4
THE DIOCESE OF SANTIAGO:
UPPER GUINEA
4.4 The Franciscans (1657 to mid-18th century)
The Franciscans were pioneers of Christianity in the diocese of Santiago, but abandoned the area towards the end of the 16th century. In 1657 a group of seven Portuguese Franciscans came to revive their mission. Four more joined them later and in 1660 Frs. Paulo Lordelo and Sebastião de São Vicente went to Cacheu and Sierra Leone. Paulo died at Cacheu in 1664, but in 1662 twelve more Franciscans had come to work on the Cape Verde islands and the mainland. In 1674 ten Franciscans came. In 1694 the Franciscan Vitoriano do Porto was the first bishop of Santiago to visit the mainland part of the diocese. On this and following visits he found abundant results of the Capuchins’ work in the area and administered confirmation to thousands. The bishop died at Bissau in 1705 when his house burned down.
Résumé
The Franciscans together with the Capuchins assured a continuous effort of evangelization on the Guinea coast from Cacheu to Sierra Leone throughout the second part of the 17th century. Although there were no large or important states, many minor kings or chiefs together with masses of the people embraced Christianity at this time.
This prosperous beginning unfortunately withered in the 18th century. The reason was partly the decline in the number of priests, while the few remaining generally limited themselves to serving the inhabitants of the coastal trading stations. A report of 1707 says of the Franciscans in guinea: “These religious bear little fruit, since they don’t go to the pagans but stay with the Portuguese.”[1] The few who devoted themselves to evangelizing the African people were limited by isolation and, from today’s point of view, lack of vision regarding the development of a local church.
The slave trade was another major factor in the decline of Christianity, since from the Portuguese side it tore down anything the preachers built up, and from the side of the Mande and Fulani slave suppliers it opened the coast to Muslim pressure and radiation from the interior. The Muslims could take advantage of the internal convulsions and wars among the mini-states of the region, so that eventually Islam became preponderant where once Christianity had prevailed.[2]