His memoirs give much valuable information about the region around the end of the 17th century, although they betray the typical prejudices about Africans of a European at the time.

[1] Marcellino d'Atri was present at the coronation of Pedro IV in 1696, a relatively modest ceremony on the site of the former capital of São Salvador.

The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda Fide) praised the baptisms and urged Marcellino to continue his missionary work.

[1] Between the end of 1698 and 1699 Father Marcellino travelled and preached in the area between Mount Kibangu, Nkusu, Mukondo and Mbwela.

[4] During a visit to King Pedro's palace at Kibangu, Father Marcellino was quick to assert the rights of the church.

[5] The next day Pedro kept the priests waiting a long time before sending a lesser nobleman to conduct them to the court.

The escort objected, knowing the king would lose face by coming to the outer courtyard instead of receiving the priest in his inner sanctum.

He wanted to send a new mission to Ngombela, but was in poor health and could not find missionaries willing to risk a voyage among people they thought to be cannibalistic.

In October 1706 he wrote to the Propaganda Fide to ask the Holy See to support Pedro IV in his struggle for recognition as king of Kongo.

[1] Marcellino reached Abruzzo in October that year, where he spent his time writing his memoirs while waiting for permission to return to Africa, which was always refused because of his recurrent malaria and arthritic pains.

[7] This was a ceremonial martial dance in which the temporal and religious rulers displayed their power and the ordinary people paid homage.

He betrayed typical European prejudice about the African people, who he thought were barbaric, liars, thieves, lustful and ungrateful.

[1] However, Father Marcellino recounted a story he had been told in 1695 by the Kongolese prince Francisco de Menezes Nkanka a Makaya.