Victor Roelens, M. Afr. (21 July 1858 – 5 August 1947) was a Belgian Catholic priest who became Vicar Apostolic of Upper Congo in 1895, and remained the premier bishop in the Congo Free State, then the Belgian Congo, until he retired in 1941. He was a member of the Missionaries of Africa.
Youth
Roelens was born on 21 July 1858 in Ardooie as Victor Theodoor Roelens, the third son of Cesar Roelens and his mother, Rosalia Vervisch.Roelens ancestors were: Jacob Roelens (°1681, † 9 August 1720, married to Joanna Salens on 22 November 1714); Jan-Baptist Roelens (°12 April 1717, † 18 May 1784, married to Anna Catharina Callewaert on 10 October 1755); Felix Roelens (° 14 Jan 1775, † 21 June 1834, married to Anna Deynnecourt); Cesar Roelens (° 19 February 1817, † 15 September 1892, married to Rosalie Vervisch on 23 April 1852) Rosalie Vervisch was Victor's mother. She was born on 31 March 1819 and died on 14 December 1890 He had two older brothers Emiel and Adolf, and two younger sisters Lucia and Marie-Emily. His father was a gardener at the nearby Chateau des Comtes de Jonghe d'Ardoye. Being rather poor, the family received financial support from the castle lords and could send the three sons to college.Marie-Emily later became a nun at the convent of Pittem
Like his brothers before him, Victor boarded at Sint-Jozef College, Tielt, from the age of 13. Though all classes were in French, he quickly learned the language and came out at the top of his class in his first year. During a winter, whilst playing on a pond in Pittem, he slipped and broke his nose, the altered shape of which would remain with him for the rest of his life. At college he supported the Flemish movement. His dream about going to Africa was initially planted by two White Fathers, Charmetant and Moinet, who visited the college to talk about missionary work in Africa. It was further reinforced when his teacher Adolf Loosvelt volunteered to go to Africa. In his final year ("Rhetorica"), and without anyone knowing, Victor sent three letters to three different religious orders, and eventually made up his mind to join the White Fathers. Victor wanted to leave straight after college but his father insisted that he spend one additional year at the Minor Seminary, Roeselare to study philosophy.
Northern Africa, Europe and Jerusalem
In the autumn of 1880, at the age of 22, Victor joined the novitiate of the White Fathers in Algiers, Algeria. In the presence of then bishop Charles Lavigerie, he graduated and became a member of the order of White Fathers on 23 September 1881. During his time in Algiers, Victor visited Carthage to attend the promotion to cardinalship of Charles Lavigerie. He later went back to Carthage to study for two years at the Collège Saint-Louis. During this time he visited local neighbourhoods to care for the sick, and met his first share of disease as he had stomach problems. Cardinal Lavigerie made Victor a priest on 8 September 1884 in Carthage.Adriaan De Roover, "Victor Roelens, de Vlaamse Lavigerie" p. 9 - 32, Publ. "Nieuw Afrika", Antwerp, 24 June 1952 In 1884, Victor was appointed a teacher at the Apostolic School for Missionaries in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, near Brussels. Though it was not Victor's first choice to go back to Europe, it allowed him to visit his family. His health recovered. In 1887 we was called back to Carthage as a lecturer, and was also responsible for the operational running of the school.at the time the school counted 83 people Two years later he was sent to Jeruzalem to teach ecclesiastical history and bible studies in the seminary of Saint Anna. In that same school he later was asked to teach theology, which he had to study intensely as a consequence. During this time his mother died. On 31 May 1891 he received a letter of Cardinal Lavigerie with the announcement of his departure to central Africa. This elated him as his long-lasting dream finally came true.De Roover, p. 33-51
Central Africa - Mpala and Saint Louis
Roelens found the time to briefly visit Belgium to meet his father and siblings, then left for Africa in July 1891 with a team of White Fathers bound for the Congo. He travelled via Marseille, where he boarded the ship Rio Grande and reached Zanzibar on 31 July. In Zanzibar he purchased supplies for the caravan and organised for 450 carriers and 40 soldiers to join them on the mainland. He sailed from Zanzibar on Monday 24 August 1891 at landed at Bagamoyo late that same day. After some further preparations, the caravan set off on 31 August by crossing the nearby river and moving inland through the former German East-Africa towards Congo. The caravan had many setbacks, such as severe drought, fevers, hunger and the threat of marauding banditsDe Roover, p. 64 on its way to Msalala in present-day UgandaThe region was also struck at the time by cattle plague (De Roover, p. 64). Cattle plague or rinderpest killed 80 to 90% of domestic and wild even-toed animals at that time. A part of the carriers left the caravan, having reached their native region. The caravan moved on, hampered severely by the winter rains, and reach the abandoned mission post at Kipalala a few weeks before the year end. Victor organised new carriers at nearby Tabora but this took weeks, as the locals were in full harvest season, so that they celebrated New Year's Day of 1892 in Kipalala. After three additional weeks, during which Victor could study the Kiswahili language, they moved on through the grassy plains, facing new threats such as hyenas, and reached Karema, Tanzania on the shore of lake Tanganyika on 14 February 1892 at 3 in the afternoon. They were greeted by Monseigneur Lechaptois and some missionaries. Victor saw how local orphans were emaciated and weak, and realised how hard his upcoming task would be.Some children had been kidnapped by slave traders. Local missionaries succeeded in buying some back. (De Roo, p. 75) After five days of rest the caravan boarded two 12-meter long boats. One boat carried Victor, the other Mgr. Lechaptois. They rowed across the 80 km wide lake with the help of local fishermen. Victor reached the small outpost of Saint LouisA military stronghold that had been founded two years earlier by captain Joubert, a military envoy of king Leopold II of Belgium. This settlement had already assembled some 15 villages around it, but would later be abandoned, see later on in this article at 11 in the evening.Mgr. Lechaptois, whose boat had veered slightly off course, spent the night on a nearby shore and arrived the next morning. He was greeted by captain Joubert, whom Victor had known from his time in Maison Carrée in Algiers.Captain Joubert resided there with his wife Agnes and their children. (De Roover, p. 77) The next day, a mass led by Mgr. Lechaptois was the first sung service in the region.De Roover, p. 78 Different teams were formed who would continue to various destinations. Father Marquesformer pro-vicar of Upper Congo, see p 175 of this document would lead a team going to Kibanga with father Engels and brother Franciscus.Victor's acquaintance Ameet Vyncke had arrived in Kibanga ten years earlier and died there seven years later whilst father Victor Roelens and brother Stanislas would start a new mission post of Saint-Louis, next to the existing military stronghold. That same day, the boats with the other teams departed, and Victor went to the mission post of Mpala for a few weeks to study the language, region and customs prior to starting the new mission post. During this time he assisted the local missionaries in caring for the many sick in the surrounding villages. On 16 March, Victor arrived back at Saint Louis and started the construction of a missionary outpost next to the existing military settlement of captain Joubert. Later that same week, Victor baptised his first seven children, which gave him much energy and courage.De Roover, p. 83 Three weeks later a 12 by 7 meter wooden house was ready. Mgr. Lechaptois came back from Kibanga and visited Victor around that time. Victor happily showed the progress on the building and farmland that had been made. He also spoke out in favour of schooling local people and for locals to have the possibility of becoming priests, so that they could help spread the gospel in their own villages. However, Mgr. Lechaptois thought it too early and ordered him to first focus the efforts of the natives into construction work and farming.Nothing if not stubborn and tenacious, Victor's own letters show that he made up his mind at that point to try it anyway as soon as the new mission post was able to do so (De Roover, p. 86 - 87) Like other missionaries in the region, Victor had to overcome many tough challenges. Any construction work was under constant threat of destruction from termites, rodents and torrential rains. Caravans bringing supplies were slow and goods often got broken, stolen or lost en route. Yet the biggest challenge facing the locals were diseases like pox, syphilis and feet infections caused by funza fleas, which missionaries had to fight with little or no medicine. Most of the missionaries were frequently ill with fever themselves, and most did not survive for more than a few years.
A few weeks into his new mission post, Victor fell ill with hematuric fever, which became so bad that he received last rites, but he survived and recovered.Hematuric fever is an often lethal condition that took many of the local missionaries' lives. Victor would survive 18 bouts during his lifetime. He visited the military stronghold at Albertvillenow Kalemie during three days, and met the Belgian captain Jacqueswho was later to become a general, see Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude who was fighting Arab slave traders active in the region during this period.Albertville was at this time only accessible by lake Tanganyika as all land routes around it had been captured by Arab slave traders. The journey to Albertville was very dangerous, proven by the sorry fate of Alex Vrithoff, who had been with captain Joubert in Saint-Louis just a few weeks earlier, and who was killed on his way to AlbertvilleCaptain Jacques would receive military help from captain Joubert and from Alexandre Delcommune, who had been accompanying geologist Gaston Briart on a secret mission to search for minerals in the Katanga region In October of that year, Roelens received news that father Marques had died from hematuric fever at Kibanga, and that father Engels had fallen ill with it. Mgr Lechaptois sent father Herrebaut to Kibanga to replace both these men. With Herrebaut gone, Roelens had to abandon the mission post at Saint-Louis and moved back to Mpala with brother Stanislas. Having arrived there, Roelens in turn fell ill with a new bout of hematuric fever.
Baudouinville
Early the following year, Mgr Lechaptois also ordered that the mission post at Kibanga be abandoned. Their missionaries moved back south and many villagers followed in their wake. To cope with the influx of around one thousand people, Roelens was charged with finding a new location for a new mission post. On 6 February, Roelens travelled to Saint-Louis stayed for two weeks,during which he baptised, celebrated mass, cared for the ill and stocked up on additional suppliesthe date of 6 February is confirmed in Emiel Delhaye (in Dutch) then left with brother Franciscus and travelled the region for a week, identifying a swamp that could be easily drained as the site of the future mission post "Baudouinville" (French) / "Boudewijnstad" (Dutch)Its name had been decided by cardinal Charles Lavigerie in honour and memory of prince Baudouin of Belgium. It is now present-day Kirungu. before returning to Saint-Louis for final preparations. Around Easter, and just days before setting off, Roelens had another bout of hematuric fever, forcing him to return to Mpala instead and recover for a few weeks.