4
THE DIOCESE OF SANTIAGO:
UPPER GUINEA
4.2 The Jesuits (1604-42)
In 1585 João Pinto, a Wolof priest from Senegal educated with the Jesuits in Portugal and then made a canon for the diocese of São Tomé, asked for Jesuits to be sent to Sierra Leone, hoping to join their mission himself.[1] The same year a Jesuit priest on his way to Brazil, Fernão Rebelo, stopped at the Cape Verde islands and learned of the situation on the continent. His letter to the General of the Jesuits urged the beginning of a mission on the Guinea coast and the training of Africans for the priesthood. He added that if attention were not given soon to this area it would shortly all become Muslim.[2]
The Jesuits did not immediately accept this project and negotiations were not renewed until 1596 when King Felipe asked them to open a school at Santiago and to work at evangelizing the mainland.[3] Some Carmelite confrères of the bishop were already working near Cacheu and reported that the chief of Caió with 300 of his people asked for baptism. They were happy the Jesuits would come, and also proposed to establish a Carmelite monastery.[4] The Jesuit provincial of Portugal, however, was opposed to the project because of the bad climate and because the Portuguese in the area were Christian only in name and were only concerned with slave trading.[5]
The Portuguese stations on the Cape Verde islands and the mainland already had chaplains from the diocesan clergy, and only in 1604 did a group of four Jesuits arrive at Santiago. Their intention was to open a school there, which would also serve as a seminary, and to work among the Africans of the Guinea coast. Bishop Bartolomeu Leitão had constructed buildings for a seminary and in 1605 these were handed over to the Jesuits.[6] The Jesuit group was led by Baltasar Barreira, who had been in Angola from 1580 to 1592. A few weeks after their arrival one priest of the group died. Fr. Baltasar nevertheless left Fr. Manuel de Barros in Santiago and went to Bissau with Bro. Pero Fernandes.
On the coast Baltasar Barreira spent the first six months of 1605 in the region of Bissau and then went on to Sierra Leone. Baltasar’s first impressions of the Guinea coast were not good and in May he complained of his difficulties with the Africans and of the bad example of the Portuguese chaplains. He thought the best way to improve the situation would be for the King of Portugal to conquer the coast and its islands.[7] But he never expressed this opinion again after the extraordinary reception he later had from the African chiefs and kings where he visited. On Christmas of the same year he baptized the King of Sierra Leone along with the one wife he kept and many members of his family. Many of the chiefs round about also asked for baptism. As Baltasar continued his ministry throughout 1606 he expressed concern over the enslavement of innocent people and the slave raids the people of the Bijago islands carried out on the mainland. He asked for Portuguese protection against the Bijagos and the construction of a fort at Sierra Leone to keep out the Dutch, French and English who would not respect a Portuguese trade monopoly and often raided the Cape Verde islands. A fort was begun at Sierra Leone but it was ineffective against the intruders.
Three more Jesuit priests arrived at Santiago in February 1607, two of whom died within a few months. The third, Manuel Álvares, went to Bissau in March and worked among the chiefs in the area. At his insistence the Portuguese decided to build a fort at Cacheu to guard against the Bijago marauders. At the beginning of 1608 he moved to Sierra Leone, permitting Baltasar Barreira to return to Santiago. Winds forced his ship to stop first at Joal. There and at Porto d’Ale he spend almost three months preaching to the people who were to a large extent Muslim. Yet they listened to him, joined his processions, and asked for baptism.[8]
At Santiago in January 1609 Baltasar Barreira found six Jesuits who had just arrived from Portugal. He sent two priests and a brother to work in the region of Cacheu and two other priests to Sierra Leone. Of those sent to Cacheu Fr. João Delgado died within six months, followed by Bro. João Fernandes. Fr. António Dias returned sick to Santiago in 1611. Of the two who went to Sierra Leone Fr. João Çelio died there and Fr. Sebastião Gomes returned to Santiago in 1611, where he took over as superior when Baltasar Barreira died in 1612. Sebastião Gomes tried to get more Jesuits to come and praised the Dominican bishop Sebastião da Ascensão who gave the Jesuits every support and encouragement at a time when relations between the two orders were strained.[9] The evangelization of the mainland was promising and prospering, but no more Jesuits came because of the tropical diseases and the lack of security, which they though could be had only through a strong Portuguese presence. On the other hand the Jesuits complained that Portuguese oppression of the Africans was hindering the spread of the faith.[10] The Jesuits were also discouraged because after the death of Bishop Sebastião da Ascensão they had trouble with the governor of Santiago and the diocesan canons.[11] Manuel Álvares, the last Jesuit on the mainland, left Sierra Leone in 1617. The school at Santiago hardly functioned any more and was closed in 1642 when the last few Jesuits departed.