[6855]

The Perigozzo tincture is an excellent medicine for the Sudan, extolled by all our missionaries and Sisters for many diseases, fevers, purges etc. But the one who praises it most of all is Fr Luigi Bonomi, who asked me in a note given to me in Nuba to send him some in Khartoum. In Central Africa (these sacrifices and hundreds of others are not taken into account, neither in Europe nor in Rome, and out of ignorance Central Africa is measured by the scale of all the other missions; but we are above crass and small-minded things, we work and suffer for the pure love of God and to win souls, and we carry on), as Sr Grigolini often says, three quarters of the year, and this means every year, three quarters of the time, I mean, is spent languishing, suffering and prostrate, etc. due to the difficulty of the work, loss of appetite, lack of sleep etc., etc. (as for me, I can say I spend five sixths of each year in this state; but my spirit is strong, I take courage and carry on). The unhappy and unfortunate Virginia suffered less and did the work of four, as our Verona Sisters here know. Now the Perigozzo tincture taken in these conditions works wonders: and it even helps to prevent fevers, etc., etc.

[6856]

Now, in your letter N. 25 you mention having sent me the instructions of Mr Zamboni about this tincture, as you said in your letter of 29th January 1881. I dug out the letter of 29th January, and I find these instructions mentioned, but the instructions themselves are not there. Could they have been enclosed on a separate sheet, and could I have left it behind in Khartoum, where I received the letter of 29th January? The fact is that I do not have them and do not know what they say. Would you please ask Zamboni (to whom I send my greetings) to write them out again and send them to me? The tincture is a most effective medicine against cholera. I have read about all its tests and the treatment is most reasonable, but there is no cholera in Central Africa: more people die here, but for other reasons. I have just written to Fr Luigi to ask him to write a report on all the good effects of the Perigozzo tincture because he is the most competent, and I shall send it together with one I will prepare on the basis of my own experience and the testimonies of all our people here.

[6857]

I never promised Alberto nor gave him false hopes by saying that I would make him a priest, either in Cairo or anywhere else; yet he says so. (Isidoro does not even dream of becoming a priest, because he is only barely able to be a catechist. It was Alberto who told me and everyone else that Isidoro was following him, and everybody believed him, but he never said or says a word, and is the sacristan, mends the odd clock, but never studies). I swear I will never ordain him. In Verona (no one is a prophet in his own land) Alberto will be believed and, as Fr Bortolo maintains, I will not be believed. As in other matters, farmers are believed more than missionaries are, etc. (I am not referring to you); but I pay no attention to being in the pits: we will go to heaven, because those who serve God in this world must suffer and be humiliated.

[6858]

Alberto never asked me whether he could become a priest: not in Cairo nor on the journey. It was in Khartoum after I conferred Minor Orders upon Francesco (he and other Africans dressed as clerics to attend the ordination) that he asked me, given that he had the clerical soutane, for permission to keep it. When he asked me this, four or five missionaries were present and they said: yes, yes, let him keep it. I answered yes. Alberto never worked at manual things and as a layman like everyone else, especially at El Obeid where priests and laymen together built the church like labourers (the Very Reverend Fr Bertoni, in bed in 1851, told me how even the late Fr Marani had worked as a labourer, as a mason, carrying stones etc. when the monastery of the Stigmatines was built in 1816), and Fr Fraccaro, Fr Luigi and Fr Vincenzo etc. do all they can.

[6859]

Well this Alberto, who never lifted a finger and who on the journey needed others or Fr Luigi to spread his reed mat in the camp, would not even collect firewood etc., but was always alone with books in hand; Fr Luigi especially and Fr Fraccaro, both asked me: “Who is this Alberto who refuses to do anything?” So I summoned Alberto, and in the presence of Fr Giuseppe and others, I urged him to do what the others do etc., etc. He answered dryly: “But for you, who are a real father, I would not have come to the Sudan. I am scandalised by everyone, by the Sisters and in Cairo and everywhere else, who all want me to work; but I will never do anything except what a priest has to do, and study”. I pointed out to him that all the priests in Africa do work as well; but that he had more reason to work because he had made a vow to come out as a lay catechist. “No” he said “I want to be a priest, otherwise I will leave immediately and go to Propaganda in Rome, where the Rector has promised to receive me to become a priest", etc., etc., etc. “and you too promised this”. “No”, I replied “I never promised it, since in Verona I would have let you go home if you had not vowed to stay a layman”. “No”, he replied “you did promise it; you promised it to Francesco too, and you kept that promise, sending him to Dichtl for instruction. Why don’t you send me to a master, am I less able than Francesco?” “No”, I replied, “under my authority, I do not see how you can become a priest because you lack the capacity and the vocation”. “No”, he answered “I am more capable than Francesco and I have the true vocation, and if you do not give me a master to study with directly, I will leave immediately for Rome, go to the Rector of Propaganda and he will make me a priest, etc., etc., etc.”

[6860]

A few days passed (everyone saw what he was like). Despite the rules of the establishment, he would go out every day without asking anyone for permission and stay for hours with two Protestant Prussians [ … ] and Sr Grigolini told me to beware of Alberto because he does not understand a thing etc. At this point I summoned him to the courtyard of the Sisters, where I was at the time, and in the presence of Sr Grigolini I spoke to him as a true father, and Sr Teresa was amazed. But he never answered any thing but: “Either a priest, or I go back immediately”. In the evening, an hour after the Hail Mary, I called him to calm him down and told him to relax and obey the Superior in all things, that even St Francis of Assisi was not a priest and yet he was a great saint, etc. Then he said: “Monsignor, you will immediately assign a priest to me to teach me Latin and theology; and you must give me a letter declaring when you will ordain me. I will never do anything but what priests do, I will not work, I will not lift a finger etc., etc. but I will only study, and my master must teach me many hours a day, etc.”

[6861]

Our conversation was heard by several missionaries, who laughed, etc., etc. “Well”, I said, “even if you had the wisdom of Solomon and the education of St Thomas Aquinas, with those sentiments I would never, ever, ordain you”. So he said: “Give me the money I need to leave for Rome tomorrow”. “Not a penny to go now, because I have none, etc., etc.” The others told him to wait until I returned to Khartoum and to travel with me. He said: “No, I am leaving immediately, and I will find the money”. He took away two trunks and left two days later with a merchant. We know that he got the money from the merchants. On the advice and counsel of everyone here, I ordered Khartoum and Cairo not to receive him at the mission nor to give him any money because, as I said here in everyone’s presence and in accordance with their opinion: “Since you are leaving this Institute of your own free will etc., you no longer belong to this Work and I therefore consider you as detached, with no right to housing or travel expenses”. “It doesn’t matter” he said, “God will take care of me”. He had received 20 thalers and the camel paid for by the Prussians. But in Khartoum there was Fr Bortolo, and he received him. After that I know nothing. Let Alberto go around and say what he likes, etc., it does not matter.

[6862]

God protects our work. You had no responsibility for Alberto whatsoever; just bear in mind that I would have expelled him from Verona if he had not taken the vows to be a lay catechist. The maxim is what you have always said; I am convinced of this, even if, hard-pressed, I have sometimes acted differently and have been justified in God’s eyes, men and women candidates, whether priests or lay people, must be thoroughly tested first; and that is the raison d’être and the greatest importance of the Verona Institutes. Works are not perfected all in one go. The Cairo Sisters would have been in trouble if they had not received in Vienna that angel of a novice Anna who, as Faustina tells me, was the support and saviour of the sick. But these are necessarily rare exceptions; and in general candidates must be tested thoroughly and in the best way possible and for as long as possible in Verona. We agree on this.

[6863]

What you have done about the protest against that madman, Count Dalbovo, is enough, he was always off his head. I have known him since 1855 when, in recognition for my services as a priest, a doctor and a nurse in the time of cholera, His Excellency De Jordis, Delegate in Verona, as well as making a donation of polenta to Fr Mazza, wrote an official letter of commendation for my services in Buttapietra, etc., etc. because I cured nearly all the cholera victims there. In that document he told me that any request of mine would always be granted in any circumstance, because accompanied by the tears of suffering humanity etc. etc. Well the Delegate of Verona issued that document to the Mayor of Buttapietra, Count Dalbovo, on 2nd October 1855, and that madman only gave it to me in February of 1856, and already opened. For this abuse he lost his job as mayor. Now I know all the follies and gaffes of this Count, and he deserves no further answer, because in the final analysis he is wounded in the Nomine Patris [head], and he is known in Verona.
I am very pleased that Sr Metilde is being sent to Cairo, but not in the heat: September is soon enough, unless she has to come earlier for any other reason.

[6864]

In addition to an administrative summary on plain paper, I would like you to send me a specific report of all resources received and who they came from, offerings from Mitterrutzner or from others (not what I gave you or what Giulianelli sent you or will send you), in other words, all the income from donations and alms for Verona or for the work, from 15th November 1880 until today. It should all fit on half a page. Please also mention the income from the Buon Pastore, the total amount. But perhaps you will include that in the brief report. So it is enough to include the offerings of money. Excuse me for this disturbance.

[6865]

I also had a letter from the young African lad, Rev. Gio. Farag, who is very good, but I will answer him that it is a real temptation from the devil for him to think of wanting to exchange Rome with Verona. And I have informed the Rector of the Urban University of all this, leaving it to him with his prudence to sort everything out. Cardinal Simeoni wrote to me about Lotermann. But I shall write a letter to the Bishop of Ghent in which I will explain everything about Lotermann. I will give him all my faculties, and declare that I absolve Lotermann of the obligation of serving in Africa and hand him over: that he can do what he wants with him. I shall only ask him to inform Lotermann that he has the obligation, of which I do not absolve him, to refund the Verona Institute for four years there, when and as best he can, about 1,500 francs.

[6866]

In your letter of 28th May you say: “As can be understood from Monsignor’s letters, Virginia writes things that are not true and exaggerated, which is why Monsignor is afflicted and does not sleep”. Allow me to speak from my heart and plainly: you know the high esteem I have of you, of your admirable Institute and of his Eminence, etc. but I speak only to you, who are good enough to speak clearly to me always for a holy end. Allow me also to speak clearly to you for a holy end; I am pleased to accept all your observations. Would that all men were like this, but most of them are flatterers: and in this respect, may Cardinal di Canossa live for ever, for he speaks clearly, is mortified, etc., perhaps these are exaggerations because of what he thinks at that moment, but then he recovers etc., but in this he is a true gentleman.

[6867]

You are a saint, long live Noah, you do everything properly, but you must concede that even you are a man and can be mistaken in some things, just as I too have been mistaken many times. But you and I eat. Allow me to speak clearly now. As regards Virginia, I confess that I sin by having excessive esteem for her and giving her too much support: and you and His Eminence have too adverse and contrary views on Virginia etc., etc. (and at the root of this were the sinister impressions first sown in your hearts by the perfidious Grieff, by the stolid farmer Giacomo, whose letters about Virginia I must have in Khartoum, and by the coarse Stefano who, I was told in Verona, all went as far as testifying to His Eminence etc.); certainly his main motive was zeal for Jesus and for me, wishing to see me safe and unscathed by any gossip and esteemed as any Bishop should be, and therefore he would not have wanted to see or hear anything that could in any way tarnish my fame, reputation or dignity etc. for which I am and always will be grateful. For me, Virginia is too worthy of esteem; for you, she is too despicable: exaggerations on both sides.

[6868]

I am explaining all this with good intentions; but also insofar as I am concerned everything should be considered, by which I mean the reason why I protect Virginia. Sr Grigolini proclaims loud and clear that I was led to be a tenacious defender of Virginia primarily through justice, because just as the Camillians wanted to ruin me, they also wanted to ruin her; hence the need to defend myself (as the Holy See in justice defended me and, after all those hideous accusations, made me a Bishop) and to defend her, because she practised eminent virtues and was innocent. Later, in Verona, after the issue of the ‘first impressions of Grieff and Giacomo’ etc., Virginia was always persecuted (not by the Mother Superior, who wept many times and assured me that she was neither convinced nor content that she should be locked up in the little house, and she told me this several times), but she and I could do nothing more than weep, keep quiet and raise our eyes to God, because if we had insisted a worse evil would have befallen the Work; in other words, perhaps we would have lost you as Rector. In order to avoid such an evil, I sacrificed Virginia, and was prepared to send her to Syria, as she wanted, but I was never able to come to terms with this for fear of losing her soul.

[6869]

All these disagreements and the sight of Virginia being constantly thwarted in spirit, redoubled my interest in her a thousand times, because I saw that I was the only one with the courage to defend her with sword drawn. These are all exaggerations on both sides. My God! Everyone acted for the greatest good, and the result is a true martyrdom.

[6870]

I also declare before God and to the whole world that Virginia never wrote to me the exaggerations you speak of in your above-mentioned letter. Indeed the Superior always spoke well of her, but she wrote to me that she cries at night and that she is the unhappiest creature in the world, and she is right, Why? Because from all that has happened since the days of the little house and the recent days of the repeated refusal to admit her to the Noviciate, and the scene of sending her brother away (about which she was already weeping in Africa) without her being able to talk to anyone (which must have been a great hardship for Virginia, but you were right to send him away), from all the events between you and Virginia, from the little house until today, she has always understood and really felt that she was absolutely not wanted in Verona at any cost, and that a Te Deum would be sung if she went away and had never heard the name of Comboni and Africa (yet she was more in love with Africa and its Head than any of the others, and she showed it in her six years of sublime apostolate and suffering in Africa).

[6871]

She realised this from the beginning: but I didn’t, idiot that I am. I always hoped that the Work would gain this candidate, who is worth five, whatever anybody says. And she cried and is crying today about this; and she is right a hundred times to do so, because as His Eminence says: a Te Deum would be sung if she went away for ever. Well, it will be sung, and soon (but never by me because I am convinced, whatever you, His Eminence or anybody else may say, that her expulsion from our Work is a great misfortune for the Mission).

[6872]

Destined as I am to suffer for the grace of God, and afflicted as I am for this poor unhappy woman who has no one and for whom I alone (as far as she knows, though other holy souls have true love for her) am her father-figure and protector in the world (and I boast of this, which is of greater worth than the many sacrifices I have made and will make for Africans, because I hope for a great reward from God for it), and I hope that for this alone, God will give me a place in heaven and that, by virtue of the prayers that are being said for Virginia, she too will have blessedness in heaven. That is the way it is. Do not be offended if I tell you the way I feel. I could be wrong, I agree; but just for that reason, you must do all you can for the work; and everything you do (except in the Virginia affair) has my highest trust and satisfaction. Let us just always consider that neither holiness, nor prophecies, nor miracles etc., have any value without that love of neighbour, of the unhappy and of sinners, of which St Angela Merici was the model.

[6873]

Allow me to speak plainly also on another matter, because my experience in the apostolate and my knowledge as a true missionary are considerable. You were on safe ground in sending Giorgio away immediately: the other three agreed and, from the two letters Giorgio wrote me, he deserved the punishment. But allow me to speak plainly. Perhaps (I say perhaps) with my system, which with God’s help has snatched thousands of souls from the devil and given them back to Christ, perhaps I could have killed two birds with one stone and managed to

[6874]

1. give Giorgio his correction lovingly, because God’s grace is infinite (look at the conversion of Senator Littré one of the most powerful men of our century). Instead, Giorgio was abandoned; and only by a miracle (and it will happen, because we are nearly there) will he be put back on the path to virtue.
2. avoid Virginia's outbursts. Instead, she will always be able to say: “They stole my brother and took him away all of a sudden, as if he had committed the greatest of crimes (and she still does not know what he did), and they took him away from me without my being able to say a word to him, and they removed him, not from Verona to Avesa, or from Verona to Venice, but from Verona to Syria, in Asia”. And this is what was being said in Syria. And after these just laments of Virginia’s in moments of such sorrow, hardship and anxiety, it is said that she is proud, arrogant, etc. because she answered badly? I never understood this.

[6875]

Consequently I say perhaps. However, I cannot weigh up here the disastrous consequences to the Institute, had Giorgio not been made to leave immediately, and discreetly. So I say perhaps, and make no definitive judgement; but I express it confidentially to you for your instruction, as a case of morals or dogmatics, especially since you have not made the slightest mistake, because you acted on venerable advice. Don’t be discouraged or lose hope. Only think that the work we are doing belongs entirely to God, and you and I are only two very clumsy clowns, who without divine assistance would make a thousand more blunders. Your self-love should not so resent all these things. You are not yet strong in the virtue of mortification, in self-control, in carrying the cross, or in the abneget semetipsum, and nihil reputari, since I see that you want to justify your actions without any need, because I have already clearly written to you that it never, ever, crossed my mind that you had any shadow of blame in the disgraceful insinuations of Giorgio’s letter; you want to defend yourself, saying: “It was not I who suggested this to His Eminence”, and they were words put into His Eminence’s mouth, etc., and in writing to me that you will always defend yourself etc., etc., about all these things, I say about all these things you are indeed right, but they show that no matter how pure and holy your intentions, yet in matters of solid and manly virtue, of true and deep humility, and the desire to carry the cross and to become, like the Apostle, a curse to help your brother, in such matters you are still a baby, and very far indeed from a practical and deep triumph over seipsum.

[6876]

Forgive me, my dear Father, for presuming to act as your teacher in spiritual matters, when in these very virtues I am far below you, without mentioning all the weight of defects and weakness that is mine, while your life is angelic.

[6877]

Yet I am the Head and Founder of this most difficult Work of the apostolate which must prepare saintly workers to convert Africa; and God has wanted you to be the first instrument to form them; and little by little, you must learn what is required and become thoroughly acquainted with the anatomy of the human spirit, in order to form holy apostles, etc., etc.; I therefore speak to you frankly and I do so as a teacher, certain that you will do the same for me too, and all for the glory of God, for our confusion and correction (because perfection is a high mountain, and we are only at its foot), and for the salvation of the poor Africans, who are the most forsaken souls in the world.

[6878]

But you will say, “If I am so childish and poor in virtue and if, consequently, I am so inept at doing my duty and forming saintly workers, then it would be better if I were to run away and go to my religious house, and if God were to send someone else here, who is more capable and virtuous than I: I despair of succeeding”. This is where I wanted my Sembianti (because I intend to beat him; I have only just begun, in order to save Africa and to make him holy himself).

[6879]

Ah, hold on, my dear friend. It is true that you are a child in virtue. But remember a maxim inculcated in me by Fr Marani, who was rougher than you. He had awkward manners and at times showed that he did not have much charity (and in this you are not at all like him). I had recourse to Fr Marani as a seminarian, I made my general confession with him, and he gave me the definitive advice on my Vocation (on that morning, 9th August 1857, Fr Benciolini was outside, waiting to hear from me of Fr Marani’s decision). He said to me: “I knew you as a seminarian, I have advised you as a seminarian and a priest in all your affairs, I have in my mind as in a mirror your affairs, your principal fault, all you have done to overcome it, etc., etc. I began in 1820 to discern vocations and I have done so for many years; and I had none less than Fr Gasparo as my teacher. Well, be comforted and do not be afraid (I was trembling like a leaf because I feared he might tell me that I had no vocation for Africa, a fear that on the morning of the 9th I had confided to Fr Benciolini who had answered, “You will do what the Lord wills, go and see Fr Marani and do as he says”). “I have been examining the vocations of Missionaries and priests and friars, etc. for many years, your vocation to the mission and to Africa is one of the clearest I have ever seen: Fr Vinco, the Jesuit Zara and Fr Ambrosi have all been here and hundreds of others; your vocation seems to me one of the clearest and soundest I have ever seen; and I am old, I have grey hair and sixty-seven, almost sixty-eight, years behind me. Go, in God’s name and rejoice”. I knelt, he blessed me and I thanked him, crying with consolation, and ran to tell it all to Fr Benciolini (who was laughing). Therefore (excuse the parenthesis) I continue.

[6880]

Dear father, you should remember a maxim inculcated in me by Fr Marani, and it was: “Those who trust in themselves, trust in the greatest ass in the world”, and he added: “we must put all our trust in God”. And many holy souls I know, including many Jesuits, friars, devout priests and religious who wear hair shirts and beat their breast, Trappists, Carthusians and very prayerful souls, etc., etc. who in their holy lives and frequent prayers say that they trust in God (I have seen them with my own eyes and heard them with my own ears, not only religious and priests, but also prelates, Bishops and some Cardinals), they say God can do everything, God will do everything, will take care of everything, we must carry the cross humbly, denying ourselves etc. … But when the storm comes, human hope vanishes, money is lacking, everything is crosses, they are humiliated and no longer have any credit etc., etc. then their trust in God is crushed under the burden, is non-existent (they were trusting in the greatest ass in the world), and true and genuine perfection went up in smoke.

[6881]

All this has happened to me a hundred times, and I concluded that Fr Marani was right, and that the only banner, refuge and fortress in which to place all my trust was God, who is a gentleman, the only gentleman who has a mind, a heart and a conscience and who can make us work miracles. I have experienced that placing full trust in men is not at all safe, be they Bishops, holy Cardinals (who eat food), princes, kings, or powerful men etc.; in fact, full trust in man is subject to disappointment. I left something out (I write after having fled three times from my room where the rain is coming in, and after changing desks three times today).

[6882]

I said that Fr Marani was rough, and at times stubborn, with little charity (as regards his purse), etc., etc. (and in this do not imitate him); but Fr Marani was a saint, a great spiritual master, a great counsellor of souls, a man born and made to lead and command respect, with a deep knowledge of the human heart, a model for priests, spiritual directors and those who care for souls, a true missionary and a spiritual father, who never studied much, but who was most learned in the sacred sciences and the governance of souls, because he had profoundly studied, understood and devoured a great book of divinity: “Fr Gaspare Bertoni”, Requiescat in pace.

[6883]

Now although you are incompetent, lacking in virtues, etc. you were destined by God (and nothing is clearer than the sun itself) to be the Rector of the African Institutes. You yourself have nothing to do with it. Therefore you are sure to give satisfaction (with the customary diligence and will of the Stigmatines, which wants God alone); once you have shed your own self, you must trust in God, and be calm and certain that in your job you will do more than the venerable Avila, the General of the Jesuits, etc. because you are nothing more than a mere instrument and puppet of the Lord.

[6884]

Therefore do not be discomforted or discouraged if a hail of blows rains down on you to make you deviate from the straight and narrow, etc., because Satan is waging a tremendous war against us, as he is beginning to realise that he will soon have to move from Africa, and that you and I (excuse me for this holy humility) are destined to be his special persecutors and enemies. So just go ahead, expect tremendous blows and press on in silence.
My God, what digressions! But let us get back to your letters. Do not believe that I write such babble to serious people, without re-reading my letters (and your letters are so measured). To you, they give a better image of what I am, a silly common monkey of a confessorum non pontificum, etc., with you I feel at ease, and if you do not give it to me, I take it; and I write from the very bottom of my heart, and you will know me for what I am. To grandees, to kings (yesterday I received a fine letter from the king of the Belgians), to Cardinals… in Rome etc. I write as if I were a serious man, and with my… I manage to pass as such.

[6885]

I am so oppressed and upset that I get off track without realising it. Do you know why I have quoted Fr Marani’s judgement on my vocation to you? Certain mad pin-heads in Verona do not understand and want to spit out judgements and decide etc. on what regards their neighbour. But you are a man who understands. Let’s go on. I spoke of this for no other reason than to tell you that in the course of my hard and wearisome enterprise it has seemed to me more than a hundred times that I have been abandoned by God, the Pope, the Superiors and by all men (when I was burdened by the most tremendous afflictions and sorrows, just one person did not abandon me when she could speak to me, and encouraged me to place all my trust in God, the only protector of innocence, justice and God’s work, and that was the V.M.).

[6886]

Finding myself so abandoned and distressed, a hundred times I had the strongest temptation (even suggested to me by pious and respectable men, but men without courage and trust in God) to give up everything, hand over the work to Propaganda and offer myself as a humble servant, at the disposal of the Holy See, or of the Cardinal Prefect, or of some Bishop. Well, what helped me not to fail in my vocation (even when I was accused before the highest authority with, so to say, twenty capital sins, when in fact there are only seven) and even when I had debts of 70,000 francs, the Institutes at Verona were in confusion, there were many deaths in Central Africa with no prospect of light, but everything was dark and I had a fever at Khartoum – what sustained my courage to hold firm at my post until death or some decision from the Holy See was the conviction of the certainty of my vocation. It was always toties quoties because Fr Marani told me on 9th August 1857, after a serious examination, “your vocation to the African mission is one of the clearest I have ever seen”.

[6887]

You too are therefore in the same situation as I was. You are sure that God wants you to be the Rector of the African Institutes. Your weak, small and fragile spirit, your puerile virtue, must not discourage you in any adverse situation (so far you have been walking on a bed of roses, but the thorns will come), you must press on without pausing for breath, and without ever saying to the Superior “I cannot go on, I am disheartened, it’s to do with madmen, especially that mad Bishop Comboni who jumps from one subject to another, creating confusion, saying one thing then taking it back, etc., etc. I want some peace and quiet and to go back to the Stigmatines”. Dear friend that would be the way to remain a baby in virtue. Take courage, therefore, press on and we shall meet in heaven.

[6888]

At his first fever, Fr Bortolo (when he was on his way from Khartoum to Kordofan) was disheartened and went back. His fever continued for a few days and in his discouragement he implored me to let him go home because of poor health. He repeated this request in writing while I was in El Obeid. Then he started to feel better (with Fr Losi’s sickness [a slip: Rolleri], and we have all suffered the more tremendous bouts, many of the Sisters, especially Sisters Vittoria and Concetta have bouts of fever every year three times as strong as Fr Bortolo’s, no one ever asked to go back home), and he wrote to me (I was about to leave for Nuba) that if I wanted, he would risk staying on the following conditions: 1. That he and Fr Losi were to be in charge of everything, Vicar General and Administrator General, but never to be dependent on me for anything, except to inform me of his plans, etc., etc., and by this he meant to try in complete freedom to return whenever he wanted if it did not suit him (and he is totally incapable), and to go wherever he pleased, because he was not bound to the mission by any Oath.

[6889]

We said: “We’re on tenterhooks like this; if he gets a strong fever again as before, he will immediately want to go back to Europe, etc., etc.” and I did not breath a syllable, because at his 1st request I had granted him permission with a licence to return. This supplements what I said about Fr Bortolo in answer to your letter N.26, where you said: “I would be pleased if Fr Bortolo could stay in the interior (Central Africa)”.
As regards Sestri, we have agreed. Do what His Eminence orders. It is very good that Sr Metilde should come to Cairo, because I believe the withdrawal from Sestri is a fait accompli by now. I sent Giorgio the certificate of his conversion, because the Catholic friar refused to hear his confession, in the belief that he is still schismatic. Pray for him.

[6890]

And would it not be a good idea to have His Eminence speak to Fr Tomba about Fr Giovanni Beltrame, the archenemy of the Work? I think so. I also have a mountain of arguments to expose his insolent lies, etc. which he printed, saying that no one was able to help him in compiling the Dinka dictionary and grammar, and that he was the first, when this is false, because the first was Mozgan and then Lanz, with whom Fr Beltrame, myself and Fr Melotto together produced the dictionary, the grammar and a long treatise on the Catholic religion, which I then used to teach the women teachers in Verona. Now Fr Losi brought a large volume in Dinka from Khartoum which he just gave back to me in Nuba: that is, the common treatise on religion that Fr Beltrame and I both had. The dictionary and the grammar are in Mitterrutzner’s possession.

[6891]

There are also Lanz’s sermons, etc. Lanz’s whole work is a great catechism which I shall print; and Lanz died in 1860 in the arms of the Pro-Vicar and of Fr Beltrame, before Fr Beltrame set about perfecting the common work which he only published a few years ago. There are some speeches in Dinka that Lanz made before we reached the Kich and started working together on the Dinka ABC in 1858. He is a proud and selfish rascal, a man full of jealousy, as the Minister Cesare Correnti told me twice. I told Baschera. Poor Comini; she was lost because of Fr Beltrame. Enough, he is a real modern liberal, and that’s it.

[6892]

As regards Spazi, the Vice-superior of the old ladies, my long held opinion and that of Sr Teresa here is that she should not renew her vows any more, and
that if she does not calm down with the old ladies, she should be sent home. Whatever you do will be well done.
The big book of Masses in plain chant brought out here by Fr Policarpo is in Khartoum. So Fr Luigi assured me. At the first safe opportunity I will send it to Verona. But remind me again. Although I have made a note to remember it. I gave Fr Losi 20 francs from the man in Piacenza etc. Oh Jesus, how exhausted and weak I am. May God’s will be done. I bless Fr Luciano etc. Pray for

+ Bishop Daniel

[6893]

Today I celebrated Mass and said many prayers for Mother. The 21st is the feast of my name day, St Daniel the Prophet. For that day our church, the largest in Central Africa, will be decorated as for a feast by all the Catholics, good and weak, who will take part with our two establishments in this capital in either the Pontifical Mass or the low Mass, which I will celebrate after solemnly administering Baptism to quite a few adults and Confirmation to many. This is what my missionaries have arranged, although I would have preferred my Name Day to have passed unobserved.

[6894]

At Nuba too, I solemnly administered Baptism to eight adults. There I undertook a tiring but important exploration of more than 50 mountains, on horseback and on foot, sleeping on straw mats, eating food without salt and burdened by many hard but dear privations; but when one works for Jesus everything is sweet. We climbed Mount Karkendi on foot, under a blistering, suffocating sun, and left my horse with six Turkish guards in the plains. I was accompanied by Fr Bonomi, Fr Vincenzo Marzano, Fr Leone Henriot, and by our excellent layman, Giuseppe Regnotto from Chiesanuova, a compatriot of Fr Squaranti; and we were made to sit down on some knotty poles in the shade, surrounded by a great crowd of Africans, big and little, of young women and old, each and every one dressed in the fashion of our first Parents, Adam and Eve, before they committed the stupidity of sin.

[6895]

Four o’clock in the afternoon came without it having occurred to them to give us any food and we had not eaten since the previous evening. Since my companions were feeling hunger pangs, they took the initiative and asked the chief for something to eat. At that moment, a large old cock flapped its wings and crowed, in greeting as it were. In fifteen minutes that unfortunate bird was killed, plucked, set to roast on the flames and coals, laid out before us just as it was, without salt or seasoning, and divided by us into pieces was eaten, swallowed and being digested in our stomachs. Then we departed; but half way down the mountain we were overtaken by rain and sheltered in the hut of an African, who even offered us a sort of porridge in bitter water without salt or seasoning. We ate it cheerfully, recalling the risottos alla Mariona of the Grigolini family where you once came, with the Rector Dorigotti and the Parish Priests of S. Martino and Montorio, etc., etc.

[6896]

I have conceived of a plan for the government of the Sudan to abolish the trade in Africans from these mountains of the Nuba; they are decimated of their inhabitants year after year. The chiefs, cogiurs and sultans of this land came to my feet, entreating me to free them from this scourge which since 1838, when the African Bakhit Miniscalchi was kidnapped, has almost destroyed this people and reduced it by 15 to 1. I shall succeed because I am backed by the government, and we have living in our house in Delen a captain (with orders to take advice from me) who is a French inspector with a troop of soldiers; already after the first armed conflict in which a chief perished, he captured another chief of the Baqqarah, who had also snatched Bakhit and terror has already spread among these scoundrels of assassins who were previously protected by the government, and now no longer. In six months the abolition of the slave trade will be a fait accompli, to the great honour of the Church and the Mission, which were the first and most powerful instruments for the glory of God and the good of these unfortunate peoples.

[6897]

I am now negotiating with Gieglar Pasha, sent from Khartoum to arrest the ringleaders, hang some of them, confiscate the Baqqarah’s horses and take the necessary measures. All I have done is to expose the facts and realities of things, against hundreds of ruined rich men, who became powerful on the blood of Africans and with the most horrible crimes, selling and prostituting thousands of most virtuous young women who, at their hands, lost their virtue and their lives; and I have left it to the government to take suitable measures.

[6898]

The government thinks it will be impossible to succeed at all without force, as has so far been the case. I answered not a word; but in my heart of hearts, I said to myself that it is right, because to save ten villainous assassins, thousands of innocents must be sacrificed. May the assassins be hanged and the innocents saved: for the former, the gallows and hell, for the latter, freedom and paradise. This is the justice of God, whom I adore. For the time being, I do not know when I shall be moving on, because it might be necessary to let Fr Gio. Batta Fraccaro, the Superior here who is constantly ill, have a change of air. But write to me in Khartoum, where perhaps in two months I shall have arrived.

[6899]

As regards the last two letters that I received from you, telling me of your correspondence with the Superior of Verona and with Verona about the good Virginia, I have nothing to repeat.

[6900]

May the Lord always be with you; I hope that he will also always be with me, because I have always served him, I am serving him now, and I will always serve him until I die, among the greatest crosses and sufferings and with the sacrifice of my life.
I bless you together with all our relatives and friends; and I beg you to give my greetings to the new spiritual Director of Limone, whom you mentioned to me without giving me his name and surname, his homeland, his age etc., etc., and write to Erminia asking her on my behalf to give me news of her family, and especially of Eugenio. Give my regards to Pietro, his wife and son, as well as Riva’s.
Your most affectionate son,

+ Bishop Daniel

Give the new Priest, the Spiritual Director, this holy picture.

[6901]

When I returned from my pastoral visit to Jebel Nuba, I found waiting for me your most venerable letters of 22nd and 28th April last, in the first of which you announce that the Subdeacon Agostino Lotermann from Belgium is continuing to insist that I release him from the oath to serve the mission and send him the Exeat; and in the second, you inform me that Mr Giuseppe Genoud of Bolzano is clamouring for me to send him some keepsake of his son, Fr Policarpo, who died in Khartoum in 1878.

[6902]

As for the former, I have refused so far to release Lotermann from his oath to serve the mission, not because I hoped that his vocation would return; on the contrary, as soon as he wrote that his parents were not letting him return to Italy because the heat made him ill, and that therefore I should send him the Exeat, I replied that I declared him detached from the Institute for good (I would not have taken him back for all the gold in the world, because I realised that he would never have had a vocation, and it was trickery, pretending to be holy so as to cheat his way into Holy Orders); but because he had never, despite his promises, come up with even a penny of the usual fee that those who are not really poor pay for their time of probation. And since in Belgium he also made a lot of promises to satisfy his obligations, without ever making the slightest effort to keep them, I refused him what he asked. Now, upon Your Eminence’s wise advice and invitation, I shall make it my duty to send his Pastor, the Bishop of Ghent, (I do not remember the postulant’s town) not only the Exeat with the release from the obligation of serving the mission, but a brief and conscientious report on the above-mentioned young man for the 4 years that he lived in my Institute, during which, with regard to his conduct, he behaved admirably.

[6903]

As to the Genoud business, as soon as Mgr Rampolla asked me to let the father have some memento of his son who died in Khartoum, I wrote to the Superior of that house asking him to send to my Rector in Verona everything that could be found which had belonged to the deceased Missionary. After three months, that Superior replied to me that he had not found a thing, and that he could not lay hands on any item that had belonged to the deceased, also because he was in Jebel Nuba at the time of his death. In fact, I remembered that there could not have been anything; for I myself, who was present at his death, had everything in his room burned and buried in the desert, since he died of petechial typhoid, which is one of the most contagious diseases, a real plague.

[6904]

However, since I passed through Bolzano last summer, I informed Genoud through the Dean (the prelate) that as soon as I had returned to the Vicariate, I would do my utmost to find something. Indeed, having reached Khartoum, I unearthed a few objects which had belonged to the deceased, that is: several medals for military valour which he had been awarded during the Austro-Italian Campaign of 1866, a Turkish clock that had belonged to him and other things. Last February I had already given these to the Superior of Khartoum to give to the Royal Consular Agent of Italy, who it seemed would be leaving for Verona shortly. Then in El Obeid I found another really beautiful clock which he had owned in Bolzano, known to his most pious father, some music composed by his son and other things, which I shall send him as soon as I can, when I arrive in Khartoum.
As I bow to kiss the Sacred Purple, I sign myself with deepest respect,
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble, respectful son,

+ Bishop Daniel of Claudiopolis
Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[6905]

The other day, I received the enclosed from our dear Fr Losi; and I do not want to send it without mentioning to you some of the joys with which this most devout Gospel Worker gladdened my heart during my pastoral visit to that Mission.
The Mission of Dar Nuba is one of the most important, although most difficult and laborious of Central Africa. They are a primitive people among whom prevails totally the fashion of our first Parents Adam and Eve, when they were still in the state of innocence. However, despite all this and despite the faults which they contracted through the age-old misfortunes of the appalling slave trade, which in decimating these unfortunate peoples every year has almost destroyed them or undoubtedly reduced them by 12 to 1, they are moral, strong-minded and hard-working. With the immense efforts and toil of the mission, they will be capable of bowing their heads before the Cross and will become a chosen part of Christ’s flock.

[6906]

Thanks to the steps I have taken to acquire the power to put an end to slavery, I have achieved splendid results. Through the providential government, or rather, the upright intentions and staunch determination of His Highness the Khedive of Egypt and his worthy Representative Rauf Pasha, Governor General of the Sudan (that is, of a territory more than five times the size of the whole of France), I hope that in a year the slave trade among the tribes of Nuba will be all but completely destroyed; which will facilitate the conquest of our holy Religion in the countries which recognise that we are the principal means of their liberation.

[6907]

Now in 1877, when Fr Giovanni was at El Obeid, he wrote to me that he would be very pleased if I were to send him to Jebel Nuba, in the hope that since Islam has not the slightest influence there, those Africans would be more easily disposed to Catholicism. I granted his request, and sent him there under the direction of the Superior of the Mission, Fr Luigi Bonomi. With him, he studied the rudiments of the Nuban language which is still unknown to science and which the two zealous missionaries undertook to draw word by word, with incredible diligence and perseverance, from the lips of that people.

[6908]

After I had summoned the Superior of that Mission, Fr Bonomi, to Khartoum to represent me as Vicar General during my journey in Europe, Fr Losi continued the difficult and important study of that tongue on his own; consequently, when I arrived at that Station last May with missionaries and Sisters, our Fr Giovanni had compiled and put together a dictionary in Nuban, Arabic and Italian of more than 3,500 words and a Catholic catechism in Nuban, into which language he had translated all the principal prayers of our holy Faith. Although it is difficult to make oneself understood by that people, he had nonetheless converted some to the faith, baptised many infidel children in articulo mortis; and with the sublime eloquence of an irreproachable Christian and priestly conduct, spread love and esteem for Catholicism.

[6909]

Something wonderful and most edifying: he built a beautiful church of mud and branches, covering it with straw, where he baptised several adults on Corpus Christi and administered confirmation to about 40 Christians. In his free time, he is always in church praying and reciting the office, almost always on his knees; he spends most of the night there, and on Sundays and feast days he preaches there in Arabic twice a day. He is unaware of the needs of life; for him, the worst food is too much, he sleeps either on the ground or stretched out on a straw mat on the angareb, always dressed; while he was burning with a raging fever, I begged him to accept at least one pillow: he refused. He fasts frequently; he is young, slim, and full of life when it is a matter of praying, speaking of the things of God or saving souls. Then he has a zeal for souls which keeps him active even in the midst of privations and the greatest sacrifices.

[6910]

All in all, Fr Gio. Losi is a pearl of a Gospel worker, he is the angel of that important Mission; and the edification I felt during the 46 days I spent there on my visit exploring that important tribe, warmed my heart. Fr Giovanni is venerated and loved by that people as a true father. They run to him often; and I hope that he will be the first and most effective instrument for the conquest to the faith of those neglected souls. This was something wonderful that I remarked and could tangibly feel.

[6911]

Fr Losi, surrounded by that crowd of primitive people in Adam’s costume, who know only crime, baseness and the transitory goods of the world; Fr Losi, eye-witness of the appalling crimes of the Baqqarah brigands who live on assassinations, theft, and wickedness; Fr Losi, in the midst of all that is foulest and most abominable on this earth, preserves as full a fervour of devotion and spirit of piety as the most zealous Jesuit novice; he is always warm and loving about the things of God, of the Church, of the Saints. He is a soul who belongs totally to God, who makes me ardently desire to possess and to have other fervent sons of the great Theban Martyr, who has preserved his faith and zeal in the noble Diocese of Piacenza and whose memory is indelibly printed on my mind and heart.

[6912]

It will not be displeasing to you that I have said a word about this beloved son of mine, who is your dear friend.
This is not the case (between ourselves) with Fr Bortolo Rolleri, whom I brought with me to the Vicariate and who, smitten with his first serious attack of fever, repeatedly begged me to let him return. Rolleri is a well-behaved priest but incapable (after 12 years in Africa) of teaching catechism to children, of preaching in any language, or of dealing with any matter seriously with Africans. He is not worth a hundredth of Fr Losi. I satisfied him, and at this moment he will have already drunk the waters of Peio and Recoaro: haec inter nos.

[6913]

Give my greetings to your most venerable Colleagues, Mgr Archpriest, Rossi, the Rector of the Seminary, all the Monsignors and Most Reverend Canons and Parish Priests and to my dear acquaintances of Piacenza, as well as to my most devout landladies, whom I always remember although I almost never write to them.
Here the largest and most beautiful church in the whole of Central Africa is nearing completion; I have consecrated it to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Please give my respects to the reverend and dear angel of the Diocese of Piacenza, Mgr Scalabrini, to the Vicar General and Fr Camillo, and to the Alberoni Seminary. Goodbye, and please (…)
Tuissimo in Christo

+ Daniel Comboni Ep.po et Vic. Ap.

[6914]

Do not look askance at this irregular letterhead Episcopatus et Vic., because I am not at all to blame; it was that glorious brain of Fr Antonio Dobale, a student of Propaganda who had this letterhead printed on two reams of paper by Cav. Melandri in Rome and brought it to me in Khartoum; and since I shall often have to use these sheets to write to Your Eminence and the Sacred Congregation, so may this announcement and information be valid once and for all.

[6915]

The appointment of the eloquent and most able Fr Anacleto from S. Felice as Vicar and Delegate Apostolic of Egypt (of Arabia is an anomaly, an error in the terms of the Roman Curia, because in Arabia there never have been nor are there any bishops or churches or parishes, and not even a single Eastern rite Catholic, with the exception of Nicola Mardrus of the Armenian rite, who lived in concubinage in Jedda. I induced him to leave a sum for his Abyssinian concubines and to return to his native Cairo to make a Christian marriage, since he has the good examples of his wise brothers there; which he should have done by now); if Fr Anacleto’s appointment, as I was saying, does not totally succeed in ridding Egypt of the most pernicious Franciscan monopoly of the Catholic apostolate there (because one never cuts off one’s nose to spite one’s face), it will bring Egypt greater benefits than Monsignor Ciurcia brought it; yes indeed, because this distinguished Prelate is imbued with the principles and maxims of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda which he has served since 1877; yes, because he is a man of action, subtle and expert at dealing with matters, as he demonstrated with the Friary of S. Bartolomeo all’Isola, which he saved from the fangs of the demon, that is, from the demonio; and yes, in a special way, because he will restore an eloquent voice to the pulpits of Alexandria and Cairo. This will be an advantage to the many thousand Italians, and those foreigners who understand Italian, as well as a great advantage to souls, because they are very eager in Egypt to hear the word of God (which they have never heard ab immemorabili from a Bishop’s lips, since Mgr Ciurcia did not preach himself nor did the Franciscans ever allow any non-Franciscan orator to preach). In short, I hope that Mgr Anacleto will feel it his duty to act first as a Pastor and then as a Friar, especially by granting full faculties to the Jesuits, who have all the qualities and forces to work miracles of good in Egypt.

[6916]

Since Your Eminence and others in Rome have assured me that the Holy Father or the Sacred Congregation or Your Eminence have decided to create a magnificent Museum in Propaganda with a collection of various products or objects that will be sent to you from all the missions on earth, I have sent Your Eminence, via Mr A. Marquet, two magnificent elephant tusks (of very fine ivory) of no ordinary size (far larger), with a combined weight of more than a hundred kilograms, to be displayed in your above-mentioned Pontifical Museum of Propaganda as Your Eminence pleases. I will send you a detailed description of their provenance, quality, etc. from my residence in Khartoum, because I don’t have time now. At leisure, I will send you other interesting items from Central Africa.

[6917]

I likewise have no time to tell you about the magnificent exploration I made of the main localities in Jebel Nuba, of more than 50 mountains, of the enthusiasm of those Africans who, prostrate at my feet, begged me to free them from the horrors of the slave trade which by decimating them every year has almost wiped them out; of the favour of the government which accepted my plan for their liberation and is beginning to put it into practice; of the infallible hope of reaping great benefits from it all for our holy Religion; and of the terror of the assassin chiefs (some of them have slaughtered hundreds of Nubans and made slaves of thousands), who have been and still are seeking favours and protection against the government from me, so as not to suffer either force or exile, or any other punishment, etc., etc.

[6918]

With an incredible effort, through the labours of two of my missionaries, a dictionary and a catechism have been compiled in the Nuban language and all the Prayers have been translated, etc., etc. I have also drawn a very precise Geographical Map, the only one and very exact, which I shall send you. At Delen I solemnly conferred Baptism upon nine adults and Confirmation upon 43; and here, Baptism upon 8 adults and confirmation upon 67. When I have had the missionaries and Sisters learn the difficult Nuban language, there is the soundest hope of great results. But I will explain everything in the General Report on the Vicariate, which I will send during the current year.
What we suffer from everything: heat, fevers, prostration, lack of appetite, hunger, thirst and privations, is something unheard of. However, I am glad that my missionaries and Sisters have a self-denial and spirit of sacrifice such as I have never seen in any other mission, because nowhere in the world is there so much suffering as in Central Africa.

[6919]

One anecdote and that will be all. With my Missionaries Bonomi, Henriot, and Marzano (to whom I am giving three months of well-deserved rest to go and visit his elderly Father, whose only son he is, since his Father has several times implored the Sacred Congregation to give him permission; he will therefore present himself to Your Eminence in Propaganda next autumn), we set out on foot from Nama, the capital of Golfan, and after three hours in the scorching sun that beat down on our heads we reached Mount Karkendi. Breathless, we stopped to rest; but we then climbed the mountain, where those Africans have built fortifications so as not to fall into the hands of the Baqqarah brigands who have destroyed five-sixths of the population that dwelt on the plain with their livestock and provisions. We climbed to the top and were received in the sanctuary of the cogiur (pontiff-king), where he utters his oracles. In brief, received by a great crowd of men and women in full Adam and Eve costume, after two hours one of the missionaries felt hunger pangs, so he asked the pontiff and king for something to eat. Close by some huts strutted an enormous cock which never stopped crowing. In just ten minutes that cock had been caught, killed, its large feathers plucked, put on the embers and set before us, without salt or any other seasoning; and in less than another ten minutes we had eaten it; and we drank water. I kiss your Sacred Purple and sign myself
Your most devoted and obedient son

+ Daniel, Bishop and Vicar Apostolic

[6920]

I forgot to answer you about the vice-superior for the elderly sisters, whose vows are about to expire. Since Mother Teresa Grigolini told me this, and from what I happened to see in Verona, with this Mother of ours present, the vice-superior should certainly not be allowed to renew her vows but should courteously be invited to go home, because she has no spirit and only disturbs the mother and the internal peace of the Institute. I don’t want her in Africa either, even if she were dressed in gold; and if she cannot adapt to the elderly, or if the mother and you yourself do not think it right for her to be vice-superior of the elderly, then let her be sent away.

[6921]

From the scarcity of rain one can forecast that there will be a savage famine in the Kordofan this coming year. My God, what troubles! But misericordia eius super omnia opera eius.
This evening I shall be hurrying to leave here for Khartoum, where most important business concerning slavery awaits me. The Mission will have great merit before God and humanity; especially now that it is bound to profit the faith, because those peoples are convinced of the truth that their liberation from the horrible slave trade which has almost destroyed them was begun and achieved through the interventions of the Catholic Church. I hasten to leave because I am taking Don Fraccaro with me to save him, for here he is always ill and will die. I am sure that with two months of rest and a change he will recover and be able to resume his post.

[6922]

I am also taking Fr Vincenzo Marzano with me to Khartoum, because his elderly father has been unwell for four years and is even insisting through Propaganda to see him for the last time. Besides, Fr Vincenzo deserves some rest; he is satisfied with only two months in his homeland, and is prepared to return to the Vicariate in November. Moreover, I am more than willing to send him now rather than in March, because this is the season of diseases; and in January he will be even more useful to me free from heartache, so I can count on him for many years because he is able, full of self-denial, acclimatised and esteemed and loved by all. Sr. Teresa Grigolini sings his praise. In the autumn he will come to Verona to spend a few weeks with you. Since he has been accompanying me in the exploration of all Bakhit’s territory, you should summon Bakhit to the Institute.

[6923]

As Fr Vincenzo is protected by the most renowned and learned Mgr Salzano, Archbishop of Edessa and formerly Representative of Pius IX in 1860 during the exile of the Bishops, and a Theologian, an historian expert in Canon Law, etc., who also wrote to me yesterday from Naples about Fr Vincenzo, I am sending you the letter of this distinguished Archbishop, with whom I preached on the Mountain of Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette in July 1868. That Bishop is the one who, responding to the former Fr Curci on his last foolishness in the New Italy, etc., a month ago wrote that magnificent letter in which he said: “once it was necessary to hold back young men, now one has to rein in and straighten the heads of the elderly”, etc. He is one of the most scholarly and holy prelates who are Bishops of the Catholic Church.

[6924]

Ten days ago I received your last letter, n.30, of 10th and 11th June, which filled me with sorrow. It is full of suspicion and imputations about me, which are indeed far from the truth and only exist in your mind. May God’s will be done: I am not replying for the moment, because I am almost at my wit’s end and oppressed; it is better to wait for moments of calm and peace. Jesus who died on the Cross, will help me to bear all the crosses. I bless you and the Institute.

+ Bishop Daniel

[6925]

Just back from an important exploration of Dar-Nuba, I was told the good news of your memorable journey with courageous Massari from the banks of the Nile in Nuba through Darfur, Waday, Bornu, etc., to the coast of Guinea. This news fills me with sincere joy because it cancels any trace of flaws, if there were any, in your previous journeys which were nonetheless important ones; because your current triumphant success makes up for the failures of other expeditions; and because the journey you have made with Massari is very memorable and ground-breaking, comparable to those of Nachtigal and other famous African travellers.

[6926]

Therefore please accept my sincere congratulations, for you deserve them, just as you deserve the gratitude of geographical science. I have no more time except to give you an affectionate greeting and tell you that I remain, as always, your
most affectionate Friend,

+ Daniel Comboni

N.B. The date: 3rd August 1881 appears in the Journal. But on 3rd August, Mgr Comboni could not have been in Khartoum, as he was travelling from El Obeid to Khartoum. He left El Obeid on 30th July and arrived in Khartoum 9th August (cf. Grancelli, p. 399).