1939-1996: The Independence Movements

From the beginning, Francis Libermann urged the Spiritans, as missionaries, to shake off the customs and spirit of Europe when working in Africa.

It would be wishful thinking to claim that this ideal was always observed. The Second World War brought out the equivocal nature of the relations between missions and colonising countries. Africans were dragged into a war that had nothing to do with them. But it had the effect of awakening their own political awareness and a desire for national independence.

After the war, this independence movement grew in strength. And as the numbers of local clergy and sisters increased, there arose a corresponding feeling in the local Churches, a feeling that they were becoming capable of running their own affairs.

The Right to Life and Independence

In December 1939, four months after the outbreak of war, Pius XII delivered his Christmas message, stressing the right of every nation to life and independence:

“For there to be a just and honourable peace, all must accept the fundamental principle of the right to life and independence of all nations large and small, strong and weak. The desire for life of one nation must never result in a sentence of death for another. When this equality of rights has been ignored, destroyed or put in danger, juridical order demands a restoration in which the size and extent are not determined by the sword or by arbitrary egoism, but by the norms of justice and reciprocal equity”.

Such rights were not limited to the European countries that were locked in struggle: they applied equally to the African countries which were living under a foreign colonial regime.

In December 1953, in the wake of an insurrection in Madagascar, the bishops of that country stressed the legitimacy of the desire for independence.

The Church was distancing itself from the colonial government, as was also the case in Tanganyka.

The colonial political system was coming to an end, having lasted for three quarters of a century, According to Joseph Michel, a Spiritan writer, “However legitimate it may have been in its origins or honest in its practice, the inevitable and natural outcome for colonisation is de-colonisation”.

A Time of Sadness

On January 1, 1962, twenty Spiritans, eighteen of whom were Belgians, were massacred at Kongolo. They were killed not because of their nationality but because of their faith. Two other priests, some sisters and junior seminarians, all Africans who had witnessed the killings, were to be killed themselves in the afternoon of the same day. It was only the arrival of a senior officer that prevented a second slaughter.

Expulsion from Guinea

Guinea became independent from France in October, 1958. A one-party system was created which took over all formation of young people. Because of his protestations, the Spiritan Bishop of Conakry, Mgr. Gérard de Milleville, was expelled from the country in the following year. A year later, Mgr. Tchdimbo was named the first Guinean Archbishop of Conakry. Then on May 1, 1967, President Sékou Touré declared that all churches would be Africanized, and priests from abroad removed from the Guinea.

At the end of May, three planes flew out of Conakry with 163 expatriate missionaries on board, including 64 sisters. The mission continued under Mgr. Tchidimbo, a Spiritan, with 8 local priests and 12 sisters. On June 1, 13 French-speaking African priests arrived to help the Church of Guinea.

Civil war in Nigeria

Civil war broke out in Nigeria in 1968. Death and destruction mounted as the fighting continued, with no apparent end in view. In early 1969, the Superiors General of twenty Religious congregations with missionaries working in all parts of Nigeria issued a joint statement declaring their commitment to serving the Spiritan and human needs in the distressed areas.

Biafra, Human Rights and Self-determination in Africa

President Julius Nyerere said: “In the light of these circumstances, Tanzania feels obliged to recognize the setback to African unity which has occurred. We therefore recognize the State of Biafra as an independent sovereign entity, and as a member of the community of nations. Only by this act of recognition can we remain true to our conviction that the purpose of society, and of all political organization, is the service of Man.”

Expulsion from Haiti

On August 15, 1969, without any previous warning, a Haitian lay man and nine priests, of whom five were Spiritans, were summoned to the Ministry for Religion in the capital, Port-au-Prince. They were accused of anti-government ideas and immediately expelled from their country. The Spiritan confrères were teachers in the College of Saint Martial at Port-au-Prince, that had been founded in 1862.

In addition, the Government forbade another ten expatriate Spiritans to continue their teaching at Saint Martial, but they would be allowed to work in parishes. They then issued a decree that took the direction of Saint Martial away from the Spiritans and placed it in the hands of the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince.

Finally, in 1986, they were able to return to Haiti once more, and in 1996, the Government restored the College of Saint Martial to the Congregation.