Reading the story of the following Saint in the synaxarium...at first I said to myself...why is he called a saint, while he pierced the side of Jesus...but then I red the story on another page...:

St. Longinus is the centurion who pierced the side of Our Lord whileHe was hanging on the Cross. St. Longinus, who was nearly blind, washealed when some of the blood and water from Jesus fell into his eyes. It was then he exclaimed "Indeed, this was the Son of God!" [Mark 15:39]. St. Longinus then converted, Left the army, took instruction from the apostles and became a monk in Cappadocia. Therehe was arrested for his faith, his teeth forced out and tongue cut off. However, St. Longinus miraculously continued to speak clearly and managed to destroy several idols in the presence of the governor. The governor, who was made blind by the demons that came from the idols, had his sight restored when St. Longinus was being beheaded, because his blood came in contact with the governors' eyes. St. Longinus' relics are now in the church of St Augustine, inRome. His Lance is contained in one of the four pillars over the altar in the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome.

Unfortunately...Rome afterwards didn't stay all that 'fidèle' in leading the christians....another reason why getting to know the history of what happened...the divisions among the Roman catholics (schisms and heresies in the church....different attitudes towards Ethiopie (1555-1634) for example between the Jesuits and the Franciscans at the same time in history)

... and still later the several attacks of Italy (=genocide during 2nd world war under Mussolini) against Ethiopie, are very important to be studied to understand the history of the church and mankind.

...not to feed hatred, but to tell something about the history, the colonisation and christianisation of Africa with violence...while the rest of Africa was having a pagan religion, the Ethiopians were already christians and could thus not be colonized for this reason.

1)Attitude of the Jesuits:There is only one Catholic Church in the world and it can only be one under the Roman Pontiff and not under that of Alexandria”.

Thus spoke Ignatius of Loyola in 1555....no longer were Ethiopians Christian brothers to be respected, but rather heretics to be converted.

2)Attitude of the Franciscans:a Franciscan friar who visited Jerusalem between1345 and 1350 and once there became acquainted withits Ethiopian community characterized Ethiopians and their sovereignas follows:

This generation [of Ethiopians] loves us Christian Francs above all and it would be happy to join us; but the Sultan of Babylon never let any Latin head toward them pass. But these [people] of Tiopia (Ethiopia) can pass and come to Egypt and to the Land of Mission [Jerusalem] without paying tributeto the Sultan (Muslim occupation of Israel and other lands); and they can wear the cross in the open throughout Saracinia, they even enter theHoly Sepulcher without paying tribute; nobody else has this privilege apart from those fromTiopia; this is what the Sultan does: of course it does it for fear,because the Lord of Ethiopia is the greatest Lord in the world.

(http://www.academia.edu/354592/The_Jesuit_Mission_to_Ethiopia_1555-1634_and_the_Death_of_Prester_John)

......divisions in the church...this is a message of Mary received by Barnabas Nwoye: “My sorrow is great, join Me in the battle against the wicked dragon, all who are sealed with the Blood of the Lamb. Fight with Me against the heresies that destroy the foot of the Church. Fear not their great number. Through the Blood of the Spotless Lamb, the faith of the true Church, of the true doctrine and of holiness will soon be restored.”-7th may 1999.

......the battle against the wicked dragon are the same words you can hear in this quote:

....and this is a quote from Haile Selassie:Today is the day on which we defeated our enemy (Italy-Ethiopie war-WW2). Therefore, when we say let us rejoice with our hearts, let not our rejoicing bein any other way but in the spirit of Christ. Do not return evil forevil. Do not indulge in the atrocities which the enemy has been practicing in his usual way, even to the last.

Take care not to spoil the good name of Ethiopia by acts which are worthy of the enemy. We shall see that our enemies are disarmed and sent out the same way they came. As Saint George who killed the dragon is the Patron Saint of our army as well as of our allies, letus unite with our allies in everlasting friendship and amity in order to be able to stand against the godless and cruel dragon whichhas newly risen and which is oppressing mankind.

...WO 2 is over, but mankind is suffering from the dragon or satan through industries and politics (this became widespread with the industialisation and the new parties in politics who introduced new laws: liberal laws, atheist schooling programs) intertwined with thechurch(?) leading the children astray by misleading policies (now among the population through widespread modernisation:books,magazines,TV, internet, ad's..), different from the covenant of God....Look out, we have been fed with this stuff since our youth, but look at the consequences...all over we have divorce, materialism...

Jesus Christ and all over in the bible...... this was what God wanted from His people: to respect the covenant and to worship Him and not idols....also against the use of violance, boastful speech, harlotry, sexual intercourse between the same sexes..to name the most important things.....it was these things that led towards the destruction of the earth in the time of Noah!!!!!? Also Haile Selassie underlines the importance of the covenant and to follow Christ!

In Christ we CAN BE ONE. Unity in the families and beyond....I hope we start to see that we started counting from 1 AD to 2014 AD !!!!

another video (recommended)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94V5EFu4uHo

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The Jesuit Mission to Ethiopia (1555-1634) and the Death of Prester John.

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Matteo SalvadoreThe Jesuit Mission toEthiopia (1555-1634) and

the Death of PresterJohn.Reference: Salvadore,Matteo. “The

Jesuit Mission toEthiopia (1555-1634) and the Death of Prester

John.” In Allison B.Kavey (ed.),World-Building andthe Early

Modern Imagination, New York: Palgrave Macmillan,2010, 141–

172.This extract istaken fromthe author's original manuscript

and has not been edited. Thedefinitive, published,version of

record is available here:http://us.macmillan.com/worldbuildingandtheea

rlymodernimagination/AllisonKavey andhttp://www.palgra

veconnect.com/pc/doifinder/10.1057/9780230113138Introduction

“There is only one Catholic Church in the world and it canonly be

one under the Roman Pontiff and not under thatof

Alexandria”.1Thus spokeIgnatius of Loyola in 1555,

addressingtheEthiopian EmperorGalawdéwosin relation to the

Ethiopian Church’s tradition of dependenceonthe Egyptian

Coptic Church. Since its beginnings, with fewexceptions, the head

of the EthiopianChurch, known asabunor metropolit

an, was anEgyptian cleric appointed by the Patriarch of Alexand

ria. In Loyola’s eyes, the dependenceon Alexandriawas one

among many“errors andabuses”making Ethiopian faith an aberration

and requiring the attention of Jesuit proselytism.In the

midst of the era ofCatholic renewal, the Society ofJesus

embarked on a projectthat had profound consequences for

Ethiopian-European relations and markeda watershed for Europe

’s idea ofEthiopia. In 1555 the Society dispatchedthe first

party of missionaries to thekingdomwith the objective of

establishing a provinceunder the jurisdiction of the Portuguese

assistancy.2In the Jesuit imagination,

Ethiopia would havewelcomed itsreduction3

to1

Loyola to Galawdéwos (21-02-1555)in Maurice Giuliani, Ecrits(Paris: Desclee de

Brouwer, 1991), pp. 918-922.2For a detailed overview of the

structure and history of the Portugueseassistancysee Dauril Alden,

The making of an Enterprise: the Society ofJesus in Portugal, its Empire, and beyond, 1540-1750

(Stanford: Stanford UniversityPress, 1996). More in general on the structure

and workingsof the Jesuit orders the most recent work with a true 

2

 Catholicism and the authority of the appointed provincial

as patriarch of a new CatholicEthiopia. While Loyola’s

plan failed andwas inconsequential for the long term

trajectoryof Ethiopian Christianity, the mission deeply

affected the unfolding of the Ethio-Europeanencounter

which Ethiopian pilgrims had spearheaded during the

Renaissance.4 This paper examines the

consequences of the Jesuit mission toEthiopia (1555-1634)

onearly-modern European world-building: starting

in the late 14thcentury, Europeans had come toimagine

Ethiopia as one of the most alluring destinations in the Orient.

European elites identifiedEthiopia with the distant

Christian land of Prester John, the pious kingcapable ofrescuingCh

ristianityfrom the looming Islamic threat: Italian and

Portuguesecourts hosted Ethiopian pilgrims and diplomats,

whom they recognizedas peers.5However, once at the court

of Emperor Galawdéwos (1540-1559),6

the first Jesuit missionaries choseaccomodatioover impositio,

 disregarding the cautionarytale of two fathers who

visited the Emperor in1555.One of the twoJesuit emissaries

, Gonçalo Rodrigues,returned to Goa disappointed aboutthe

encounter and ventedhis frustration in a detailed letter to

his superiors.With uncannyinsight, he warned hissuperiors

that “the notables of the empire would prefer to be

subjects toglobal perspective is Luke Clossey,Salvation and globalization

in the early Jesuit missions(New York: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2008).3

In the Ethiopian context the Society of Jesus intended theprocess of reduction as

the abandonment,on part of Ethiopians, of heretic practices and

theological beliefs and the return to the true Catholic faith.4

For a discussion of the firstEthiopian travelers inRenaissance Europe and the

emergence ofan early modernimage of Ethiopia as the Christian land of Prester John

see Matteo Salvadore, “The Ethiopian Age of Exploration:Prester John’s

discovery ofEurope, 1306-1458.”The Journal ofWorld History, 21, no. 4 (2010).5

For a thorough discussion of Ethiopianpresence in Europe in the 14th

century see P. M. Chaine, “Un monastèreéthiopien a Rome au XVe

et XVI siècle,” Mélanges de la Faculté orientaleV (1911): 1-36; Mauro DaLeonessa,

Santo Stefano Maggiore degliAbissini e le relazioni romano-etiopiche(Rome: Vatican, 1928),

Renato Lefevre,“Riflessi etiopici nell culturaeuropea del medioevo e del

rinascimento,” Annali Lateranensi11 (1947), pp. 255-342.For the Ethiopian

presence in Jerusalem see Enrico Cerulli, Etiopi in Palestina Storia Della Comunita'

Etiopica DiGerusalemme(Roma: Libreria dello Stato,1943).6Dates in parenthesis

indicate birth and death with the exception ofinstitutional figures for which

dates indicatetimein office. 

3 Muslim rule

rather than replace their customs with ours.”

7Despite Rodrigues’s warning of acomingstorm, theJesuit

party headed by Andrés de Oviedo (1517-1577) reached

Galawdéwos’scourt in1557 and immediately demandedthe unconditio

nal acknowledgement of João NunesBarreto (1510-1562) -

the first appointed provincialof Ethiopia -as Patriarch

of all EthiopianChristians.8Evidence suggests that

through Jesuit mediation,European imagination reinvented

Ethiopia: the Society transformed the kingdom of 

Prester Johninto a land of mission, articulateda discourse

of conquest and attempted to enforceEurocentric

standards.By treating ChristianEthiopians as non-believers,

the Jesuits started tochip away at the idea of Ethio-

Europeancommonality and shapeda new discourse of otherness:

no longer were EthiopiansChristian brothers to be respected,

but ratherheretics to be converted.In order to grasp the

epochal consequences that the Jesuitmission had on theEuropeanre

presentation of Ethiopia we must first consider the nature

of the Ethio-European encounter  before thecoming of the

Society. Secondly, we will peruse thefounding document of

themission, Ignatiusof Loyola’s instructions to JoãoNunes

Barreto. Finally, we will review thehistoryof the Jesuit

sojourn inEthiopia (1554-1633), andits cultural byproducts

: the collectionof historicaland proto-ethnographic

accounts the fathers produced embodied the long-astinglega

cy of a process ofmaterial and spiritual conquest that while

failing onEthiopian soilsuccessfully changed the natureof the

discourse among Europe’s learned circles.7Beccari,

 Rerum aethiopicarum scriptores occidentales inediti a saeculo XVI adXIX ,(Romae,: C.de Luigi,

1903;vol.5),pp.357-3588On the figure of Andre’ de Oviedo see Eduardo

Janvier Alonso Romo,“Andrés de Oviedo, patriarca deEtiopía,”Penisula, Revista de

Estudos Ibéricos, no. 3 (2006): 215-31.

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