Chapter II. Historical Perspectives on the Encounter between Traditional Religion,
2.7. King Musinga and religion
King YuhiV Musinga (1897-1931) had a phobia of everything which was Christian. He was surprised in trampling furiously on Christian pictures and crosses. He arrived to break some marriages of Rwandan and catechumen; he dismissed chiefs who were converted to Christianity.304 For King Musinga, the situation in Rwanda became intolerable because he saw Tutsis of the best families rejecting the traditional religion and sacred principle of the monarchy, which was the cement of Rwanda, to embrace Christianity. It was painful and disturbing.305 King Musinga wrote a letter on 05th January 1930 to his own daughter Thérèse whose husband Rwagataraka wanted to be baptized.
“Tu m’as fait dire que ton mari voulait se faire Chrétien et que, toi aussi, tu le voulais pour la raison que tu es sa femme. On m’avait dit que ton mari nous haïssait ; c’est donc bien vrai ! Il nous hait. Le motif qui me pousse à te dire cela, c’est qu’il va te faire accomplir un acte tabou (umuziro) pour lequel tu encouras à jamais ma réprobation. J’ai maudit quiconque parmi mes enfants se fera chrétien.
Si l’un d’eux le devient, puisse-t-il être privé de tout avoir ! Qu’il meure sans postérité ! Qu’il soit abhorré par le roi d’en-bas-Musinga et par celui d’en-haut-
301 Ibid., p.35.
302 Ibid.
303 Ibid., p.46, 47.
304 Ibid., p.47.
305 Bernard Lugan, Ibid., p.47.
Nkuba, le tonnere ; qu’il ne trouve de laitage ni chez le serf, ni chez le seigneur ! Qu’il soit maudit par tout homme qui sait maudire. Ne crois pas que je te joue comme fait ton mari ! Si tu t’instruis du christianisme, pour faire plaisir à ton mari, plus jamais je ne t’aimerai, je te jure. Que j’aie tué Rwabugiri, mon père, si ce que je te dis n’est pas vrai ! Tout le mal possible je te le souhaiterais en haine : je te le dis pour te retenir. Je te haïrai comme le poison qui a tué mon frère ainé, Munana ; je te haïrai comme la méningite cérébro-spinale qui a tué deux de mes enfants.
Débouche tes oreilles, écoute bien ! Choisis entre m’aimer, aimer la vie et aimer ton mari. Je te jure, si tu deviens chrétienne, plus jamais nous ne nous reverrons.
Dis-moi bien ce que tu penses. Dis-moi nettement ce que tu as dans le cœur. Sache que si ta plume cherche à m’en imposer, je saurai bien par mes gens; dis-moi la vérité. C’est le jour ou jamais de montrer si tu es mon enfant, ou si tu ne l’es pas.
Et puis, si tu te fais instruire quand même, tu peux, à ton gré me brouiller avec les Pères blancs ; cela m’est égal.
J’ai terminé. C’est moi ton père, le roi du Ruanda”306
This letter clearly shows how King Musinga was deeply sad to the people who abandoned the Rwandan traditional religion and how he was against Christianity. “The institution of royalty was entirely based on the customs and tradition. The king was the slave of the tradition, because what the ancestors announced must necessarily be achieved itself. Here the custom constitutes a religion; to ignore customs, it is a transgression of a sacred precept.”307 This is confirmed by Pascal Fossuo in his doctoral thesis:
Ruling systems in Africa have spiritual connotations. Rulers and nobles are religiously empowered by the sacral character of the African ruling system. The religious practices and spiritual experience which an African ruler undergoes and undertakes when he is in authority, links his office to God and gives a theological
306 Alexandre Arnoux, Ibid, p.158,159.
307 Bernard Lugan, Ibid., p.47.
dimension to sacral rule. African kings claim their power from God. The success of their government depends on the spiritual forces with which they interact.308
King Musinga refused the request to convert to Christianity and this led to his deposition. In removing him from power, the Roman Catholic Church broke the backbone of Rwandan society in which the power of the King was sacred and his designation was surrounded by religious magical secrets.309 In Rwandan tradition, the king was the representative of God and he detained God‟s power and authority.310 In the exercise of authority, he was perfect, infallible, his decisions were unassailable, and his judgments were always right.311 Twagirayesu and Butselaar assert that, Bishop Léon Paul Class (1910-1940) knew the Rwandan traditions, knew that Musinga would not give up and he was the last obstacle preventing the massive conversion of Tutsis that is why he played district attorney's role in the trial against King Musinga.312 Byiringiro concludes that,
The destitution of king Musinga was a big victory taken back by the Roman Catholic Church but also the beginning of the conflicts and successive violence which culminate in genocide of Tutsis in 1994. The second reason of his destitution can also be explained itself by a dissatisfaction of Belgium because the King Musinga had concluded a pact of blood which placed Rwanda under the protectorate of Germany with the German officer Von Ramsay.313
308 Pascal Fossuo, African sacral rule and the Christian church : An investigation into a process of change and continuity in the encounter between Christianity and African tradition, with particular reference to Cameroon and Ghana, PhD Thesis at the University of Natal, South Africa, May 2003, P.34.
309 Ibid., p.44.
310 Pauwels M., Imana et le culte des manes au Rwanda,Bruxelles, 1958, p.5.
311 Ibid, p.8.
312 Michel Twagirayesu et Jan Van Butselaar, Ibid., p.46.
313 Emmanuel Byiringiro, L’initiation socio-religieuse traditionnelle africaine, mémoire de maitrise en theologie, MA Thesis,Yaoundé, Juin 2002, P.7.
Quoted Hubert Deschamps, Histoire Générale de l‟Afrique, T.II, P.U.F, Paris, 1971, p.379.
The Roman Catholic Bishop Léon Paul Classe had a candidate to replace King Musinga, Rudahigwa was enthroned on 16th November 1931, and baptized after under the name of
“Charles Léon Mutara III.”314
No traditional ceremony was allowed. This marked a total rupture with Rwandan national tradition. In a society where the King‟s powers were sacred, the fate of King Musinga had significant repercussions on the country‟s socio-political and cultural authenticity. The heart of Rwandans was broken. From that time, the real power was in the hands of Roman Catholic Church.315
Three years after his baptism, the King consecrated Rwanda to Christ the King, and some authors attest that he established Catholicism as a state religion.316
The protestant missionary Friedrich Von Bodelschwingh (1877-1945) wanted to go farther in evangelization: he aimed for regions and areas where Islam did not have any followers. He hoped to precede the Muslims and their influence which he judged very ominous.317