Missionary orders in the Catholic Church are a relatively new development, largely begun after the French Revolution. While orders have always engaged in missionary expansion from the first Celtic and Benedictine monks who Christianized Europe, specialized groups with this as their primary focus are of recent origin.
In the first wave of European contact with Africa in the sixteenth century, the Portuguese established small outposts and trading forts along the coasts. The only Christian state in the period was that of the Kongo under King Afonso. It was only in the nineteenth century that Catholicism entered sub-Saharan Africa, and this work was entrusted entirely to religious orders.
The opening of Africa to Europe coincided with a period of almost total decline in religious life. Decimated by the French Revolution and its effects in Europe, there was little to work with. When Napoleon reestablished three French missionary societies in 1805, they counted a pitiful 115 members, mostly...
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Brockman, N. (2021). Church, Missionary Orders in the Catholic. In: Mudimbe, V.Y., Kavwahirehi, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-2068-5_76
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