The first proclamation of the Gospel in Africa |
The first proclamation of the Gospel in Africa dates back to apostolic times. The beginning of evangelization in Europe is marked by the arrival of St. Augustine, a North African, in Canterbury in 597 A.D. .
Of the first 50 popes three were Africans. Victor I (189-199), the 13th pope, was an African by birth who established the celebration of Easter on Sunday. He made Latin the official language of the Church and was the first to celebrate liturgy in Latin.
Pope Victor also convened the first Roman synod for Bishops. The thirty-first pope, Pope Melchiades (311-314), signed the Edict of Milan. When the Emperor Constantine ended the persecution of Christianity, around 312 A.D., he presented a palace and land that had been owned by the Laterani family to the Bishop of Rome. This palace would later become St. John Lateran Basilica, the 1st Catholic Church. It stands today as a symbol of the church’s victory, by God’s grace, over one of the powers that attempted to destroy it.
Pope Melchiades is also known for making peace with the Eastern Emperor Maxentius and settled the Donatist controversy. Pope Gelasius (492-496), the forty-eighth pope, was born in Rome but is reported to have been of African descent. He was the first pope to have been called the “vicar of Christ”. He established the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple on February 2nd, as well as having authored several Mass books with many hymns, prefaces and collects. He affirmed the importance of charity toward the poor |
|
|
|
Menu
-------------------------
|
