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One of "the least brothers" of Jesus,
was born in northeast Zaire (then, Belgian Congo) sometime between 1885 and
1890. His baptismal record is the first document about him, as he was
attracted to Christ when he was about 18 years of age, working for white
colonizers as an assistant mason. He never forgot the lessons taught him by
the Trappist missionaries from Westmalle Abbey in Belgium: a follower of
Jesus should be characterized by prayer and witness. He should be recognized
by the rosary and scapular (Mary's habit, as it was rendered in Isidore's
native tongue). Mild, honest, respectful by nature, Isidore worked
conscientiously and prayed faithfully, as many non-Christian witnesses
attested. Often with rosary in hand, he looked for opportunities to share his
new-found faith with others, to the extent that many thought of him as a
catechist. He definitively left his native village because there were no
fellow followers of Christ there. In a larger settlement, he found employment
with the agent of a Belgian company that controlled the rubber plantations in
the region. He was hired as a domestic boy. Many of the agents were avowed
atheists, who hated the missionaries because of the latter's defence of the
natives' rights and their denouncing of injustices perpetrated against them.
"Mon pere" was a pejorative name given to priests and to all that
had to do with religion. Isidore soon experienced the hatred of the agents
for Catholicism. He asked for leave to return home; permission was refused.
He was told to stop teaching his fellow workers how to pray: "You'll
have the whole village praying and no one will want to work", one agent
shouted at him. Isidore was told to discard his scapular. When he did not, he
was twice flogged. The second time, the agent flew into one of his rages. He
jumped at Isidore, tore the scapular from around his neck and threw him to
the ground. He had two servant boys hold Isidore by his hands and feet and a
third domestic flogged him. The whip was made of elephant hide with nails
protruding at the end. The writhing Isidore asked for mercy. "My God,
I'm dying", he muttered. But the colonizer kept kicking Isidore in the
neck and head, and ordered his domestic to scourge him harder still. After
100, those assisting lost count of the number of blows. Isidore's back was
one open wound; some of his bones were exposed. After scourging he was
thrown, legs chained, into a hut for processing rubber. He could not even
move to relieve himself. Since an inspector was due, Isidore was banished to
another village. But because he could not walk, he fell by the wayside and
hid in the forest. He dragged himself before the inspector, who was horrified
at the sight of this modern Job. The inspector himself left a written account
of his impression: "I saw a man come from the forest with his back torn
apart by deep, festering, malodorous wounds, covered with filth, assaulted by
flies. He leaned on two sticks in order to get near me -he wasn't walking; he
was dragging himself". The agent appeared on the scene and tried to kill
"that animal of mon pere", but the inspector even physically
prevented him. He took Isidore to his own settlement, hoping to help him
heal. But Isidore felt death in his bones. He told someone who had pity on
him: "if you see my mother, or if you go to the judge, or if you meet
the priest, tell them that I am dying because I am a Christian". Two
missionaries spent several days with him. He devoutly received the last
sacraments. He told them the reason for his beating: "The white man did
not like Christians.... He did not want me to wear the scapular.... He yelled
at me when I said my prayers". The missionaries urged Isidore to forgive
the agent; he assured them that he had already done so and that he nursed no
hatred for him. This "animal of mon pere", this convert of
two-and-a-half years proved that he knew what it meant to follow Jesus - even
to the point of being flogged like him, even to the point of carrying the
cross, even to the point of dying. The missionaries urged Isidore to pray for
the agent. "Certainly I shall pray for him. When I am in heaven, I shall
pray for him very much". His agony - more painful than the actual
flogging - lasted six months. He died on either 8 or 15 august 1909, rosary
in hand and the scapular of Our Lady of Mt Carmel around his neck.
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