St. Cecilia Catholic Church
The story of the Catholic Church in Ho dates back to 1906. It was through the initiative of Togbe Degbadzo, also known as Togbe Howusu VIII, that the Catholic faith was introduced to the area. This was forty-seven years after the Bremen missionaries from Germany, led by Lorenz Wolf, arrived in Ho in 1859 to establish what later became the Evangelical Presbyterian Church during the reign of Togbe Motte Kofi I.
In 1906, two German priests of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), Rev. Frs. Eichman and Knockers, travelled from Agome-Kpalime in present-day Togo on a reconnaissance mission. They came at the request of Togbe Degbadzo, who had sent representatives from Bankoe and Ho-Dome to seek ecclesiastical approval to establish the Catholic Church in Ho.
At Ho-Dome, a small church was first established in the Blisame clan, at the site where Torgbe Kwamidevie’s house now stands.
On 22 April 1908, the SVD headquarters in Lomé granted official recognition to the church as a mission station at Bankoe, to be managed as an outstation of Agome-Kpalime under Rev. Fr. Eichman.
Although Togbe Degbadzo remained a practicing traditionalist, he warmly welcomed the missionaries and supported the Catholic faith. In 1909, he offered his son, Kofi Adakpa, for baptism at Ho-Bankoe Catholic Church. The boy was christened Vondelinus and later became Togbe Howusu Motte Kofi XI.
