Peter Espeut | Happy birthday, Marcus Garvey!

Last Monday – August 17 – was the birthday of Jamaica’s first declared National Hero, Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940), a truly great Jamaican. He had his flaws (as do all of us) but the cause he promoted was just, the global organisation he founded was unprecedented and remarkable, and his ideas have had (and are still having) a powerful impact on people’s lives and on world affairs.

The thing about heroes is that they become the subject of myth and, often, caricature. Heroes are held up as figures to be emulated and imitated, but only in matters that support certain agendas. We are encouraged to remember Marcus Garvey, and we advocate for his philosophy and opinions to be taught in schools; and rightly so. Marcus Garvey became a practising Roman Catholic at the same time that he encouraged people of African descent to be proud of their colour and their history and their culture. Why not tell people that Garvey chose to join the Catholic Church, so they can really understand Garvey the man? Or is that an inconvenient truth?

Marcus Garvey died in London, England, during World War II, and wartime restrictions made repatriating his remains difficult. His body was placed in a lead-lined coffin and, after a Catholic funeral, was lodged in the lower crypt at St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery on the Harrow Road in Kensal Green, London.

More than 20 years later, the coffin with his body was removed and taken to Jamaica. On November 11, 1964, Garvey’s body was ferried across Kingston Harbour to Victoria Pier, from where it was taken in ceremonial procession up King Street and across North Street to Holy Trinity Cathedral, where Dr the Rt Rev Msgr Gladstone Wilson preached a eulogy. He told the gathering that, before Garvey died, he had been received into the Catholic Church at Holy Trinity Church in Hammersmith, London.

Some years ago, I visited St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green, London. There in the burial register – in clear handwriting – is the record of the interment of Marcus Mosiah Garvey in the crypt – and a notation that the coffin was removed for transport to Jamaica. I captured good images of the register.

I even went down into the dark crypt under the chapel to see where Garvey’s coffin lay for 24 years. Quite safe!

Also buried in the same cemetery (but in the ground) is another famous Jamaican Catholic – Mrs Mary Jane Seacole (1805-1881). Her grave was easy to find: it was the only one garlanded with fresh flowers. I also captured images of her burial record.

And I have found her baptism record (Mary Jane Grant) in the Register of Holy Trinity Church, Duke Street, Kingston. She also – as an adult – made the choice to convert to Catholicism.

While in London, I went to Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Hammersmith and searched their sacramental records in vain for Garvey’s name. Then again, he was “received”, not baptised (I am told he had been baptised a Methodist; we do not re-baptise), so maybe the reception was not recorded in the baptism register.

At the time of his death, Garvey lived at 53 Talgarth Road in West Kensington; it was pointed out to me that the nearest Catholic Church to his residence was St Augustine’s Catholic Church, Hammersmith, so I went there and searched, but without success.

There is no doubt that Marcus Garvey converted to Roman Catholicism as an adult – and therefore by choice; but there is uncertainty about where and when.

In Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey (2009), the author Colin Grant states that Garvey’s sister, Indiana, after moving to Kingston, was live-in helper to George Fortunatus Judah (1834-1914), the city engineer, “who though a prominent member of the 2,000 strong Jewish community, was closely associated to the Catholic Church. Over the next few years, Garvey also would forge strong links with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jamaica, and would convert to Catholicism” (page 18). He was close to Bishop John Joseph Collins SJ, head of the Catholic Church in Jamaica at that time.

Writing in The Gleaner, Judah’s grandson, Stewart Joseph DaCosta, remembers Marcus Garvey being introduced to him in his grandfather’s study. Stewart described his grandfather as “ entertaining Garvey in deep discussion”.

Judah’s son – Braham Taylor Judah (1871-1954) – converted to Catholicism, and was the architect who designed the iconic O’Hare Building at St George’s College. Two of his sons – Sydney and Charles – became Jesuit priests.

The suggestion is that Garvey could have become Catholic as early as 1910 or 1911. I have searched the Jamaican Catholic Baptism registers in vain!

Rastafarians consider Garvey to be John the Baptist to their deity, Haile Selassie; or at least a prophet, for, in speeches throughout the 1920s, Garvey is reported as saying something along the line of “Look to Africa, when a black king shall be crowned for the day of deliverance is at hand!” This has been taken as a prophecy of the crowning of Haile Selassie I as Emperor of Ethiopia: King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This is an attempt to associate Garvey with Rastafarianism.

The truth is that Garvey had no use for Haile Selassie. For all of Garvey’s life, slavery was legal in Ethiopia, including under the reign of Emperor Selassie, and Garvey constantly spoke against Selassie. To his credit, after being emperor for 12 years, Selassie abolished slavery in Ethiopia on August 26, 1942, through Proclamation No. 22/1942.

Why did Marcus Garvey convert to Catholicism? A man of Garvey’s intellect and profile would not do so lightly. Garvey read widely, and one possibility is that he was impressed with Catholic Social Teaching. I believe that source criticism of Garvey’s thought might expose some Catholic roots. Which is probably why this kind of research has never been done.

Rev Peter Espeut is dean of studies at St Michael’s Theological College. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com