Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T07:46:56.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Catholic mission and some aspects of assimilation in Senegal, 1817–1852

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

D. H. Jones
D. H. Jones
Affiliation:
S.O.A.S., London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

After the restoration of French rule in Senegal in 1817 the Congregation of the Holy Ghost undertook spiritual responsibility for the colony. But its members were unable to make any serious impact on a community that remained only nominally Christian. Their work was reinforced by the ‘Ploërmel Brothers’ who took over the schools in the 1840s, and by the ordination of three Senegalese priests, David Boillat, Arsène Fridoil and Pierra Moussa. Inevitably the three priests were drawn into acrimonious controversy. Under instructions from Governor Bouet, they opened a school in competition with the Ploërmel brothers, who became their implacable enemies. Eventually it had to close and the three priests were successively removed from the colony. Thus ended a brief experiment in educational assimilation.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , July 1980 , pp. 323 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Lintingre, P., ‘La mission de Guinée au XVIIe siècle’, Afrique Documents, no. 96, 77–97.Google Scholar

2 Boulègue, J., Les Luso-Africains de Sénégambie (Dakar, 1972).Google Scholar

3 Boulègue, , Les Luso-Africains, 88–100Google Scholar; Boilat, P. D., Esquisses Sénégalaises (Paris, 1853)Google Scholar, chapter IV; Paris Archieves of the Congrégation du Saint Epsrit (C.S.E.) vol. 152/VI/A, no. 113, Lambert, to Fourdinier, , 28 April 1841Google Scholar, reporting 30 baptisms made on a recent visit to Joal.

4 Hargreaves, J. D., ‘Assimilation in eighteenth-century Senegal’, Journal of African History, vi (1965), 177–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jore, L., ‘Les établissements sur la Côte occidentale de l'Afrique de 1758 à 1809’, Revue française de l'histoire d'Outre-mer, l, i (1964)Google Scholar, chapter xx, ‘Le Culte Catholique; Lintingre, P., Voyages du Sieur de Glicourt à la Côte Occidentale d'Afrique pendant les années 1778 et 1779 (Dakar, 1966)Google Scholar; Lintingre, P., ‘Le Curé de Gorée d'après ses archives’, Afrique Documents, no. 97, 75Google Scholar et seq.

5 Jore, , ‘Les établissements’, 425.Google Scholar

6 Lamiral, D. H., L'Afrique et le peuple Africain (Paris, 1789), 43Google Scholar; Roger, J. F., Kélédor (Paris, 1828), 196Google Scholar; both cited in Jore, , ‘Les établissements’, 412.Google Scholar

7 Boilat, , Esquisses, 66Google Scholar, 79, 103–4; C.S.E. 152/B/vii, ‘Mission à Joal par, M. l'abbé Boilat’, pp. 17–19Google Scholar; C.S.E. vol. 152/vi/A, no. 39, Baradôte, to Fourdinier, , 16 July 1821.Google Scholar

8 Daget, S., ‘L'abolition de la traite des noirs en France de 1814 à 1831’, Cahiers d'Etudes Africains, xi 1 (1971), 16.Google Scholar

9 Schefer, C., Instructions Générales Données de 1753 à 1870 aux Gouverneurs…en A.O.F. (Paris, 1921), 1, 262.Google Scholar

10 Ibid. 308–9; Deschamps, H., Le Sénégal et la Gambie (Paris, 1964), 57.Google Scholar

11 Gaucher, J., Les débuts de l'enseignement en Afrique francophone (Paris, 1968), 181–8.Google Scholar

12 There is a useful summary in Latourette, K. S., Christianity in a Revolutionary Age (New York, 1958), i, 124–46.Google Scholar

13 Satineau, M., Schoelcher (Paris, 1948), 38.Google Scholar

14 Koren, H. J., The Spiritans (Pittsburgh, 1958), 54–8Google Scholar. Also correspondence of clergy in Senegal with Superiors of the Congregation, C.S.E. vol. 152/vi/a.

15 Archives Nationales, Section D'Outre-Mer (ANSOM) Senegal, x/i bis, Governor Pujol, L. to Minister Duperré, 20 June 1835Google Scholar. He was no doubt thinking of the recently disgraced prefect Abbé Monahan, who in addition to criminal behaviour which the governor found too shocking to particularize had further scandalized his junior colleague by wearing coloured trousers ‘like a protestant’. ANSOM, Senegal x/1 bis, Pujol to Minister Rigny, 5 August 1834Google Scholar; C.S.E. vol. 152/vi/a, no. 45, Sicurani, to Fourdinier, , 18 January 1834.Google Scholar

16 Ibid. no. 41, Giardon to Fourdinier, 12 September 1832.

17 This was the Abbé Giudicelly who raised a national scandal with his allegations that Governor Schmaltz and other high officials of the colony had been engaged in slave trading, Daget, , ‘L'abolition’, 31Google Scholar; Debien, G., ‘J. E. Morenas à St Louis’, in Bull. I.F.A.N. xxx (1968), 693–4Google Scholar; Gaucher, , Les débuts, 63–5.Google Scholar

18 Littner, R. P., ‘Les promoteurs du clergé autochthone de 1820 à 1848’ (unpublished MSS in C.S.E.), 5Google Scholar; Koren, , The Spiritans, 509.Google Scholar

19 Jore, , ‘Les établissements’, 431Google Scholar; ANSOM, Senegal x/i bis, Director of Colonies to Superior of Congregation of the Ghost, Holy, 2 November 1841Google Scholar; Report to Minister of Bureau of Finance, Nov. 1842Google Scholar (re religious paintings purchased for the church of St Louis); Minutes of the Church Council of St Louis 23 November 1852; Bulletin Administratif du Sénégal 1819–42; (Paris, 1844), 121, 123Google Scholar; Bulletin Administratif 1849–50, 194, 241Google Scholar. C.S.E. 152/a/vi, p. 207Google Scholar, Maynard, to Fourdinier, , 18 October 1842Google ScholarANSOM, Senegal/x/4, Governor Protet to Minister Ducos, 22 June 1852.Google Scholar

20 Senegal, x/bis, Culte, Objets Généraux 1815–1850Google Scholar; and C.S.E. 152/vi/a, provide most of the documentation I have seen on these early clerics. Only two seem to have been clearly guilty of criminal misconduct: Monahan (see note 15 above) and Mareilles, expelled from the colony in 1841. C.S.E. Box 152, Des. BII.

21 Senegal/X/1 bis, Governor Grammont to Minister De Mackau 28 October 1846.Google Scholar

22 C.S.E. 152/VI/A, no. 113Google Scholar, Lambert, to Fourdinier, , 28 April 1841.Google Scholar

23 C.S.E. 152/B/6, Arragon, to Libermann, , 12 May 1846Google Scholar; id. to id., 13 August 1846, C.S.E. 152/b/vii, Mission, Boilat's to Joal, , 23.Google Scholar

24 Examples are ANSOM, Sénégal x/6a, Report on schools by Colonial Inspector 1843Google Scholar; Sénégal, , x/3 bis, Report of the Governor for 1840Google Scholar; C.S.E. 152/b/4, Arragon, to Libermann, , 25 July 1845.Google Scholar

25 Bouche, D., L'Enseignement dans les Territoires Français de l'Afrique Occidentale de 1817 à 1920 (Paris, 1975), 52–92.Google Scholar

26 Carrère, F. and Holle, P., De la Sénégambie française (Paris, 1855), 7.Google Scholar

27 Bulletin Administratif, 1819–42, 244Google Scholar; Bull. Admin. 1849–50, 705.Google Scholar

28 Idowu, H. O., ‘Assimilation in nineteenth century Senegal’, Bull. I.F.A.N. xxx, iv (1968).Google Scholar

29 E.g. Arragon's letters cited in note 23.Google Scholar

30 Bouche, , L'Enseignement, 115.Google Scholar

31 Green, W. A., ‘The West Indies and British West African policy’, Journal of African History, xv, ii (1974), 247–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 Cochin, A., L'Abolition de l'Esclavage (Paris, 1861), 41–56.Google Scholar

33 Le Moniteur Universel, 8 April 1845, 877Google Scholar, col. 1.

34 Koren, , The Spiritans, 57–63.Google Scholar

35 Op. cit. 75 et seq.

36 Gauchet, , Les débuts, 153–9.Google Scholar

37 Bouche, , L'Enseignement, 102Google Scholar et seq.

38 ANSOM, Sénégal/x/4, Baudin, to MacKau, De, 10 March 1849.Google Scholar

39 ANSOM, Sénégal xix/3a, Report by Stephan, Controlleur 29 January 1849.Google Scholar

40 Cornevin, R., ‘L'Abbé Sénégalais David Boilat’, Notes Africaines, cxli (1974), 14.Google Scholar

41 Delaplace, F., La Vénérable Mère A-M. Javouhey, ed. Kieffer, P. (Paris, 1915).Google Scholar

42 Cornevin, R., ‘L'Abbé’, 13Google Scholar; Littner, , ‘Les Promoteurs’, 8–11.Google Scholar

43 Op. cit. 12; Boilat, , Esquisses, 246.Google Scholar

44 Their ages and parentage are given in Roger's arreté, nominating them to go to Bailleul, , 16 May 1827Google Scholar (ANSOM. Sénégal x/2(d)). Boilat himself says that his father was a French naval officer (C.S.E. 152/b/vii, ‘Mission à Joal’, 25). The relationship between his parents was a relatively stable one, as they had two other children over a period of years. (Personal communication by M. C. Nardin of the Bibliothèque Mazarin and Fr. Duguy CSSP, the archivist of the Congregation in Dakar.) Fridoil (Friedwald ?) is described as the son of an Englishman, but the name seems to be German. Pierre Moussa senior was a widely respected elder, who had been one of the leaders of the church in the years of British occupation (Boilat, , Esquisses, 216).Google Scholar

45 Cornevin, , ‘L'Abbé’, 13.Google Scholar

46 C.S.E. 152/vi/a, Letters to Fourdinier by Maynard, Boilat, Fridoil and Moussa.

47 ANSOM, Sénégal 1/35/a, Baudin, to Minister Romain-DesFassés, 9 November 1849Google Scholar. In this despatch the Governor speaks of ‘la gène – la misère qui pèse sur la colonie par suite de plusieurs mauvaises traites successives’, and continues, ‘A aucune époque la misère ne s'est pas sentir d'une manière aussi vive qu'en ce moment. On ne saurait se dissimuler que l'emancipation y a puissement contribué et qu'il est venu s'y ajouter un autre fléau, la guerre avec le Fouta qui a empêché cette année les petites embarcations d'aller à la traite des escales et des marigots.’

48 ANSOM, Sénégal 1/30, Grammont, to Minister, 24 June 1847.Google Scholar

49 See Bouche, , L'Enseignement, chapter 4Google Scholar, for fuller account of college.

50 Sénégal x/3 bis, very favourable report on college by Carrère, and others 5 September 1844.Google Scholar

51 See his account of it in Esquisses Sénégalaises, 276–8.Google Scholar

52 ANSOM, Sénégal x/4, Report of prefect apostolic, enclosed in Protet, to Ducos, , 1 June 1852.Google Scholar

53 ANSOM, Sénégal x/5 (b), Baudin to MacKau, enclosing procès-verbal of Admin. Co.; C.S.E. 153/v, Arlabosse, to Superior, 1 September 1848.Google Scholar

54 Bouche, , L'Enseignement, 113, 254Google Scholar et seq; 228.

55 Boilat, , Esquisses, 227Google Scholar; C.S.E. 153/iv, Baudin, to Minister Montebello 21 February 1848.Google Scholar

56 ANSOM, Sénégal, x/4, Faidherbe, to Minister Ducos, 16 August 1855.Google Scholar

57 Notes et Documents Rélatifs à la Vie et à l'Oeuvre du Vénérable F. M. P. Libermann, vol. xi (Paris, 1940)Google ScholarLibermann, to Ministre des Cultes, 18 December 1849, 295–9Google Scholar; Libermann, to Fridoil, , 28 December 1849, 316–19Google Scholar; Bull. Admin. 1849–50, 98Google Scholar, Arrêté, of 1 September 1849Google Scholar, banning all religious processions except funerals.

58 ANSOM, Sénégal x/1 bis. Baudin, , ‘Rapport du remise de service’, 16 August 1850.Google Scholar

59 ANSOM, Sénégal X/4ter, Pinet-Laprade, to Faidherbe, , 17 April 1861.Google Scholar

60 C.S.E., 152/A/vi, Maynard, to Fourdinier, , 9 October 1843Google Scholar; Ibid. 257, id. to id. 20 November 1843; C.S.E. 153/IV, Arlabosse, to Baudin, , 19 February 1848Google Scholar; Baudin, to Minister Montebello, 21 February 1848Google Scholar; Moussa, to Superior, Monnet, 14 July 1848, ‘ecclesiastical authority knows nothing of fraternity’; Notes and Documents, vol. xi, 85–6Google Scholar, Libermann, to Ministre des Cultes, 26 March 1849Google Scholar; Littner, , 17.Google Scholar

61 Littner, , ‘Les promoteurs’, 28Google Scholar; ANSOM. Sénégal x/4ter, Guyard, to Protet, , 1 June 1852.Google Scholar

62 Koren, , The Spiritans, 75Google Scholar et seq. For the agreement of 1843 between Libermann and Government see Notes and Documents, iv, 487–90Google Scholar, Report of Galos, Director of Colonies, to Navy Minister MacKau.

63 ANSOM, Sénégal x/5c, Faidherbe, to Minister, 22 February 1856.Google Scholar

64 Schnapper, B., ‘Les tribunaux musulmans et la politique coloniale du Sénégal’, Revue historique du Droit français et étranger, 4th ser., xxxix (1961), 90 108.Google Scholar