Christianity in Madagascar
History
Pursuant to the 26 February decree, those who possessed a Bible, worshiped in congregation, or continued to profess adherence to Christianity were fined, jailed, manacled, subjected to tangena or another trial by ordeal, or executed. Lurid accounts of the execution and torture of Christians were reported by missionaries with informants on the island who placed emphasis on what they perceived as the savagery of the queen's actions. For instance, they reported the public execution of fifteen Christian leaders near the queen's palace who were dangled on ropes 150 feet above a rock-filled ravine before the ropes were cut upon their refusal to renounce Christianity. The Andohalo cathedral was constructed on this outcropping to commemorate early Malagasy Christians martyred at the site. The number of Malagasy citizens put to death for religious reasons during Ranavalona's reign is unknown. British missionary to Madagascar W.E. Cummins places the number executed at between 60 and 80. Far more were required to undergo the tangena ordeal, condemned to hard labor, or stripped of their land and property, and many of these died. Persecution of Christians intensified; in 1849, 1,900 people were fined, jailed, or otherwise punished for their Christian faith, of whom 18 were executed.
Christianity in Madagascar-13