[1576]
Since it appears to me that in his most infinite mercy God has deigned to shower his blessings upon the Work recently founded for the Regeneration of Africa on the basis of my Plan, I find it appropriate to offer Your Most Reverend Eminence a brief report on our progress and hopes in its early days.
[1577]
At the end of last November I left Marseilles with three Missionaries, three Sisters of S. Giuseppe, and sixteen African girls: in all, 23 people. After obtaining a free passage on the Egyptian railways from the Pasha of Alexandria, we arrived safely in Cairo on the eve of the Immaculate Conception. Embarking on this large expedition with 46 pieces of luggage and provisions, the French Government saved me 2,168 scudi and the Egyptian Government 324: a total of 2,492 scudi.
[1578]
I rented the Maronite’s Convent for 336 scudi a year in Old Cairo. It has an old house annexed, a hundred steps from the grotto of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where tradition has it that the Holy Family lived during the exile in Egypt. I have inaugurated and started two small Institutes in the two houses which are separated by a fairly spacious Church. By the grace of God they are thriving. The missionaries are involved in the direction, especially spiritual, of the two new establishments, of the study of African languages and Eastern customs, and of the practice of charity to the sick. Since I expect to encounter some very complicated controversies from several moral bodies, which perhaps our wise Monsignor Delegate will succeed in settling, I have arranged for our activities never to go outside the domain understood to be our own.
[1579]
Our aim is very clear: the apostolate of the black race. The female Institute is doing extremely well; and through the work of some of the African girls, who are true Daughters of Charity, a few conquests for heaven have already been made. Your Most Reverend Eminence knows how our Institutes’ main goal is to educate African boys and girls and to instruct them in the faith and in some skill, so that when they have completed their education they can go to the heart of the African countries to be apostles of faith and civilisation among their compatriots. It seems that Providence wants to add to our principal aim a supplementary objective of some importance, that is, the conversion of a good number of souls. The existence of two groups of Africans in Cairo who have been taught the Christian faith and civilisation, is an important element of the apostolate for the non-Catholic Africans who live in Egypt. From the mere sight of our good African girls, from talking to them or hearing them sing, many others who are still infidels are now tempted to become Catholics.
[1580]
Since we must proceed with great prudence and caution in view of the touchiness of Muslim fanatics, and the vigilance of the Freemasons who guided by three lodges have succeed in spreading their pestiferous poison among every class and race of persons in hatred of our holy religion, it is essential to study and to choose the providential moment to admit aspirants to the Catholic communion.
[1581]
In the meantime, it is my opinion that for the moment it will not be very hard for us to win over many of these Africans for Jesus Christ; as slaves or servants, they live in good Catholic homes where it is natural that once they are converted it will be easier for them to persevere in the faith. As I became involved in this most important endeavour, I have found out that it is still the custom to leave servants more or less to their own devices, even in the most Christian of families: it is considered humiliating to show interest in them and, except for a few very exceptional families, the sad abuse of neglecting the religious instruction of Africans is widespread, when it is precisely because they have only the rudiments of religion, that they would be the most receptive to the faith.
[1582]
Instead, they often have the misfortune to end up under the despotism of some old servant who is a fanatical Muslim, and easily imposes on them her own superstitions, without the master bothering much about it. We know a few of these slaves who became Mohammedans in this way, in the very homes of their eminently Catholic masters. Following these observations we harbour the hope that perhaps the beautiful field of a secondary activity for the Institutes for Africans will be open to us. The recent conquest of an 18-year old African girl who is as it were, the first flower that our Establishment in happy holiness has given to the Church and to Heaven confirms what I have taken the liberty to mention to Your Most Reverend Eminence.
[1583]
Five years ago a healthy young African girl called Mahbuba came to Cairo. She had been kidnapped along with many others from the Dinka tribe by the inhuman greed of the Jallabas. Since that time, he who alone possesses the great secret of making good from evil, was counting on the Work of our African female Institute in order to destine to eternal bliss poor Mahbuba. Indeed, to human eyes she had become one of the most miserable creatures on earth. After being sold and resold several times to Muslim masters, God ordained that she be bought by a devout Greek Catholic lady of Cairo, from whom she learned for the first time to stammer those beloved names of Jesus and Mary in whom alone we are granted to hope for salvation.
[1584]
It could be said that from that moment, the Holy Spirit had decided to work in this soul, as she very soon seemed to be attracted by a few vague ideas of Christianity which almost as if by accident her mistress had let fall. On the other hand, this was not enough in the fight she put up against the fanatic temptations of Islam. Time passed, and Mahbuba fell ill with a disease that gradually deteriorated into a tuberculosis. Thus she more easily fell prey to the Muslims who, with fresh energy, undertook to inculcate the false dogma in her and to make her practise it. But God was watching over this soul. She did not learn from her mistress anything but a few isolated words of our Faith; yet she understood on her own that the instruction she was receiving from the other Muslim servants did not at all correspond to holiness. She was therefore unable to agree or to admit that she was satisfied with their instruction, but no one gave her any better, and she was left bewildered and discouraged. Her teachers began to get annoyed with her, they started to treat her harshly, threatening her and striking her, and on the occasions of observances stipulated in the Koran, they would force her to carry them out with them. Although she already showed the symptoms of that relentless disease, tuberculosis, yet when Ramadan came she was forced to observe the natural fast until sunset. The unfortunate Mahbuba felt a great lack of the God of truth. Her soul, without her realising, was ceaselessly sighing to her, and from time to time put the few words she had learned from her mistress on her lips: “Jesus, Mary, Christian baptism, heaven”, etc. Although she knew nothing of the divine subjects they symbolised, even by their repetition she felt considerably consoled. As you can well believe, these expressions were as many thorns for those who wanted her to be a Muslim, and at any price: so they thought that by isolating her completely, they would end by succeeding. This was not at all difficult, since the consumption which afflicted her is a disease which is dreaded in the Orient as greatly as some kind of plague. They were therefore able to persuade their mistress to send her to one of her villas, where Mahbuba found herself in the hands of new Muslim torturers, already informed of their duties by the first.
[1585]
Under the pretext of curing her by some of their tricks, but in fact in order to hasten her death before she could become Christian, they lit great fires and obliged her to stay close to them for hours; and from time to time they would bury her in heaps of burning sand for a large part of the day. Thus in a short time, Mahbuba was brought close to death’s door. Then her enemies, with the same pretext of her consumption, were able to get the mistress to send her to the Turkish hospital. They rejoiced at their infernal triumph. But precisely at that time God chose to contradict them; so he arranged that the Greek lady should come to hear during those days of our recently founded Institute for African girls. Her conscience, which could not be and was not at peace, made her determine immediately to ask me to take her in. The very same day that I was told about her, I went to visit her in the Turkish hospital, and the mistress then had her sent to me. Mahbuba was one of us. Amongst us, her soul seemed to glimpse the destiny which God had in store for her. When she saw the young African girls, whom I put next to her to teach her and to help her, making the sign of the Cross, and wearing the medals they had received from the Holy Father, “I too”, she said, “I want to be Christian like you”. Since she came from the Dinka tribe, I put a Dinka girl among the others with her; and in a few days she could repeat to me in Arabic and in the Dinka tongue the principal mysteries of the faith and the sacraments. Mahbuba avidly drank in the knowledge of her eternal salvation. She did not have the slightest difficulty in believing and repeated every passage of the dogmas of our religion with her sisters and companions.
[1586]
Knowing the loveable object which was contained in the holy names of Jesus, and Mary and Joseph, she never tired of kissing their images, and asking them and us for holy baptism. After consulting my other companions about it, I decided not to delay this grace longer than the evening of 11th February. It was 9.00 o’clock in the evening, and Mahbuba’s room seemed illuminated by the lamps of the little altar which the African girls had prepared. When I had donned my priestly vestments, they all prostrated themselves in pious prayer. The young girl realised that the moment she had longed for had come, and greeted it with an extraordinary smile of joy, which we saw in her face, in her eyes and on her lips. It was deeply moving and tender to see her, concentrated and pensive, accompanying our prayers. When she felt the water of regeneration running down her forehead, her face was radiant, and with a sense of deep joy she exclaimed: “ana Maryam: I am Mary”, which was in fact the name we wanted to give her to consecrate her to the Divine Mother of our Work, as its first flower. In brief: the young girl was suffering the pains of her martyrdom. But how powerful is the action of grace! She wanted to suffer yet more, and found an unspeakable comfort in kissing the crucifix. On 14th February she flew to heaven to pray for the conversion of the Africans.
[1587]
His Excellency Monsignor the Apostolic Delegate treats us with special kindness, he has done us the honour of coming to visit us; he will come again after St Joseph’s, to celebrate some confirmations in the parish of Old Cairo where the parish priest is a good and pious Franciscan, whom I duly informed of the fortunate Mahbuba’s baptism. I do not have enough words to thank Your Most Reverend Eminence for your fatherly assistance in the terrible dispute I had in Rome with MgrVicegerent. After God, I owe the happy outcome of that ghastly business to Your Eminence, and I hope with God’s grace that I shall never be involved in any other like it.
Kissing your sacred Cardinal’s robe, I declare myself Your Eminence’s

most humble and respectful

Daniel Comboni

[1588]
Since the two Institutes recently founded in Old Cairo for the conversion of the Africans have no sacred furnishings or the objects necessary for the liturgy at all, the humble author of this letter humbly turns to Your Most Reverend Eminence and warmly begs you to be kind enough to grant us a supply of the necessary objects, sacred receptacles and the things needed for exterior worship that are produced by the Apostolic Work of Rome, whose distribution takes place during the present month of March. Hoping to be granted this grace, I have the honour of kissing your sacred purple robes, and to be,

the most humble and obedient servant of
Your Most Reverend Eminence,

Fr Daniel Comboni,

Superior of the Institutes for Africans

[1589]
“…Our Missionaries do not take at all kindly to Mgr Girard. This is because he has taken over the project, the Plan etc.
Let us allow the Lord to act. I shall write to Girard encouraging him to take great interest in the work for the Africans. I shall however limit my praises:
1. because he is somewhat hot-headed, or rather he has a reputation for being so;
2. because he expressed in his journal a few remarks against the Franciscans, on the lines that their work is not sufficient for the Apostolate in the Holy Land and Egypt (and Girard is correct here); and since we are among Franciscans here, with whom I stay, and I keep myself in the greatest possible peace and harmony, indeed they protect me. And since the Delegate is a Franciscan who speaks not very generously of Girard, I consider it prudent to tone down praise of Girard. Moreover, we will substantially profit from him, because he can pave the way for us to enjoy immense advantages from France…”

[1590]
In my last letter I forgot to mention to you that our African boy, Girolamo Rihhan, whom I had accepted at the very beginning passed to eternal repose on 2nd April, fortified by all the sacraments and certain of going to heaven. He was a soul saved from perdition, because he was one of the eleven African boys educated in Naples, who were then expelled. When he came to Egypt they devoted themselves to a terrible life; some lived with Turkish women, others with heretical women, and some indulged in petty theft, etc. Since he was consumptive, I accepted him in the hope that he would die a convert. It took two months to persuade him to go to confession: grace triumphed over him; and now it is certain that he has been saved.
[1591]
Last Sunday, sacred to the Good Shepherd, our establishment enjoyed a heavenly celebration. We solemnly baptised an 18-year old African girl to whom we had given a thorough instruction and whom we named after the Marchesa your sister-in-law: Maria Clelia. Since these are true joys for a missionary, I have established that just as we share our hardships, we should likewise have our joys in common. To be able to baptise is a great joy, and this time it was Fr Zanoni’s. When Fr Carcereri has written the report on the lines of the First Flower, I will send it to you immediately, because I am certain that God will be glorified, and your fatherly heart will rejoice at it. It seems that a secret war is being waged by the friars of the Holy Land, who do not want to look positively at the little bit of good we are doing. There is a Holy Land Parish here in Old Cairo; and the friar who is Parish Priest is a true missionary.
[1592]
I have not only got on well with him, but he himself attended the last baptism, which we did with his full approval. After the baptism, I made a brief report of it for Monsignor the Apostolic Delegate in Alexandria. I am in good order, both with the local Parish Priest and with the Delegate. Therefore after being advised by this Parish Priest and by our missionaries, I ordered the Baptism to take place, despite the protests of the Convent of Great Cairo, which would have all our converts baptised only in their church in Cairo, and by the friars, and according to their judgement. Enough on this point, about which there would be a great deal to expound: but I do not want to be lengthy.
[1593]
We are proceeding with all the care and prudence possible. In time, God will grant us the grace to overcome one of the greatest obstacles to the development of our apostolate in Egypt for the Africans’ benefit, the intrigues of the friars of Holy Land. In the meantime I trust that I shall be able to consecrate to Mary in her month (which we began to celebrate yesterday evening with a daily evening sermon), two further conversions of two 16-year old African girls. We shall have to do their instruction in secret because if anyone gets wind of them, there are some who will insinuate to the masters that they should say nothing about Catholicism to the Africans and who will persuade them not to entrust them to us. But courage, Monsignor, God’s works must be contested by the devil: it is by virtue of crosses that the palm and victory are won.
[1594]
I am so oppressed by crosses on all sides, that I really do not want to write any more. The Mother Superior is still in trouble, and I do not know if it will make her leave us. In addition, we have four others who are seriously ill. Then I have only been up since yesterday. I succumbed to a fever on the Monday after Easter Monday. However, there were only three days when I could not celebrate Mass. Praised be Jesus forever.
[1595]
I shall just say a few words to you on a point about which that holy soul, Fr Dalbosco wrote to me. He wants to read what is not really there, in our judgement on Monsieur Girard. He says that he and the Bishop of Verona know that we would like to end our relationship with Monsieur Girard, and that I and they are annoyed because that gentleman, Monsieur Girard, is taking over Fr Comboni’s Plan. Now I declare to your Most Reverend Excellency that both the first and second propositions are false; I declare this to you (for my part) with that truth and sincerity with which I go to make my confession. And I tell you that it is not only false, but that I never even gave it a thought: far from it. Indeed, regarding some of my future ideas I am supremely pleased that Monsieur Girard has an excellent relationship with the Head of the Work for the Regeneration of Africa, and that he should adopt our Plan, just as those in Cologne have done; because from this we have obtained and will obtain resources, without which the most beautiful plans are devoid of meaning.
[1596]
Who can deny that a hundred others have devised my Plan? What we found to be boastful in Monsieur Girard is that he claims to have found the house of the Maronites in Old Cairo, as the Frères told me; and we had a good laugh about this with the Frères themselves, because it was by mere chance that I was able to acquire that convent for 90 gold napoleons a year. After that and the black picture we were painted of Girard by the Franciscans (which contains some great truths), we were not very impressed by this man. But nevertheless we never showed the slightest displeasure that he should have adopted our Plan, and that he should be in close contact with Your Most Reverend Excellency.
[1597]
So I say in all conscience and, as far as I can see, this is what my companions feel. If any of them were to write to Verona otherwise, it would then be a completely different kettle of fish: I know nothing about it. You must have understood my true thoughts from my letters. Indeed, in addition, I will tell you that we too have been in touch with Monsieur Girard. I wrote to him with total kindness and gratitude, and perhaps Your Most Reverend Excellency will already have read my letter printed about the Holy Land. And according to my humble opinion, I think it would be prudent not to make any declaration to Monsieur Girard, not to tell him not to mix us up in issues which are foreign to our Work; for this makes no difference to the Franciscans, who are hostile in the Orient to any other different institution as a matter of principle. On the other hand, this might cool down Monsieur Girard who is French and increasingly keen to work for God’s cause and who, after making friends with the all the Bishops and Patriarchs of the Orient, has now also gained the friendship of a Bishop of the Canossa family.
[1598]
We are responsible only for what we write ourselves. If the Franciscans also were to tell me that Monsieur Girard has printed that the Bishop of Verona and his missionaries have espoused his opinions, I would invite the Franciscans and anyone else, to find this in our letters and correspondence. I would remain convinced only of what we have written. And this is the reason why in my last letter, I explain to Your Excellency the idea of being careful about what we said in our correspondence with Monsieur Girard, who moreover, will prove most useful to us; and he is very zealous.
[1599]
I would like to write to Marchese Ottavio to tell him about giving the name of Clelia to the fortunate Fedelkarim. She is a soul marked by grace and an admirable frankness and is full of zeal. Please tell him for me. We are expecting Fr Tezza: we are expecting him because he should have already come with the others, and so it is nothing new. We are expecting him because Fr Dalbosco wrote to me more than a month ago that he is available for us. We therefore asked for him, taking into account that this was also the wish of our most venerable Father, as he himself had always said. Send me a great blessing because I am afflicted. Everyone sends you their greetings. We are expecting Bakit. Tell the holy old Conte Luigi that I shall keep my promise. To everyone… everything.

I kiss your hands

Fr Daniel Comboni

[1600]
In telling Your Most Reverend Eminence of the great pleasure your precious letter of the 22nd gave me, I am extremely glad to let you know of my gratitude and to assure you that I would never allow myself to do anything of any importance without depending entirely on the only legitimate Representative of the Holy See in Egypt and Central Africa, our most venerable Mgr. the V. G. Apostolic, convinced that only by acting in this way can I expect the blessings of heaven in my labours for the most holy work for the conversion of Africans. Since I obtained from Mgr the Vicar Apostolic himself permission to involve myself in seeking souls belonging to the African race to win them for Jesus Christ, always on the understood condition that I should do so with all possible prudence, without compromising us and when there is a moral certainty that they are able to persevere in the faith in their present environment, I can announce to Your Most Reverend Eminence that I have found a great number with various Catholic families established in Egypt. They are souls who are either still pagan or have already embraced Islam.
[1601]
The cause of this scourge that has stricken the unfortunate African race here in the Orient, is the traditional negligence of their Catholic masters. Either they do not care at all about the salvation of their Ethiopian servants, or they are adamantly against them becoming Catholic out of stupid fear that in embracing our faith they might cease to be slaves and therefore might remove themselves from their total domination; they do not realise, the fools, that servants of this kind who have the grace of faith in Jesus Christ become far more faithful and submissive to their own masters, as experience to date has shown. Since, although I am most wretched in every other aspect, I seek nothing but the glory of God and the salvation of souls, I feel obliged to reiterate to Your Most Reverend Eminence whom God has made responsible for all the missions of the earth, what I have allowed myself for love of Jesus Christ to confidently declare to our most worthy Vicar and Apostolic Delegate: that is, that the reason why so many thousands of African souls are lost, is because the missionaries or priests of the various Catholic rites in Egypt have certainly not inculcated and do not inculcate fervently in the fathers and mothers of the respective Catholic families the sacrosanct obligation to observe the fourth injunction of the Decalogue, which contains among other things the absolute duty to procure the true good of one’s servants, which is their soul’s salvation.
[1602]
It is the easiest thing in the world for the head of a Catholic family to win over to the true faith the slaves he has purchased; because this duty of masters is recognised as a right both by the slaves themselves, and even by the Muslim government which in these circumstances, should it be informed, never hinders it in any way.
[1603]
I would have much to tell you about the method to be used to accomplish this important mission for the Egyptian apostolate, which could become the secondary task of the Institutes for Africans, and of the surmountable difficulties which are encountered on various sides, not excluding some sacred ministers. But to avoid being too long-winded, I shall limit myself to telling you that all the observations I could make on this subject as well as all I will be granted to see as appropriate for the good of our holy religion (exceptis excipiendis, because his position [as Vicar Apostolic] is highly sensitive, since he is also a member of the Seraphic Order), I will submissively explain to our beloved Mgr. the V. G. Apostolic.
[1604]
Now touching particularly on some of the fruits of our Work, I am happy to tell Your Most Reverend Eminence that on 2nd April last, Girolamo Rihhan, an African aged 20 flew to heaven. I had taken him into the Institute last December when he was already consumptive, firmly convinced I should see him die in the heart of holy Church, as indeed happened, and that his soul should be saved. On 26th April, on the Sunday dedicated to the Good Shepherd, having previously obtained the agreement of the worthy Franciscan parish priest who attended the sacred ceremony, we conferred Baptism on another African girl in our chapel. She is 18 years old and comes from the Dinka tribe. Since she is more fluent in her native language than in Arabic, she was first thoroughly instructed under my direction by one of our African girls from the same tribe, and was given the name of Maria Clelia. She now lives with her good mistress, and we are pleased to admire the true wonders of grace in this predestined soul.
[1605]
Likewise, we are instructing in the faith a 16-year old girl baptised in an Eastern city a month earlier, after only learning by heart the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed in a language completely unfamiliar to the young girl, whom we found to be ignorant of the notions of the Holy Trinity and of Christ. After noting everything, and especially the reason why this African girl was driven out with blows from the Catholic Institute which had only just admitted her to baptism, exposing her to perdition among the Muslims, I will notify by letter the relative Head of Mission. It has so far been impossible to convert to the practice of Catholicism an Abyssinian aged 17, who was given tome by the venerable Consul of Belgium in Cairo. I had requested him from this same Consul as though to do him the favour of treating his illness, but for the purpose of calling him to the faith. This African boy, whom I visited in bed, was fasting for the Muslim Ramadan although he was rather ill. The Consul gave him to me willingly, asking me to cure him, because he belongs to our holy religion. The fact is that he knows neither the sign of the Cross nor the Trinity, nor has he ever heard Christ’s name.
[1606]
I discovered that as soon as had he been bought by a Greek Catholic, he was taken to the Greek Catholic Church, and solemnly baptised. Subsequently as happens to the poor slaves, the boy was left to fall prey to the despotism of Muslim servants. This other fact contradicts the last. In a good Greek Catholic family I came across two African girls who were still pagans. As soon as they saw our African girls, they threw themselves at my feet, and tearfully asked me for baptism, saying that it was something they had desired for a long time. Their pious mistress who was well aware of the goodness of her two slaves, agreed to entrust them to me in turn, one after the other, for the time necessary for them to receive the proper instruction. But this matter had to be postponed, because the Greek Parish Priest concerned feels that it is too soon, and that they are too young (they are both 16). However, I trust that I shall be able to persuade this Parish Priest (who is held in high esteem by his people) that in the meantime it would be appropriate to instruct the two catechumens who are not too young, and after the proper instruction, that it is not too soon to baptise them, since the pious mistress and the good family who looks after them like children, can keep an eye on them. Furthermore, with the help of the extremely zealous Vicar Apostolic of the Copts, I was able to find and take in an excellent 19-year old young man from the Amharic Kingdom belonging to the heretics of Abyssinia, which in the space of a month, as he imbibed the Christian instruction with unusual eagerness, offers us great hope of shortly being able to admire in him a fervent Catholic and an able catechist.
[1607]
Finally, with the special help of our dear Mother Mary, on he 8th of this month which is dedicated to her we were able to stop the Catholic employee of an Eastern rite from selling to the Turks, through greed and for a large sum of money, a very tall 18-year old Dinka girl of a rare physique highly prized by the scoundrels here. This African girl, after seeing her friend Maria Clelia (whom we baptised on the day of the Good Shepherd) who had received instruction with us, begged me to baptise her. From those very first days she observed a rigorous fast and is an example to all the others. The fact is that by a providential series of events which I cannot explain, that master gave me the girl, content with no more than that our Institute should take on the instruction of another Abyssinian girl whom he would buy, and teach her all that our African girls know, so that she could serve as a help and companion to his wife. I entrusted the African girl to a pious lady; on the forthcoming Feast of the Ascension, she will join our Institute to receive instruction and to be baptised. She will then return to the above-mentioned lady, and live an active observance of the law of God as her mistress does.
[1608]
Those are the humble fruits which we have so far been able to gather through the Work of the two new Institutes for Africans in Egypt. I trust that despite all the difficulties they will progress at this rate also in the future, and that they will enable many of the hundreds of Africans whom I have seen, visited and encouraged, and who are living as the servants of Catholic families of various rites, to join Christ’s flock. From all this, Your Eminence will see our Vicar Apostolic’s wisdom in recommending prudence. Until now I have mentioned our joys: another time I will speak of the thorns. I kiss the Sacred Purple and declare myself full of gratitude and respect

Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble, devoted and respectful son,

Fr Daniel Comboni

[1609]
On the 15th of this month I sent Your Most Reverend Eminence a letter in which I described the small joys of my poor apostolate; and I mentioned that I would later let you know about my crosses. Yes, Eminent Prince, I have the most serious crosses which are sent by God’s goodness. One was in store for me that came from the devil. And this is the unexpected cross which decided me to write to Your Most Reverend Eminence before I had planned. Allow me to begin by speaking of this one, which is of a new coinage, and leaving the others to be touched on briefly afterwards. For some days Tizio e Sempronio (Tom, Dick and Harry) have been whispering in my ear that I have been made Cavaliere of the Crown of Italy, and this can be found in several Italian and Egyptian newspapers; and a number have even congratulated me – some out of silliness and some just to pull my leg. I do not really believe it, because I know that for some years the periodical press in Italy has become the vehicle for lies and not for the truth. However, when yesterday several letters from Verona and other parts of the unfortunate peninsula let me know that the thing was certain, that it was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d’Italia and that it had been preceded by a ministerial Decree conceived in terms so redolent of religion and Catholicism that it seemed a Pontifical Brief, being most curious to see this new and most interesting Florentine Brief, I was determined to trace it. After much searching and rummaging, I was granted to come across the following notice in the Gazzetta: La Nazione:
[1610]
“His Majesty, wishing to make a public statement of his particular benevolence to some of the most deserving missionaries… of Religion… and to remind them that… they are ever present in the thoughts of the fatherland and of the King… has named… as Knight commanders Valerga… as Knights of the Crown of Italy… the Priest Comboni Daniel… etc.”. I do not want to waste time in commenting word for word on this most pompous buffoonery of the Menabrean Government, which is a contradiction of the facts. I confess, O Eminence, that if the nomination to the Cross of the Crown of Italy had concerned me alone, I would have been inconsolably afflicted, because such a nomination is an attack on my reputation, it is a solemn insult made to a poor priest of the Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church. But reading, included in the same decree, the venerable names of Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops and missionaries whom I know are deeply attached to the Holy See and most devoted in omnibus to the Pope-King, I set my heart at peace, and consider such an event as a simple cross, which has come to afflict me and from which I am granted to shield myself with the most effective prayer: sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
[1611]
The Crown of Italy!!! Such an expression, pronounced in these times, is enough to express the treachery and deliberations of the enemies of the Papacy. The Holy Father is stripped down to his shirt (forgive me this expression which I write to you in confidence), and then they are bold enough to award the decoration of a golden Cross to some of his sons who adore and revere him!… The Catholic Missions are stricken with paralysis by the extermination of those holy Institutions that form the nursery and hopes of the Apostolate and by the theft of their financial resources; and then they have the nerve to throw gold-dust in the eyes of the missionaries who are bewailing the fate reserved to the beloved vineyard of their toil?… The Government of His Majesty, the King of Sardinia, after doggedly suppressing Religion and persecuting its Bishops and Priests, and having dispersed its most generous champions, dares to vilify with insidious honours some of the most deserving for their services on behalf of this same religion?… This is shameless buffoonery: it is the logic of the lying sons of the shadows; it is the policy typical of the Devil; it is a cross that also comes to me from the devil. So when in the next few days they present me with the Cross of the Crown of Italy (which the Consul General himself has just brought from Florence) and which the degenerate factions reigning in Italy ill-advisedly decided to award me, I will be delighted to refuse it with an explicit declaration, as befits a Catholic priest and missionary who is ready to give up his life a thousand times to promote even the smallest of the truths and declarations issued by the Vicar of Christ, in whom he venerates the sublime natures of Pontiff and King. I am most certain that in acting in this way, I will have the honour of following the example of the other eight most venerable Bishops and Missionaries who, with me, have been crucified by the so-called Crown of Italy.
[1612]
Coming now to the crosses I have received from God, I only wish to touch upon them, even though these are much more interesting and are gifts from God’s mercy. In addition to nine most serious cases of illness that we had in the female house and that caused me very heavy expenses, the Mother Superior has been seriously ill for two months and will take a good two more to recover. Smallpox broke out in the Maronite houses where we are living: four of the African girls and one religious caught it. In a fortnight this month we had to bury two African girls educated in Bavaria. We have realised that the Maronite convent which is surrounded by tombs is not healthy: following the advice of many people we shall have to abandon it; which is what I shall do as soon as Mgr Ciurcia returns from Jerusalem.
[1613]
Another cross (which comes from God and, I am afraid, from me) is Mgr Vicegerent. After 4 months’ silence, although he was urged to speak a thousand times, he wrote to the Bishop of Verona and had my Attorney Mr Nuvoli informed that he is prepared to give back the promissory note for 1,500 scudi, after having settled the accounts with me. Why did he not settle when I was in Rome where I repeatedly invited him to do so? This is nothing. A month ago he had my Attorney informed that he had no intention of returning the promissory note, because he is no longer the Superior of the Viperesche. He said that he had paid out the 1,500 scudi: how and where they were spent, neither does he know, nor does he want to know, nor is he obliged to know. He said he would see to getting himself refunded. I forgive him, but that is a man deprived of morals.
[1614]
The Church knows what is going on, she is most prudent. I shall have to suffer greatly because in Rome neither lay nor Churchmen dare to take on or deal with the case of a priest against a Bishop. One writes, one asks for a reply, one calls for justice, and justice is silent, one’s answer is deep silence. Fiat! That God who protected me in Rome under Your Most Reverend Eminence’s inspiration, will see to protecting me in the future until this dreadful nuisance of a case is over. It appears that the convent of the Viperesche is having an upheaval. The Superior apparently told the last three African girls that the Pope is a rogue, that Pius IX does not have the right to remove the Vicegerent from that Convent, and that the St Joseph Sisters are road sweepers. I am telling Your Eminence this to clear my conscience, and declare under oath that the African girls confessed this to me and to another priest. However, I believe that in Rome there must be dozens of cases of the kind. Forgive me if I let myself be carried away in this outburst of sorrow.
[1615]
Lastly, God in his bounty gives me the cross of the serious worries about money that oppress me. Cologne, which pledged to give me 50,000 francs, has so far given me 8,300 of them. Apart from a considerable sum I left with the Bishop for the Little Seminary in Verona and the damage the Vicegerent caused me by holding up a part of my caravan in France for a month, etc. 7,000 francs came to me from the offerings of private benefactors in France, Italy and Germany. But the expenses so far amount to 17,600 francs. I do not know how to go on. I have already limited the number of individuals in the Institutes to the number we have now, which will remain the same until I have assured myself of having the means to maintain more of them, considering besides that there are already sufficient elements in these small Institutes to carry out a certain amount of Catholic activities for Africans living in Egypt.
[1616]
Amidst all these tribulations I feel full of courage and trust in God: the importance of these first two Institutes is capital for the work of the Conversion of the Africans. The special and extraordinary graces I receive make me certain that God will come to the rescue of his Work. But Your Eminence sees that my poor heart is in need of comfort, and it would be a great comfort to me if Your Most Reverend Eminence could be so kind as to obtain from the Holy Father his thaumaturgical apostolic Blessing for me and my two Institutes in Egypt. Oh! Such a blessing will be my most effective comfort.
[1617]
Yesterday Sister Xaviera Jobstreibizer died in hospital 20 days after she arrived in Cairo from Tuscany. The pious Armenian Sr Madaleine, who was clothed and made her vows at Your Eminence’s feet, is behaving like a true daughter of St Joseph, and is making progress in perfection. My good companions are learning Arabic. Mgr Massaia has written from the kingdom of Choa to Cavaliere Madrus in Cairo. On the spiritual level, my houses are developing like any of the most observant Institutes in Europe. Begging your pardon for this too long letter, I have the honour of offering you my deep veneration and kissing the sacred purple, declaring myself,

Your Most Reverend Eminence’s
most humble and devoted son,

Fr Daniel Comboni