Martyr in Congo

Chapter 5. Ministry in Fizi

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Good Friday procession in Congo

In an attempt to conquer the indifference of many Animist families in Fizi, Father Carrara increased his efforts to learn Swahili as quickly as possible. To create opportunities of socialization, he made a rudimentary football field. He told his family that he had repaired old footballs because he thought that the game would help him get close to the people as well as providing them with an opportunity for socializing among themselves. His friends from his home village of Cornale di Pradalunga made everyone happy by sending a pair of leather footballs.

Father Louis was an attentive observer and reflected on his new surroundings and the people. In his writings, he defines the Congolese as “simple people with many defects and virtues. Almost all of them are non-Christians, and the few who have converted to Christianity still retain much of their previous beliefs and behavior”. With regard to missionary work, he pointed out that even “when it is really efficient, it will always be too little. We are surrounded by so many who have no strong desire for conversion”.

In spite of this, he was neither resigned nor discouraged. During Holy Week in Fizi, he heard confessions for not more than three hours, a sign of the lack of numbers. On Easter night, however, “our small church was full: about seventy catechumens were baptized, with two long lines stretching from the sanctuary to the central door. After the baptisms we celebrated some weddings and imparted nuptial blessings. The singing added to the solemnity of the occasion. Some catechumens had traveled 20 miles to be present, and we hope that they will take the same enthusiasm back to their villages and attract others to the Church”.

People of an Incredible Faith

In his evangelizing activity, Father Carrara obtained the greatest satisfactions in the hinterland: “I have found an incredible faith among these people. Every able bodied Christian was present at the meeting, some of them after journeys of four, five, and even six hours; there are mothers with children on their backs, old people with their sticks, and a crippled woman who had walked from the most distant missions for the pre-baptismal scrutiny: my heart was moved to pity at this sight”. He was also struck by the condition of the Congolese women: “They do all the heavy work, like hoeing, gathering and chopping wood, and carrying heavy weights on their shoulders. The men, instead, go fishing and idle about. This is how women are treated, and a long time will pass, and much energy will be expended, before they become aware of the true dignity of women. It will be a difficult process, especially for the men, since this society takes for granted that things should be this way; it is also a very convenient arrangement for the men”.

Our small church was full: about seventy catechumens were baptized, with two long lines stretching from the sanctuary to the central door. After the baptisms we celebrated some weddings and imparted nuptial blessings. The singing added to the solemnity of the occasion. Some catechumens had traveled 20 miles to be present.
Fr. Louis Carrara

Forty years on, the situation of the Congolese is substantially the same as it was when Fr. Carrara made these observations.

The principal actors in the tragic events involving the Xaverian missionaries in the Congo are known as the Bufalero, a tribe that has suffered greater discrimination than others and, therefore, with an intense desire for redemption. Christmas 1963 saw the rebellion of some tribal members against their chief (Mwami) and the authorities of the administration established by the Belgians. The rebellion failed; some of the rebels were beaten, others warned, but all of them were sent back home. They decided to continue the struggle, and many of them took to the mountains.

These guerrillas, known as the Simba (lions), were very superstitious, and willingly submitted to magical practices, believing that this would make them invulnerable to enemy weapons. They swore to resume hostilities on April 15 and on that day they launched a furious attack; in the space of ten days, they had killed all the policemen and civil authorities, cutting off heads, skinning and chopping up bodies. They suffered some defeats at the hands of the national Congolese army, though they were not neutralized. The Bufalero rising, which had originated as a local movement for resolving inter-tribal disputes, was soon absorbed by external forces and became part of a wider conflict. From being supporters of the Lumumba Congolese Movement, they moved on to fight as supporters of Pierre Mulele (“Mulelists”), and finally became the National Movement for Liberation. They embraced the cause of international communism, alternately taking orders from the Congolese government in Brazzaville, from the Chinese embassy in Usumbura (today’s Bujumbura), the capital of Burundi.

The diocese of Uvira, which borders with Rwanda and Burundi, was completely assailed by the guerrillas who took control of the 50 miles of paved road  that connected Bukavu with Uvira, and the stretch of the west coast of lake Tanganika where the missions of Baraka and Fizi were located. On May 5, 1964, the mission of Mulenge (halfway between Bukavu and Uvira) was occupied and, on May 15, the mission of Uvira suffered the same fate. Both the Xaverians of Mulenge and Uvira were spared; six of them were even allowed to travel across the lake to seek refuge in Bujumbura, whereas the missions further to the south, Baraka and Fizi, were isolated.

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