Rafaravavy Rasalama
Rafaravavy Rasalama (c. 1810/1812 - August 14, 1837) was a Malagasy Christian martyr, the first from her country.
Rasalama was a pupil in one of the village schools which had been created in Madagascar by the London Missionary Society in 1824; she was likely one of the first to become a student. Her family later moved to , at which point she joined the community at . In May 1831 she was baptized, becoming one of the first Malagasy to take the step; on June 5 of the same year she participated in the Lord's Supper at . Christianity was banned on the orders of Ranavalona I in 1835, and Rasalama went into hiding as a result; discovered living in a cave, in July 1837 she was arrested and enslaved. She remained patient despite maltreatment, but when she asserted a refusal to work on Sundays and reasserted her faith she provoked her master's anger. Rebelling against the will of the queen carried a sentence of death. Rasalama spent the night before her execution in irons; the following day she was taken to . She sang hymns and prayers on the way to her execution, a walk which has remained well-remembered. Dispatched by spears, she was left unburied; today the site of her martyrdom is marked by a memorial church. Rasalama's death impressed her fellow Malagasy deeply, and attracted notice from British Protestans as well. She is remembered with a memorial plaque in in Bristol.[1][2]
References[]
- ^ Gerald H. Anderson (1999). Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 559. ISBN 978-0-8028-4680-8.
- ^ Robert Benedetto; Donald K. McKim (6 October 2009). Historical Dictionary of the Reformed Churches. Scarecrow Press. pp. 387–. ISBN 978-0-8108-7023-9.
- 1810s births
- 1837 deaths
- Converts to Protestantism
- 19th-century Protestant martyrs
- Executed Malagasy people
- Malagasy Protestants