Rafaravavy Rasalama
v. 1810-1837 19th century Feast day: August 14
The singing that holds a person upright when nothing is left but the voice.
Who was Rafaravavy Rasalama?
A pupil in one of the village schools opened in Madagascar by the London Missionary Society, baptised in 1831. When Queen Ranavalona I banned Christianity she went into hiding, was found, enslaved and beaten; it was her refusal to work on Sundays that settled her death. On 14 August 1837 she was led out to be killed: she walked singing, and as she passed the chapel of Ambatonakanga, where she had heard the preaching, she spoke. At Ambohipotsy, the place of execution, she asked to kneel and pray. She was allowed to, and then speared.
In their own words
There I heard the words of the Saviour.