Province. Protected by General John Kirkham, Wolde Sellasie and his followers built a station at Ghinda.
In 1876, a civil war broke out in Hamasen. Wolde Sellasie was killed in the Tseazega massacre in July 1876.
Further reading
(1) Letters by Wolde Selassie Kenfu
Collection:
- Wolbert G.C. Smidt, “Deutsche Briefe von Äthiopiern aus der Protestantischen Mission: Vom Fall des Téwodros bis zur Unterwerfung des Königs Minílik (1869 bis 1878)”, Orientalia Parthenopea 8 (2008), 9-56. [View at Academia.edu]
In detail:
- Däbtära Wolde Selassie Kenfu to St. Chrischona (31 July 1874). In: Smidt, “Deutsche Briefe […] 1869 bis 1878”, pp. 12-13 of 26.
- Däbtära Wolde Selassie Kenfu to St. Chrischona (prob. Dec. 1874). In: Smidt, “Deutsche Briefe […] 1869 bis 1878”, pp. 13-14 of 26.
- Wolde Selassie Kenfu to British & Foreign Bible Society (mid 1875). In: S. Rubenson, Acta Aethiopica, vol. 3, Addis Ababa – New Brunswick, NJ, Addis Ababa University Press, 2000, no. 129, p. 180f.
Several reports by Wolde Selassie Kenfu in Mitteilungen aus der Korrespondenz der Pilger-Mission between 1874 and 1876.
(2) Letters referring to Wolde Selassie Kenfu
(?) Krapf to Bible Society in BFBS Monthly Reporter 1872.
(3) Archive materials
(?) Archive materials in Korntal/ Baden-Württemberg
(4) Missionary journals
N.N., Wolde Sellasie’s obituary in SEM’s Missions-Tidning 1876, no. 104, p. _ _
(5) Secondary literature
Arén, Gustav. Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia: Origins of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. Stockholm: EFS förlaget; Addis Ababa: Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, 1978. [Esp. p. 189-91; read book online]
Debrunner, Hans Werner. Presence and Prestige: Africans in Europe; A History of Africans in Europe before 1981. Basel (Switzerland): Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 1979. [Esp. p. 318-19; read chapter 9]
Smidt, Wolbert G.C. “Before Eritrea, before the Diaspora: Habesha in Exile and on Missions Abroad in the 19th Century”, Eritrean Studies Review 4, no. 2 (2005):1-36, here 11-14. [Lit]
—. “Wäldä Śəllase Kənfu”, in Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol . 4, ed. S. Uhlig in cooperation with A. Bausi, p. 1110. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010.
—. “Schwarze Missionare in Deutschland”, _ _ _, p. 48f