Week 5- Kongolese Saint Anthony response - This weeks...

This week’s reading is The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita
and the Antonian Movement , 1684-1705 by John Thorton. It details the life and work of
Dona Beatriz, who was possessed by the spirit of St. Anthony of Padua and thus started
a new religious movement in the Kongo Empire. The introduction states that the author
is going more for a narrative style, which is established early. It begins with an account
of the geography, culture, and history of where she was from, focusing mainly on the
wars and power struggles going on when she was born. It was brought up how there
were multiple kings vying for power, and while there could be multiple royals at one time
(my understanding of it), really only one held the lion’s share of control at one time.
Thorton kept mentioning Dona Beatriz as being eight and twelve at various parts of the
story, which made me think: how heavily involved was Dona Beatriz in the early
history presented in The Kongolese Saint Anthony ? I found that a bit unclear. I know