Blessed Isidore, pray for us!

Today (12 August) is the day of commemoration for Blessed Isidore Bakanja, who was introduced to Catholicism by Trappist monks in what was then a Belgian colony. They baptized him and catechized him at St. Eugene Parish, which was likely given that name as a reference to the Cistercian pope Eugene III.
The Trappists introduced African children, Isidore among them, to two popular devotions: the rosary and the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel. For Belgian monks, these two devotions were standards, although few in today's Belgium would know what they are. Isidore gave his life for these devotions.
While working as a bricklayer, he was told by a Belgian plantation owner who hated Catholicism that he must remove the scapular from around his neck. When Isidore refused on several different occasions, he was repeatedy flogged, sustaining wounds that would kill him. 
Isidore is a reminder of a few things: first, Trappists were missionaries in Africa. They did not live in strict enclosure. They even taught in schools. In fact, it was a Trappist priest who visited Blessed Isidore as he was dying and gave him Divine Unction.
Second, missionaries may have cooperated with colonial enterprises in order to gain access to the unchurched, but they did not share the same ideological outlook. The plantation boss hated the faith and flew into a rage when he saw Isidore praying the rosary. Colonialists and missionaries are not to be regarded as one and the same group.