2
THE DIOCESE OF SÃO SALVADOR:
CONGO AND ANGOLA
2.3 A more independent Congo
Álvaro I (1568-87)
Álvaro I was driven from his capital by the Yakas in 1569 and lost most of his territory to them. The Portuguese governor of São Tomé helped him expel the Yakas and fortify São Salvador. Four Dominicans came with the governor of São Tomé in 1570 and helped reconstruct Christianity in the restored kingdom. After some time two of them died and the other two returned home.[1]
Since Spain annexed Portugal in 1580 Spanish religious were allowed to go to Portuguese zones. The Discalced Carmelites sent five of their members in 1582 but all were lost in a shipwreck. At the chapter of 1583 the Provincial Jerónimo Gracián’s proposal to try again passed, in spite of the opposition of St. John of the Cross who thought the contemplative nature of the Order could not be maintained in the Congo. Another group set out the same year but were captured by English pirates.[2] In 1584 three Discalced Carmelites finally reached Congo, passing through Luanda. On their way north to Bumbe they baptized 3,000 people. In Bumbe they met a nephew of King Álvaro who was a deacon (ordenado de Euângelio) and permitted to baptize. In São Salvador they met four priests (Dominicans of the 1570 mission?), the only ones in the kingdom, and King Álvaro welcomed them saying that the European religious who had come to Congo before had left their holiness north of the Equator. The one lay brother of the group was ordained a priest in São Salvador by the bishop of São Tomé and joined the others who learned the language and began a very fruitful itinerant ministry. They baptized 10,000 people in their travels around Mbata, Mpangu, Nsundi and São Salvador and their preaching is said to have been accompanied by miracles. In 1589 they returned to Spain full of enthusiasm to recruit more Carmelites, but by that time Fr. Gracián’s term as provincial had expired and his opponent Fr. Doria was elected who wanted nothing to do with missions. There the matter ended, to King Álvaro’s disappointment.[3]
One of the Carmelites, Diego del Santísimo Sacramento, complained of white people in Congo “who have more than a thousand black slaves and in a whole year do not give them a mouthful of bread to eat and send them out to the fields like cattle to multiply.”[4] Small wonder that King Álvaro’s gratitude to the Portuguese for help against the Yakas turned cool, so that he was suspected of aiding the king of Angola in resisting the Portuguese.[5]
One of Álvaro’s envoys to Rome, the Portuguese Duarte Lopes, wrote a description of Congo which was published in 1591, translated into many languages and given much publicity, paving the way for the creation of the diocese of São Salvador in 1595. In the meantime Álvaro died in 1587 and was succeeded by his son Álvaro II.
Álvaro II (1587-1614)
Álvaro II encouraged Church growth and welcomed the Jesuits who visited him in 1587,[6] but reports in 1591 suspect his sympathy with the king of Angola.[7] In 1595 Álvaro’s ambassador in Madrid complained of Portuguese who were buying Congolese slaves.[8] Álvaro could afford to take an independent line from Spain-Portugal because Duarte Lope’s book and his own correspondence with the Pope gave him a footing in Rome which soon developed into an alliance which irked Spain-Portugal.
The first major benefit of this alliance was the creation in 1595 of the diocese of São Salvador, separated from that of São Tomé. Yet the king of Spain-Portugal insisted on and was conceded the right of padroado over the new diocese. The first bishop, a Portuguese Franciscan named Miguel Rangel Homem, arrived in 1599 and died in 1602. The dean of the diocesan chapter, a man Álvaro did not like, ran the diocese until the appointment of the Portuguese Dominican António de Santo Estêvão in 1604.
The latter appointment was made before Álvaro’s embassy of 1604 reached Rome saying that he would rather not have a Portuguese bishop. The instructions sent along with Álvaro’s ambassador, the Congolese António Manuel, also complained of Portuguese raids on Congolese mines and raised the very fundamental question of whether the king of Angola should be deprived of his kingdom to make room for Portuguese expansion and exportation of the country’s riches.[9] In 1605 Álvaro’s ambassador in Madrid, Fr. Diogo Gonçalves Manuel, was suspended from the exercise of his priesthood for voicing too boldly King Álvaro’s sentiments. Disregarding the suspension as unjust and invalid, he was imprisoned and ordered by King Philip III of Spain to be put in a monastery prison or sent to the galleys. His diplomatic papers were confiscated.[10]
Álvaro’s ambassador to the Pope, António Manuel, arrived in Lisbon in 1605 wounded after being captured on the sea by Dutch pirates. In Spain he requested Discalced Carmelites and Dominicans for Congo and asked for the reinstatement of Jerónimo de Almeida as governor of Luanda because the present governor was hostile to the king of Congo.[11] The King of Spain’s Council proposed no change regarding the governor of Luanda. The Council decided that Dominicans could go to Congo but not the Spanish Carmelites, because the Council of Portugal did not want non-Portuguese religious, although the reason they gave the Pope was that the Carmelites might not get along well with the Dominicans. As for the Congolese Ambassador’s intention to continue on to Rome, the Council pointed out that previous embassies of the king of Congo had raised important questions and complaints to the Pope and therefore the Spanish-Portuguese agent in Rome should examine all the Congolese Ambassador’s papers before letting him give them to the Pope and this agent should if possible take the papers and do all the talking with the Pope about Congolese interests.[12] António Manuel finally arrived in Rome on 2 January 1608. He was exhausted and sick and died at the age of 33, three days after arriving. Pope Paul V personally looked after him in his illness and attended him while he died. He was buried in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major and in the sacristy there is a monument to him.
In the meantime Bishop António de Santo Estêvão of São Salvador asked in October 1607 for permission to retire because he was not well and thought he had been poisoned.[13] He died in April 1608.[14] In 1609 the Portuguese Franciscan Manuel Baptista Soares was appointed his successor.
In spite of the repeated and strenuous protests of the Portuguese, Paul V went ahead with King Álvaro’s request as contained in his ambassador’s papers and commissioned the Spanish Discalced Carmelites to go to Congo. Four Portuguese Dominicans did go, as previously arranged, two of them dying on the way and the other two arriving in September 1610,[15] but the Portuguese, who were becoming more powerful and nearly independent of Spain, prevented the Carmelites from going, to the great displeasure of the Pope and Cardinal Scipione Borghese.[16]
In 1613 King Álvaro began a permanent embassy in Rome headed by a Spanish priest Juan Baptista Vives. Through him he complained several times of the Portuguese in general and the bishop of São Salvador in particular. He complained that evangelization was at a standstill and the few priests were not interested in it. The two Dominicans, he says, “do no good and get involved in affairs that were none of their business.” He therefore asked once again for Discalced Carmelites.[17] After the death of Álvaro in August 1614 these negotiations were suspended and complaints were continued by his half-brother Bernardo II. The latter was deposed and killed in August 1615 and was succeeded by Álvaro III, the son of Álvaro II.[18]
Álvaro III Mvika a Mpanzu (1615-22)
Álvaro III continued diplomatic relations with Rome through Juan Baptista Vives, who continued as ambassador of Congo until his death in 1632.[19] In spite of the request of the Council of Portugal that the Cardinal Protector of Portugal also represent Congolese interests,[20] Paul V in 1619 appointed the Spaniard Cardinal Trejo. The Roman alliance strengthened Álvaro’s hand in dealing with the Portuguese. Although after his accession in 1615 he had to speak abjectly to the Portuguese, blaming his predecessor Bernardo II for allowing the Dutch to establish a post at the port of Mpinda,[21] in 1617 he was lodging protests with the Pope against the Portuguese in Angola whom he accused of abetting the Yakas in overrunning Congolese land.[22] He also complained against Bishop Manuel Baptista for having two priests, cathedral canons in São Salvador and advisors of Álvaro, arrested and sent to Angola, even though one of these later was allowed to return.[23]
Bishop Manuel Baptista’s relations with Álvaro deteriorated until in 1618 he offered his resignation and the next year left Congo.[24] He died in 1620. While in Congo he had excommunicated the Mani of Sonyo for trading with the Dutch at Mpinda[25] and threatened Álvaro with excommunication for assuming the Spanish royal title Majestad, but Álvaro was not intimidated.[26] After Bishop Manuel Baptista left, complaints were made that he embezzled diocesan money and went off with slaves without paying tax on them. A probe by the Papal Secretary of State in 1622 verified the embezzlement.[27] Álvaro wanted to have his chaplain the Spaniard Bras Correira made bishop, and sent four letters to Rome in different ways, hoping that one would arrive without the Portuguese intercepting it.[28] Portuguese objections prevented Bras Correia’s appointment. In 1621 another Portuguese Franciscan Simão Mascarenhas was appointed, but news of the appointment did not reach Congo until after Álvaro’s death.
The Spanish Capuchins in 1618 made available some of their men to go to Congo. Álvaro was eager to have them come, and hoped that they would establish a novitiate in São Salvador for Congolese young men who would join their ranks. Cardinal Trejo and Paul V strongly backed the project, as did Gregory XV who became pope in 1621.[29] But the Council of Portugal blocked all attempts of the Capuchins to set out and in 1621 prevailed upon King Felipe to sack Cardinal Trejo as Protector of Congo.[30] Later efforts on the part of Álvaro and Gregory XV to send the Capuchins were frustrated, while letters between the two were often opened or intercepted by the Portuguese.[31] Gregory XV, however, was determined to press ahead with the promotion of missionary work and, as we saw in the Introduction, established Propaganda Fide in 1622 for this purpose.
Pedro II Nkanga a Mvika (1622-24)
Pedro II’s succession after the death of his nephew Álvaro III was peaceful, but the Portuguese told Propaganda Fide through the papal nuncio that the death of Álvaro III made it too dangerous to allow the Spanish Capuchins to go to Congo.[32]
Meanwhile troubles in Angola were the occasion for a new Jesuit project in Congo. At the end of 1622 the governor of Angola, João Correira de Sousa, invaded and devastated the Mbamba region of Congo while pursuing an Angolan chief who had harboured run-away slaves from Portuguese plantations. Three Jesuits of Luanda who criticized the governor were arrested and sent back to Portugal in 1623.[33] Two others fled to São Salvador where they made plans to found a school. The people of Luanda then revolted against the governor and when the new bishop Simão Mascarenhas arrived in Luanda he could not go on to São Salvador because he had to stay as acting governor of Luanda for one year.[34] The two Jesuits in São Salvador finalized arrangements for their school, but Pedro II died before the four founding staff members arrived.
Garcia I (1624-26)
Pedro’s son Garcia became king at the age of 17. By September 1624 the Jesuit school was functioning. On 13 October Bishop Simão Mascarenhas finally arrived in São Salvador but died five days later.[35] In August 1625 Fr. Mateus Cardoso SJ arrived in São Salvador to become principal of the school. While visiting Congo in 1616 he had prepared a catechism in Kikongo. Expelled from Luanda during the troubles of 1623 and sent to Lisbon, he had his catechism printed and now brought a stock of the book to Congo. Unfortunately he died two months after arriving in São Salvador.
The Jesuit school at São Salvador continued beyond 1660 and turned out many influential people, including numbers of priests of Portuguese, Congolese and mixed background. The only vitiating factor in the record of the school was its endowment with the taxes paid on 400 slaves sent to the Indies each year.[36]
After the death of Bishop Simão Mascarenhas the royal chaplain Bras Correia ran the diocese and made appointments. Not everyone was satisfied and soon some of the canons of the cathedral were blaming King Garcia for the death of the bishop, and Garcia made the same accusations against the canons. In 1625 Garcia expelled Bras Correia and one of his canons. In Luanda and Lisbon Bras Correia had no warm reception because he had made diocesan appointments without the permission of the king of Portugal as required by the padroado. He was also accused once more of involvement in the bishop’s death. All this altercation was brought to an end by the successful coup of the duke of Nsundi in 1626, who became King Ambrósio.[37]
Ambrósio I (1626-31), Álvaro IV (1631-6), Álvaro V (1636) and Álvaro VI (1636-41)
The contest for ecclesiastical power in Congo was settled in 1626 by the transfer of Francisco do Soveral, the Augustinian bishop of São Tomé. Although he was bishop of São Salvador from 1626 to 1642, he resided in Luanda. Nothing came of the projected division of São Salvador and Luanda into two separate dioceses.[38]
At this time the threat of the Dutch, who were established in Mpinda, made the governor of Angola and the king of Portugal deal more respectfully with Ambrósio.[39] When Ambrósio died in 1631 he was succeeded by his 13 year old nephew Álvaro IV. At this time Bras Correia returned to Congo, to the joy of the new king, but the next year we find him in Luanda as a Jesuit novice.[40]
Álvaro IV died at the age of 18. There was unrest in the country and his successor Álvaro V lasted only six months. He was killed fighting the duke of Bemba (= Bembe or Pemba), Nimi a Lukemi a Nzenza a Ntumba, who became King Álvaro VI, although he was of an entirely different lineage from the previous kings. Álvaro VI had to vindicate his authority by fighting the Mani of Sonyo. Under pressure from the governor of Angola he expelled the Dutch from Mpinda in 1639. But he also wrote to Pope Urban VIII in 1639 and again in 1641 complaining of the governors of Angola and asking to have the bishop required to reside in São Salvador.[41]
During all this period steps were taken to obtain Carmelites, Augustinians, Franciscans and Capuchins; there was also talk of establishing a seminary in Congo, but none of these projects was realized. The Italian Capuchins whom Propaganda Fide wanted to send had to contend not only with the Portuguese, but also with rival Capuchin provinces of Castile and Andalusia, and finally with the Dutch who took Luanda in 1641.[42]
[2]Crisógono de Jesús (1950), 328-9.
[3]MMA, II, 273, 281, 283, 295, 299; IV, 355, 393; Florencio del Niño Jesús (1929, 1934).
[4]MMA, III, 340.
[5]MMA, III, 340.
[6]MMA, III, 344, 350.
[7]MMA, III, 429.
[8]MMA, III, 520.
[9]MMA, V, 112.
[10]MMA, V, 146, 151, 157.
[11]MMA, V, 262.
[12]MMA, V, 280.
[13]MMA, V, 350.
[14]MMA, V, 532.
[15]MMA, V, 598, 600, 605, 609; VI, 132.
[16]MMA, VI, 41, 42, 45.
[17]MMA, VI, 125, 128.
[18]MMA, VI, 288, 292.
[19]MMA, VIII, 108.
[20]MMA, VI, 358.
[21]MMA, VI, 234.
[22]MMA, VI, 288.
[23]MMA, VI, 292, 242, 275.
[24]MMA, VI, 323.
[25]MMA, VI, 359.
[26]MMA, VI, 404.
[27]MMA, VI, 430, 484; VII, 8.
[28]MMA, VI, 389, 554.
[29]MMA, VI, 307, 389, 400, 501, 557, 574.
[30]MMA, VI, 576, 577.
[31]MMA, VII, 3, 16.
[32]MMA, VII, 82, 44.
[33]MMA, VII, 176.
[34]MMA, VII, 166.
[35]MMA, VII, 273.
[36]MMA, VII, 228.
[37]MMA, VII, 309-432.
[38]MMA, VII, 172, 196, 234, 244, 331, 347.
[39]MMA, VII, 587, 270.
[40]MMA, VIII, 101, 190.
[41]MMA, VIII, 433, 474.
[42]MMA, IX, 293, 412.