Antonianism

[Gary Oswald]

Antonianism was a pretty popular heresy in late 17th century Angola during the long period of Civil War in the Kingdom of Kongo. Kongo's nobility had been Christianised over two centuries earlier but a lot if the peasants were still pagan. Kimpa Vita was a pagan priest who converted to Catholicism but then rejected orthodox teachings because of the lack of black saints.

She claimed to be the reincarnation of Anthony of Padua, who was an important saint to the Portuguese and while she still recognised the pope she basically rejected everything else. Her main relevation was that Jesus had actually been born in the Kingdom of Kongo as the son of a slave.

This was denounced as a heresy by the priests but proved incredibly popular. Kimpa made two major mistakes, first of all while she tried to convert all the major pretenders to the Congolese throne, as soon as one converted the others then had political reasons to reject her and second of all she got impregnated by a follower and seperated herself from her community in order to give birth which lead to her capture and execution.

The heresy took another few decades to wipeout but never was practiced openly again. But what if her side wins the civil war and it's adapted as the official religion of the Kingdom? What consequences will we see?

 

[napoleon IV]

Question: is this before or after the Kongo's slave trade had been largely closed to the Portuguese? Also, what is the possibility of Antonian missionaries spreading the Word through Africa?

 

[Gary Oswald]

Question: is this before or after the Kongo's slave trade had been largely closed to the Portuguese? Also, what is the possibility of Antonian missionaries spreading the Word through Africa?

It was after the Kongo had primarily tried to orientate towards the dutch but the Portuguese still dominated the slave trafe. A lot of the Antonians ended up in Brazil.

And I think high. Within the Kingdom, Kimpa had an order of missionaries who distributed little statues of Saint Anthony to pagan villages. I think at least you'd see similar efforts throughout the congo basin. And possibly beyond that.

 

[Sideways]

This is a delicious idea. I can only imagine how this faith would spread with emerging black communities, especially if the slave trade still ended. Maybe it could end up displacing or merging with Voodoo in Haiti and Rastafarianism in Jamaica and become a real global religion by the present day

 

[Alex Richards]

I think my gut instinct is this ends up with Portugal directly intervening at some point to install a new more orthodox King during one of the many power struggles that are still likely to occur during the 18th and 19th Centuries.

However Antonianism probably ends up the 'default' faith for a lot of the poorer classes which could lead to all sorts of interesting consequences if there's a later move from protectorate to direct colony.

 

[Gary Oswald]

This is a delicious idea. I can only imagine how this faith would spread with emerging black communities, especially if the slave trade still ended. Maybe it could end up displacing or merging with Voodoo in Haiti and Rastafarianism in Jamaica and become a real global religion by the present day

A lot of Kongolese ended up in Haiti. Voodoo became such a big thing because it was a universal faith that had elements of west african and central african and christian and islam faith and so was something that could unite slaves of otherwise entirely different ethnicities. It's almsot certain that Anthony would end up in the Voodoo pantheon in this scenario.

Boukman, the Voodoo priest who was the first major leader of the haitian rebellion, had a whole thing about seperating the evil white god vs the good black god so Antonianism would be right up his alley. Most of the leaders who replaced Boukman were much more orthodox catholic but again it makes sense as a faith for the poorer classes that could reemerge in haiti in the 20th century.

 

[Charles EP M.]

A new religion close to Christianity but saying "the Messiah is one of us", where missionaries will be going about Africa and members of it will be sent as slaves all over the world? That seems like it would be a problem for the European imperial powers and a problem for slave-owners in the Americas, as well. (And once it's spread, likely American and African verisons of Antonianism will diverge)

 

[Thande]

I found out about this on Sunday while researching LTTW, odd coincidence. Slightly reminiscent of (though earlier than) the Taiping Rebellion.

 

[Francisco Cojuanco]

That would be just opening them up to a Portuguese invasion and the end of Kongo independence, I'd think.

 

[Gary Oswald]

That would be just opening them up to a Portuguese invasion and the end of Kongo independence, I'd think.

I mean the Portuguese invaded in OTL, it was means rather than motive that prevented annexation. The period of control came later.

 

[Brad]

The Portuguese would definitely not tolerate Beatriz Kempa Vita spreading heresy in the Kongo... which was already incredibly weak and wracked by civil war in her lifetime. Because Luanda controlled the Kongolese church, the Portuguese and other churchmen had ready-made influence for interfering in Kongo. Nobles such as the Duke of Sonyo (on the Kongolese coast, close-ish to Cabinda) were growing more rich and powerful than the royalty due to the slave trade, which was hollowing out the Kongolese population.

On the frontier, the Jaga/Imbangala were a constant and intractable problem. To the south, the Angolan kingdoms had already fallen into the Portuguese sphere (barring periods like that of Queen Nzinga, fighting the Portuguese.) She was also born too late to get help from the Dutch, who are the easiest foreign benefactor for anti-Portuguese local forces in the time period (including Nzinga, that Cambodian king who converted to Islam, and the Japanese.)

As for Antonianism surviving, the problem is that the death toll in the sugar colonies where most Kongolese ended up was insane. In Brasil, up to 60% of slaves died swiftly in the sugar plantations, which led to their syncretic faiths being supplanted by other faiths. While some Kongolese beliefs have filtered down to Candomble (and the quilombos were a straight recreation of Angolan warrior societies, so much so that Palmares was called Angola Janga), you'll still have the influx of more slaves as the trade grows over the 18th and early 19th centuries. This crest before abolition brought Vodun to Haiti, Orixas to Brasil, the Male Muslims to Brasil, and inculcated the roots of what we now know as Candomble. Between the Igbo, Fon and Yoruba syncretic faiths, Antonianism is going to be swamped -- and that's before we consider free urban blacks organizing into Catholic cofraternities and therefore moving closer to actual Catholicism.

Our Kongolese Joan of Arc is definitely a fascinating figure, but she was born decades too late. If a similar movement had coincided with the 80 Years War and the Dutch occupation of Luanda, there could have been a much greater chance of the religion surviving (and perhaps jettisoning Papal supremacy, what with the Dutch Protestant influence and all...)

 

[Redolegna]

Was she aware of Moses the Ethiopian and if so, did she incorporate him?

 

[Brad]

Was she aware of Moses the Ethiopian and if so, did she incorporate him?

Moses is more of an eastern saint, particularly for the Miaphysites. Another wrinkle could be finding a way to connect Ethiopia and Kongo via the Portuguese, who in typical fashion tried pulling their church merger from South India on the Ethiopians (to little success, as was typical)