The late Archbishop will be buried in a holy crypt in an underground chamber at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi following the Catholic Church tradition of burying priests where they served.
A special feature on the crypt by KBC on Monday, April 6, revealed that the crypt was an extension of the Holy Family Basilica building and was constructed in 2018.
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Friar Simon Peter Kamomoe explained that the crypt had been conceptualised by Cardinal John Njue in order to honour the practice of the Catholic Church.
“If there was no crypt like this, they would still try to excavate and create a grave somewhere in the church which is not very decent,” explained Kamomoe.
Kamomoe stated that the underground burial space was reserved for Bishops who had served at the church. The late Mwana a’Nzeki had served at the Basilica from 1997 until his retirement in 2007.
“The person who qualifies to be here is the bishop who is running this particular diocese and also the retired ones,” explained the priest.
Any Kenyan Catholic Bishop who passes on is meant to be buried in the crypt. However, so far only one other bishop has been buried in the chamber, the late retired Archbishop John Njenga who served in Mombasa but expressed his wish to be buried in Nairobi.
The crypt has approximately 34 slots with Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki counting as the second bishop to be buried in the chamber.
Kamomoe explained that the slots in the crypt were of different sizes with some being big enough to accommodate a coffin while others were significantly smaller.
“These are the small ones, they are meant for the bones. In about 50 years, the body will decompose and we will only have the bones,” explained Kamomoe.
Holy Family Basilica is the second Catholic Church in Kenya to have a crypt with the first being at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Embu.
Archbishop Emeritus Raphael Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki
The concept of crypts was drawn from the persecution of Christians who were forced to worship in caves later termed as catacombs. The believers who died were buried in these caves and the faithful preserved the idea into modernity.
Archbishop Ndingi, who preached for over six decades passed away on March 31, 2020, aged 89 years after a long illness.
Philip Anyolo, Chair of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that his burial would be scheduled for 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 7 on an invite-only basis.
