Martyr in Congo

Chapter 4. Immersed in a new Culture

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Congo has experienced troubling times and vibrant Christian communities

Father Louis Carrara threw himself enthusiastically into his new life in Congo. There were many visible cultural differences in the country, thanks to the almost 400 tribes, the majority of which belonged to the Bantù lineage. There were numerous Banyarwanda in the territories entrusted to the Xaverian missionaries, among them the Banyamulenge, who had sadly become notorious during the Congo war of 1996 and also during the present conflict.

They were Rwandans who had emigrated to Congo in the last century. Their society was organized on a clan basis in which the possessions of a dead man were inherited by his youngest brother, rather than by his son. Secret societies flourished and some of them were devoted to the cult of the dead. The ancestors were remembered and venerated as the ones who had passed on to the young generations the art of living, as well as for the protection they provided against evil spirits. Belief in evil spirits explains the fear and the existence of tribal practices among the people, and why the Catholic religion struggled to make headway there.

Despite the fact that fertile areas covered almost 21% of the entire territory, only 1% of it was actually cultivated. Agriculture, in the absence of machinery, aimed at satisfying local food necessities. The principal products were: sorghum, millet maize manioc, sweet potatoes, bananas, peanuts, sesame and rice. The women did all the work in the fields, except tillage. For climactic and environmental reasons, animal breeding was limited to goats and pigs, the few cattle inhabited the mountain regions.

Why was Father Louis Carrara sent precisely to that area of Congo? The answer to this question is contained in one of the many letters he wrote to his parents: “I have been told that 25,000 Banyarwanda are coming to the diocese of Uvira because they have been driven out of their own country. Bishop Danilo Catarzi is waiting for us because there is no-one else available for the task. The South has also been asking for missionaries for the past six years. Until now they had always been told that it was not possible; now, however, it seems that one of us will be sent to help our overworked missionaries there. We will work with an elderly father who is well experienced in missionary work and this should help us fit in smoothly”.

The South has also been asking for missionaries for the past six years. Until now they had always been told that it was not possible; now, however, it seems that one of us will be sent to help our overworked missionaries there.
Fr. Louis Carrara

Father Louis flew to Congo via Athens and Nairobi, and he finally arrived in Usumbura (today’s Bujumbura, capital of Burundi). He was accompanied by two other Xaverians Giuseppe Veniero of the diocese of Sorrento (Naples) and Giuseppe Arrigoni of Civitella di Romagna, diocese of Sarsina (Forlì), who had been ordained priests with him and were also assigned to the same mission.

His initial impressions emerge in the first letters he wrote from Africa: “It is quite hot, though not as bad as I expected it would be; the people dress lightly, as we do during the hot season, and there are many huts in the city of Uvira. Meals are substantial, with an abundance of bananas to wind up”. To help him get used to his new surroundings, he moved around different missions during his first months (Uvira, Usumbura), Kalambo, to name but a few of the places from where he wrote to his family. In the meantime, he was continuing the study of French he had started during his student days in Parma.

He also studied Swahili which, together with French, is one of the languages spoken in Congo (the country boasts a wide variety of local dialects). He was also encouraged to eat well because the rigorous climate made heavy demands on a European organism. An undernourished body is easy prey to malaria. The high risk of illness explains why missionaries in Africa were forbidden from practicing dietary mortification as a form of penance.

The letters he wrote to his family allow us to reconstruct the missionary activity of Father Carrara from December 1962 until the day of his murder on November 28, 1964. The two years he spent among the Congolese made extremely heavy demands on him. His letters bear witness to his profound and sincere joy at being a missionary, but they also make clear that he was aware of the difficult nature of the task entrusted to him.

Father Carrara arrived in his first mission, Baraka, on December 9, 1962. The members of his community were Fathers Mario Giavarini (the superior), Giuseppe Veniero (who had arrived in Africa with Louis), and four lay brothers. From his window, he could see Baraka which lies along the great lake Tanganika. It was an enchanting position for the Catholic mission. The house was situated on a hill two miles from the lake and the village. It was, however, also rather isolated from the town center and commercial area. The only constructions nearby were the primary school and two secondary school classes. The schools were run by the Catholic community, though they were open to everyone: in the secondary classes the majority of the students were Catholic children, whilst in the primary ones there were more Protestants, Muslims and, above all, Animists (people who follow traditional practices and beliefs). 

Each morning, many of the children had to walk about 4 miles to get to school. They ate once in the morning and this had to suffice until the evening meal at home. Four Josephite brothers of a recently founded Rwandan Congregation taught in the secondary school classes The temperature in Baraka is about 70 F during the night, and 85 F during the hottest part of the day. The sun usually rises at 5 am and sets at 6.30 pm, with a total of almost 14 hours of daylight. Nets across the windows are the only defense against mosquitoes after nightfall; during the day the insects do not cause any problems. The villages around the mission live mainly on fish, of which the waters of lake Tanganika, especially in the area facing Baraka, have an infinite variety.

There are no forests in the area; the ground is fertile. It took some effort on the part of Father Carrara to get used to the rhythms of the Congolese people: judged by our frenetic standards it almost seemed that they had little desire to work. Any form of travel; by boat, car and even on foot, was made difficult by the lack of means, discipline and timetables. The people explained to him that time was theirs to use, and that they were not slaves, but masters, of time. When he set out to build some simple brick houses in his second mission, in Fizi, some 25 miles from Baraka, he was hampered by the lack of cement and bricks. He did not get angry at the delay, resigned as he was to the Congolese saying that maintains that what can be done tomorrow should not be done today. He did not, however, accept this philosophy himself: there was widespread wonder and admiration among the local people when the Xaverians erected a pre-fabricated house in Fizi, together with an electric generator, in just three days.

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