On the history of the Zimbabwe/Rhodesia mission and martyrdom of Fr. Silveira
Fr Paul Kimball, SSPX 26th,May,2019
Fr Paul Kimball, SSPX 26th,May,2019
The Zambesi mission was founded in 1877, and entrusted to the English Province of the Society of Jesus. In 1879 the first party of missionaries under Father Henry Depelchin, the first superior, started from Grahamstown in Cape Colony, with four wagons drawn by oxen, on a journey of five or six months to Bulawayo, a thousand miles in the interior. There were then no railways in the country; communications were slow and difficult, and the prices of the necessaries of life were enormous. Many lives were lost from fever and privations. The Matabele natives were not yet prepared to receive Christianity, and the cruel rule of their despotic king, Lobengula, rendered fruitless every effort of the missionaries. An expedition led by Father Depelchin himself pushed further north beyond the Zambesi in quest of more promising fields; but from various causes this attempt failed. Another unsuccessful expedition under Father Augustus Law went three hundred miles east to the Portuguese border. With the advent of the British South Africa Company a new era opened for the mission. In 1893 Lobengula was deprived of his power, Bulawayo, his capital, seized, and Matabeleland conquered. Missionaries availed themselves of the advantages which the new rule guaranteed. Sites suitable for mission stations were selected. The Sisters of St. Dominic entered the country about the same time, took charge of the public hospitals, and later opened schools for the children of the settlers.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the “Prefecture Apostolic of the Zambesi Mission” written in 1912, the progress of the mission had been necessarily slow. Little was to be expected from the adult native population owing to their pagan practices, especially polygamy; hence the hopes of large and successful communities must be built mainly on the education of children. Moreover, the work had been hampered again and again by those difficulties which have retarded the material development of Zimbabwe: wars within and without the borders, cattle plagues, famine, locusts, etc. Meanwhile, the introduction of railways removed one great obstacle to the establishment of mission stations; one line traverses the mission from south to north. There were (in 1912) 32 Jesuits and 22 Jesuit lay brothers, and 3 priests and 6 brothers of the Missionaries of Mariannhill. The towns of Bulawayo, Harare, Gwelo, and Umtali have each a church and a resident priest. At Chishawasha there was a large [Jesuit] mission station for the natives. The Sisters of St. Dominic had a school for native girls at the mission station of Chishawasha. The Europeans numbered about 1300; in Southern Rhodesia the native population had not yet been estimated with even approximate accuracy. The Catholic population comprised about 740 Europeans and Indians, 1400 natives. Several books were written in the four languages spoken in Rhodesia, mostly by the Fathers of the mission-grammars, catechisms, prayer-books, Bible stories.
Among other more material motives, the reason why this territory was assigned at Rome to the Jesuits was its being the scene of the labors and martyrdom of one of its members, namely Fr. Goncalo da Silveira, the first Apostle of Zimbabwe.
Fr. Goncalo da Silveira, the Society’s first martyr on the African continent, was born near Lisbon, Portugal. He was the tenth child of the Count of Sortelha. His mother died at his birth and his father soon died afterwards. He was brought up by his married sister for a position in the royal court. Her husband, the Marquis of Tavora, was the ‘overlord’ of the district of Mogadouro. Young Goncalo had a great love for the poor, and if he had no alms to give, he would bring them back to his home and beg from his family the needed alms. He visited them in their homes and brought them presents of food and clothing, and toys, which were never of much interest to himself.
Once when he and his brother, Alvaro, had been doing some harmless mischief. When this was reported to the Marquis, they were asked if they had done the alleged deed. His brother denied being involved in any way, but Goncalo admitted his guilt. To see who was guilty, the Marquis angrily said to Goncalo, “Wasn’t it enough for you to have done wrong, but what is more, you confess it shamelessly without a blush?” “I am indeed ashamed, sir,” answered Goncalo, “and I am sorry for it. But I should have been much more sorry and ashamed, had I tried to save myself from punishment by a lie.” The Marquis (it is reported) had no further doubts.”
Goncalo was educated by the Franciscans of the monastery of Saint Margarete until 1542 when at the age of seventeen he went to finish his studies in the University of Coimbra. He had been there little more than a year when he was received into the Society of Jesus in 1543, among a number of other sons of noble families. An older brother of his tried in vain to dissuade him from following this vocation, but after hearing his brother’s arguments, his older brother left him being himself sorrowful that he himself did not also have such a vocation.
Goncalo slept on the hard floor with a log as his pillow. His cell was decorated with just four crosses, one hung on each of the four bare walls. Every night he disciplined himself until blood flowed. To humble himself, he once shaved his eyebrows and on another occasion he pretended to be a madman. But his rector wrote to St. Ignatius Loyola in Rome: “We have with us here one of the nobility, Goncalo da Silveira by name… a young man of sound and sober judgement, born to do great things. He has come to realize the truths of eternity, and has been stirred by such thoughts. He seems to have them stamped in his heart. He is strong and robust in body, and needs to be watched and restrained in his excessive severities. But he is very tractable and responsive when corrected. He possesses remarkable gifts.” For many years he longed to be a martyr, and often spoke about the glories of martyrdom. Once he was near death from illness, when his Provincial offered Mass for him, during which he suddenly became better. He then wished to change his name Silvester, on whose feast he had recovered.
He became a popular preacher and a nun said that she had never seen such tears flow in choir as when Fr. Silveira preached to her community. Once while preaching he accidently hit his hand on a nail in the pulpit and did not notice that he had been bleeding badly until the end of his sermon. In those days sermons were often two or three hours long, but he kept the attention of his listeners during a Holy Week sermon for twelve hours. He accepted correction well and was gentle in correcting those under him. When he offered Mass he went into ecstasy and was obliged to ask his server where he had left off. When he prayed the Rosary, he genuflected at every Ave. He often went to confession two or three times per day. He correctly prophesied to his brother the defeat of his fleet against the Turks. When assisting at the execution of a criminal, he prayed to share in Christ’s sufferings and death, and Our Lord promised him that he should one day die a martyr for His name. Later, when offering Mass, when he elevated the chalice, the whole congregation saw his hands stained with blood, which they understood as a sign of his future death for the faith of Christ. He became a renowned preacher in Lisbon and later was appointed provincial of India, taking the place of Saint Francis Xavier, in 1555 at the young age of thirty years old. The appointment was approved by St. Ignatius a few months before his death.
He wrote about his sea voyage from Lisbon to Mozambique by saying: “As death cannot well be described except by one who has attended a death-bed, so the voyage from Portugal to India can only be related, or even believed, by him who has had that experience.” Fr. Silveira’s term of government in India lasted three years. He proved a worthy successor of St. Francis Xavier, who had left India in 1549, and his apostolic labors and those of the hundred Jesuits under him, were crowned with much success, yet he was not considered the perfect model of a superior. He used to say that God had given him the great grace of unsuitability for government — apparently a certain want of tact in dealing with human weakness.
In 1560, Fr. Silveira was called to a new mission in Mozambique as the native chief Gamba had requested for a Christian missionary for his country, having been convinced by his son who had been newly converted by Portuguese traders. Fr. Silveira, another priest, Fr. Fernandes, and a brother arrived in Mozambique in February, 1560 and worked their way to Otongwe where Gamba lived two months later. Fr. Fernandes wrote about the journey complaining that Fr. Silveira did not accept transport in the more comfortable ship of the Captain: “The Father would not go to Sofala in the captain’s ship, but in a small boat where there is no room for a man to stand, sit or lie down. And though I represented to the Father the hardship and danger of travelling in such a craft, it seems that his desire of being in one was such that he still wished that we should go in it: and I assure you, beloved brethren, that while in it I was always weary, for besides the want of room for any man to be comfortable, it tossed so that it increased the hardship.” Fr. Silviera would only eat rice and beans during the journey, as it was during Lent. Once he arrived, he was so sick with fever from malaria that his life was in danger, but he recovered. After minimal instruction, Gamba and his court and 500 others were converted and Fr. Silveira was so encouraged that he had hopes of converting southern and central Africa and the easiest way to do so was to convert southern Africa’s most powerful king – the king of Monomotapa whose capital was 100 miles north of Zimbabwe. Fr. Silveira prepared hard for his new mission. Towards the end of the year he started up the Zambesi on his expedition to the capital of the Monomotapa which appears to have been the N’Pande kraal, close by the M’Zingesi river, a southern tributary of the Zambesi. He walked hundreds of miles to reach his destination. With the help of Antonio Caiado as intermediary, a Portuguese who was much trusted by the Monomotapa, Fr. Silveira arrived at the king’s village on 26 December, 1560 There he met Chisamhura Nogomo, the young local chief who was newly made “the golden king” because gold had been discovered in his territory.
The king offered the missionary presents of gold-dust, oxen and some female slaves, which to his surprise, Fr. Silveira refused to accept saying that he did not seek the gifts of the chief, but the chief himself. The chief was greatly surprised and this refusal increased the chief’s opinion of the greatness and authority of his visitor. A few days later a lesser chief walked past the hut in which Fr. Silveira was offering Mass. He caught sight of what he thought was a beautiful woman standing in front of Fr. Silveira. He hastened to tell the chief that the priest had brought a lovely woman with him. The chief then sent a messenger to Fr. Silveira, begging him to be allowed to see the beauty of the woman of whose beauty he had heard and whom he presumed to be his wife. The holy missionary was a little astonished, but he soon understood when the messenger pointed to the large picture of Our Lady of Grace that was hanging behind the altar, as the wife in question. This was Fr. Silveira’s opportunity, for which he rendered fervent thanks to heaven. Wrapping the picture carefully in some rich cloth, he carried it to the chief’s hut. Before displaying it, however, to the eager eyes of the chief, he said a few words in explanation. He spoke to him of a God, the rewarder of good and the avenger of evil, who, to save us from ourselves and to win for us a future happiness, had come down from the heavens and had clothed Himself in the soft, gentle flesh of an immaculate Mother. Here, he said, was the representation of that holy Virgin, the spouse of the Holy Ghost. And drawing aside the covering, he knelt down in homage before the picture. The chief was enraptured at the sight, and could scarcely turn his eyes away from it. Fr. Silveira made a simple shrine for the picture and left it within the hut of the chief. But during the next five days, the Mother of God appeared in living form to this African chief, speaking in an unknown tongue. At length he told Fr. Silveira, lamenting his incapacity of understanding the language of the vision. The missionary replied that they alone could understand whose souls had been cleansed in Holy Baptism. Two days later the chief and his mother sent word that they were willing to be baptized and join the Christians in their worship. They were instructed in the basic truths of the faith and baptized about three weeks later, followed by three hundred individuals shortly afterwards. This made the Moslem traders who lived in nearby villages very jealous as they became fearful that the Portuguese would now get all the trade. So they set to poison the chief’s mind. They told the king that the Portuguese planned to take over the country and that Fr. Silveira was a spy and a sorcerer who had come to bring drought and famine to the land and that he would then kill the king. The chief believed these lies and absurdities and decided Fr. Silveira had to be killed.
Fr. Silveira sensed the change in the chief and when Caiado found out the chief’s plans to kill Fr. Silveira he urged the latter to leave immediately, but this advice was not heeded. Instead, Fr. Silveira made his final preparations. On March 15, 1561, he baptized 50 neophytes, heard the confessions of the Portuguese traders in the surrounding area, whom he had summoned and entrusted his Mass equipment to them, keeping only a crucifix for himself. That night just before he retired, he told Caiado: “I am more ready to die than the Moslems are to kill me. I forgive the king, who is young, and his mother, because they had been deceived.” Caiado then instructed two of his servants to remain with Fr. Silveira throughout the night.
Fr. Silveira prayed before his crucifix, was seen walking anxiously up and down late into the night and then fell asleep. Before midnight the murderers rushed into the priest’s hut, and killed him by strangling him with a rope round his neck before they dragged him and threw his body into the Musengezi river. The expedition sent to avenge his death never reached its destination, while his apostolate came to an abrupt end from a want of missionaries to carry on his work. With this martyrdom, the Society’s first mission to Monomotapa ended.
In 1625, Fr. Alfonso Leo de Barbudas, a Jesuit, was sent by the Viceroy of India up the Zambesi. He swore to the truth of the following account. He stopped at an island on the river and noticed a log that had apparently floated down the river, thrown up on the island. On top of the log were very colorful birds perched on top, singing with a sweet melody. Native fishermen told him that the birds are always there and take turns by replacing each other. The priest wished to go onto the island to examine the log closer, but the native warned him that there were lions and other animals on the island which would not allow anyone on the island. Long ago the body of a white man, dressed in the same habit that Fr. de Barbudas was wearing, had floated down the river tied to a tree-trunk. The trunk had remained fast to the island, together with the corpse. A number of lions came out of the undergrowth, and breaking the cords that bound the body had dragged it into the woods, leaving the log on the bank. From that time the log had been constantly guarded by the birds which were just mentioned. These things, they added, had happened within living memory, some sixty years or more. It was a tradition that whoever had inhabited that body was a very holy man, since even the brute beasts paid homage to his corpse. One old fisherman related how, within his memory, a neighboring chief had resolved to test the truth of the story. A number of natives approached the island from one side, thus attracting the lions to that spot. Meanwhile two natives landed on the opposite side, and posted themselves amongst the topmost branches of a high tree. From that position they were enabled to see a clearing in the middle of the woods, and in it the body of a man, dressed in black, surrounded by lions that kept guard in turn, like the birds upon the log. They remained the whole day on the island, escaping by the same method of tactics as they had employed on the previous day. Fr. de Barbudas was convinced that this corpse could only have been that of Fr. da Silveira, whose memory had not yet died out in the minds of the natives, even in those distant parts of the country.
In 1905, 344 years after the death of Fr. Silveira, the official investigation to establish his martyrdom and to open the cause of his beatification. As stated at the beginning, the reason why this territory of Zimbabwe was assigned at Rome to the Jesuits was its being the scene of the labors and martyrdom of one of its members, namely Fr. Goncalo da Silveira, the first Apostle of Zimbabwe.
