Dona Beatriz believed the teachings of St. Anthony and used this claim to attempt to restore the ideal of Kongo as a unified Christian kingdom.

These wars had started shortly after the death of António I at the Battle of Mbwila in 1665, and had resulted in the abandonment of the ancient capital of São Salvador (present-day Mbanza Kongo) in 1678 and the division of the country by rival pretenders to the throne.

Beatriz went to live among colonists sent out by King Pedro IV, one of several rival rulers of Kongo, to reoccupy the ancient and now abandoned capital of São Salvador.

There was a great deal of religious fervor among these colonists who were tired of the endless civil wars in the country, and many had become followers of an old prophet, Appolonia Mafuta.

During a supernatural illness in 1704, Kimpa Vita claimed to have received visions of God while on the verge of death, wherein she was given divine commandment to preach to King Pedro IV, resurrecting her.

Following the practices of Catholic monks, she forwent all her earthly possessions and set out on her mission to preach to King Pedro IV.

Three months later, Kimpa Vita led her followers to the abandoned capital of São Salvador where they would call to the people in the countryside and rapidly repopulate the city.

This was recognized by Bernardo de Gallo—who claimed Kimpa Vita to be possessed by the devil–to be an incredible act and led her to be adored and acclaimed as the restorer of Kongo.

Since he chose his devotion to Beatriz as an opportunity to rebel, Pedro IV decided to destroy Kimpa Vita; all the more as his own wife, Hipolita, had become an Antonian convert.

[5] During her time in São Salvador, Kimpa Vita would grow to doubt the validity of her movement and her possession by Saint Anthony, as she became pregnant by a man named João Barro, despite her teachings of chastity.

Kimpa Vita held a weekly rite of rebirth wherein she reenacted her reincarnation as Saint Anthony, ceremoniously dying each Friday and resurrecting each Saturday.

Some hint of the strength of her teaching may be glimpsed by the fact that eighteenth-century Kongo religious art often shows Jesus as an African, and that Saint Anthony, known as "Toni Malau", is very prominent in it.

Historian Scholastique Dianzinga has praised the statue commemorating Kimpa Vita for expanding the representation of women on African public monuments.