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King Affonso I
Rui de Aguiar, a Portuguese missionary worked in the Congo as Vicar-General during the second decade of the sixteenth century. The following description of the greatest King of Congo Affonso I (Mvemba Nzinga), who ruled from 1506 to about 1545, is contained in a letter dated May 25 1516 from Rui de Aguiar to King Manuel of Portugal. A genuine and devout convert to Christianity, Affonso sought to establish Catholicism and to carry out a program of westernization in the Congo. Only a shrewd and able king could have abandoned the traditional sanctions of divine kingship and introduced new customs to challenge the old without disrupting the kingdom or losing his throne.
This king, Dom Affonso, has nothing else in mind but Our Father and His manifestations. He has presently ordered that every man in all his kingdom pay the tithe, saying that the light must be carried in front and not behind.
In his quality as a Christian, Your Highness will know, it seems to me, that he is not a man but an angel whom God has sent to this kingdom to convert it, according to the things he says and ex-presses. For I swear that he teaches us, and he knows the prophets and the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and all the lives of the saints and all the things of our sa-cred mother the church better than we ourselves know them. I swear that such a sight would greatly astonish Your High-ness. He says things so well phrased and so true that it seems to me that the Holy Spirit always speaks through him, for he does nothing but study, and many times he falls asleep over his books, and many times he forgets to eat and drink for talk-ing of Our Lord, and he is so absorbed by the things of the Book that he forgets him-self, and even when he is going to hold an audience and listen to the people, he speaks of nothing but God and His saints. He studies the sacred gospel, and when the priest finishes saying mass, he begins to preach to the people with great love and charity, asking these people and beg-ging them, for the love of Our Lord, to convert and turn themselves toward Godso much so that his people are taken by amazement and we, even more so, by his virtue and the faith he has in Our Lord. And he does that every day, and he preaches, as I have described to Your Highness.
Your Highness will also know that he is very just and that he greatly punishes those who adore idols and that he burns them with their idols, and that he has, throughout his kingdom, ministers of justice to seize all those of whom it is learned that they possess idols or carry on sacrilege or any other bad actions touching our saintly Catholic faith. And again, throughout his kingdom he has sent many men, natives of the country, Christians, who have schools and teach our saintly faith to the people, and there are also schools for girls where one of his sisters teaches, a woman who is easily sixty years old, and who knows how to read very well and who is learned in her old age. Your Highness would rejoice to see it. There are also other women who know how to read and who go to church every day. These people pray to Our Lord at mass and Your Highness will know in truth that they are making great progress in Christianity and virtue, for they are ad-vancing in the knowledge of the truth; also, may Your Highness always send them things and rejoice in helping them and, for their redemption, as a remedy, send them books, for they need them more than any other things for their re-demption.
I am not speaking [here] of the great love and friendship that the King of Congo has for Your Highness. I have heard him say, in fact, that he asked Our Lord not to let him die before having seen Your Highness. I also have heard him say that Your Highness was King of the Congo, and he, King of Portugal. These things he says often to whomever wants to hear them. By that, Your Highness will know that all that I say is very true, and if I write a lie to Your Highness, may God destroy me, body and soul. And may Your Highness remember the very great good that has begun and for that Our Lord will give him the retribution he de-serves.
Done today, the twenty-fifth day of the month of May of the year MDXVI.
Alvare II And Alvare III
Relations Between The Kingdom of Congo and The Papacy
From J. Cuvelier and L. Jadin, LAncien Congo daprs les Archives Romaines (1518-1640) (Brussels: Acadmie Royale des Sciences dOutre-Mer, 1954), pp. 329-331, 333-335, 348-351. Trans. by Nell Elizabeth Painter and Robert O. Collins. Bracketed material has been supplied by Professor Collins.
After the Jaga attack had been subdued, the kings of Congo, Alvare I (1568-1587), Alsare II (1587-1614), and Alvare III (1614-1622) sought to reassert their authority and to disengage themselves from dependence on the Portuguese. Alvare I had sent Duarte Lpez to Rome in 1583, hoping to enlist Vatican support against Portugal. In 1590 Alvare II allied himself against the Portuguese in Angola and in 1604 sought to make the Congo a papal vassal. The Vatican rejected this proposal but agreed to intercede with the King of Spain on behalf of Congo. The appointment of Monsignor Vivs inaugurated an era of close relations between Rome and San Salvador. Acting on the appeal of Alvare III for support, the Vatican remonstrated with the King of Spain to check Portuguese who invaded the Congo from Angola.
Alvaro II to Pope Paul V
San Salvador (Capital of the Kingdom of Congo)
27 February 1613
Dom Alvaro II by divine grace, augmenter of confession to the faith of Jesus Christ and defender of that same faith in these lands of Ethiopia, king of the very ancient kingdom of Congo, Angola, Matamba, Ocango, and of the Ambandu, and also of many other kingdoms and sovereignties that are subject to him this side and beyond the marvelous river Zare. Written from his royal city of San Salvador, the 27th of February 1613.
To the very Holy Father, Pope Paul V, at present head of the Church of God Our Lord.
He expresses the desire that he has to come personally to kiss the feet of His Holiness.
He acknowledges the reception of the letter from His Holiness, received in the year 1611. He thanks him for the title of Majesty, which was given to him in that letter, which was read from the pulpit by a father of Saint Dominic who was here at that time.
He expresses his thanks for the wel-come made for Dom Antonio Manuel, his ambassador, who died in Rome.
Dom Antonio Manuel, not being able to be admitted as ambassador and thus unable to kiss the feet of His Holiness, having been taken away by death; the king not being able to come himself, nor send others at short notice, has chosen for his ambassador to Your Holiness Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Vivs, prothonotary of the number of participants and referendary [arbitrator] of the one and the other signa-ture, so that with all the solemnity of ambassadors of kings, he may kiss the feet of His Holiness in his name, swear alle-giance and express the joy which he feels about his elevation to the Sovereign Pontry. Monsignor Vivs will be able to take care of the business entrusted to D. Antonio Manuel....
He chooses the Cardinal of Saint Cecilia as protector of his kingdom. If both should die, His Holiness may replace them as he sees fit.
He has been informed that the Portuguese in this country seek to bring about a division between himself and the King of Spain, so that the latter would be prompted to conquer the kingdom of Congo. For his own part, he has always shown friendship to this king and he has favored his subjects.
He has always treated the churches and priests well and has made sure that the tithes are paid. He has had the tithes collected by his servants in specie because foodstuffs could not be transported due to the size of the kingdom and could not be taken out of the villages. They have agreed on a certain number of measures of Nzimbu, the word that designates their money.
He has not received the brief mentioned in the letter.
He asks that by means of a brief, every-one would be prohibited, on pain of cen-sure, from encroaching on the lands of his kingdom or taking possession of the mines....
He asks for a brief in order to be able to defend himself against the attacks of the bishops. If he is not treated justly, may he notify them by a priest or cleric, because the bishop threatens to interdict him and deprive him of priests. This sug-gests to him that the Portuguese desire to conquer his kingdom. In the past pontiffs accorded very ample briefs, but these briefs were lost during the wars with the "Giacchi" [Jaga]....
He is very badly treated by the Por-tuguese and the prelates. He is very ashamed of this. He hides it so that the pagan kings may not be glad of it and because he expects protection from Rome. If his authority is maintained these other kings may be convened.
He suffers many vexations because of the distance from the King of Portugal and because his business is sent to Portugal, where the relatives of the Portuguese who are in the Congo occupy certain offices.
The Christian religion is making no progress because there are no priests.... The foreign priests who come to the Congo have no preoccupation other than that of enriching themselves and returning to their countries; they take no interest in gaining souls for heaven. If religious personnel are sent, may they be like the "Mariani" [Monks of Mary], or Carmelites, who came during his fathers time. They got very good results because of the example they set, their doctrine, and their charity.
As for the Dominican fathers requested from the King of Portugal, of the four he sent, two died during the course of the trip and the two who arrived at their destina-tion are hardly useful.
They interfere in the foreign affairs of the kingdom and in the plans and duties of the king at their own bidding. May those fathers who will come in the future be ordered to keep to their own duties.
He begs that a brief be accorded the bishop giving him the faculty of dispensing with irregularities of notable persons wanting to be ordained and also the faculty to dispense with the impediment of consanguinity and affinity, with the order that the bishop not make difficulties in according them and not do so according to his own desires, but that he carry out what Your Holiness commands and what the king asks.
At the time of the first vacancy of the episcopal seat, there was much dispute and disorder among the members of the chapter. They abused themselves publicly at mass and in the offices in the presence of the king, imposing conflicting censures. If the situation had not been remedied, it would have become aggravated. The remedy (there was no other means) was to threaten them with expulsion from the kingdom. Then they calmed down.
He begs that remedies be found for other similar cases, for they take excessive liberties. The king asks that the vicar, who at that time did not conduct himself according to law, be sent away and an-other chosen by means of a brief that he requests and that the new one be of the best group and chosen from among those who are in agreement with him.
Alvaro II to Pope Paul V
San Salvador,
25 October 1617
Very Holy Father, Myself, Dom Alvaro the Third, by di-vine grace, augmenter of the faith of Jesus Christ and defender of the faith in these lands of Ethiopia, king of the very ancient kingdom of Congo, Angola, Matamba, Ocanga, and of the Ambandu, here and beyond the marvelous river Zare [Congo], and of many other kingdoms and neighboring sovereignties....
As the very humble and very obedient son of Your Holiness, I kiss his very holy feet in my name and of my royal person as well as in the name of all my kingdoms and states, I give him the allegiance due him as the universal pastor of the flock of Christ. I beg Your Holiness with all pos-sible ardor to accept the above-said allegiance, which I have given and offered by the intermediary of my procurer, Dom Jean-Baptiste Vivs of Valencia. The prothonotary and referendary [arbitrator] of Your Holiness will remit it, according to the mode and manner which the other Catholic Kings are accustomed to in dealing with the apostolic Holy See. I give him all necessary faculties to pledge allegiance as well as to treat affairs in my name to Your Holiness and to all the Roman pontiffs, his successors. If for any reason he cannot do so, we would like Your Holiness and his successor to have the power to name other procurers in my name and in the name of my kingdoms. In this way the designs of King Dom Al-varo II, my lord and father whom God has, in His glory, taken up again. This is what he had in mind when he sent Dom Antonio Manuel, who died in Rome, to the apostolic Holy See. He entrusted le-ters to him, affairs to be discussed and commissioned him with an embassy. It is necessary that these projects be developed for the greater service of God and for the greater good of Christianity.
I reconfirm the instructions he gave and the business he negotiated, and I humbly beg Your Holiness to give orders so that old requests and those which more re-cently have been addressed to the above--named procurer, to be submitted by him to Your Holiness, may be examined. All these affairs are contained in instructions that I have sent, signed by my hand, which manifest that my goal is to promote the divine cult for the greater glory of God, the exaltation of His Church, the confusion of barbarians and pagans, and the consolidation of Catholics.
By other routes I have written to Your Holiness, to the Seignior Cardinal, protec-tor of these kingdoms, and to the above--named procurer, my ordinary ambassa-dor resident at that Roman court, Dom Jean-Baptiste Vivs.
In those letters I announced the death of King Alvaro II, my lord and father. I related that after his death, given my young age, the kingdom was put in the possession of Dom Bernard, my uncle, bastard half-brother of the above-named king, with the help of a few important people. But after less than a year, the kingdom, seeing the injustices done to me, scandalized by some disorders indicative of little Christian religion, took up arms against him without my knowing. This was under the command of Dom Antonio da Silva, Grand Duke of Mbamba, a prov-ince of the kingdom, and general of the kingdom, to whom the above-named king, my lord and father, before dying, had given over my person, as executor of his will. Dom Bernard was deprived of the kingdom and his life, and I was reestablished in power to the great joy of all, and, was recognized by all the states as their king and their universal lord.
I beg Your Holiness to deign to send many favors and spiritual graces to me and to all my subjects, to deign to let us rejoice in his letters, which will bring us many benefits and much honor, and the courage to resist the barbarous pride of paganism by which, from all sides of our kingdom, we are besieged.
We also beg Your Holiness to deign to receive us forever under the protection and defense of the apostolic Holy See and to make his Catholic Majesty, King Dom Philippe [of Spain], whom we greatly es-teem and honor as our well-loved brother, favorable to us, recognizing the great benefits that I and all these kingdoms and this Christianity owe to his magnificence. These benefits have cost His Majesty great expenditures, which he has not ceased to make in favor of this Chris-tianity whose culture he assures. Even so, we are under the weight of injustice on the part of his captains-general and governors who reside in Angola. They enter the lands belonging to our crown and make themselves masters there, as if it were enemy territory, without receiving any such orders from His Majesty. On the contrary, the king orders them in his in-structions, which he gives them, to aid and serve us in all instances. They do not do this, having only their own interests in mind. They commit numerous unjust acts, making alliance with a nation of extremely barbarous men called Gindas and Ingas [Jagas], who live on human flesh.
May Your Holiness deign to find a remedy for this. I beg him to accord me his immediate protection.
May the Lord care for the very holy person of Your Holiness in the measure that his very humble and very obedient son desires....