Alfred Simon Diban Ki-Zerbo
Burkinabè former slave who became a catechist and is called the first Christian of Upper Volta
Who they were
Captured by slave traders as a teenager, he escaped in 1899, was baptised by the White Fathers in 1901 and worked as a catechist in what is now Burkina Faso, dying at about 105 on 10 May 1980, the day John Paul II celebrated Mass in Ouagadougou.
The miracles
No miracle has been approved. The cause is at its first stage.
Why that counted as sanctity
Santi e Beati lists him as a Servant of God and records that the Church in Burkina Faso introduced his beatification cause; the diocesan inquiry was opened at Nouna-Dédougou on 5 January 1996.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
Connected on this site
- John Paul II Saint“Captured by slave traders as a teenager, he escaped in 1899, was baptised by the White Fathers in 1901 and worked as a catechist in what is now Burkina Faso, dying at about 105 on 10 May 1980, the day John Paul II celebrated Mass in Ouagadougou.” — this site's research
Checked against the sources listed on 24 September 2026. Corrections welcome.