Latest / The History of Belgium: A Small Country with a Giant Colonial Legacy — Fexingo History / The 1930s Flemish Clergy in Congo: Missionaries of Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: We've talked a lot about the big colonial structures — the Force Publique, the rubber quotas, the mining companies. But I want to zoom in on something that operated at a much more intimate, everyday level: the Catholic missions, specifically the Flemish missionaries who arrived in the Congo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Luna: Flemish specifically — not just Belgian? Why does that matter? Lucas: Great question. Belgium itself was deeply divided between French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemings. The Flemish were often treated as second-class citizens in their own country — their language was marginalised in government and education. So when they went to the Congo, many of them saw an opportunity to prove themselves, and to build something they controlled. Lucas: The most influential Flemish missionary in the Congo was probably Father Raphaël de la Kethulle. He was a Scheutist priest — the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — and he arrived in the Kwango region in the 1890s. He stayed for decades, founding missions, schools, and even a printing press. Luna: A printing press? That feels like a big deal in a mostly oral society. Lucas: It was. The press published catechisms, textbooks, and newspapers in local languages like Kikongo and Lingala. The missionaries were often the first to systematically write down and standardise these languages. But here's the tension: they used those languages to teach a very specific worldview — one that emphasised obedience to colonial authority and the Catholic Church. Lucas: The schools they ran — often called 'écoles de la brousse' or bush schools — taught basic literacy, arithmetic, and religion, but they also taught Congolese children to be 'évolués', a term for Africans who had 'evolved' toward European civilisation. The catch was that no matter how educated you became, you were still considered inferior. Luna: So the missionaries were both giving tools for advancement and enforcing a glass ceiling. Lucas: Exactly. And there was another layer: the Flemish clergy often clashed with French-speaking Walloon priests over which European language should be taught in schools. The Flemish wanted Dutch or Flemish dialects; the Walloons insisted on French. This rivalry played out in the Congo, sometimes confusingly for Congolese students who just wanted to learn. Lucas: One fascinating episode happened in the 1930s at the Kisantu seminary, a major training centre for Congolese priests. A group of seminarians petitioned the bishop to allow them to study in their own languages — Kikongo, Lingala, Tshiluba — instead of just French or Flemish. The request was denied, and some students were expelled. Luna: That's a remarkable act of resistance — Congolese seminarians pushing back against the linguistic colonialism of the church. Lucas: It was. And it shows that even within the church, which was supposed to be a pillar of colonial order, there were cracks. The missionaries themselves were not monolithic. Some genuinely believed they were helping; others were more cynical. But one thing is certain: the Flemish clergy left a deep mark on Congolese education, language, and identity. Lucas: By the 1940s, nearly all primary schools in the Congo were run by Catholic missions, and the vast majority of those teachers were Flemish. When independence came in 1960, many Congolese leaders had been educated in those mission schools — including Patrice Lumumba, who attended a Catholic school run by Flemish missionaries. Luna: So the missionaries shaped the very people who would eventually challenge colonial rule. Lucas: Precisely. It's a tangled legacy. The missions gave literacy and skills, but they also demanded cultural submission. And they tied the Congo to a European linguistic rivalry that had nothing to do with Africa. If you've been coming along with us through these conversations about Europe's colonial past, you know how deep these threads run. Luna: Yeah, it really makes you think about how much of what we call 'history' is actually the story of encounters — and how those encounters echo today. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's part of why we keep doing these episodes. A couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps them going — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, if you've gotten something out of them. It's a small way to help us keep digging into these stories, without ads or sponsors. Luna: It really does make a difference. We hear from listeners all the time who say these episodes spark new questions. That's what keeps us going too. Lucas: So back to the missionaries. One more detail I find telling: Father de la Kethulle was known among Congolese as 'Tata Rafiki' — Father Friend. He was genuinely beloved in Kwango. But he also supported the colonial administration's forced labour campaigns during World War I. Even a 'friend' could be complicit. Lucas: That contradiction — between paternal affection and systemic violence — is the story of Belgian colonialism in miniature. The missions were both a refuge and a cage. And understanding that helps us see why independence was so complex, and why the Congo's postcolonial struggles are still shaped by those early encounters. Luna: I think that's a really powerful note to end on — the complexity of it all.