La Mission catholique de Boundji de 1900 à 1954 dans l’essai Le Premier foyer culturel du Nord-Congo. L’histoire de Boundji de Jérôme Ollandet

Abstract

The historian and researcher Jérôme Ollandet has published several books including: The first cultural center of northern Congo. The story of Boundji. In this book, the author traces the origins of the Saint Benoît de Boundji mission founded by Father Prosper Augouard in 1900. This mission was one of the three missions of Alima with Lekety founded in 1897 and Saint Radegonde of Tsambitso in 1899. In addition, Boundji has remained in the religious history of Congo as a great religious center, one of the central stations in the evangelization of Congo as: Loango, Linzolo, Liranga and many others. We want, through this reflection, to know and deepen the origin of the mission of Boundji, religious center of the Mbosi people and northern Congo. In addition, we want to understand how Jérôme Ollandet describes the evangelization of this Mbosi country, what was the methodology used and what are the works carried out? In a word, we want to answer the following questions: how did the mission of Boundji come about according to Jérôme Ollandet? What is special about Jérôme Ollandet's account compared to other authors? How did the missionaries evangelize Boundji? What was special about Boundji's mission compared to other missions? Who are the protagonists of this work, the great figures and what was the methodology La Saison des Pluies ISSN 1012-7062, n°21 30 Décembre 2023, pp.97-109 98 used in the foundation of the mission? To answer these questions, we make a comparative and critical study of the different sources that address this theme, starting from what Jérôme Ollandet tells us in parallel with other authors. This study allows us to have clearer ideas about Boundji's mission: its origins and its main actors.