3

THE DIOCESE OF SÃO TOMÉ – LOWER GUINEA

3.3 Benin and Warri

15th and 16th century contacts with Benin

The Portuguese learned about Benin between 1469 and 1475 and Ruy de Sequeira possibly visited in 1472. The first definite contact was made by João Afonso de Aveiro in 1486. Oba Uzolua^[1] was interested in a Portuguese alliance and, according to form, sent an ambassador to Portugal asking also for priests to come and teach the faith. A trading post was opened at Benin’s port of Gwato which dealt first in pepper and later also in slaves and ivory.^[2] The Oba gave some slaves as presents to the Portuguese,^[3] but slaves were also bought, both here and at Ijebu-Ode, Gwato, Warri and Bonny for 12 to 15 brass bracelets or 8 to 10 copper ones per slave.^[4]

João Afonso de Aveiro died at Gwato before 1504,^[5] but commerce continued^[6] and in 1514 Benin sent to Lisbon two ambassadors bearing the Portuguese names Jorge Correa and António.^[7] A third ambassador, Pero Barroso, was sent the next year.^[8] Their request for arms was turned down because the Oba was not a Christian, but their request for priests was granted.^[9] The Oba was in fact at war with Idah^[10] and must have been disappointed that the Portuguese representative Duarte Pires brought only priests and no arms. These priests, the first we know of to have reached Benin, arrived in August 1515. They were received royally and, contrary to custom, allowed to see every part of the Oba’s palace and to dine with his son. As for the faith, the Oba said he needed time to think about such a “deep mystery”; moreover he was occupied with the war and could not do anything until he returned. In August 1516, during a lull in the war, the Oba had a church built and allowed his on and some other prominent mento become Christian. The priest also taught them to read Portuguese.^[11]

By August 1517 the first group of priests, referred to as clerigos (diocesan priests) in the letters of King Manuel^[12] but called padres (religious) by Duarte Pires,^[13] had left Benin and Oba Uzolua was dead, possibly killed in the war. Some army officers were running the country on behalf of the boy Oba named Esigie.^[14] Although he may have been the same as the former Oba’s son who was baptized the previous year, a new group of priests left São Tomé for Benin at this time “to make the king Christian.” The group consisted of “Friar” Diogo Belo, vicar of the island of São Tomé (possibly an Augustinian), and three other priests, one of them named Jerónimo Pires, a chaplain at São Tomé, and another named Jeañes, a “cleric” who had come from Benin. Diogo Belo did not intend to stay long in Benin because he left belongings behind on São Tomé to claim on his return.^[15]

The slave trade continued to expand on the Nigerian coast. Even during the war of 1516 the Oba of Benin provided a ship from São Tomé with 400 slaves, along with some ivory and other merchandise.^[16] The requirements of the slave market may even have been the motive of the war. One thousand slaves a year were being brought from Benin to Elmina for sale when, around 1532, King João III (1521-57) of Portugal prohibited this trade because he objected to selling baptized slaves to pagans or Muslims.^[17] The station at Gwato was closed because the Portuguese were all getting sick and dying, but they continued to visit this and other Nigerian ports and buy slaves for “Christian” masters in the West Indies. Some of the Binis moreover were employed by the Portuguese as translators and trading assistants not only at Gwato but throughout the Portuguese maritime network. In 1526 King Afonso I of Congo complained of unscrupulous foreign traders such as Guromentes (people from Cacheu, Guinea), mulattoes and Binis.^[18]

In 1538 two Franciscan priests, António and Francisco, and a teacher named Miguel Magro, a lay affiliate of the Order of Christ, came to Benin. Because they brought no gifts the Oba was not glad to see them and paid no attention to a letter they brought from João III of Portugal. Their attempts to get him to abandon human sacrifices and let the faith be preached led to their being put under house arrest with no opportunity to celebrate the liturgy. Gregorio Lourenço, a Bini who had become a Christian in 1516, was not allowed to baptize his children. Afonso Anes, a Christian teacher, was held prisoner in order to teach the children Portuguese, but he was not allowed to use the catechisms that the Franciscans brought or to teach the faith in any way. The Franciscans had been there over a year when they wrote to João III to have him request the Oba to let them go, because otherwise he would not release them.^[19]

João III must have done something to improve the situation because the next year, 1540, there were ambassadors from Benin in Lisbon whom João de Barros interviewed.^[20] In 1553, a year when Portuguese ambassadors were again sent to Benin,^[21] Thomas Wyndham met the Oba and found that he could speak Portuguese, which he had learned as a boy. English and Dutch traders frequented Benin from the end of the 16th century but had no religious influence.^[22]

Warri accepts the Christian faith

Warri came into its own in the second half of the 16th century when the Itsekiri or Iwere, as they call themselves, began to organize their own trade with the Europeans independently of Benin. Their town on the Forcados river (at the present Ode Itsekiri) was then commonly known as Ale Iwere, and written by the Portuguese as Oere or Overe etc., giving rise to the present name of Warri.^[23] Portuguese trade with Warri drew the attention of the bishop of São Tomé, the Augustinian Gaspar Cão who, when cleared of his difficulties with the governor of São Tomé in 1571, was able to initiate projects dear to his heart such as a seminary and the mission to Warri. Our knowledge of the mission comes from the ad limina report in 1620 of a later Augustinian bishop of São Tomé, Pedro da Cunha.^[24]

One of the Augustinians who went to Warri was Francisco “a Matre Dei” (We only have the Latin form of the report), who boldly cut down a sacred tree and was not hurt by the guardian spirit of the shrine. He gained a hearing for his preaching and soon baptized the heir to the throne, who took the name Sebastião, after King Sebastião of Portugal (1568-78). The Augustinians must have returned to São Tomé when their Bishop died in 1574, because the Carmelite Diogo do Santissimo Sacramento, writing in December of that year on his way to Congo, complains that although the king of Rios Forcados (Warri) was already Christian there were no priests there and they were greatly desired.^[25] This letter also supposes that Prince Sebastião had already become the Olu.

Apparently no more priests came to Warri until 1593 when the new bishop of São Tomé, Francisco da Vila Nova, brought seven Franciscans with him who worked on the coast of Africa.^[26] In 1597 no priest was going to Warri because the climate and the mosquitoes were too severe and the Olu of Warri was too poor to pay the cost of a priest. The Bishop asked the King of Portugal to have the traders going from São Tomé to Warri bring a priest along with them once a year and pay him a fitting allowance, but on the advice of his state council, the Mesa de consciencia e ordens, King Felipe of Spain and Portugal ordered that priests should be brought to Warri on the trading vessels but should support themselves by trading in slaves.^[27]

The Portuguese State Council recognized that the best solution would be to have indigenous priests. Consequently in 1600 Domingos, the son of Sebastião of Warri by a secondary wife, was sent to Portugal to study for the priesthood.^[28] He studied first at the Colégio de São Jerónimo in Coimbra and in 1604 transferred to the Colégio de Santo Agostinho in Lisbon which was run by the Augustinians.^[29] In early 1606 he transferred to the Colégio de Santo Antão, a Jesuit school in Lisbon.^[30] While there his interest in his home led him to secure from King Felipe freer trade conditions for Warri.^[31] In 1608 he received a message from his father to come home. At that time there was no consideration of the priesthood. He had come to study “so as to help in the conversion of his people as well as to be able to rule well.” King Felipe was advised to give Domingos leave to go because “he was gaining nothing by staying, and for his colour he is well enough instructed.”^[32] Bishop Pedro da Cunha was more pointed: “He had neglected his studies.”^[33]

Domingos, however, had some business to take care of before departing. In 1606 the Dominican bishop of São Tomé wanted to send some priests to Warri and Benin and King Felipe’s advisers said that the Bishop should do so at the expense of the kings of those places.^[34] This time Domingos asked for priests to go back with him, and King Felipe gave an affirmative answer without any conditions. Domingos’ request for arms was put under consideration.^[35] Along with his father and his brother he was given affiliate membership in the Order of Christ.^[36] And finally he was given a wife, the daughter of Cristovão Pereira and niece of the Count of Feira. Just after his wedding Domingos filed a complaint against a judge of his town who with a band of men broke into his house after midnight in search of a wanted person. Compensation for damages was awarded Domingos for the incident.^[37] In August of 1610 Domingos’ departure for Warri was arranged.^[38]

When Domingos returned his father chose him as his successor, hoping that he would be better to propagate the Catholic faith. Sebastião was himself most devoted to the faith, and while there was no priest he personally taught his people and led them in religious processions. A priest was resident up to 1616 when Sebastião announced his death to Bishop Pedro da Cunha and asked for a replacement. The Bishop found a priest who only intended to stay until the ship returned to São Tomé, but in fact stayed a whole year.^[39] In 1620 Sebastião was very old and Domingos was effectively running the kingdom. After his Portuguese wife died Domingos became somewhat hostile to the Portuguese. As for the spread of the faith, there were no Christians outside the town of Warri and they were a minority within it. Most of these had no deep conviction but were only following Sebastião and Domingos. They refused to have their children baptized, thinking that the children would die right away from it. The marriage system and traditional cults were other obstacles to the growth of Christianity. Christian priests could at most sporadically visit the town and could do little about the situation. In 1625 the King of Spain and Portugal urged Bishop Francisco do Soveral of São Tomé to go to his diocese and send two Capuchins to Warri,^[40] but the Capuchins apparently never went.

According to Pedro da Cunha, Prince Domingos had no children by his Portuguese wife, but Olfert Dapper, borrowing from the writings of Samuel Blommaart who visited Benin and Warri in 1644, asserts that the reigning Olu of Warri, António Domingos, was the mulatto son of Domingos and his Portuguese wife. Whether Blommaart was right or wrong on this point, his character description of the Olu rings true: “He dresses like the Portuguese, always wearing a sword at his side, as other mulattoes do. The writer continues: “In the matter of religion these people observe almost the same customs as in Benin. Yet they do not make so many human or animal sacrifices, because they consider such sacrifices horrible and the work of the devil. So that with only a little instruction these people could be brought to the Christian faith. No fetish priest or devil-hunter is allowed in the country. Neither do the people there pardon one another as easily as in Benin. The inhabitants and the king himself adhere somewhat to the Roman Catholic religion. In the city of Warri there is a church with an altar, a crucifix, statues of Mary and the Apostles, and two candlesticks alongside. The black people come into this church with the rosary constantly in their hands, just as proper Portuguese do. They recite it together with other popish prayers. Outwardly they show themselves very religious. They also know how to read and write and are eager for Portuguese books, pens, ink and paper.”^[41]

The Capuchin missions: preparations

When Propaganda Fide was founded in 1622 Spain ruled and spoke for Portugal. After Portuguese independence in 1640 Rome did not recognize Portugal for twenty-nine years. For this reason Propaganda Fide’s attempts to gather information on Africa were frustrated, because it had no communication with the Portuguese who were the only people who really knew. Only in 1631 did Propaganda Fide learn that Elmina was not in India but in Africa.^[42] In his fact finding trip of 1634 Colombin de Nantes learned of the existence of Benin and some of its customs, but heard nothing of Warri.^[43] After his attempted evangelization of Assinie and expulsion from Axim he learned in São Tomé that Benin and Warri were distinct and that the Olu of Warri was Christian and many of his people were baptized but they had no priest. This information he sent to Propaganda Fide in his report of 1640.^[44] Propaganda Fide sent him and a group of Capuchins from Brittany to Benin and Warri in 1641 but, as we saw above, their mission was sabotaged by the Dutch conquerors of São Tomé.

Other Capuchin plans were hampered by geographical ignorance and the persistent confusion of Benin and Warri. In 1639 Ignazio da Perugia proposed to go through Benin on his way to Ethiopia!^[45] In 1644 Bonaventura di Alessano, faced with delays in going to Congo, proposed going to Benin as a second choice.^[46] In the same year the Andalusian Capuchins offered men to go with Bonaventura di Alessano to the “kingdom of Nigritia”. Since that could lay anywhere between Morocco and Congo, they decided to withdraw their offer until they knew exactly where Nigritia was.^[47] Propaganda Fide apparently disregarded the second report of Colombin de Nantes when in 1646 it proposed to send Castilian Capuchins to Benin because “the king is Catholic and receives a fifteen day visit every six years from a priest of São Tomé.”^[48] Francisco de Pamplona, returning from Congo and proposing to go to Benin with other Castilian Capuchins, repeated the same notions.^[49] His province, however, turned down the mission both for lack of men and because they had no confidence in Francisco de Pamplona.^[50]

The mission of Ángel de Valencia (1651)^[51]

In 1648 Propaganda Fide succeeded in getting the Capuchin provinces of Valencia and Aragon to commit themselves to a joint mission to Benin. Ángel de Valencia, recently returned from Congo, was appointed prefect. If it were not for the persistence of Ángel de Valencia the many obstacles and red tape would have condemned the mission. As it was, the group of eight Capuchins, five from Aragon, two from Valencia and one from Flanders, left Spain in 1651. On the way, as we saw above, Ángel de Valencia and Thomás de Huesca were held prisoners at Elmina while their companions continued on to Benin. The six arrived in June at the port of Gwato, and José de Jojona went on to Benin to present the credentials of the group to the Oba, hoping to win the Oba to Christianity and thereby all his people. A court official took the letters of the Pope and of Propaganda Fide which he carried and promised an audience, but alter returned saying that the Oba had read the documents and considered an audience unnecessary. José did not believe him and decided to return to Gwato.

In the meantime Ángel and Tomás arrived in Gwato after a forty day imprisonment at Elmina. Both were sick and they found José de Jijona and Eugénio of Flanders also very sick. The latter two died six days later, followed by Tomás de Huesca. Ángel, having recovered, then left two of his companions to look after a third who was sick and went with Felipe de Híjar to Benin, arriving there on 10 August 1651. After being taught the elaborate court ceremonies they were given an audience. The Oba still had the letters brought by José and returned them to Ángel explaining that there was no one who could read them. Ángel then translated them into Portuguese and someone interpreted them into the Edo language. The Oba was pleased and offered to give the Capuchins accommodation in the palace. Ángel was elated and promptly sent for the three Capuchins he had left in Gwato. Within two months the Oba granted the Capuchins a second audience in which they gave presents to the Oba, his mother and various officials, and in return were promised land for a church and interpreters for their preaching.

After this auspicious beginning none of the Oba’s promises were executed and the Capuchins met only obstruction. The chief minister prevented them from seeing the Oba even though they tried every expedient to do so, such as sending the Oba a clock with chimes. When it stopped they volunteered to show the Oba how to wind it, but the chief minister merely returned the clock saying the Oba did not want it. The Capuchins wanted to leave the city and work in neighbouring areas, but when they tried to learn the language no one was allowed to teach them or even speak with them. They became sick from starvation and were only saved by some English traders who gave them food and a barrel of cowry shells to buy what they needed. The Capuchins maintained that the Binis’ hostility was the result of direct instructions given them by demons who frequently appeared to the people and demanded complete subservience.

After a year and a half of getting nowhere the Capuchins decided as a last resort to confront the Oba and all his officials on the occasion of an annual festival, at the beginning of Lent 1653, in which five men were to be sacrificed along with many animals. Going into the palace with the huge crowd, they met a kind old man who led them right up to the edge of the action. The chief minister spotted them and twice ordered them to leave. But the Capuchins stepped out into the middle and denounced the whole proceedings. The guards lost no time in throwing them out and prevented them from returning on a second and a third attempt. All the way home a crowd heckled them. In the evening ten men came with orders for them to leave the city, but were persuaded to allow them to pack their Mass equipment and wait until the morning.

In the morning some men came again saying that the Oba wanted to see them. Frs. Ángel and Felipe de Híjar followed the men, but soon found themselves instead prisoners in a hut on the edge of town. Fearing they would be taken to the bush that night and killed, as was done with criminals, they found a way to inform their companions of what had happened. Ángel and Felipe were then brought to Gwato. On the way, weakened and thirsty, they passed a shrine which contained among other things a calabash of palm wine. They asked their guards if they could drink it, and were told that the “demon” would kill them if they touched the offering. In a test of faith the guards let them drink it and the Capuchins were not harmed.

The remaining Capuchins in Benin, Fr. Bartolomé de Viana and Bros. Alonso de Tolosa and Gaspar de Sos, had some friendly visits with the Oba’s mother and brother-in-law, and finally were themselves conducted to Gwato along with their baggage at the end of Lent. After Pentecost the whole group was brought to nearby Ardo where for five months they were cared for by some Dutch and English traders. In spite of these traders’ kindness the Capuchins suspected they might have had something to do with turning the Oba’s officials against them. Of the Binis, however, Felipe de Híjar concluded that “they behave very well, and they know that the devil is evil and that God is good. But they serve the devil for fear that if they do not do what he asks he will punish them severely.”^[52]

Going by an English ship to the island of Principe, the Capuchins were asked by the Portuguese if they had been to Warri, which no priest had visited in seven years. They had never heard of Warri and, learning of its Christianity and eagerness for priests, resolved to go there. But the Portuguese authorities would not permit them since they were Spanish. Going on to São Tomé, the Capuchins appealed the matter with the governor, who said that the King of Portugal would have his head if he allowed them to go. He sent them under guard to Lisbon and from there they returned to Spain.

The mission of Angelo di Ajaccio and Bonaventura da Firenze (1656)

While the Capuchins leaving Benin were waiting at São Tomé the governor sent an “indigenous sacristan” to Warri to talk with the Olu about a possible future Capuchin mission. On the basis of the sacristan’s information the Capuchins drafted a letter “of the King of Warri, Domingos II, to the Pope” on 28 November 1653.^[53] The letter requests a mission and expresses the Capuchins’ hope to use Warri as a point of eventual return to Benin. It is correct in referring to the Olu’s predecessor Domingos who had a Portuguese wife. But a letter written by Ángel de Valencia to Propaganda Fide on his return to Seville persists in saying that it was the Oba of Benin whose predecessor was Catholic and had a Portuguese wife.^[54]

In 1655 Propaganda Fide organized a mission to both Benin and Warri composed of thirteen Capuchins headed by Giovanni Francesco da Roma, who had previously worked in Congo. Trying to gain Portugal’s cooperation, Propaganda Fide sent the whole group to Lisbon, but Portugal objected to the prefect and stalled on permitting the group to go. The delay and squabbles arising between the French Capuchins resident in Lisbon and their Italian missionary confrères reduced their number to four when Portugal finally agreed to the departure under a new prefect, Angelo Maria da Ajaccio.

The group arrived at São Tomé in September 1656. Two of them answered the appeal of the people to stay on the island and help them, while Angelo da Ajaccio and Bonaventura da Firenze went on to Warri together with a Genoese trader, Giovanni Battista Borel, who was interested in becoming a Capuchin brother. Borel changed his mind and went back to São Tomé in March 1657. The Portuguese found in his loads some souvenirs and a map of the approaches to Warri and accused him of being a spy. They arrested him together with the two Italian Capuchins who had remained at São Tomé and sent them off to Lisbon. Luckily for the Italians Dutch pirates captured the ship and set them free in Amsterdam.

In Warri the two Capuchins were enthusiastically received by the Olu, who had the tottering church rebuilt and gave the priests full freedom to preach the faith. Bonaventura da Firenze says that the Olu’s name was Mattias, and was born of an African wife of the former Olu after his Portuguese wife died in childbirth along with her child. Mattias, he says, was seven or eight years old when his father died and the court officials (fidalghi) ruled in his stead for nine years until he was of age.

It is difficult to harmonize the different versions of this story. There are three possibilities: 1) that Mattias is the same as the António Domingos whom Dapper says ruled in 1644 (if Dapper is wrong that he was a mulatto) and “Domingos II” who is purported to have written the letter to the Pope of 28 November 1653 (although this letter and the name given the king are suspect),^[55] 2) that Domingos I had two sons: a) António Domingos (or Domingos II), possibly born by the Portuguese wife and possibly considered a fidalgo by Mattias, and b) Mattias, who succeeded his brother; 3) that Mattias is António Domingo’s son. It is significant that Bonaventura did not even know Mattias’ father’s name, thinking it was António or David.^[56]

With the coming of the Capuchins the people once again sought baptism, which they had not bothered about since Domingos I died. At that time a priest canon from São Tomé came with a trader and for the baptisms he performed charged so many slaves, tusks of ivory and other goods that he returned richer than the trader. The revived interest of the people in Catholic practice did not mean, however, that they were prepared to give up polygamy or spirit cults, and Angelo di Ajaccio expressed his disappointment at the lack of progress in a letter of 2 February 1659.^[57] In this letter he also complained that his companions on São Tomé had left without his permission and he did not know why. The two Capuchins found they could make no progress on the polygamy issue unless the king first set the example by marrying one wife. The Olu said he would gladly do so if he could have a white wife as his father had. The Capuchins first prayed about the matter and then a ship from São Tomé arrived whose captain said the matter could easily be arranged in São Tomé. Angelo di Ajaccio went with the ship and surprisingly the Portuguese authorities cooperated with him, possibly because of the prospect of commercial advantages to be gained through a marriage alliance. He must have learned what happened to his companions in 1657, but the Portuguese did not press charges against him. A girl 20 years old was found who agreed to the proposal and had the consent of her parents. The people of São Tomé gave her a royal send-off, matched only by her reception in Warri. The Capuchins were then besieged every day with people wanting them to solemnize Christian marriages.

The Capuchins had brought letters from Rome for the Oba of Benin and now wanted to deliver them. They went to Benin but could not get to see the Oba and, pressed for time, they returned to Warri.

Some time earlier a Dutch ship came to trade at Warri.^[58] The Capuchins warned the Olu about the “heretics” but did not object to his trading with them. In the latter part of 1659 a Portuguese ship came from São Tomé whose captain never attended Mass and the first thing he asked of the Olu was two young girls for his enjoyment. The Capuchins could not pass over such behaviour when they condemned such things among the Africans; so they publicly excommunicated him. In retaliation the captain accused the Capuchins of plotting against Portugal by having written to the Dutch of Elmina to send their ship to Warri.

After this confrontation Bonaventura da Firenze became sick and both he and Angelo di Ajaccio wanted to go to São Tomé and find out why the long promised reinforcements to their ranks never came. The ship captain “kindly” agreed to take them, but to reassure the Olu of their return the Capuchins left their Mass equipment behind. Arriving at São Tomé around the beginning of 1660, they were promptly accused of colluding with Portugal’s enemies and of coming without ecclesiastical authorization. The vicar of São Tomé excommunicated them and they were imprisoned for three months before being sent to Angola, and in October to Lisbon.

In Lisbon the two were declared innocent and given permission to return, but they wanted to wait for others to come with them. In November 1663 Propaganda Fide sent eight other Capuchins to Lisbon to join them, but the Portuguese government would not let the new members go. In 1665 our two Capuchins went to Angola to await assistants, but since none came Bonaventura da Firenze returned to Italy in 1666 and Angelo di Ajaccio to Lisbon in 1669. The latter was sick and dying, but after two months the superior of the French Capuchin house put him on a ship for Italy. The captain had pity on the man and brought him to a friend’s house near Lisbon to be taken care of. When the French superior was approached about the matter he replied that he would not receive the dying Capuchin in his house even if the General of his Order and the Pope commanded him. After six months Angelo di Ajaccio died without receiving one visit from his French brothers and was not even permitted to be buried in the Capuchin cemetery.

Francesco da Monteleone and the mission of 1684-95

In October 1673 the Olu of Warri gave a passing Franciscan, Sebastião dos Reis, a letter for the King of Portugal complaining that no priest had come since the departure of Angelo di Ajaccio. The Olu’s religious interest was definitely connected with his interest in developing commerce, but in this and similar cases it would be a mistake simply to reduce his religious interest to commercial interest, as some authors do.^[59] No answer came to the Olu’s appeal until the Italian Capuchin Francesco da Monteleone accompanied the new bishop of São Tomé, Bernardo Zuzarte de Andrade, to his diocese in 1684. The Bishop wanted to send Francesco to Warri and Benin, and therefore had a Capuchin church and house established at São Tomé as a base for missions on the continent. The Bishop died in February 1685, and of the several Capuchins who were to come only one arrived in 1687. The arrival of others was delayed because of an oath of loyalty which the King of Portugal demanded and the Italians refused. The problem was eventually solved and in 1691 eight Capuchins went to São Tomé, three of whom died almost immediately and three others were very sick for three months. Most of them preferred to stay and work on the island because of the desperate spiritual state of the people. Because the Portuguese territories had been so long without bishops the quality of the local clergy was very low, so much so that in 1688 Propaganda Fide took the questionable step of forbidding the ordination of “mulattoes and bastards”.^[60]

In 1689 the Olu sent three boys to São Tomé to study for a short period. The next year Francesco da Monteleone left São Tomé for a three months visit to Warri. He also tried to go to Benin but because of hostilities with Warri the guide could not take him. By the time the Binis could send boats to collect him in a neutral spot it was time for him to return to São Tomé. He brought a letter from Olu Lewis II dated 16 January 1690, giving land for a church and residence for the Capuchins.^[61] Francesco says that the Olu was young, and that he inherited the wives of his father and of an older brother who died.^[62] Presumably the older brother was “Lewis I”, and both were sons of Mattias or Domingos II.

When the group of Capuchins came in 1691 Francesco da Monteleone wanted to send two of them to Benin and two to Warri but his vice-prefect Giuseppe da Busseto, who had been twenty years in Luanda and Congo, would not hear of going to Benin because the Oba was not baptized and had expressed no desire for priests. Francesco thought that if Warri were given first attention the Oba would be offended. After some argument Francesco let Giuseppe da Busseto and two companions go to Warri. They arrived in August, well prepared with Mass equipment, seven barrels of biscuits, nine of wine, two of flour and one of olive oil, together with barrels of salted meat from five cows and two large pigs.^[63] In spite of these precautions one of the Capuchins, Bernardino da Tavera, was sick from arrival and after four months boarded the ship which had brought him. The ship went to Benin and while it was at anchor Bernardino died in March 1692.

Giuseppe da Busseto wrote a letter on 12 January 1692 expressing his disappointment with Warri. Although he should have been glad of the Olu’s good will, he complained that Catholic belief and practice was only an elite court affair and did not penetrate the masses.^[64] Surprisingly one of his main complaints was that the Olu would not compel his people to stop circumcision, which Giuseppe considered a Jewish practice. In despair he asked to be relieved of his assignment and transferred to his former station in Congo. His relief came in August when he was transferred to the next life. The one remaining Capuchin, Protasio da Castrezzano, left on the next ship in September. He carried a letter from the Olu fro Francesco da Monteleone saying that the residence was nearly finished and the church about to be built and begging for the return of other Capuchins.^[65]

Francesco da Monteleone reported to Propaganda Fide about the situation and repeatedly asked for help. He even claimed to have sent a message to the Oba of Benin and received an answer inviting priests to come. At last in 1695 six Capuchins arrived at São Tomé. In September some of them set off for Benin, but in Gwato Francesco da Monteleone died.

Further contact with Benin and Warri

Before dying, Francesco da Monteleone appointed Angelico da Pettineo to be in charge. Angelico did not continue immediately to Benin, but may have visited it in 1696 when he sent three Capuchins to Warri; they were Bonaventura da Brescia, Felice da Piaggine and Colombano da Bologna. Apart from David van Nyandael’s notice of the Portuguese lodge and church in Warri in 1700,^[66] there is no record of how they succeeded or how long they stayed, except that Felice da Piaggine became gravely ill on arrival and that Colombano da Bologna was sent to Congo in 1703.^[67]

Other Capuchins continued to come to São Tomé and some of them visited the mainland. An interesting report by Francesco da Morro and Francesco da Montecassiano in 1707 refers to the problem of polygamy in Warri and how a priest exiled from São Tomé by his bishop went there and solemnized the marriage of the Olu even though he was polygamous. The report speaks eloquently and at length about the scandal of slavery.^[68]

Fr. Cipriano da Napoli, who had become prefect in 1705, made a trip to Benin and Warri in 1709. In Benin he could not even get to talk to the Oba and left on the same ship for Warri. Two Capuchins were there already for several years and Cipriano intended to let two of his companions join them. But he found the two who were there in such a dire state, having sold most of their belongings and being obliged to engage in petty trading and manual labour in order to survive, that the took them all back to São Tomé. At São Tomé, where no bishop would stay because of the climate, the Capuchins met increased opposition from the vicar who excommunicated anyone who accepted their ministration. The Capuchins were ready to abandon São Tomé as well if were not for a sudden turn of events at Benin.

In 1710 Cipriano sent two priests to Benin who saw the Oba and received every welcome and encouragement. From the reports of the two priests, Cipriano (presumably) drafted on 2 November 1710 three letters “from the Oba” to the Procurator General of the Capuchins, to Propaganda Fide and to the Pope.^[69] The letters apologize for the Capuchins’ not being attended to in the time of the Oba’s father and up to the previous year. Protracted war prevented it, but now the Oba had set aside a house for the Capuchins and hoped they would come and teach his people the Christian faith.

Other sources tell of a civil war and point to a change of regime around this time.^[70] If the Oba actually expressed such enthusiasm for Christianity as the letters say we may suppose that he was mainly looking for outside support for a shaky throne. If Cipriano exaggerated the Oba’s feelings, it is still credible that the Oba had a moderate genuine interest in Christianity. After a three year stay in Benin Filippo da Calvello and Celestino d’Aspra remarked that the Oba’s interest in Christianity was very moderate, and the two Capuchins could not see that they were making any progress.

Cipriano’s successor as prefect, with three companions, spent two years in Warri in 1715-17. Two of these stayed a longer time, but Celestino d’Aspra’s report in 1724 says that no Capuchins were in Warri and two were needed.^[71] When Olu Agostinho died between 1731 and 1733, his brother took an anti-Christian stance and smashed a statue of Christ after it failed to end a drought. In 1735 the Capuchin Francisco Maria was sent to Warri with presents for the Olu. The consignment originally included some statues, but these were left at São Tomé “for lack of shipping space”, while the Olu was urged to build a church suitable for their reception. After three disappointing months in Warri Francisco Maria decided to leave at the first opportunity. Warri was visited again in 1748 by Fr. Illuminato di Poggitello after he failed to gain entry into Benin. This is the last mention of Benin in the Propaganda Fide archives.^[72]

Around 1765 a new Olu of Warri began making repeated requests for missionaries. A native of Warri named João Álvares, who was a canon at São Tomé, was sent in 1770 together with the Capuchin Fr. Felix, who had just arrived at São Tomé. In 1771 Fr. Felix was back at São Tomé full of complaints about João Álvares’ scandalous life. Afterwards, according to the French Captain Landolphe who visited Warri in 1786, Brazilian missionaries came and baptized the Olu Manuel Otobia, who possibly may be the Olu “Otoo” whom John Adams met around 1795.^[73]

John Adams has this description of Warri: “on entering the first apartment of the palace we were much surprised to see, placed on a rude kind of table, several emblems of the catholic religion, consisting of crucifixes, mutilated saints, and other trumpery. Some of these articles were manufactured of brass, and others of wood. On inquiring how they came into their present situation we were informed that several black Portuguese missionaries had been at Warré, many years since, endeavouring to convert the natives into Christians; and the building in which they performed their mysteries, we found still standing. A large wooden cross, which had withstood the tooth of time, was remaining in a very perfect state, in on one of the angles formed by two roads intersecting each other. We could not learn that the Portuguese had been successful in making proselytes; indeed, King Otoo’s subjects appeared to trouble themselves very little about religion of any kind.”^[74] Adams adds that the Olu had over 60 wives.

In 1807 the governor of São Tomé wrote a complain to Olu João, who was a Christian, but was making trouble for Portuguese traders. Trade dropped in the early 19th century and priests no longer visited Warri. Religious practice continued, nevertheless, as evidenced by a British naval officer who witnessed a Christmas procession in 1820. In 1848 the king and his two leading heirs died, and for the rest of the century the Itsekiri were only a collection of independent villages. All tradition of the Warri kingdom had disappeared when the British began their rule.^[75]

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^[4]According to Duarte Pacheco Pereira, writing in 1505; cf. Hodgkin, 92.

^[5]MMA, I, 54; for the date see Ryder (1969a), 32-3.

^[6]MMA, IV, 58, refers to a Portuguese feitor at Benin in 1509, although Ryder (1969a), 33, says that the port of Gwato was finally closed in 1506-7. Manuel de Gois complains of the small amount of trade in 1510 (MMA, IV, 63). A ship was reported sunk off the coast of Benin just before 1512 (MMA, I, 217).

^[9]MMA, IV, 88 and note 2; cf. Salvadorini (1972), 27, note 85 on Papal prohibitions regarding arms sales. See MMA, I, 324, on the priests going to Benin.

^[11]Duarte Pires, writing “during the war” on 20 October 1516 (MMA, I, 369).

^[14]Egharevba, 27. Ryder (1969a), 50, corrects the date of Esigie’s succession form 1504 to 1516.

^[16]MMA, I, 492. Brásio erroneously puts 1526 in the title. The text mentions 1516 three times; it also refers to the war and the presence of Pero Barroso, the ambassador of 1514.

^[19]MMA, II, 79; I, 369; Ryder (1961), 231-58.

^[20]Salvadorini, 28. Part of the text is in Hodgkin, 96.

^[22]The assertion of Bane (1956), 77-8, (1968), 136, that Baltasar Barreira SJ visited Benin is based on a confusion of Bena in Sierra Leone with Benin. Cf. Fyfe (1964), 49 ff.

^[28]Cf. Pedro da Cunha’s report (MMA, VI, 542); the date is inferred by a letter of 1608 (MMA, V, 438).

^[33]MMA, VI, 542; for other variations on the story see Salvadorini, 123 ff.

^[41]Dapper, 507-8. Dapper actually calls the Olu Antonio de Mingo, an easy mistake for one not familiar with the Portuguese Domingos. See also Salvadorini, 126, n. 13.

^[51]See the letters of Felipe de Híjar (MMA, XI, 365, 390); Cavazzi, 41-52; Kilger (1932); Ryder (1961, 1969a); Salvadorini. The sources are very discrepant about chronological details for this and the following section. Ryder and Salvadorini agree about the main dates.

^[53]MMA, XI, 242. On the dating and authenticity of this letter see Salvadorini, 93-7.

^[58]Bonaventura da Firenze actually says “a few days after returning from Benin” (Salvadorini, 149), but then speaks of a Portuguese ship arriving two years later. The chronology is impossible.

^[65]Text ibid., 290. The letter is signed “Domingos II”, which cannot be right; cf. p. 208.

^[70]Egharevba, 39; W. Smith, in Hodgkin, 152; cf. Ryder 1969a), 118 ff; Bosman (1967), 466-7.

^[71]On 18th century Warri see Ryder (1960), 19-24.

^[75]Gray (1969), 305; Jadin (1956); Lloyd (1963).