Dona Beatriz, or Beatriz Kimpa Vita, a noblewoman believing herself to be under possession by Saint Anthony, the most popular Roman Catholic saint in partially Christianized Kingdom of Kongo, the most powerful centralized state in 15th-17th centuries West Central Africa, is the black Christ of Central Africa. The Kongo kingdom used Christianity as a religion of the elite since the manikongo, Nzinga, converted to Catholicism after establishing diplomatic relations with Portugal. Some suggest that the Kingdom of Kongo's ruling family were initially interested in Christianity as part of a new way of justifying and legitimizing their authority over the vast domains in the 15-16th centuries. Regardless of their motives for converting to Christianity, the Kongo kingdom became the first "Sub-Saharan" Christian state in Africa, excluding Christian Ethiopia and the christian states of medieval Nubia. Interestingly, the Catholic Church, due to the interest of the royal family and elites, helped establish churches, a Jesuit university, a library, schools, and a mingling of Portuguese Catholic and Kongolese cultures. Out of this centuries-long process that included the growth of the slave trade, increasing dependence on the part of the Kongo king for Portuguese prestige goods that the Portguese would only trade for human captives, and civil wars that led to many Kongolese being sold into slavery across the Atlantic, Beatriz Kimpa Vita emerged in the 17th century. In addition to claiming to be possessed by Saint Anthony, she also argued for syncretization of the Catholic Church in Kongo by claiming Jesus Christ was a black man (he was regardless of what white folks have to say!), changing prayers, not using the cross, and fusing local, Kongolese religious traditions with Roman Catholicism. Living at a time when various contenders to the throne caused a long civil war as well as increasing frequency of war and conflicts due to the devastating slave trade, it's likely Dona Beatriz saw message of Christianity as a way to end conflicts and bring people together. However, since her theology was Kongolese, African Christianity not based on white European missionaries sent by Rome, she was accused of heresy and executed due to pressure placed on the Kongolese king in 1706. Her messianic message of the coming of Saint Anthony through her to restore the Kongo kingdom to stability, however, was widely received and accepted by peasants and some elites, including the wife of the king who had her executed! Indeed, even after her death, her movement may have influenced Kongolese Christian crucifixes of the 18th century, which displayed an African Christ with African features and Kongolese clothhing designs. In fact, her followers would stage a revolt against the Kongolese king after her death, which unfortunately failed. The weakened state, divided by civil war, willingly sacrificed the only messiah figure in the kingdom for greedy, Portuguese Catholics who resisted her theology.
The life of this fascinating woman is important in African Christianity, and as part of a long trend within African-descended communities threatened by or living under slavery to radically interpret Christianity as something entirely within their own worldview. Of course Dona Beatriz was not entirely opposed to Capuchin monks or Christians from Europe, but she rejected their attempts (Portugal and the Vatican) to limit and define how Kongolese Christians express their Christian beliefs. In this case, syncretic Christianity was natural, and believing that Saint Anthony could possess her demonstrates the persistence of non-Christian religious thought, which is actually reminiscent of the possession of humans by the lwa of Haitian Vodou or other syncretic Afro-Christian religions in Brazil and Cuba. Like Vodou, Santeria, Candomble, or macumba, the Kongolese emphasis on Saint Anthony or other saints besides solely Christ or the Trinity demonstrates a commonality between these various Afro-Creole religions. The rise of her Christian movement in a time of political upheaval, civil war, slave raiding, and Portuguese religious and economic intervention also reminds one of the messianic, Afrocentric religious groups that developed in 20th century Black America or even Nat Turner's Virgina revolt in 1831. Turner believed in a messianic vision in which the slave revolt would triumph, just as the Nation of Islam's founder, Fard Muhammad, claimed to be a prophet in 20th century black America. Or the Moorish Science Temple, which proclaimed blacks to be "Moors" and preached a radical, unorthodox version of Islam like the Nation of Islam did in the second half of the 20th century. The life of this astounding woman also illustrates another factor often neglected in studies on the creolization of enslaved blacks and the formation of new identities in the Americas: many enslaved Africans were exposed to Christianity before boarding any slave ship, and some were already 'Creole".
Here's a good interview with John Thornton, a specialist on the Kongo kingdom and its relation to the broader Atlantic world. He discusses Dona Beatriz, the historical context for the rise of her movement, and Kongolese Christianity.
Interesting article on influence of Christianity in Kongo art
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