Bernard Mizeki (June 18th), is one of the great 19th century missionaries in Africa who became even more prominent in his martyrdom. He was born ca. 1861 in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique). As a young teenager, he escaped from his native land and traveled to Capetown, South Africa, where he was befriended and converted by Anglican missionaries. He was baptized in 1886. Five years later he volunteered to be a "catechist" [teacher of the faith] for the first mission into Mashonaland (in present-day Zimbabwe). He carried out his work there for five years building up the community of his mission station.
In June of 1896, some of the native people rose up against the European missionaries and their African friends. As a native, Mizeki was marked out especially. Though warned to flee, he would not desert his converts at the station. He was stabbed to death, but his body was never found, and the exact site of his burial is unknown. Today, he is known as "the apostle of the MaShona." A shrine near Mizeki's place of martyrdom attracts many pilgrims, and the Anglican Provinces of Central Africa and Southern Africa honor him as their primary native martyr and heroic witness. |
