Fr. Angelo Chidi Unegbu (cangelo123@yahoo.com) 05.04.2022

1) When the Catholic missionaries arrived in Igboland in December 1885, the most difficult task they were confronted with was winning converts from among a people like Ndigbo, whose religion and culture were tied to their material and spiritual existence. To overcome this obstacle, the missionaries came up with the idea of coming through the back door: the redeeming or buying of slaves. In this approach, slaves were redeemed or bought from the slave markets and housed in a different enclave, separating them from other members of the community. This system of building a separate enclave or village for slaves different from the normal society was called the ‘Christian village’ system of evangelization. The system was, however, not new. The hope was that the Christian village would serve as a centre of evangelization for the rest of Igbo society. The idea of beginning the mission with slaves was simply counterproductive in a society where slaves had low social status.

2) In the Christian village, inmates had a common daily program or timetable that regulated their daily activities. They had, for instance, a common time for rising and going to bed, morning prayer, mass, school, manual labour, meals, and so on. A regulator, or prefect, was always appointed from among them. The regulations were, however, strictly monitored by the missionaries.

3) In Igboland, the slaves that populated the Christian village were mainly redeemed or bought from the Onitsha wharf (the bank of the River Niger). The money that was used in redeeming or buying them was sent from Rome by the Propaganda Fide. There were, however, slaves that were donated by foreigners residing around Onitsha who no longer needed them or who were permanently leaving the country. Other inmates were fugitives who ran away from their masters. There were also refugees, especially those accused of being witches or those banished from their communities for one crime or another. Another very important group that made up the Christian village were tabooed children who were either born as twins or who developed the upper teeth first; many of these were picked from the various evil forests across Igboland or simply dumped around the mission by their parents. In all, the Christian village became for the inmates a safer haven. Thus, many of them developed love and affection for the missionaries and for the Christian faith.

4) The inmates of the Christian village were groomed entirely in Christian life and in European culture. Church membership and the reception of sacraments were not optional. Every inmate followed the regulations of the house or community. Offenders were punished accordingly. Some offenses could attract chaining up the offenders for days. Flogging was part and parcel of it. The rule was that small offenses should be punished severely in order to prevent bigger ones. The strict regulations under which the inmates lived and the lack of freedom of choice or even the freedom to leave continue to question the charitable work of redeeming slaves by the missionaries. Remember that at that time slavery had been outlawed; however, the inimical business went on secretly unabated.

5) In 1889, Fr. Joseph Lutz, the head of the mission, was charged to court at Asaba (in a trial that lasted from October 28th to October 30th, 1889) for the maltreatment of an inmate called Fatima and, invariably, for slavery. Lutz was convicted and fined. The missionaries, however, insisted that the verdict from the “African devil," as the missionaries frequently referred to the colonial government, was a way of trying to discredit their missionary work because they had always defended the natives against the excesses of the colonial government. Nonetheless, the verdict succeeded in putting a stop to the redemption of slaves and the eventual closure of the Christian village in the decade that followed.

6) The Christian villages existed in Onitsha, Nsugbe, and Aguleri, but Aguleri was the only one that was made up of free converts who migrated from the traditional society in order to practice their Christian beliefs without qualms. Whether in Onitsha, Nsugbe, or Aguleri, the institution of the Christian village gave rise to the creation of two parallel societies: the Christian village and the normal village called "obodo." The members of the Christian village were given the impression that their places in heaven were assured, whereas that of “ndi obodo” was reserved in hell unless they repented before death. In 1904, these teachings were codified in the catechism book titled Katikism nke Okwukwe n’ Asusu Igbo. In this catechism book, a good Christian was pictured as one who dissociated himself or herself from “ndi obodo” and their way of life. The catechism book was also used in repelling the assaults of the CMS, who were in constant rivalry with the Catholics. Nevertheless, both the CMS and the Catholic missionaries, who hardly agreed on anything, eventually found agreement and friendship in the attack against Igbo culture. Whether redeemed slaves or free-born, the Christian village totally weaned every inmate of his or her cultural identity.

7) Since the school existed only in the Christian village where every member, particularly children and youths, was mandated to go to school, in a short time, the slaves became the first to be educated in Igboland and many other African nations. They became the pioneer catechists, school teachers, and headmasters in the new stations that sprang up across former southern Nigeria, especially in Igboland. They were the interpreters, clerks in government services, prison warders, heads of security agencies, and so on. These new elite became the foot soldiers that were used in capitulating the cultural, intellectual, and religious Igbo order.

Since these slaves were also foreigners to the villages where they lived and where they were later assigned, their attack on Igbo culture was merciless. Moreover, many of them saw it as a payback to people who had either sold, rejected, or banished them or their parents. The classroom and church station became the major battle fields. The unavoidable consequence was that every primary school graduate developed a strong aversion to his or her culture. They became, at the same time, crusaders of Western culture and heritage. Pupils were taught that being a Christian and “onye obodo” were incompatible. One represented light, whereas the other represented darkness. The more primary school graduates increased, the more armies were raised against the Igbo culture.

9) In a twinkle of an eye, the newly educated elite displaced the celebrated rich farmers in both wealth and prestige. The tide has changed. To meet up with the new wave of change, every Igbo person wanted his child to go to school, and every village wanted to have their own school. Tactically, the missionaries turned every school into a church as well and made Sunday school part of the academic curriculum. In this case, schoolchildren were mandated to come to school Monday through Saturday. The Sunday services, which were mainly conducted by catechists, were also made compulsory. Moreover, baptism was made a prerequisite for school enrollment. Bishop Shanahan fondly referred to the school pupils as “his little apostles." Indeed, those pupils succeeded in taking the faith to every nook and cranny of Igboland and were also responsible for the eventual capitulation of Igbo culture. To be educated was associated with being 'civilized', and a civilized Igbo was thought to be one who has outgrown his or her cultural identity. If you are an Igbo Christian who has an aversion for his or her culture, this is the origin of your mentality.

First published April 05, 2022

And thus, things Fall apart

This is cantankerous and preposterous!