Today, August 12, is the memorial of Blessed Isidore Bakanja.
Carmelite martyr.
Isidore was born in 1887 in Bokendela, Congo. He was a member of the Boangi tribe. The young Isidore had to work as a bricklayer and farmer in order to survive.
He was converted to Christianity in 1906. He worked in a plantation managed by a colonialist in Ikili, Congo. Isidore’s supervisor did not like Christianity and Gospel values being preached to the workers.
In 1909, this same superior got angry when he saw Isidore wearing the Carmelite Scapular. He ordered Isidore to take it off, but Isidore refused. The boss tore off the Brown Scapular from Isidore, who wore it around his neck as an expression of his Christian faith. As punishment for his expression of faith, Isidore was chained and beaten up so badly he ended up bloodied. Isidore’s wounds became seriously infected.
The supervisor tried to hide Isidore’s condition from the plantation inspector. By the time the inspector discovered Isidore’s state, no medical treatment could save his condition.
Isidore said, “Tell them I am dying because I am a Christian.”
He carried this with calmness and even forgave his supervisor, saying “When I am in heaven, I shall pray for him very much.”
Isidore died soon after in 1909. He was aged around 21 to 22.
He was beatified by Pope St John Paul II in 1994 in St. Peter’s Square, Rome.