been established between this devotion and the black population (of both slaves and free people) in the Kingdom. ${ }^{2}$  
Meanwhile, on the African continent the link between devotion to the Rosary and the local people was becoming ever clearer. The first brotherhood of Rosário de Luanda had been set up by the Church of the Jesuit College in the early seventeenth century, bringing together freedmen and slaves belonging to the Jesuit Fathers and, above all, denoting the imposition of a catechetical project (Cadornega, [1680] 1972, pp. 14-15). ${ }^{3}$ The second was established in 1628 by Bishop Frei Francisco do Soveral. ${ }^{4}$ This parish was mostly frequented by local people and catechesis carried out in the local language. ${ }^{5}$ In the eighteenth century, this brotherhood gave its name to the Rosário neighbourhood which, indeed, had become a kind of slave camp since the middle of the seventeenth century (Venâncio, 1996, p. 39). Although missionary catechesis still prevailed, there is evidence of emerging preferences and identifications. In the early eighteenth century, a brotherhood of black devotees was founded on Príncipe Island, dedicated to the Rosary of Our Lady (Santa Maria, 1707, book I, pp. 265-67; book V, pp. 445-46.). During the same period, in São Tomé, the native population felt that they 'owned' their devotion to such an extent that they did everything possible to prevent the founding of a white brotherhood also devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary. It is noteworthy that the black brotherhood, founded in 1526, was by far the oldest (Santa Maria, 1707, book V, p. 436).