Relations between the first Catholic Missionaries and the people of Swaziland (1914-1955)

Abstract

Much of the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Swaziland is conjoined with the history of the Order of the Servants of Mary. Explanations for the historiographical emphasis of this study are plentiful: the Order of the Servants of Mary was the first Catholic missionary group that worked amongst the people of Swaziland and most of the missionaries who had worked in Swaziland, both female and male, belonged to the Order of the Servants of Mary. Although Swaziland was explored by Europeans as early as the nineteenth century, the country's geographical configuration and the fact that it was a British Protectorate have kept Swaziland in the isolated back room of African studies. Consequently, the work done by the first Catholic missionaries has attracted little academic interest. This is why very little is known about the pre-Christian Swaziland. The first Christian missionaries in Swaziland were Methodists who arrived in the country in 1844. When Catholics arrived in the country sixty six years later they understood the Church as Mater et magistra (mother and teacher) forty years before the encyclical, Mater et Magistrd. Their understanding can be deduced from the way they carried out the work of evangelization. The concept of Mater et Magistra caused them to have a paternalistic mentality which kindled in them an exaggerated zeal for souls. The lack of educational institutions in the country made them feel obliged to provide education to the local people. Those educative institutions later became vehicles for propagating Catholicism, which was mingled with European cultures, largely Italian and German. Religious and cultural pluralism, which had been condemned in principle by the homogeneous structure of the Swazi society, became popular in Swaziland under the auspices of the educative institutions established by the Church.