TRIBUTE: Dr. Lourenço Noronha (1933–2025)

[Frederick Noronha]

Prof Susana Sardo wrote on another group: "We lost one of the most important archivists of Goan music on [Dec 3, 2025]. Lourenço de Noronha (1933–2025) was a priest and a former professor of Swahili at the University of Vienna."

She shared his obituary, written by one of his former students, and machine-translated:

Dr. Lourenço Noronha (1933–2025)
A Hidden Citizen of the World

Lourenço Alfredo de Noronha, as he was named on his Portuguese passport, was born on 7 November 1933 in Dar es Salaam. His parents came from Goa and were therefore Portuguese citizens; his father worked as an official in the service of the British colonial administration.
In his self-description, Noronha never failed to point out that he came from a family of Hindu Brahmins, but also that his ancestors had been baptized Catholic in the 1540s and had taken the new name (de) Noronha at that time.
After attending school in Goa and Belgaum, the 18-year-old Lourenço returned to Dar es Salaam and completed training as a technical draftsman. His graphic talent is evidenced by charcoal drawings from later years, which he often attributed to other authors. In 1953 he entered the Capuchin Order in Switzerland, studied philosophy and theology, and was ordained a priest in 1959. He chose “Fernando”
as his religious name, and many friends knew him better as Fernando than as Lourenço.
Between 1961 and 1972 he worked as a teacher and parish priest in Tanzania. Shortly after the country’s independence, he also became a Tanzanian citizen. With the support of the Austrian Embassy, he received a scholarship and moved to Vienna in September 1972. There he added a third field to his two professional activities: he began doctoral studies in ethnology and African studies, completing them in 1976 with a dissertation titled “Contribution to the Social Structure and Belief System of the Safwa of Tanzania.”
Vienna became his new home as a priest, researcher, and—starting in 1974—lecturer of Swahili at the Institute of African Studies, which he helped build together with a small group of students and scholars.
In 1983 he became an Austrian citizen. At the beginning of the 2000/01 winter semester, he retired as a contract lecturer but continued teaching for several years as a part-time instructor.

Noronha’s research focused on two very different areas: Swahili literature and Goan songs, which he published on two websites: www.swahili-literatur.at and www.songs-from-goa.at. The first area accompanied his teaching activities at the Institute; with the Konkani songs he continued the work begun by his grandfather and father—documenting Goan musical heritage.
The quote by Shabaan Mlacha that Fernando placed at the beginning of his work on Swahili literature reflects very precisely the orientation of his work, not only academically: “One of the purposes of serious literature in society is to explore the human mind and stir social conscience.” He was wholeheartedly a pastor, organizer of various Christian communities within the Afro-Asian Institute, and
a teacher. Many of his students will remember him as a somewhat eccentric lecturer who, even into old age, still remembered their names when he ran into them on the street.
Finally, why “a hidden world citizen”? Noronha had a life full of movement and multiple national affiliations (although he was denied Indian citizenship, which he had sought). He was open to the diversity of religions and cultures—subjects of his sometimes meticulous research practice—and he loved all kinds of travel, whether a flight to Hong Kong or Manila, an excursion with the pensioners’ bus to Brno, or simply riding a Vienna tram from one end of the line to the other. Yet he never made much of it. Many anecdotes testify, however, to his keen powers of  observation and his humorous view of the world. He will remain fondly  remembered by all who were privileged to share part of life’s journey with him.
Walter Schicho

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_/  Frederick Noronha  फ्रेडरिक नोरोन्या  * فريدريك نورونيا‎
_/  AUDIO https://archive.org/details/@fredericknoronha
_/  http://goa1556.in +91-9822122436 784 Saligao Goa

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