Life
of the Venerable Goncalo Da Silveira:
Pioneer Missionary and Proto-Martyr of
South Africa
Hubert Chadwick, S.J.
(Author)
Paperback $5.99
Gonçalo da Silveira was a Jesuit
Priest born and educated in Portugal.
He was a missionary in India, acting as
provincial superior for the Jesuits, before
he began his work in southern Africa.
He first arrived at Sofala (Mozambique)
in 1560, and proceeded to Otongwe near
Cape Corrientes.During his stay of seven
weeks in Cape Corrientes, he instructed
and baptized the Makaranga chief, Gamba,
and about 450 people of his kraal. Towards
the end of the year, he began his expedition
up the Zambezi River to the capital of
the Monomotapa. This appears to have been
the N'Pande kraal, close to the M'Zingesi
River, a southern tributary of the Zambezi..He
arrived in Monomotapa on 26 December 1560,
and remained there until his death. During
this period he baptized the chief and
a large number of his subjects. However,
at the same time, Arabs from Mozambique
had begun to defame the missionary - a
plot instigated by one of their priests.
Due to this slander, da Silveira was strangled
to death in his hut, by order of the chief,
on 16 March 1561.
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