DOS The Antonian devotion of Kongo in Brazil: an indication of the idea of a Christian African nation

Abstract

This proposal is part of the research carried out in the ongoing thesis The survival of a canon: the African sculptures of saint-amulets in the territory of São Paulo. Antonian devotion in Kongo was born in the context of the development of Christianity in that region, which took shape from the prolonged encounter between religious thought, visual forms and
political systems of Central Africa and Europe (particularly Portugal) from the end of the 15th century. Two centuries later, one of the most significant historical figures related to this devotion was Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita (1684 – 1706), a Congolese prophetess who led a political and religious movement called Antonianism or Antonian movement. During Kimpa Vita's leadership, the Antonian movement gained strength and propelled Antonian devotion as the core of this Christian Congolese identity for its followers. All this popularity resulted in the death of the prophetess for the crime of heresy against the Church of Rome; however, his ideas survived beyond Kongo. For this reason, the present text focuses on this episode that makes the figure of Kimpa Vita a key element to think about, above all, the success of the propagation process of Antonian devotion and the survival of a possible idea of ​​a widespread Christian nation and adapted by his followers, who in Brazil were subjected to the slavery regime.