[6927]

Although I am ill, because among all the other efforts I had to spend a whole night in a wood on my way here from the Kordofan, under a very heavy downpour that fell unexpectedly and as well as ruining us, ruined all our provision of bread and all the vestments contained in a strong box, I am nonetheless getting out of bed for a moment to give you the news of my arrival in my principal residence at Khartoum and to tell you that you will be receiving two magnificent elephant tusks for the New World Museum of Propaganda. Together they weigh 222 (two hundred and twenty-two) Egyptian rotoli, equivalent to more than 97 kilograms, or kilos, or Kilò.

[6928]

These two tusks come from the cannibal tribes of the Nyam Nyam, who depend on the province of Bahar-el-Ghazal, under the government of Khartoum. I hope that Your Eminence will like my modest offering on the basis of your invitation to all the Vicars Apostolic, the date of which I have forgotten. Although so much rain has fallen even on the Catholic establishments of El Obeid, we still have to spend three or four scudos a day to buy water.
I kiss your sacred purple, and with the deepest respects, declare myself
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble, devoted and respectful son,

+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic

[6929]

I am just getting out of bed to tell you that I have arrived in Khartoum with Fr Fraccaro and Fr Vincenzo. For a whole night heavy rain poured down on us and ruined almost all our supplies: bread, provisions and many of my pontifical vestments, as well as our health. We lay for five hours on my mattress in the wet. Roversi, one of Fr Cavassi’s Protestants who was with us, caught a terrible fever; we escaped it with the help of Eucalyptus and by drying ourselves in the morning. At the river, kind Rauf Pasha had the steamer ready for us, which took us to Khartoum in a day. But I am suffering badly from the effects. Here I found some of your letters, nn. 31, 33, 34 (I did not get the 32nd, perhaps it went to the Kordofan), which have redoubled my worries.

[6930]

I fully approve and beg you to execute the plan of the mason Bonato approved by dear Fr Vignola for the works for the female Institute (and you will be receiving the money), even if it costs rather more than the estimate. My dear St Joseph will not fail to do his part.
I intend to withdraw the Sisters from Sestri, and also had a letter from the furious Tagliaferro who tells me that convent will always (sic) be the convent of Monsignor Comboni’s Sisters. However, when you write to him, please always treat him with the kindness of St Francis de Sales, and not with severity or anything else: charitas Christi urget nos.

[6931]

I have heard of the injunction and the demand made of Virginia (who has not written to me for many months), as to whether she is prepared to stay in Verona permanently, for her whole life (It was not the right moment, I do not see this clearly, because I am too exasperated, but I have my Jesus, Father of the afflicted and Defender of innocence and justice). Therefore she will go away through necessity. God, in whom Virginia as a true Christian has always trusted, will take care of her. In the meantime I console myself with the thought that freed from the troubles of Sestri and Virginia, you will be left in peace to direct and promote the good of the Holy Work, and God will see to the rest. I can tell you, my dear Father, that in these matters both you and His Eminence (both of whom I love and will love until I die), paid no heed to my opinion and judgement: and I still see no sound reason I might have given you for this, for so despising my views.

[6932]

However, I am not offended, because those who work with such constancy, as I always have, for God and for his glory, must always be ready (and I am and have been for decades) for all the trials and crosses, and for the dear and indispensable pro nihilo reputari. But God is there for everyone, although Christ’s true charity urgeat paucos in mundo. I am not saying that this was missing in you both, indeed, because I believe that you only had a good and holy aim. But I also swear that in the case of Virginia and Sestri I have always acted for God and his glory alone; and the Lord knows it. However, with regard to Sestri, your reasons are so clear, right and forceful that I am overjoyed, especially since we are not in a position today to found a school, and I am particularly glad that you have withdrawn from Bergamo Sr Caldara, who came to us to be a missionary and not to run a school in Europe; so she might as well have stayed put. If Tagliaferro had appreciated our work of catechising and spiritual welfare (that is worth more than schools), which our people were doing to the satisfaction of the Archpriest and the Ordinary, he would have been happy with it for the moment; but homo quaerit quae sunt mundi et non Dei. Thus he told His Eminence that it is pointless for three Sisters to be busy only praying (!!!) at Sestri, and he did not tell him that they were catechising poor girls. Therefore you did well to withdraw them all. Now we will see more clearly what his intentions were, whether they were based on financial interest or were to benefit Africa.

[6933]

If Tagliaferro claims money etc. from you, as you said, and if he doesn’t provide solid evidence of his so highly extolled donation, it is certain that he has deceived us. You should not be afraid of court cases or anything else. Everybody knows that he promised a donation and this is evident in his writings and the famous Charter that you have in your keeping. Other documents are useless; and then it would be difficult for me to find them, ill as I am, and oppressed with so many cares for my Vicariate and squeezing money out of Europe. No one approves of that man, and he was offended above all because nobody took any notice when he left late in the evening, as you write to me. But then we are working for God; let us leave everything to God, and he will help us. Our Work is based on faith. It is a language that few of the good on earth understand; but the saints, who alone we must imitate, have understood it.

[6934]

The Austrian Consul in Khartoum was astonished when he realised that Domenico Polinari who so annoyed him was returning, although in other matters the Consul is opposed to Fr Luigi for his rough behaviour, etc. Moreover, the Superior of Khartoum, Fr Bouchard, does not want him and quite rightly, because he made such a mess of the garden and never brings his produce to the kitchen, etc. He got rid of the Christians and took on Muslims, spending and squandering etc. The Sisters here, and especially Sr Grigolini of Kordofan, are of the opinion that he shouldn’t be allowed back, especially because now, after his departure, the garden has recovered. So I sent a telegram to Giulianelli in Cairo ordering him to keep Domenico Polinari there for those gardens, and to fill in with earth the gap in front of the houses between the wall and the road, and without saying anything to Polinari about us not wanting him in the Sudan for the time being. But why didn’t the Consul previously give me any of the reasons he is giving me now? He limited himself to asking me to repatriate Domenico, because he was worn out. But so be it! It will all be arranged with the telegraph, which has already left because I dictated it from my bed this morning. Lastly, what I found deeply distressing in your letters and in the letter from the Cardinal (which moreover had no other aim than ad salutem, because this is what he was told), was a very lovely letter written by my father, but which had a Postscriptum. Here is the exact text ad litteram:
… “I kiss your sacred ring, as I sign myself

Your most affectionate Father, Luigi Comboni

[6935]

P.S. This evening I received a letter from the Superior telling me that Virginia wanted me (Fr Sembianti) to take her to see the Cardinal, he asked her whether she would be willing to stay in the convent of Verona always” (but if Virginia is a scourge of the mission as His Eminence wrote to me, why should she be made to stay in Verona forever? Doesn’t God exist for Virginia too?). Ah! Let us trust sincerely in God because the divine truth has proclaimed: qui confidit in D.no, non confundetur. Iustus ex fide vivit. And Virginia, so despised, has greater faith in God; and she confides in God more than me and more than so many ecclesiastics; “and she said no, and I would bet anything that she has made an agreement with you to come to Africa” (with me, never, and she has not written to me for more than four or five months; and then I am not the one to use subterfuge).

[6936]

My father has based his opinion on the suspicions and falsehoods of boorish Giacomo, who at death’s door will account to divine justice for the lies he told my father about Virginia and me, and will be responsible for his hatred of Virginia’s Arab brother and cousin and especially the cousin, who was scandalised. Because of Giacomo he would have preferred to become a Turk rather than a Catholic and had to seek refuge in Rome at the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office to be able to become a Catholic. Lay people should remain lay people, and they don’t understand anything about matters of rule and spirit. I would not like to find myself in the state of Giacomo’s conscience. A single soul costs the blood of Jesus Christ; nor does Giacomo understand the lofty aim I had in bringing Arabs over for the good of my Institute, and indeed Jesus Christ had to use love to gain souls; instead, along with the perfidious Grieff, he harried them to death, as it were.

[6937]

The devil has tempted her so often (and indeed my father, like an idiot and an imbecile, suggested that she be married off), whereas Virginia would have herself killed rather than be married off. Mgr Salzano, speaking of Curci wrote that once it was necessary to hold the young back, now the old; my poor father from the first time he was deceived by Giacomo (who is most ungrateful to me and I saved his life incurring expenses myself in order to send him back to his country, and he never said a word to me, indeed in two letters he wrote to me that he had been edified by Virginia). “The devil so tempted her until he succeeded in undermining the reputation of the poor Bishop of Central Africa” (sic). In this case it is not Virginia who is undermining my reputation but in the given case not conceded by my father, it is I who am undermining my own reputation by letting her lead me by the nose (sic).
“I understand that I must die with a wound in my heart, God bless you.

Luigi Comboni”

[6938]

This is my extreme and enormous suffering. Let them inveigh against me, let them denounce me to the Pope. The mission will be damaged if I am absent from Africa for a few years to justify myself before the infallible Vi c a r o f Christ, who is a father to all, and as God’s true representative only does what is right and just. But to upset and distress a holy old man who not only gave me material life but also spiritual life, this is too much, and Giacomo will have to account for it before the eternal judge, who never forgives those who touch the apples of his eye, a priest, a Bishop, a Christian Virgin, whatever their shortcomings may be. May the divine will be done. Everything is disposed by God, who always hears the groans of the afflicted and protects the innocent; and my father dying with a wound in his heart, based on slander, suspicion and lies, or rather on the air perfumed by Giacomo and by Grieff, will acquire a new crown in heaven where I hope we will shortly be together.

[6939]

I ask you to forgive me, my dear Fr Sembianti, for causing you these and so many other disturbances. But with whom can I vent my grief, if not to the person who does his utmost to give me the most serious and effective help in my holy Work which belongs entirely to God?

[6940]

In the most adorable wounds of Jesus and in his love, my dear Fr Sembianti, I recommend my father, Luigi Comboni, who does not deserve to end his days in sorrow because of a son (and it is all based on falsehood), who has always given him and must give him every reason for spiritual consolation.
In the Heart of Jesus I am your most affectionate

+ Daniel Comboni

[6941]

At this point the Austrian Consul tells me that the Sudan has been swept up into a full-blown rebellion, because of a self-styled prophet who says he has been sent by God to free the Sudan from the Turks and from Christian influence. For years he has been collecting taxes for himself, and on his side he has a great many of those who can no longer enrich themselves because they are unable to deal in slaves (and they are nine tenths of the indigenous), as well as those who pay the taxes. I saw this prophet in 1875 with other missionaries, the Mother Provincial and Virginia, when we went by steamer beyond Tura el Khadra in the land of Cavala, and there we saw him naked on a camel and were told that he lived in a cave with naked women, etc. Then we returned on the steamer together with Tura el Khadra, and disembarked with Virginia and Sister Germana and Fr Vincenzo and the Missionaries etc., and went to Kordofan.

[6942]

The day before yesterday, Rauf Pasha sent a steamer with 200 soldiers and one cannon to capture them, and (the Consul says), they were all killed. Now Rauf Pasha himself wants to set out with good vigorous troops. We shall see. At the house nothing is known as yet, but by the evening it will be common knowledge. I alone was informed. Rejoice! We will go to heaven all the sooner! Long live Jesus!

+ Bishop Daniel

[6943]

Send the Belgian away; it would be better. Blessed Fr Norman! I have not told him that in matters of perfection, delicacy, impartiality and a pure spirit of God and his glory, I generally consider the Bertonian spirit worth more than the Jesuit one. I am mad about the Jesuits, but I will never approve of what was done with the Belgian in our regard. Marquesa Anguisola of Piacenza wrote to me that she gave to Mgr Scalabrini for me, that is, to be sent to you, 2,000 lire. The other 240 lire are from my dear friend the Bishop of Piacenza who sends them to me as aid. You have received 2,239 lire 80 centesimi of them, the other 20 centesimi must have been used for the thank you letter from His Eminence to the Bishop of Piacenza, because the Cardinal is a very precise man.

[6944]

The other day I telegraphed you to keep Domenico Polinari in Cairo, and that he should stay there until you receive my orders. In secret I tell you that no superior in the Sudan wants him, because he does what he likes, he doesn’t want to depend on anyone for his work, and spoils things without any benefit for the house. Even the Austrian Consul has had enough of him, and so have the Sisters, who have to buy vegetables outside when he is there, whereas the garden is going to waste. Now, after his departure, the garden is recovering. Use him (because he is a great worker) to make a garden in our houses, and to work in the house to fill in the holes on the outside of the wall on the road, etc.

[6945]

I order you to send home Domenico Donizzoni, because what you write to me must be the pure truth since I too knew him with no spirit and angry, complaining, and without any virtues. You will obtain a 3rd class ticket for him from Alessandria to Genoa from the Società Rubattino (I mean with the discount of half the fare that Rubattino always allows us). The ticket from Genoa to Verona in 3rd class costs about 22 francs; so in addition give him the 3rd class ticket from Cairo to Alexandria and about 30 or even 40 francs for food. If he refuses to go, throw him out. I do not want him any more in the Sudan or in Egypt or in Verona.

[6946]

I am supremely happy with Giuseppe: he is useful for many things and everyone likes him.
Only yesterday I cashed the bill of exchange for 20,000 piastres. I tell you secretly that I am in a serious jam with money, because in Kordofan, even after the rains, I need 30 francs a day to buy water: and I have many expenses; so pray to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to send me money. Without money souls are not saved.

[6947]

Fr Vincenzo Marzano will leave in a few days, because he has worked hard and needs to recover. Other than 111 guineas, we have no debts with our friend, Mr Marquet. Send Battista with the first expedition, I intend him to work in the garden at Khartoum. Explain to me why he went to the Holy Land, and why you gave him permission to go without consulting me.

[6948]

I am exhausted, and have no time to write. I bless you with Faustina and everybody. How is the Sisters’ health?
Please give the enclosed note to Sr Faustina, my cousin.
Most affectionately,

+ Daniel,
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic

[6949]

I read in n. 151 of the praiseworthy Libertà Cattolica that you have published the Report and a description of the new church in El Obeid, capital of the Kordofan, dedicated to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and built by our beloved Fr Vincenzo Marzano; and I read that with your outstanding kindness you are making a generous appeal to the proverbial charity of the Neapolitans, inciting them to save on expenses and to send their offerings for the completion of the said church and for our laborious Mission in Central Africa to the Rector of the African Institutes in Verona, and not to the office of Libertà Cattolica in Naples.

[6950]

I beg you as forcefully as I can to ask the generous donors for the Missions of Central Africa not to send their donation to Verona, but to you, at the office of Libertà Cattolica, because of the full and unlimited trust I have in you, your journal and your kindness, supported by my long experience; and because some benefactors are more easily disposed to send their money and offerings to nearby Naples and to you, who they know well, rather than to distant Verona; and lastly, because sending donations to Verona involves greater expenses and less benefit for Africa, since my Rector must answer each donor with a thank-you letter, and spend 20 centesimi for a stamp; whilst you spend nothing in receiving the money, because you can answer each donor by publishing his name and offering in your trustworthy journal.

[6951]

I am infinitely grateful to you for your exceptional charity in coming to the aid of my Mission, which is one of the neediest and most important in the world. In the Kordofan which I left a few days ago, despite the buckets of rain that poured from the skies, I need from between 30 to 50 lire a day to buy dirty, muddy water in order to maintain those two important establishments.

[6952]

Then the new church at El Obeid (it is the biggest and most densely populated city in the whole of Central and Equatorial Africa, larger and with a greater population than Khartoum, the capital of the Egyptian possessions in the Sudan; larger and with a greater population than El Fasher, the capital of Darfur, than Kuka, the capital and great slave market of Timbuktu; in short, the biggest and most densely populated city in all Central and Equatorial Africa). The church is worthy of El Obeid.

[6953]

Please inform the most Excellent and Venerable Mgr Salzano, Archbishop of Edessa, that after the persistent entreaties I received from Fr Vincenzo’s old father who wants to embrace his only son, Fr Vincenzo, before he dies, I have decided to send him back immediately; for his health also needs a little care since he has been working very hard for the mission. I therefore took Fr Vincenzo Marzano with me from Kordofan and we were caught together in heavy rains while travelling, but we arrived in Khartoum in the end. He will set out from here for Berber and the Red Sea in a few days and, please God, you will see him in your office in Naples before the end of next September.
Renewing my prayers and my sincere thanks, I embrace you in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, as I sign with all affection,
Your most sincere friend

+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[6954]

I have clearly noted that you are the keenest champion of the concerns of my arduous undertaking and in your feature articles you have not only displayed your great heart and warmest affection, but also the most interesting and lively enthusiasm.
This has the effect of further reinforcing and strengthening our sincere, cordial and long-standing friendship, which can be said to have begun in the summer of 1863 in the best hotel of Saluzzo, where I spent two days in the company of your brother, Girolamo, whom I like and admire as a lively and forceful writer. He was condemned to forced residence there, a few months before his liberation which I obtained from Victor Emanuel through the famous Rosina, with whom he then contracted a morganatic marriage…

+ Daniel Comboni

[6955]

Yesterday I received your most respected letter, n. 4 of 3rd June last, in which you repeat to me the order you gave me to send Mr Genoud some keepsake of his son Fr Policarpo, who died in Khartoum in 1878; and I repeat to you what I wrote from Kordofan and that I have already sent some articles which belonged to the deceased, including two clocks and medals for military bravery etc., and at the first opportunity I will send some music that belonged to him which I found a few days ago. But this man, who is becoming rather a nuisance, should reflect that the journey from Central Africa to Europe is not a journey across the garden and that those who are to deliver the objects to him have their own affairs; and at times promise to do it immediately and then fail and take their time, and that if everything does not arrive promptly it is not my fault.

[6956]

Thanks to the God of mercies, my Vicariate and its institutions are going ahead in accordance with the spirit of Jesus Christ, and it succeeds in doing not a little but a lot of good, despite enormous difficulties and the crosses that come to me from those who, instead, ought to bring me consolation. But this is how God’s Works have always been. Trusting in God, I continue on my way, happy to die for Jesus and for Africa.

[6957]

Three days ago, the Equatorial Nile steamer arrived with important news for me from Emin Bey, the governor general of the Egyptian possessions in the equatorial provinces. He sent back to me three letters recommended to him for the Missionaries of Uganda, that is, the Superior Livinhac, Fr Barbot, and Fr Siméon Lourdel, which I am sending on today via Zanzibar to their destination, because communications between Lakes Albert Nyanza and Victoria Nyanza are interrupted by the war there between the king of Unyoro and the king of Uganda. Here is a summary in a few words.

[6958]

Since King Kabarega of Unyoro had an uncle of King M’tesa of Uganda killed, M’tesa threatened him with war and wants to kill Kabarega and take possession of his kingdom.
Kabarega, who has fewer forces than M’tesa, is terribly afraid of his enemy; he therefore lost no time in making an alliance with a powerful neighbouring chieftain, Rionga, whose territory extends between Magungo on Lake Albert Nyanza and Foveira, the Egyptian fortress between the two Nyanza lakes. He brought this off, and Rionga has become his ally. Furthermore, since Kabarega also feared the neighbouring Egyptians, he wrote to Emin Bey (who, marvel of marvels, is very friendly with both Kabarega and M’tesa!) and begged him to intercede with King M’tesa to make peace.

[6959]

Emin Bey now writes that in early August he will be setting out from Lado (near Gondokoro) for Unyoro, and having conferred with Kabarega, King of Unyoro, and with Rionga, he will see what is to be done. That is the whole story.
With the greatest respect, I bow to kiss your Sacred Purple.
Your most humble and obedient son,

+ Daniel Comboni,
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic.

[6960]

I have been very unwell, because I can’t sleep (since I returned to Khartoum) a single hour in 48. My future Secretary, Fr Francesco Pimazzoni is also seriously ill; for a month his breathing has been laboured, he has had a fever and constant insomnia, etc. and I am very worried: but I trust in Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and in the treatment he is being given. He has a serious infection of the lungs. Pray for him. I hope in Jesus.

[6961]

The day before yesterday, I received three of your letters all at the same time. That is, the one from Sestri (in the post-office they wrote Southern Africa; it was franked in Aden, in the far south of Arabia on the Indian Ocean, and then they sent it back to Egypt), and those of 24th and 30th July, N.35 and N.36. I have now grasped the Sestri business, and the whole story of the withdrawal of the Sisters from Sestri. My God! What a mix-up! You did extremely well to withdraw the Institute. You did our Institute a great good, and in your place I would have done the same; and I am very pleased about it: 1. because it has removed a serious bother for you, who are not yet used to carrying great crosses for Jesus: non pervenitur ad magna premia nisi per magnos labores; 2. also because Sr Costanza has come away, and is thus a certainty for Africa; 3. because it is good for the Work. If God wants something from us for Sestri, he will give us access to the safe paths that are most pleasing to his divine Majesty.

[6962]

I thank you with all my heart for the great dedication you gave this matter, for the great anxieties you had to suffer and for the success of the withdrawal: et Deus erit tibi merces magna nimis. I wrote to Fr Angelo that he deceived me, that he caused you to lose credit with many people and that my Rector could do nothing else but withdraw, so as to safeguard the interests of Africa, because in Sestri I was thrown to the lions.

[6963]

I am moved to see how much you had to suffer, not only in the Sestri affair but also in all the other tiresome matters, and I thank you with all my heart. Rest assured that your name is written in the book of life and that you will have great merit for this in eternity. Now regarding the affair of Virginia, my opinion on everything that concerns her and on the manner or precipitation with which you and His Eminence treated her, is quite different from your own view and that of His Eminence. But I must make a declaration once and for all, and that is, that Fr Sembianti, even in the matter of Virginia (as in all matters regarding the interests of Africa), has acted like a saint; he sought advice, he racked his brains, he examined all possible avenues etc., etc. In a word, he always acted in conscience and with the aim of glorifying God.

[6964]

I say the same of His Eminence. But I also declare with the firmest conviction that with regard to Virginia, I acted without a shadow of passion, but for the glory of God, for charity and for the good of the work. And if you and His Eminence say that I act through passion, I answer you both that if you wronged me (I repeat, I am convinced that you acted to a holy end and in conscience), it was by giving no weight to my assertions and to my judgement regarding Virginia, but rather by believing peasants and others who are less competent than me. I do not complain of this at all, because Christus humiliavit semetipsum usque ad mortem, etc., and thus I am happy to lick the ground and receive any humiliation for the love of God and of Africa.

[6965]

His Eminence should have heard me out before deciding that Virginia, after 20 years in the convent, should be confined to the little house and removed from the community; and he did not even deign to inform me. His Eminence (always in my humble opinion) should have written to me and consulted me before he passed that murky judgement on Virginia, saying that she is a plague to the mission, that she pressed me for ulterior motives to make the unfortunate deal in Sestri, that she is a troubled, capricious woman, without any vocation for the religious life, fickle (she is sounder in virtue than a pillar), and that in the places she left (sic.) they sang the Te D e u m after her departure. He should have heard my version before reporting to Rome. That is my opinion, for what it’s worth; but I am convinced that he did it with good intentions and in conscience.

[6966]

Now that you tell me (I knew nothing about it, but had imagined that it would end like this) in your letter of 30th July, n. 36, that Cardinal Simeoni ordered you to tell Virginia that he did not want her to embark on a journey to Africa, and that you (Fr Sembianti) should make sure that this order from the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda was promptly obeyed, both you and Cardinal di Canossa and myself must keep quiet and let Propaganda act. You can be sure that Cardinal Simeoni will write to me and will want to hear my side of the matter, which will be pondered over and examined with greater care and attention than in Verona.

[6967]

In Rome things are done by the light of the Holy Spirit: in Rome they appreciate the farmer for his judgement on the earth and agriculture, the shoemaker is consulted about shoes and boots, the priest about things that regard priests, and bishops about things that concern priests and bishops. On the scales of justice in Rome, they will place the weight of my arguments on one side, and on the other, the Cardinal’s and your own. And when Rome has spoken, I, you and His Eminence will have to bow our heads and respectfully accept the favourable or unfavourable judgement that will be passed on our actions; although all three of us are convinced of having acted well and in accordance with our duty, I will be the first to say: I am an ass, I acted badly, I was wrong, if Rome says I was wrong; and I am most certain that you will do the same, and this will serve as a norm for us in the future.

[6968]

I am quite content: I suffered purgatory at the fear that Virginia might be lost through the fault of others, or even my own. Now that Rome is looking into the matter on His Eminence’s initiative, I am more than calm and confident that innocence, justice and truth will triumph, on whatever side they may be. I expect a letter from Cardinal Simeoni, who will certainly write to me about this and I shall answer him. I have no idea what His Eminence told Rome, nor do I seek to know; I will be guided by my conscience and by what the Cardinal Prefect, my Superior, will tell me. I can truly say that I am beginning to breathe more easily, because I am sure that Virginia’s affairs and her indistinct future will take a turn that will be in accordance with God’s will, for her greatest good and for her vocation. I have much to say in answer to your letter. The Jesuits have created worse problems for me than Neefs did, I will see to the Mother’s relief, etc., etc. Please pass on the letters I am going to write to Virginia. Vale .

+ Daniel, Bishop

[6969]

I sent you a telegram earlier to keep Domenico in Cairo; but since you sent me one to say that he does not want to stay there, I sent you another to say that I am prepared to send him to Kordofan, because I want Battista in Khartoum.
I have received 300 Egyptian pounds. So do not send me any more money until you receive further orders from me. If anything, help the Rector in Verona, if he needs it.

[6970]

Tell Faustina that she must put up for just a little longer with serving as a stop-gap: but I will not be long in sending you a Mother Superior. In the meantime, order her to send me news of the health of each Sister, novice and postulant. Next spring, one of my Superiors from the Sudan will go to Cairo to decide on the admission to the novitiate and the vows of the postulant, and on the Cairo novice, if God keeps her in good health of course. She will then go for a while to Verona to help the Mother there, who needs some respite, and to recover her health. Pray greatly to the Heart of Jesus, in accordance with my intention for the good of Africa, etc.
Many greetings to Fr Pietro, Fr Germano, the Brothers, the Jesuits, etc. and the Delegate to the Copts. I bless you in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Your most affectionate

+ Bishop Daniel Comboni, Vicar Apostolic