The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706

Although I am usually a fan of John K. Thornton's work, The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706 was a dry text full of academic jargon and very little of it pertained to the Antonian movement led by Dona Beatriz. It was focused more on the context of the Antonian movement and the political crisis of the decentralized Kongo kingdom than anything else, with lots of useful details about the depths to which Catholic ideology and rituals were commonly practiced, even in regions with few priests. Thornton also does an excellent job describing everyday life, urban life, the Kimpasi secret society, some of the ravages of the slave trade (as well as how the Bobangi formed their own secret society based on restoring the ethical harm of their slave trading activities), Kongolese relations with the Portuguese and other Europeans, and the high degree of religious syncretism with a longer tradition of syncretistic messianic movements.

However, the text was really not about the Antonian movement and its inspiring leader, Dona Beatriz, who wished to restore the Kongo kingdom and claimed to be possessed by Saint Anthony. Furthermore, Thornton, partly out of necessity and the limits of historical knowledge at this time, is heavily reliant on textual sources left by Capuchin missionaries and other Europeans, who, disliked Dona Beatriz and used European cultural lens to denigrate spirit possession as demonic. Thus, we have a text that relies on some biased and inaccurate (and incomplete) sources, very dry writing that waxes endlessly about the political intrigue and conflict among Kongolese elites to claim the throne, and does not focus on the Antonian movement as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy large sections of the text (particularly those referring to culture, art, religious syncretism, and some of the 'everyday life' details of late 17th century and early 18th century West Central Africa. Unfortunately, I am not entirely sure if I 'buy' Thornton's interpretation of the Antonian movement and its role in the political crisis of the fragmented Kongo state. As the reviews here state, there are many problems with some of the sources Thornton relies on, the structure of the book and how it marginalizes the very woman it should focus on, an avoidance of the 'fluid gender performances' of Dona Beatriz's possession by Saint Anthony, and the more complex topic of "Kongo" proto-nationalism, which seems to be a 'thing' in the text.

Nevertheless, the book is a useful and necessary quick read for all those interested in a detailed account of some aspects of the Antonian movement. A more interdisciplinary account that included art, gender, anthropological sources, and how the Antonian movement was internally structured (For instance, Thornton states that Beatriz's movement spread from her original home and the ancient capital through 'mini-Saint Antony's, or, some of her followers who supposedly carried her message throughout the kingdom and attracted peasant followers) would have made this book great.

Nkangi Kiditu

Crucifix from the early 17th century Kingdom of Kongo, in what is now the Congo and Angola. I believe this is from the Brooklyn Museum. The kingdom's ruler converted to Catholicism in the early 1490s, and Christianization permeated in other social classes beyond the elite of the centralized polity in West Central Africa. John Thornton and others have written extensively on Christianity and the general history of this kingdom, which would in a few centuries splinter due to the chaos wrought by the trans-Atlantic slave trade and Portuguese meddling, many of the BaKongo ending up enslaved in places such as Haiti, Cuba, and Brazil. From an amazing book, Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora, edited by Linda Heywood, I learned that forms of popular Catholicism practiced in this region of Central Africa likely shaped Haitian popular Catholicism in the 19th century, which can be seen in specific forms of Marian devotion and syncretistic practices. In addition, these crucifix objects show local styles fusing with Portuguese and European Catholic ritual art, with a Kongolese Christ. This reminds me of an earlier post I did on Beatriz Kimpa Vita, a self-proclaimed prophet who claimed to be possessed by Saint Anthony, who was of great importance to local Catholics, and proclaimed Jesus Christ was indeed black and from the Kongo, another example of Christianity's importance and following among the populace of the Kingdom of Kongo.