Bakanja, Isidore, approximately 1880-1909

found: Bakanja Isidore, 1983:portfolio, fiche 1, p. 3 (b. à Bokendela vers 1880; d. mid-August 1909)

found: Dictionary of African Biography, accessed December 9, 2014, via Oxford African American Studies Center database:(Bakanja, Isidore; Congolese catechist and canonized saint of the Roman Catholic Church; born c.1880 in Bokendela, Democratic Republic of Congo; worked as a mason for the colonial administration in Mbandaka; became familiar with Catholicism through the work of Belgian Trappist missionaries; learned the catechism and was baptized at St. Eugene's parish in Bolokwa-Nsimba (1906); became the house servant of Reynders, a Belgian agent; traveled with Reynders to the plantations at Busira and Ikili; the manager of Ikili plantation commanded him to take off his scapular and stop speaking of his faith to other people, he refused and was tortured; his wounds became infected and his health deteriorated; he was found and taken to Busira, where a local catechist tried to care for him; he was reburied in the cemetery at the new mission of Bokote (1917); Father Honor{acute}e Vinck, a missionary scholar with decades of experience in Congo, conducted research that led to a diocesan beatification trial (1987); the case was sent to the Vatican; John Paul II announced his canonization on 24 April 1994; died 15 August 1909 in Busira, Democratic Republic of Congo)