[1858]
After the example of Jesus Christ, the Apostles and the principal Catholic associations which have the sublime task of the evangelical regeneration of the infidel peoples, the Missionaries of the Institute for Africans in Egypt, called to co-operate to the best of their capacity in the regeneration of unfortunate Africa in accordance with the norms of the “Plan for the Regeneration of Africa”, and pending the formulation of a stable and perpetual Rule to be submitted to the approval of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, based on the results of the trial and sufficient local experience have, as an experiment, established and have followed for more than a year the following regulations as guiding principles for their apostolic life in the aforementioned Institutes.
[1859]
1. Our Missionaries, whether they are priests or laymen, live together as brothers in the same vocation, under the direction of and depending on the one who is appointed local Superior of the Institute to which they are destined by the competent authority, without rivalry or pretensions. They are prepared for anything they are ordered to do, ready to suffer together and to help one another, and always to be respectful of other Missionaries in the area, with whom they should take care to be always in perfect harmony, even in the exercise of their Ministry.
[1860]
2. Although they are not bound by a vow, they profess to the Superior a religious and filial obedience in everything, for love of God and of the good order and progress of the work to which they are consecrated. And their dependence on him concerns the very exercise of the ministry, the fulfilment of the various duties within the Institute, the manner and form of the education to be given to the Africans, absence from the house and the assumption of commitments from outsiders, all of which, for each one of them, are subject to his agreement, consent and permission.
[1861]
3. The Superior, for his part, considers himself as father and brother amongst them: he is ready to support as far as he can their zeal and their just desires, and to provide for their needs: he distributes the various duties with regard to the ability, inclination and strength of each, and in case of sickness provides the best possible care so that the sick person may quickly recover his health, and procures those means that can help him to preserve it – and avoids giving too severe orders without serious and urgent need.
[1862]
4. The Superior is responsible for the Institute and for the individuals belonging to it. He is directly responsible for its direction and administration, and for watching over each, as well as its representation with all the local authorities, and all the other duties inherent to the nature of the Head of the Institute. But in matters of greater importance, he asks the opinion of the most experienced and prudent of his confreres, especially when there is cause to fear dangerous consequences.
[1863]
5. No one sends reports or letters to be published, not even to the Societies which are the benefactors of our Institutes, without being ordered to do so or having the Superior’s prior approval.
[1864]
6. All live in community, content with their food and clothing, furniture, books and with whatever else the Institute can provide according to its resources. Priests alone are allowed to use for their individual needs what they receive from their families or from their own income; but the direct administration of any individual property they may possess in their country of origin is forbidden and they must hand over for the benefit of the Institute any alms for the application of Masses or ecclesiastical functions, etc., etc.
[1865]
7. The main occupation of the Missionaries in the Institutes is to help the Superior in his task as director, in whatever activities he requests from each. These especially concern the education of the Africans in the sciences and principal crafts, the Catechism, the care of the sick, etc., according to the specific norms of each Institute. The priests, in accordance with the particular arrangements of the competent authority, are also entrusted with the spiritual direction of the female Institutes, the ministry of preaching and giving religious instruction in both Institutes and wherever their help is required in the Superior’s judgement.
[1866]
8. The priests never omit to study as much as is necessary to properly fulfil the obligations of the Apostolate among the infidels and especially in the presence of age-old superstitions and sometimes alongside the paid ministers of perverse sects and religions. Thus the Superior sees to it that possibly each day, except on feast days, they have one hour of study and practice in the local language all together. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday each priest in turn proposes for general discussion a paper on Morals, one on Dogma, Canon Law or Liturgy and a third one on a controversy, the latter being specially focused on the dominant errors to be found in the Institute’s location. The proponent announces one day before, in an appointed place, what cases he has chosen, so that everyone may be ready to respond on the given day and at the time set for the discussion. Priests and Missionaries in the area, even belonging to other orders, are admitted to take part at the discretion of the Superior. The cases are to be proposed in Latin.
[1867]
9. Pious devotions are the daily bread of our Missionaries. They are recognised as all too necessary to maintain the fervour of the vocation in these countries where it is unfortunately easy to forget God and one’s religious duties. So every single day they either celebrate or attend Mass, recite the Rosary, have readings in the refectory, examine their conscience, do spiritual readings as well as praying orally, communally and in private, in accordance with the daily timetables established in each Institute.
[1868]
Each week everyone also participates in the Most Holy Sacraments. Each month there is a one-day Retreat and once a year there is a course of Spiritual Exercises. On Sundays and feast days in the morning there is an explanation of the Gospel or of some practical point of moral theology and in the evening the catechism is explained and there is Benediction with the Holy Ciborium. Each first Friday of the month, the exercise of the Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is practised. The months of March and May are celebrated through homilies and special devotional exercises, as are the Novenas or Triduums of the main Feasts, together with those of the Institute.
[1869]
10. Since the aim of our Institutes is to hasten the conversion of poor Africa, our Missionaries together with the African boys and girls pray every day in public for this to come about and every Wednesday everyone spends an hour in public adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament and a Mass for the Conversion of Africa is celebrated.
[1870]
11. In relations with outsiders, everyone focuses on the only purpose for which they left their country, parents and everything, which is to win souls for Christ. Therefore, although our Institutes and our particular mission determines our Missionaries’ activities with the Africans, the priests especially seize the appropriate opportunities to do all the good they can, remembering that they have been consecrated ministers of the one who suffered and died for all. However, when it is a question of the conversion of adults, everyone proceeds with the approval of the Superior who, depending on the case, will refer the matter to the Vicar Apostolic or the competent authorities. To dying non-Catholic children, Baptism will only be conferred in the case of inevitable death and always with all due precautions. Such Baptisms are registered apart with the child’s death noted when it occurs.
[1871]
12. As regards our female Institutes, no Missionary visits them or exercises any charitable work or ministry inside them without being charged to do so by the Superior, or having obtained the latter’s permission each time: except in cases of urgent need in the absence of the Superior. This also applies to single families: and failure to comply on this point is considered serious.
[1872]
13. Our Institutes are duly cloistered, in accordance with the usage consecrated by all ecclesiastical and religious associations and are governed, in the Missions, by the circumstances and the prudence of the Superior. However, women are only brought into the common reception room, except in cases deemed appropriate by the Superior on the occasion of extraordinary visits or visits from pious women benefactors.
[1873]
14. As regards the Sisters directing the female Institutes, they will be governed by their own Rules and Constitutions and the specific Contracts of their foundation.
[1874]
15. Lastly, the African boys and girls of the male and female Institutes, under the direction of the Missionaries and the Sisters, are educated for the apostolate of their country following proper and specific Rules and Timetables which will be better developed as the work itself develops.


The Superior

Fr Comboni

[1875]
While not all Italian, but all Catholic in their heart and in their devotion to you Holy Father, ardent followers among so many generous people, the Superior together with the Missionaries and Missionary Sisters, the students and catechumens of the two Institutes for Africans in Cairo, paternally blessed by you several times, at the joyful end of their annual Spiritual Exercises under the patronage of St Joseph the Patriarch, join in wholehearted applause in this loving and faithful Address, promoted by the Catholic youth of Italy and that the Catholic world is about to offer you on 11th April.
[1876]
If our warm filial greetings can console you ever so slightly in your many bitter woes, we joyfully hasten to send you these, assuring you that from these banks of the Nile, from the foot of the Pyramids, from the burning dunes of the desert wastes, we respectfully lend our filial ears to you as our infallible Master, our eyes we turn to you as our perfect example, our hearts we give to you as our loving father together with every sentiment of our souls as we adore the Pontiff of Christ’s people who, while unjustly persecuted, iniquitously slandered, sacrilegiously offended, is great in his triumphs, supreme in defeats, prodigal with the ungrateful, clement with his enemies, just, generous and pious with all people: a marvel even to infidels.
[1877]
While we are most sad to know that you are afflicted, we joyfully salute the day of purest joy which God reserves for you on the fiftieth anniversary of your Holy Priesthood and we pray fervently that you may be granted many more years in this happy state. On that sacred day which for us is sacred as the titular feast of the Good Shepherd, within the walls of the Holy Chapel of the venerated hospice where the Holy Family sought refuge from Herod’s persecution in Egypt, we shall pray especially for you, O Pastor of Pastors, that in the imminent Ecumenical Council Heaven may hear your merciful wish that all Christ’s lambs may be united in a single flock under a single Shepherd. To these expressions of our deepest respect, we therefore add our poor offering of 25 lire, trusting that you will bless it in the belief that we long for it o multiply to meet the great needs of your august poverty.

Fr Daniel Comboni

Apostolic Missionary
Superior of the Institutes for Africans

[1878]
Not seeing the Journal of the Holy Land, and reading the letter you sent to M. Laurent in Marseilles, I wonder if I have fallen out of your favour and your friendship. What most convinces me of this is the bad idea you had of diverting the shipment Miss Duphies sent me and giving it to our dear friend Fr Callisto, without thinking that I have thirty African girls with no clothes, while Fr Callisto has no one.My dear friend, I laugh at this because I know your heart so well. You are capable of anger on the spur of the moment, but when the charity which fills your heart is touched, you are it’s victim and your anger is over. So please immediately send me Miss Duphies’ trunk because my African girls are half naked, and prepare another one for Fr Callisto’s trip to Africa. I have already celebrated the Masses for the intentions requested by the donors in Lyons.
The trunk contains:
2 new vestments, one red and one white, etc.
1 ditto in white
1 large shirt
2 altar cloths
38 shifts for the African girls.

[1879]
To all this, please add many things and some candlesticks, etc. I am in extreme poverty. Send me many things, but immediately, instantly, because I need them so much. I am sorry to know that you are ill. You must get some help, a Committee, because a whole journal is too much for your strength. Please write and tell me why you are angry with me. You must tell me all the reasons, because I want to answer and justify myself. My dear friend Girard cannot be allowed to think in this way. We are all working for the glory of God, we mustn’t make storms in teacups. Send me the journal and also to those I proposed. Send me the bill and I will pay it to you. I will write again to wish happy Easter to you, to Madame Girard, to your children, to the Superior of the La Salette Missionaries and to all the Fathers.
[1880]
The Bishop of Grenoble had invited me to go and see him on my return journey, but I was unable to go because a dispatch called me back to Verona. M. Bouchat must have told you everything. Give my regards also to M. Bouchat. What I told M. Bouchat and what I did is what a friend must do. Your apostle’s heart should see that I am right. Write and tell me everything: we want to go to heaven as true missionaries and not treating each other in this way. I am sending Fr Callisto His Eminence Cardinal Barnabò’s answer to the Bishop of Verona about the Trinitarians. Read everything and then send it all to Fr Callisto in Rome. Goodbye, my dear friend. Send me the trunk from Miss Duphies and one from you, for my need is extreme. I have also requested this from Miss Duphies. Goodbye.

Your eternal friend

Fr Daniel Comboni

Please also send me a missal.

Translation from the French.

[1881]
It is with a heart full of grief, dear Reverend Mother, that I write in answer to your letter of 16th February. Your anxieties were justified: our dear girl Petronilla Zenab is in heaven! She has gone to receive the prize for her splendid virtues which you had instilled into her and that she had preserved well impressed in her spirit. She died with the comfort of the Most Holy Sacraments, assisted day and night by my nuns, the Sisters of St Joseph (of the Apparition) and by two of my missionary priests.
[1882]
From the moment she left Marseilles, I made sure she was given all the care possible because she deserved it and even more because I saw in her a special instrument in God’s hands for the apostolate of Africa. She possessed admirable piety, which you yourself had impressed upon her heart, a very righteous discernment, truly appreciable knowledge in various subjects and such a distinguished education that I felt the need to publish a long note on her in the Annals for the help of African children, published in Cologne, in which I had a short account of her liberation from slavery published. I also specifically stated that she had received so much love and attention from the good Sister Venefrida of whom she often spoke.
[1883]
In short, you educated a young woman who is now certainly in the presence of God and you formed her for the apostolic ministry. Throughout the time she spent in my Cairo Institute, she always behaved as a true nun. She had already learnt Arabic quite well and had instructed and prepared two African girls for Holy Baptism. She gave great hope that she could have become a genuine missionary for Central Africa.
[1884]
In July last year, I left Cairo to go to France and Germany. I got as far as Munich and Altötting and, when I reached Traunstein, I already had the intention of travelling to Salzburg to visit you as well as His Excellency the Prince Archbishop and Her Majesty Empress Carolina, when my travelling companion, Fr Alessandro Dal Bosco became ill, and died later in Verona. He had been the Superior of my Seminary for the African Mission in Verona.
[1885]
I went to Paris and before I left for Egypt, the news of our dear Petronilla’s death had already reached me. Here she had been the consolation of my Mother Superior, and she will now be our protector in heaven, where she is in the company of the Virgin Most Holy and St Joseph, whom she loved and venerated intensely. Her body lies in the tomb of my African girls, twelve paces from the Grotto or Shrine of the Holy Refuge, where the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived during the 7 years of their exile in Egypt as a result of Herod’s persecution.
[1886]
Please pray fervently to the Lord for the Work of the conversion of Africa. Here in Egypt, in Cairo, just a few paces from the Holy Grotto, I have founded two Institutes for Africans. This year we have had some truly singular conversions. Nearly all the girls we converted from paganism or Islam, we clothed, at the moment of their Baptism, in the white garment Petronilla wore when she was baptised in Salzburg by the Most Reverend Prince Archbishop, and this garment is being kept carefully preserved by my Mother Superior.
[1887]
Oh! Pray for my Sisters and my Missionaries! On Easter Saturday we had a particularly consoling Baptism and this week it was the turn of the two converted Turkish girls who are at present in my Institute for instruction. Also pray for the new House which I intend to found this year if I can manage to overcome the many difficulties.
[1888]
In France, Belgium, Germany and Italy I have over 200 religious houses praying God that I may succeed in bringing the light of the holy faith to the centre of Africa, where I have already several times been at death’s door and where more than 30 Missionaries, many of whom were German, have in fact perished. So far, God in his infinite mercy has always helped me. I hope, indeed I am sure, that he will make me succeed in founding a House for the conversion of Africa, since as you certainly know, O good Mother, Jesus’ treaties are more secure than the treaties of the sovereigns of this earth. Therefore, the Gospel treaty “Ask and you shall receive, knock and it will be opened unto you” is much more secure than the 1815 Treaty of Vienna, the Paris one of 1856 or another of…in 1866 and the Paris Convention of 15th September 1864, etc., etc., etc.
[1889]
Indeed, when you pray for me you are united with the many religious houses all over the world and the prayers of so many souls must be heard by the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in “giving to those who ask and opening to those who knock”.
[1890]
The Work for the conversion of Africa is among the most important works of our time. It is very difficult, but God will help. Oh! Pray and have prayers said, and God will reward you a hundredfold.

Since you, by the fact of having educated Petronilla, have taken such considerable part in this work of conversion, I am sending you a copy of the latest pamphlet of the “Cologne Association”, which has a report on my expedition to Cairo, in which Petronilla is also mentioned; then follows something regarding my first Establishment in Cairo… It will certainly interest you greatly. After you have read it, please pass it on to Her Majesty the pious Empress Carolina. A few months ago I even sent a copy to the Most Reverend Prince Archbishop of Salzburg. In the first issue of the Association’s journal to be published this month in Cologne, there will be an ample report on Petronilla.

[1891]
I beg you again to express my deepest veneration to His Highness the Most Reverend Prince Archbishop of Salzburg, whom I have had the honour of knowing for a long time now. I was on the point of writing to him so as to convey the news of Petronilla’s death to you in this way, but since in the meantime I had the good fortune of receiving your dear letter, I decided to write to you instead. We must also have Benedictines in Central Africa, for in their time they converted Europe. I already have the promise of Fr Casaretto (ex Superior of the Benedictine Missionaries) in Rome that, as soon as I have sufficiently organised the work in two stations, I will have from him a small group from the formation of the Sons of the Patriarch Benedict.
Now reverend Mother, please deign to accept once again the expression of my deepest veneration.


Fr Daniel Comboni
Apostolic Missionary


Translation from German.

[1892]
Each time I have the good fortune to write to our dearest and most venerable M. D’Abbadie, my heart beats faster. He is the “Pater Patriae”, the hero of Africa, the father, the friend, the apostle of Ethiopia. And you? You are Madame D’Abbadie, and that is enough for you to be entitled to our respect and to our affection. The occasion that leads me to write to you now is the circumstance of the presence here in Cairo of the Abyssinian Princes who have come to obtain from the Coptic Patriarch a Bishop for Abyssinia. They now have one and he was consecrated a few days ago. He is Abuna Atanasio. These Princes (Princes of Abyssinia – as they are called here in Cairo and they are staying at the Pasha’s palace) I saw them at the Pasha’s on the days of the Grand Bairam where, together with the Patriarch of the Copts and the heads of all the other religions, we had been to pay homage to His Highness, as we had done on the occasion of the Viceroy’s wedding. Now that I have been in contact with the Patriarch, I have met the person who wrote to M. Antoine and M. Michel. He is a man of talent who knows the whole family of M. D’Abbadie, his mother, his brothers, etc. and who has been to Paris and to M. D’Abbadie’s country house.
[1893]
He asked me to place the date on his letter, that is the day before yesterday’s. He is staying in Cairo with his Princes for another month, then they will leave for the Tigray. So if M. Antoine wants to write to him, all he has to do is send his mail to me in Cairo and I shall see he gets it.
[1894]
Of Mgr Massaia we twice heard that he had been assassinated by Muslims in the kingdom of Shoah and then this news was denied. These Princes speak very badly of the Emperor Theodorus and say that he was evil. They tell me that all is well in Abyssinia, that the present King Kassa, unanimously chosen, is a 34 year-old (illegible) and a descendent of the oldest kings of Abyssinia, of whom the people are proud. They tell me as well that the English will never govern in Abyssinia and that after the death of Theodorus they withdrew at the request of the Abyssinian people. They also manifested the veneration and memory Abyssinia has preserved of MM. Antoine and Michel D’Abbadie. As for me, Madame, I am in Cairo at the head of two Institutes which cost me 30,000 francs a year.
[1895]
I have great hope. We have made conquests for the Church which are not insignificant. I am sorry to have left Paris suddenly before seeing you and going to see Monsieur at Bebieh, as I had intended. I beg you to send me your news to Cairo, to convey my affection to M. D’Abbadie and to accept the most devoted and affectionate sentiments from

Your friend

Fr Daniel Comboni


Translation from the French.

[1896]
I have been giving hospitality until now in my female Institute in Old Cairo to the Very Reverend Mother Caterina Rosa Valerio, a Tertiary Professed enclosed Sister of St Francis in Verona whom, having been expelled from her convent by the enforcement of the Italian Kingdom’s law of civil suppression, I brought here at the orders of His Most Reverend Excellency the Bishop of Verona towards the end of last February so that she could enter the Institute of the Reverend Poor Clares, where she had been accepted as from last year. Since, due to various circumstances of which Your Excellency is aware, she was unable to fulfil her praiseworthy intentions; and since she has become convinced of the importance of the Work for the conversion of Africa, she now feels disposed to consecrate herself entirely to this Work, in which she can both maintain the spirit of her own vocation and at the same time dedicate her strength to the salvation of the most abandoned souls in the world. I have during this period become convinced that she is equipped with outstanding gifts which would make her useful to the Work for Africa.
[1897]
My Plan needs to be developed so as to be able to establish more daughter Institutes ever closer to Central Africa. Having observed that the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition can provide me with new elements suited to this purpose: I turn to Your Most Reverend Excellency to implore that you grant me permission to let the said Very Reverend Mother Caterina Valerio join our Work, in which I plan with Your Most Reverend Excellency’s approval, to appoint her as director of a school for girls in Old Cairo which, for the lack of other Institutes, I would be prepared to open as a branch of my main female Institute for the good of this population. Trusting in this grace, I send you my thanks in advance; and imploring you to grant us all your paternal blessing, I kiss your sacred ring and declare myself in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Your Most Reverend Excellency’s
most humble, devoted and obliged son

Fr Daniel Comboni, Apostolic Missionary