A P P E N D I X

CHRISTIANITY, as we read in The Acts, began by mass-conversions, and occasionally the efforts of later missionary Apostles such as St. Francis Xavier have been rewarded by similar outpourings of grace. But the phenomenon has not ceased in the Church as the following details about the conversion of the natives of Urundi abundantly prove.

Once again “sanguis martyrum semen Ecclesiae.” In May 1881, three of the first missionaries sent by Cardinal Lavigerie to Lake Tanganyika were massacred by the arrows of the Barundi. But other White Fathers took up the perilous task and about fifty years later literally "entered into their labours," for conversions amongst the Urundi then began on a portentous scale. Father Pierre Charles, S.J., writing in the Belgian review Grands Lacs, says: "Ces prodiges dépassent en ampleur — il ne faut pas hésiter á le dire — la, conversion du monde gréco-romain."

When the Vicariate of Urundi was erected in 1922 there were only 14,000 Christians. Within ten years (from 1922 to 1932) the 14,000 grew to 80,000 and then came the deluge — of salvation. In the last six years 211,611 baptisms have been administered — actually many more, for we are not counting those who are dead — so that today (1 June 1939) there are 325,0271 baptised Christians in the Vicariate. Nor is there any sign of this mass movement towards God slowing down, for there are at present 84,198 catechumens under instruction, and 47,484 baptisms were administered last year. These things, be it noted, are happening in a country no bigger than Holland with a population of two millions.

This number of catechumens does not include those who are in their first or second year of Instruction and who are called Postulants. The total number of those under instruction in June 1940 was 230,000.

Possibly the reader's first reaction to this astonishing information will be the query — are these conversions genuine and permanent? Happily they are, for effective means are taken by the missionaries to test the applicants for baptism and to safeguard their Faith after their reception.

In the first place, the prize of baptism is placed high enough to make it difficult to reach. Without exception, adult candidates pass through a four-years' catechumenate, and the children have to go through the Catholic schools. This is the only path to the baptismal font. The catechumens must attend instructions, which last one hour and a half, three times a week during the third year, and four times a week during the fourth year. The instructions are given, either at the Mission itself or at a "first-class branch mission." Of the latter we shall speak later. These places are not very close to one another, so that long distances have often to be covered. This alone supposes tenacity of purpose. Irregular attendance brings postponement of baptism.

Nor is it a mere matter of attending instructions regularly for four years. Periodical examinations are held, and if the examiners, who are priests, are not satisfied with the candidate's religious knowledge, or with his conduct, his baptism is deferred. To take an example or two at random from the Vicar-Apostolic's Annual Report: in 1934-1935 at Buhonga Mission, 1,188 baptisms were administered and 743 candidates were deferred; at Mugem 353 adults were baptised and 300 deferred, while at Mugerero the number of those postponed exceeded that of the baptised, viz., Baptised 213, Deferred 576.

It has been objected that this severe and prolonged test must result in many turning back to paganism. Not with the Barundi: as a matter of fact the vast majority persevere until they do give satisfaction, and they make exemplary Catholics, eager for the means of grace.

They practise their Faith. No less than 5,575,382 Communions were distributed last year, an average of more than 19 per person. It must be remembered that long miles separate one mission from another, so that people live, on an average, 10 miles from the Sacraments. Very many, therefore, put themselves to serious inconvenience, and endure no little physical fatigue in order to receive them. On the vigil of the Assumption last year, the writer passed many groups of people along the thirty miles of road which led from one mission to another. They were on their way to Confession, so as to receive Holy Communion on the morrow. Near the mission, men were constructing little huts in which to pass the night.

The people gladly help to build their own churches. In 1933, at Murehe, for example, the baptised Christians and the catechumens furnished 120,000 days of work to build the church. At Nyamurenza, which is thirty miles from the nearest mission, 5,000 Christians collected the stones required for the foundations, and in two months made 90,000 bricks and carried them to the site of the new church. At Kibumbu, to hasten the construction of a church before the rains fell, 150,000 bricks were got ready on the spot in less than two months.

Another interesting sign of the Christian Spirit in Urundi is this. In 1935 these poor people sent to Rome, for the Association for the Pro Propagation of the Faith, the sum of 6,717 francs.

Are there any bad Christians amongst them? There are. In 1935, at Mugerero, out Of 14,000 Christians there were 31 who could not receive the Sacraments. At Kitega, a new mission with 5,000, there were about the same number of lapsed Catholics. At Kibubu the Superior reports that out of 672 Christian families, there is only one husband not living with his wife, and the Vicar-Apostolic, striking an average, writes: “I believe that out of every thousand Christians one can find five who have not persevered; this is a fair average — exaggerated if anything."

In looking for reasons, apart from the grace of God, for this remarkable efflorescence of Christianity in a region so remote in time and space from the centre of Christian culture, several have been suggested, none of which appears to be satisfactory. In the first place, it is pointed out that Urundi is a small country with relatively dense population speaking the same language and that its political organization unites the country into one whole, so that in consequence a real change of heart and mind at one vital point is apt to disintegrate the whole fabric of pagan tradition. On the other hand, as was seen at the beginning of this mission, the more compact a people, the harder it is to penetrate.

Secondly, it is true, the Belgian Government has not hidden its sympathy for a religion which provides secular instruction and inculcates good morals and public order. The help, however, given by the Government, is off-set by official "neutrality," which at times "has been positively obstructive." (P. Leloir in Grands Lacs, March, 1936).

Thirdly, it is said that the people have followed their chiefs into the Church out of loyalty or lower motives. This is not true of Urundi, where it was the chiefs who followed the people. These chiefs, foreigners of a superior tribe, were the last to be affected by the movement towards Christianity which went on around them, without them and in spite of them. It was only when they saw the people getting ahead of them in Christian civilisation that they themselves joined the catechumenate. To-day, however, the great majority of the chiefs give their support to the Church. After having acted as brakes, they have taken their place at the wheel, where they ought to be.

A fourth suggested explanation is that the Barundi are a “naturally” Christian people. They are poor, healthy and well behaved — monogamy being the rule. On the other hand, they are "naturally" pagan as well, given to excessive drinking, ready to thieve on occasion and even to take life in the process. They are, in fact, sufficiently "natural" to feel the immense superiority of a supernatural religion like Christianity. It has also been said that with religion the natives receive all kinds of material benefits. This is true only in the sense that Christian civilisation, respect for law and morals, education and personal decorum connote material advantages. Otherwise the native gains nothing material on becoming a Christian, for the simple reason that the missionaries have no resources wherewith to benefit so many tens of thousands of people.

The true reason lies rather in the fact that after the first missionaries had shed their blood for the Barundi, those that followed lavished health and well-being in constant self-sacrifice for the souls of this people; whilst those that now carry on the work, do so at the cost of excessive labour in the hardest surroundings. The writer has seen them at work and he does not expect to find on this earth a more admirable spectacle of Christian zeal and fortitude. Add to this the prayers and sufferings of the native Church itself, now become conscious of its living membership of Christ's Mystical Body.

A final word about the personnel and methods of this highly-graced mission. Naturally the phenomenal growth of the Vicariate has left it greatly understaffed, and various devices have been adopted to make the most
of the priest-power available. There are 59 White Fathers and 15 native priests now at work. Missionaries from Europe come very slowly, but much is done by good organisation to cope with the situation.

The "grouping system" has been introduced, and a circle of "first-class branch missions" functions throughout the Vicariate. "Bush-school chapels" are established in every large village, whilst in the centre of a group of these a "first-class" branch mission is organised. To this the people come from the surrounding villages; the catechumens for regular instruction from the catechist, and the Christians four or five times a month to receive the Sacraments from a visiting priest. Thus time and labour are saved, for instead of visiting every bush-school chapel, the missionary goes only to the central one, of which there are usually three around each mission. The mission-stations are thus practically multiplied by three, and the missionary sees nearly all his people four or five times a month. As new missionaries arrive and resources become available, one of these "first-class" branches becomes a "mother-tree," and one of the villages takes over its function of a "first-class" branch.

The missionary's means of locomotion in Urundi is the motor-cycle. It enables him to cover long distances in a short time and at little cost, and on it, he can penetrate into villages to which nothing but a foot-track leads. He arrives at his branch mission fresh and in good form, as ready to give an instruction or to enter the confessional there, as he would be at the mission itself. Even missionaries of seventy years of age are still humming merrily along the tracks of Urundi on their motor-cycles, now become a vital factor in the spread of the Gospel.

As preacher and instructor, the missionary is aided by catechists, today an indispensable feature of African missions, and by White Sisters, native Sisters and native priests. The catechist in Urundi is a quasi-curate. There are six hundred of them and each has his school chapel in the bush. They receive a "gratification" of 200 francs a year, some a little more, so that the Vicar Apostolic has to find 150,000 francs a year for them. The catechist is responsible to the priest for the people in his village. He sees that the Sacraments are brought to the dying, or, more often, the dying brought to the Sacraments. The people are informed by him of the priest's visits to the "first-class" branch, and he conducts a service on Sundays when he is too far away to go with his people to the mission. It is the catechist who instructs the postulants (catechumens in their first and second year), supervises the building of huts required for such instruction, and the brick-making and tree-cutting necessary for a future church. A good, catechist is almost as useful as a curate, and many of them are in truth excellent. Without this army of catechists the missionaries could not possibly carry on their work with efficiency.

The most hopeful sign that a mission has made good is when it has begun the establishment of a native clergy. Naturally that sign has become conspicuous in Urundi which has a junior Seminary from which the students pass on to the Senior Seminary of Ruanda, its neighbour. There are fifteen native priests now working on the missions. According to the Vicar Apostolic's calculations, in ten years there should be forty, and in twenty years ninety. The first priest was ordained in 1925, so that all these priests are fairly young, the eldest being forty-three years of age. In 1933 three of them were given the charge of Mugerero Mission, and in 1934 three others took over the Mission at Murehe. They give every satisfaction, and the Vicar-Apostolic, although the immediate future is full of anxiety on account of the shortage of European priests who must still be the backbone of the mission, and the lack of material resources, speaks with confidence of the far-off future Native Church and hierarchy of Urundi, towards which so big a step has been taken.

Besides the White Fathers there are also, of course, White Sisters in Urundi, who are invaluable in the work of the Apostolate. They have charge of hospitals, dispensaries and schools, as well as workshops for girls where carpets, mats, wax candles and other things are made. Their most useful contribution to the future is the perpetuation of their own Order in the formation of a Native Sisterhood. The first novitiate for Native Sisters was began in 1931, and there are now twenty-one professed Sisters, six novices and seventy-eight postulants. Although many of these latter will never reach the novitiate, the number is high enough to indicate that the idea of the religious life is finding favour with the Barundi. As the writer went through Urundi lately he heard on every side praise of these Native Sisters. Five or six form a community in a mission where they teach in the schools. They have their own little convent where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved; a visit there leaves one with the impression of a great working of divine grace. It would be impossible to exaggerate the value of these Sisters in the work of the conversion of the country, for they are living examples of the perfect Christian life. They are objects of respect and veneration for their people.


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