Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- 1 A Land in Turmoil
- 2 The Rival Kings
- 3 Priests and Witches in Catholic Kongo
- 4 The Crisis in Faith and Force
- 5 Saint Anthony Arrives
- 6 The Saint and the Kings
- 7 Saint Anthony in Sin and Glory
- 8 Facing the Fire
- 9 The War for Peace
- Appendix: A Recovery of the “Salve Antoniana”
- Index
3 - Priests and Witches in Catholic Kongo
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- 1 A Land in Turmoil
- 2 The Rival Kings
- 3 Priests and Witches in Catholic Kongo
- 4 The Crisis in Faith and Force
- 5 Saint Anthony Arrives
- 6 The Saint and the Kings
- 7 Saint Anthony in Sin and Glory
- 8 Facing the Fire
- 9 The War for Peace
- Appendix: A Recovery of the “Salve Antoniana”
- Index
Summary
While dona beatriz was undergoing inititation into the Kimpasi society, the Italian Capuchins established a hospice in Kibangu. They had a hospice at the village of Mbambalelo in the Marquisate of Nkusu, some forty miles east of Kibangu across the deep canyon of the Lefunde River, and only occasionally visited the Kibangu region.
It was politics and not religious devotion that brought the Capuchins to Kibangu. At the start of 1698, King Pedro received a letter from Garcia Makunga – who held the title of Marquis of Wembo for Queen Ana – that they would like to recommence the Concert of Kongo. The queen had decided not to support João any longer and was now proposing the coronation of another of her Kinlaza relatives, António de Leão Mpanzu Kivangi, who, as a son of King Álvaro VIII (who ruled briefly in 1668) was eligible for the office.
King Pedro was greatly disturbed by this development, which would put another barrier in his way to full acceptance, and decided he needed to take direct action of his own. He calculated that whatever hopes he might have would probably rest on getting Capuchin support, since he had been a witness to the effectiveness of Father Luca da Caltanisetta in the last Concert.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Kongolese Saint AnthonyDona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706, pp. 59 - 81Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998