Laurean Rugambwa (12 July 1912 – 8 December 1997) was a Tanzanian prelate who was the first modern native African cardinal of the Catholic Church.

Laurean Rugambwa was born to an aristocratic family in Bukongo, Tanganyika (present-day Kagera Region of Tanzania), and baptized with his parents[1] at age 8, on 19 March 1921.

After studying at Katigondo National Major Seminary in Uganda,[2] he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Burcardo Huwiler, MAfr, on 12 December 1943.

Rugambwa then did missionary work in West Africa until 1949, when he went to Rome to study at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, from which he obtained his doctorate in canon law.

When his apostolic vicariate was elevated to a diocese on 25 March 1953, Rugambwa was named Bishop of Rutabo by Pope Pius XII.