BCCCAP00000000000000000000862

RICHARD GRAY 423 chin miss_ion would soon be sailing, but already in Madrid the Council of Por– tugal had decided to prevent its departure 47 • The Missio Antiqua of the Capuchins would have to wait two decades be– fore finally being able to attive in Kongo. As a result, however, of its African origins, of the initiatives and appeals of the two African Christian kingdoms, the mission wenf not primarily to convert the heathens but to bring the sacra– ments and papal support to what seemed in Rome to be a very notable and sig– nificant addition to the ranks of Catholic kingdoms. Doubtless, many other considerations also influenced Gregory :XV's decision in 1622 to establish on exceptionally firm foundations the Sacred Congregation of.Propaganda Fide, but the appeals from Ethiopia and the sacrificial death of the first Kongolese ambassador had also played their part. 47 L. Jaclin, L'oeuvre mi.rsionnaire en Aftique 11oire, in J. Met:zler (ed.), Sam,e Co11gregationù de PropagandaFide Memoria fun1111, 1/2, Rome 1971, 432.