Born: 16 November 1933 in Hennarsdorf, Germany. Entrance in SJ: 29 April 1954 at Jakobsberg, Germany. Ordination: 18 July 1964 in Rome. Final Vows: 22 April 1972 in Chishawasha, Zimbabwe. Death: 24 October 2025 at Richartz House, in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Born on 16 November 1933 in Hennarsdorf, Germany, Horst Ulbrich entered the Society nineteen years later in Jakobsberg. Philosophy followed and in 1959 Horst first came to Africa and did his regency teaching at St Michael’s, Mhondoro, Zimbabwe
In 1961 he began his theology at Frankfurt and completed it in Rome where he was ordained in 1964. In 1965 he did his tertianship in Port Townsend, in the United States. He then returned to Frankfurt to read for a doctorate in theology. In 1969, he was ready to return to Africa and Horst’s first assignment was to teach theology at the Regional Seminary at Chishawasha. He made his final vows in 1972 and in that year, he founded the Pastoral Centre in Salisbury (as Harare was then).
He also became the Superior of the then Sinoia (later Chinhoyi) Mission in 1974 when Helmut Reckter became Prefect Apostolic of Sinoia. His duties as Superior caused him to relinquish the Pastoral Centre in 1975 and he concentrated on this task until the formation of the vice province, which united the Salisbury and Sinoia missions, in 1978. He became a consultor in the new province for ten years.
He moved to Sinoia in 1980 as superior of the Jesuits in that community and parish priest where he remained until 1983 when he transferred to Karoi to take over the parish there. In 1987 he moved again, this time to Chishawasha Mission where he remained until 1991. In 1992 we find him at St Peter’s Mbare, Harare where he was to remain for fourteen years.
In 2007, he moved to the Holy Name, Mabelreign, Harare where he remained for eleven years until ill health required him to make his final move to Richartz House in 2018 where he died on the evening of 23 October 2025. This brief resumé of Horst Ulbrich’s life shows that, though he spent seven years studying theology, he only taught it for two. He used his theology in his forty years of direct pastoral work. Two features stand out from his years as superior, both of the Sinoia Mission and the communities he led: his care for individuals, Jesuits and people in the parishes, and his constant cheerfulness.
His life in Richartz House was much diminished physically but when anyone greeted him and engaged him in conversation, he came always out with a wonderful smile.
English