THE EARLY EVANGELIZATION OF BENIN

THE EARLY EVANGELIZATION OF BENIN

FURTHER REFLECTIONS

Bodija Journal, n. 2 (1990), 71-75

The Middle Period of African Church history - between early North and East African, and the 19th-20th century missionary movement - is one of the least known but most fascinating episodes in the history of the Church. I have presented the main events of this period in my book, A history of the Catholic Church in Tropical Africa, 1445-1850.^[1] Particularly intriguing is the discovery, when the Portuguese first came to Benin in the latter part of the 15th century, of evidence of previous Christian influence.^[2]

Christian influence from the African hinterland

João de Barros described a cross which the Benin king wore around his neck. It was sent from the “Ogané”. The Benin ambassador to the Ogané wore a similar cross.^[3] That this cross is a Christian symbol fits well with its shape, as seen on carvings and bronzes, which is the Nubian cross, and with the presence of a chain of Christian influence and/or such crosses from Nubia right to Benin.

The identity of the Ogané is more problematic. De Barros thought he was the “Prester John” or emperor of Ethiopia. Hodgkin^[4] and Obayemi,^[5] following Samuel Johnson’s theory that Ife was the cradle of the Yoruba, speculated that the Ogané was the Oni of Ife. Recent writers have challenged Johnson’s theory, which was the foundation of the pan-Yoruba ideology of Awolowo’s party. A. Ryder, for instance, argues that De Barros’ indication that Ogané’s capital was 20 moons to the east cannot be taken literally, but it does make us look elsewhere than Ife.^[6] he finds the Niger valley a likely direction, and speculates that Idah, Nupe country or Jukun could be the site, especially since in these places is found the “cat’s whisker” facial mark, which is found on the representations of Ogané’s messenger. corroborating Ryder is D. William’s Icon and Image^[7] which points out important differences between Benin and Ife art work and speculates that Benin art styles originated first from a tradition of non-figurative brass casting coming across the Sahara down through Jukun. The figurative brass casting he attributes to European influence. Another writer, A. Obayemi, in a later article, goes further and reduces Ife to one small Yoruba kingdom among many, arguing that its fame was merely due to its bead industry.^[8]

The latest important contribution to the discussion is Robin Horton’s “Ancient Ife: a reassessment”.^[9] in this long and complicated article he reviews all the previous theories and weighs the evidence for them. Surprisingly he returns to some of the Johnsonian ideas rejected by recent critics. He accepts the conclusions of Dr. Akinkugbe’s linguistic research that the Yoruba originated around the Niger-Benue confluence and spread southwest in three fan-like projections, or pie slices, giving rise to the present dialectical regions of north-west, central and south-east.^[10] Ife, therefore, was not the cradle of the Yoruba, but lay in the centre of the dispersion. Around A.D. 1000 it grew into an important town and was the dominant power of the region. This was because it was in the centre of a northward bulge in the forest and was the nearest supply of forest products, such as kola nuts, accessible to traders from the north. (Horton here assumes that kolas were grown in Yorubaland at this time.^[11] Furthermore, going through Ife was the shortest way from the Niger Bend straight south to the coast, unless one wanted to follow the Niger’s long and dangerous route. Benin and Oyo were at first outposts of the Ife empire and only around 1500 did Benin come into its own. This should be in response to European trade.) According to Horton, then, Ife was the home of the Ogané.

Horton answers the problem of De Barros’ siting of Ogané’s home in the east by pointing out a Dahomean tradition and a prayer ritual of the Oba of Benin to his Ife forefathers through an eastward facing window at dawn.^[12] This is illustrative of the praise epithet “Ife, creator of the world, whence comes the dawn”. Moreover recent archaeological finds at Ife include both the formée or Maltese (Nubian) cross and the “cat’s-whisker” facial mark on terra-cotta statuary.^[13] Horton also points to carbon-14 and thermoluminescence tests carried out on materials of the strata in which the Ife artifacts were found, and these indicate dates for terra-cotta materials ranging from A.D. 1000, while the brass work ranges from between 1275 and 1440. Datings for Owo and Benin artifacts begin slightly later than their Ife counterparts. With this evidence Horton is encouraged to try to answer the further difficulties raised by Williams about the relationship of Benin and Ife art.^[14]

Around 1500 Benin would have come into its own, basing its prosperity on the control of trade routes to the north that bypassed Ife. One of these was through Ilesha to y; another was to the Niger, whence the fighting with Idah to control this route. y itself developed into a separate power about a century later. The reduced Ife for a time played the role of an intermediary, father-figure or elder-statesman toward both these powers as long as their expansion was outward. From the end of the 18th century y was hard pressed and the inter-Yoruba wars for export slaves disrupted the traditional balance. Ife was hardest hit, particularly by y refugees settled in Modakeke, and all trace of its former prestige vanished until its 20th century revival under the British.

So much for Horton’s theory. The Arabs have a habit of ending a discussion with the phrase “Wa-llâhu a`lam”, “God knows best”. I conclude that Ife or possibly Idah was the route through which the Christian culture symbolized by the Nubian cross came across the continent to Benin. The Ogané could have been the Oni of Ife, but I would suggest that, with De Barros, we look for the prototype Ogané far to the east, not in Ethiopia, but in Nubia, the origin of the cross.

Subsequent Christian influence^[15]

An initial happy relationship with the Portuguese, begun in 1486 or before, led to a mission in 1515 by some unnamed priests, who baptized the son of the Oba and some other prominent men. In 1517 a friar from São Tomé, probably an Augustinian, and three other priests, one of them named Jeanes, a native of Benin who had gone to São Tomé, came to continue the work of evangelization.

We do not know how long this mission lasted, but a Franciscan mission in 1538 found the situation greatly deteriorated. Christians were persecuted and the missionaries not welcome. In 1540 the Oba was again on good terms with the Portuguese, but no mission immediately ensued. Instead the Portuguese concentrated on the upstart state of Warri, which displayed more interest in the faith.

The next known mission to reach Benin itself is that of the Cappuchins Ángel de Valencia and some companions who after much suffering arrived in Benin in August 1651. They were favourably received by the Oba, but after two months the officials prevented them from seeing him again. After a year and a half of frustration they interrupted a festival to denounce the human sacrifice, and were thereupon expelled.

The Italian Capuchins Angelo di Ajaccio and Bonaventura da Firenze brought letters for the Oba of Benin while on a mission to Warri in 1656, but they were not granted an audience and returned promptly to Warri.

Francesco da Monteleone in 1692 claimed to have received and invitation to Benin from the Oba, but no mission was sent until Cipriano da Napoli visited Benin in 1709. He never got to see the Oba, but the next year he sent two priests who did see the Oba and received every welcome and encouragement, including the gift of a house. Yet after a three year stay the two fathers were discouraged at their lack of progress. The last Capuchin attempt to evangelize Benin was by Fr. Illuminato di Poggitello in 1748, and he could not even enter the city.

After this rapid review of events I would like to correct serval popular misconceptions about the facts of early Benin Christianity. One of them is the speculation that Dominicans were there. From all available evidence the first Dominicans ever to set foot in Nigeria were the pioneer group that came in 1951, although there were Dominican bishops long ago in São Tomé.

Another assertion, found in Martin Bane’s Catholic Pioneers in West Africa^[16] and in his The Popes and Western Africa^[17] is that the Jesuit Baltasar Barreira visited Benin. this is completely mistaken and is based on a confusion of Bena in Sierra Leone with Benin. The only priests known to have taken part in the early evangelization of Nigeria were Augustinians, Franciscans, Cappuchins and diocesan priests from São Tomé.

Another misconception is the transferral of events connected with Warri to Benin. Warri became very Catholic, had a church and kept up a semblance of Catholic practice even for many years without a priest. It even had its own indigenous priest in 1765, who was named João Álvares. There is no written evidence corroborating the oral traditions in Egharevba for the existence of churches in Benin.^[18]

From the foregoing we can also clear up the misconception that Fr. Paul Emechete was the first Nigerian to be ordained a Catholic priest, and that in 1921. We have noted the presence of a Bini priest in 1517 and a Warri priest in 1765.

At this point we cannot avoid reference to the recent book by Lamin Sanneh, West African Christianity,^[19] which covers the pre-1850 period in chapters 2 and 3. In spite of its being an excellent survey of the history of the Church in Africa, it has several factual errors regarding Benin and Warri, which I have discussed elsewhere in a review of the book.^[20]

Assessment of the early work of evangelization

Benin, a rich and powerful kingdom, resisted most missionary efforts to lead it to the Catholic faith. Warri, a break-away vassal of Benin, looked for outside support and welcomed the missionaries. The missionaries in Warri were relatively successful as long as their presence was continued. The difference between Warri and Benin certainly points to the influence that a government can have on evangelization. If it is hostile, as in Communist and Islamic countries today, evangelization will be at a standstill. If it is open, evangelization is possible. Nevertheless even in Warri the Church eventually floundered. That was because of a precarious dependence on outside missionary contact which could not be sustained. There was no lack of missionary volunteers, but Portuguese obstruction of Roman policy and non-Portuguese missionaries, the hardships of the journey and deaths upon arrival doomed any lasting missionary presence. The natural thing to do, of course, would be to indigenize the Church. This was certainly thought of, and the presence of indigenous priests in Nigeria and more so in São Tomé testify to the seriousness of missionary intentions. Yet the existence of the Catholic Church requires some infra structure of communication and literacy - to say nothing of the questionable essentials of wheat flour and grape wine. According to the Augustinian bishop of São Tomé, Pedro da Cunha, the Warri people “know how to read and write and are eager for Portuguese books, pens, ink and paper.” Nevertheless they did not have the technology of making paper and other supplies for themselves, and were not initiated into the experience of writing in their own language, as was attempted elsewhere in Africa at the time through catechisms in the local languages. Portuguese obstruction and the slave trade, which was not very severe in Benin or Warri, were not, in my opinion, as serious obstacles to the implantation of the Church as the lack of necessary infrastructures.

The missionaries’ fixation with the Catholic culture of the Europe of their time was also a hinderance to creative evangelization. For instance Giuseppe da Busseto in 1692 objected to the Warri practice of circumcision because it was a Jewish rite. But I do not think the missionaries’ attitudes were a serious obstacle, any more than was the Latin Mass mumbled backing the people for so many years in Nigeria. Such eccentricities may even have attracted many Africans.

Lamin Sanneh, in the book mentioned above, attributes the demise of the Benin and Warri mission to too close identification with existing European interests. This does not point to any African racial prejudice, yet kings, traders and commercial agents did adopt Christianity in order to enjoy the benefits of European cooperation. When African bargaining power was strong it resisted evangelization. Only in the 19th century did new forces come to erode that resistance and compel Africa to accept new influences. Lamin Sanneh is right in his analysis of the political and economic factors that permitted or prevented evangelization, yet for the period under discussion not enough credit is given to the strength of Christian roots once they take even the slightest hold. This was witnessed over and over again in the case of Warri by visitors who saw a church maintained with crosses, statutes and candles, and processions and prayers carried on many years without a priest. This reminds us more of the Nagasaki Catholics. It seems only the economic recession and radical breakdown of Warri society in 1848 cause the demise of Christian tradition there for a time.

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^[1]Ibadan University Press & Dominican Publications, 1983.

^[3]Cf. João de Barros, Asia (Lisbon, 1945, reprint of 1553), Dec. I, Liv. 3, ch. 4, pp. 90-91.

^[4]Thomas Hodgkin, Nigerian perspectives (London: O.U.P., 1960), p. 69.

^[5]A. Obayemi, “The Yoruba and Edo-speaking peoples and their neighbours before 1600,” in J. Ajayi & M. Crowder (eds.), History of West Africa I, p. 247.

^[6]A.F.C. Ryder, Benin and the Europeans, 1485-1897 (London, 1969), p. 7, and “A reconsideration of the Ife-Benin relationship,” Journal of African History, 6 (1965), pp. 25-37.

^[8]“Ancient Ile-Ife: another cultural historical reinterpretation,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 9:4 (June 1979), pp. 69-150. Cf. also R.C.C. Law, “The heritage of Oduduwa: traditional history and political propaganda,” Journal of African History, 14 (1973), pp. 207-222. Note that in my book, p. 69 and note 6, I mistakenly attribute to Mauny & Talbot the opinion that the Ogané was the Alafin of y.

^[9]Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 9:4 (June 1979), pp. 69-150.

^[10]O. Akinkugbe, A comparative phonology of Yoruba dialects, Itsekiri and Igala, Ph.D. thesis, Ibadan University, 1978. Cf. Horton, op. cit., pp. 72 ff.

^[11]Paul E. Lovejoy, in “Interregional monetary flows in precolonial trade in Nigeria,” Journal of African History, 15 (1974), pp. 563-585, and elsewhere points out that kola was grown for centuries in Ashanti but only in recent times in Yorubaland.

^[18]Jacob Egharevba, A short history of Benin (Ibadan U.P., 1968), p. 27 etc.