Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- 1 A Land in Turmoil
- 2 The Rival Kings
- 3 Priests and Witches in Catholic Kongo
- 4 The Crisis in Faith and Force
- 5 Saint Anthony Arrives
- 6 The Saint and the Kings
- 7 Saint Anthony in Sin and Glory
- 8 Facing the Fire
- 9 The War for Peace
- Appendix: A Recovery of the “Salve Antoniana”
- Index
8 - Facing the Fire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- 1 A Land in Turmoil
- 2 The Rival Kings
- 3 Priests and Witches in Catholic Kongo
- 4 The Crisis in Faith and Force
- 5 Saint Anthony Arrives
- 6 The Saint and the Kings
- 7 Saint Anthony in Sin and Glory
- 8 Facing the Fire
- 9 The War for Peace
- Appendix: A Recovery of the “Salve Antoniana”
- Index
Summary
Sunday, 2 july 1706 – execution day. Early in the morning Father Bernardo rose and said Mass to a small group. Then around midday Dona Beatriz and Apollonia Mafuta were taken to Father Lorenzo for their last confession. The priest was convinced that Mafuta was not sufficiently sane to receive the sacrament of confession and, moreover, that she could not be held culpable for her preaching. As a result, she would be spared the flames.
This would not happen for Dona Beatriz. She was now thoroughly convinced that she had committed grave sins, not about her mission but about her pregnancy and her subsequent flight from São Salvador. She had decided that this betrayal warranted death, and was prepared to die.
“My death will be a penance for my sins,” she told Father Lorenzo, ”and well I deserve it.” She went on, “What does death matter to me? This has to come to everyone at some point. My body is nothing more than a bit of earth, it is of no account. Sooner or later it will be reduced to cinders.”
Continuing to feel sorrow and speaking fervently, she said, “It is better to die now, since I recognize my errors, than to live on that I might easily return to my old faults through the influence of the Devil, and damn myself.”
She was now speaking rapidly and emotionally, and the priest was touched deeply. Soon all were weeping as he sought to console her. “Put yourself in God's hands,” he exhorted her, ”and hope for pardon from His infinite mercy.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Kongolese Saint AnthonyDona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706, pp. 177 - 198Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998