Lourenço da Silva de Mendouça

Lourenço da Silva de Mendouça (1620-1698) [ [http://www.liv.ac.uk/iberianatlantic/Abstracts07/Nafafe.htm Abstract Jose Lingna Nafafe - RETHINKING THE IBERIAN ATLANTIC - University of Liverpool ] ] , probably born in Brazil, went to Lisbon in 1681, then Madrid in 1682 where he became procurator-general of the Confraternity of Our Lady, Star of the Negroes, a charitable lay society in Brazil and Portuguese Africa. [Mullett, Michael A. (1999) "The Catholic Reformation". p. 194. OCLC|50553439.] Lourenço, claiming to be descended from kings of Kongo and Angola, travelled to Rome in 1684 to protest to the Pope against slavery. His petitions, which presented a firsthand account of the cruelties inflicted by slavery, [Gray, Richard. (1997) "The Kongo Kingdom and the Papacy". "History Today". 47: 44. OCLC|86379560.] supported by Capuchin missionaries, convinced the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and led directly to the March 20th, 1686 condemnation by Pope Innocent XI. [Hastings, Adrian. (1996) "The Church in Africa: 1450-1950". p. 125. OCLC|44954750.]

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