The Age of Exploration was about locating not just gold, enslaved people, and spices but also believers. Missionaries took to the sea to learn new languages and cultures to spread Christianity. How successful were they? What political benefits accompanied the spread of Christianity? These questions aid in the understanding of Portuguese missionary work.
Fig.1 - Missionary in Africa
Portuguese Missionaries: Meaning
Portugal and Spain were both countries on the Iberian Peninsula which had to be retaken from Muslim conquerors. By 1139, Portugal was established as a kingdom. These conflicts with Muslims led many Portuguese leaders to set reigniting the Crusades, expelling Muslims from Mecca, and Christianizing the world as significant goals. As the Portuguese led the early age of exploration, many of their goals were religiously oriented, in addition to seeking gold, enslaved people, and spices. Those who accompanied the explorers with the sole job of converting the locals to Christianity were called missionaries.
Military Order of Christ
The crusading knights known as the Knights Templar were disbanded throughout Europe at the request of the king of France. In 1319, the king of Portugal converted the Knights Templar into the Military Order of Christ. Many of the leading figures in Portuguese exploration were members of the Christian military organization. This added to the Christian missionary component of Portuguese exploration.
Portuguese Exploration Leaders in the Military Order of Christ
- Henry the Navigator
- Vasco da Gama
- Bartolomeu Dias
- Pedro Álvares Cabral
- Francisco de Almeida
Romanus Pontifex
First issued in 1436, Romanus Pontifex was a papal bull that confirmed Portugal's control of the lands it was exploring and given to King Alfonso V of Portugal. The primary reason for drafting the bull was the dispute between Spain (then known as Castile) and Portugal for control of certain islands off the coast of Africa. In practical terms, it confirmed Portuguese control of Africa and Asia. Importantly, Portugal also directly represented the Catholic church in Africa and Asia. Portugal was responsible for the spread of Christianity through missionary work and church building.
Papal Bull: A written decree issued by the Pope.
Fig.2 - Prester John
Prester John
Beyond seeking new converts to Christianity, the Portuguese sought a mythical Christian kingdom in the East, led by a ruler known as Prester John. The myth of a powerful and wealthy Nestorian Christian kingdom in the East had persisted in Europe since the 12th century. Making contact with this potential ally was a crucial goal of the Portuguese, and some of the people encountered were viewed through the legend.
Nestorius
Nestorius was an influential Christian theologian whose ideas gave rise to a Christian sect known as Nestorianism. The views of Nestorious were declared heretical, and he was forced out of the church. His views were extremely technical on the nature of Jesus Christ. Nestorious preached that essentially Jesus the man and the spiritual Word were two separate but united beings, as opposed to Jesus being the Word made flesh.
Later, the Christian Church in Persia also called the "Church in the East," became known as Nestorian. This was a bit of a misidentificaton though, as it didn't necessarily follow the doctrine developed by Nestorious. The name came from Nestorius having travelled to Persia.
Portuguese Missionaries in Africa
Africa was where the Age of Exploration began, and it was there that Portuguese missionaries first attempted to spread Christianity. They achieved some significant successes, creating a Christian ally in Kongo and discovering what they believed to be the kingdom of Prester John in Ethiopia. However, not all were thriving enterprises as some countries like Ethiopia briefly stumbled from Christianity, and others like Monomotapa became actively hostile.
Fig.3 - Nzinga-a-Nkuwu
Kongo
In 1885, Nzinga-a-Nkuwu, the king of Kongo, decided to convert to Christianity after exchanging Kongo nobles and some Portuguese two years before. He sent members of his court to Portugal to study and was baptized as a Christian in 1491, taking on the name João I. Politically, the ban on multiple wives was impossible for him to keep, as his marriages had political significance causing him to abandon Christianity quickly. His son Alfonso I converted the nation to Catholicism and set up the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo.
One of Alfonso I's most significant military victories was credited to a religious miracle where the figure of St. James appeared in the sky.
Ethiopia
When Portuguese explorer Pêro da Covilhã located the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia in 1592, it was believed to be the mythical kingdom of Prester John. In 1507, under Eleni I, Ethiopia finally established relations with Europe. Although an alliance would form with Portugal, Ethiopia would hold on to its Ethiopian Orthodox form of Christianity for another century. It was not until the reign of Emperor Susenyos I that Ethiopia would convert to Catholicism in 1622.
With the change of the official state religion, uprisings related to the change continued for a decade until his son restored Ethiopian Orthodox as the official state religion.
Monomotapa
In the 1560s, the Portuguese encountered the kingdom of Monomotapa. They were impressed with the wealth and architecture on display in the kingdom and wished to convert the king to Christianity. While the attempt was initially successful, the king later executed the missionary who baptized him at the behest of the Muslim traders in his city. The Portuguese then attempted to attack the kingdom and take control of its gold and ivory. Diseases laid waste to Portuguese forces before they could even get to the kingdom.
Fig.4 - Saint Thomas Christian
Portuguese Missionaries in India
When Vasco da Gama landed in India in 1498, he had the first missionaries to India with him. In 1505 and 1506, the first two Portuguese Christian churches were built in India at Cochin. In 1514, the first Asian diocese was founded, known as the Diocese of Funchal, which became an archdiocese in 1534. Eventually, the archdiocese headquartered in Goa would be the center of Catholicism in Africa and Asia, from the southern-most nib of Africa, Cape of Good Hope, all the way to Japan.
Rice Christians
The Portuguese government became heavily involved in the missionary work occurring in India. As an incentive to convert to Christianity, the government gave goods and government jobs to some who were baptized. This led to what was called "Rice Christians," those who were baptized for the practical benefits provided by the Portuguese but privately maintained their traditional beliefs.
Saint Thomas Church
The missionary work of Portugal was not just about spreading the belief in Jesus generally, but acceptance of Roman Catholicism specifically. The existing small Christian groups were as much a target of mission work as the non-Christians. The Saint Thomas Church was one such group. In 1599, this group altered its doctrine and beliefs to join the Catholic Church, although schisms and splinters erupted when some members resisted the changes.
Portuguese Missionaries in Japan
The Portuguese mission to Japan was one of the most highly political. Both Spain and Portugal desired to be in charge of the missionary work because papal backing gave the Catholic nations international authority. With the exclusive jurisdiction to spread Christianity in Japan came the exclusive authority to trade with Japan. Pope Gregory XIII gave the exclusive right to Portugal in 1575, but this was eroded by Pope Clement VII in 1600 when the Spanish were allowed to enter Japan.
Portugal established the first Catholic diocese in Japan at Nagasaki in 1588.
Portuguese Missionaries in China
Although the Portuguese reached China in 1513, little progress was made on missionary work until 1582. The Jesuit missionaries impressed the Chinese not just with their religion but with their mathematical and scientific knowledge. Likewise, the Jesuits viewed the Chinese as intelligent and sophisticated equals. Chinese of all levels of society were converted by missionaries who worked to create a system where traditional Chinese beliefs such as the veneration of ancestors were cast in non-religious terms as simply remembrances and therefore compatible with Christianity.
Later Christian missionaries cast the Chinese folk beliefs as idolatry, incompatible with Christianity. This would lead to the decline of Christian missionary successes in China.
Portuguese Missionaries - Key Takeaways
- Spreading Christianity was essential to Portugal for both religious reasons and because the Pope's backing gave them political authority.
- Some places, such as Kongo, accepted Christianity, and others, like Monomotapa, did not.
- The experience of taking Portugal back from Muslim rulers and the influence of the Military Order of Christ energized the Portuguese to view their explorations as crusades.
- Not just non-Christians but even Eastern Christians were targeted for conversion to Catholicism.
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