Les Martyrs oubliés? sheds ample light on a relative lacuna in both Congolese history and the history of Christian missions in Africa: the civil war and anti-clerical unrest that unfolded during the First Congolese Republic (1960–5). In particular, Dries Vanysacker's new book offers a detailed necrology of the 187 Catholic missionaries murdered during the early 1960s, especially during the 1964–5 Simba revolt in Congo's eastern provinces. The strength and emotional impact of the book lies in its painstaking and painful recounting of the deaths of these missionaries. In this sense, Vanysacker achieves his goal of restoring the historical and ecclesial memory of these ‘forgotten martyrs’.

Vanysacker opens his book with a brief but insightful overview of the Simba revolts. He emphasises external Soviet, Chinese, Belgian and American influences while admitting that the movement had a ‘real autonomous character’, describing the revolts as a ‘cocktail of nationalism, rural Marxism, animism and sorcery’ (p. 9). In their first phase the Simba revolts drew on deep-seated popular anger against corrupt government elites and political opponents of the Lumumbist movement. After Belgian-American intervention in August 1964, the Simbas shifted their rage towards foreigners, including long-term Catholic missionaries. During the latter months of 1964, the Simba revolt devolved into a short-lived but intense reign of terror. Thousands of perceived government collaborators were massacred in front of Stanleyville's Lumumba statue between August and November 1964. Hundreds of others were drowned in local rivers and cannibalised. Foreshadowing late twentieth-century civil wars across Africa, Simba ranks were dominated by youth, and much of their brutality was enabled by drugs, alcohol and pseudo-mystical religious practices. Sexual violence against women, including hundreds of Catholic sisters, also became endemic despite early Simba efforts to inculcate a code of ascetic discipline. The revolts were finally crushed in 1965 by the Congolese national army with extensive Belgian and American air and ground support.

After briefly reviewing the history of the key Catholic religious communities in the Belgian Congo, Vanysacker dives into the heart of his narrative: a detailed description of the Simbas’ anti-clerical violence in central and eastern Congo's six archdioceses and twenty-seven dioceses. Several overarching themes emerge. First, local personalities had a large impact on the scale of the violence. For example, Christophe Gbenye, president of the short-lived ‘People's Republic of Congo’ and former Legion of Mary member, was relatively tolerant of Catholic missionaries, helping to explain why so many survived in Stanleyville, the rebel seat of power. On the other hand, the rebel military commander Pierre Olombe was known for his intentional targeting of missionaries, coordinating one of the worst massacres, of forty-three Catholic missionaries, in Wamba in November 1964.

Second, missionaries appeared to be targeted more for their foreign identities than their religious identities per se. This xenophobic strain grew stronger under Chinese influence and in response to the 1964 Belgian-American military intervention. As Vanysacker relates in one revealing exchange, ‘the rebels screamed that they [the missionaries] were only traitors, friends of [Congolese prime minister Moise] Tshombe and of the Americans, that the missionaries and sisters had not come to Congo to announce the Gospel but to lead a base political mission’ (p. 50). In addition, missionaries suffered due to an apparent confusion between the similar French terms ‘missionaire’ (missionary) and ‘mercenaire’ (mercenary). Popular anger against white mercenaries, who had killed tens of thousands of Simbas and their perceived supporters, translated into rage against their eponymous religious brethren.

Third, the Simba revolts created a psychological crisis for the missionary priests and sisters who survived the violence. Although some remained in Congo, most sought exile in Belgium or their other home countries in Europe. The overall post-Vatican II crisis of missionary confidence was even deeper in Congo due to the popular animosity that emerged during the Simba revolts. As Vanysacker relates, ‘The missionaries were incredulous: how could a people with whom they had worked for thirty years turn on them with such animosity in only a few months?’ (p. 72).

In offering such a detailed recounting of the ‘forgotten’ missionary martyrs of the Simba revolts, Vanysacker has addressed an important omission in the modern history of Catholic martyrdom. A few gaps remain, however. In terms of scope, I understand the emphasis on missionaries, but Vanysacker could have devoted a little more attention to the thousands of Congolese Catholics who died during the revolts, especially the lay catechists and teachers who comprised the Church's core presence on the ground.

In terms of sourcing, Vanysacker has consulted a wide range of missionary archives, Belgian and Vatican documents, and first-hand accounts from the 1960s. However, he often lists these sources at the beginning of a particular section, making it difficult for the reader to match content with particular sources. In turn, a broader engagement with the vast historiography on modern Congo would also have helped Vanysacker to make more connections between the Simba period and later Congolese history, including the wars of the 1990s and 2000s.

Finally, the book would have benefitted from more analysis from Vanysacker himself. He largely limits his social analysis to synthesising the testimonies of figures like Jean Jadot, the former chaplain of the Belgian army who wrote extensively on the Simba revolts in the late 1960s. But Vanysacker resists introducing his own voice. The question with which he began his study therefore remains unresolved at the end. Namely, were the missionaries killed for their ‘extreme identification with a repressive colonial system,’ or ‘were they eliminated for reason of their faith by rebels of a communist inspiration’ (pp. 1–2)? Les Martyrs oubliés has thoroughly addressed the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ questions concerning the missionary martyrs of the Simba period; the ‘why’ question lingers.