[3855]
As I told you I would in my last letter N. 6, on 21st June with some members of the mission and two Arab Sisters, I boarded the steamer made available to me by the Government; and after sailing into the White Nile, we landed at Tura-el-Khadra on the 26th. After an extremely tiring journey through the scorching deserts and thorny forests of Kordofan, with 29 camels we reached this capital safe and sound on the 6th of this month, and were honourably received by its Governor and by the most important members of the Christian and Muslim population.
[3856]
While I would prefer to wait until my annual Report which I shall submit in a few months’ time, to speak in detail of Kordofan and of the good beginnings of the new mission in Jebel Nuba, I shall limit myself for now to telling you that the Lord seems to be truly blessing these two Missions. I am very satisfied with the developments in Kordofan; and the news I have of the new Mission among the Nuba is a great consolation. The houses for the Missionaries and the Sisters are already prepared in the local manner, but are much finer and stronger, according to the Nubans whom the Missionaries and their chief have just sent me. Since my arrival in El Obeid, I have had loads prepared for five camels to be taken to Jebel Nuba by our veteran Augusto Wisniewski with the excellent Camillian Fr Alfonso (whom I saw fit to call from Berber after having paid that religious house the agreed yearly allowance), carrying the provisions and arts and craft items required by our good Missionaries to the Nuba. This little caravan will set out tomorrow with the above-mentioned Nubans. I will then leave with the rest after certain tasks have been done and matters dealt with in this Mission in Kordofan.
[3857]
I have pleasure in repeating to Your Most Reverend Eminence, for the glory of God, that I am deeply consoled by the Vicariate’s satisfactory financial situation.
[3858]
I was very afraid that I would suffer greatly from the considerable losses of the last caravan from Cairo, which I had previously explained to Your Eminence; but the Most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and St Joseph did not allow this. In addition to not having a single brass farthing of debt, the Vicariate has sufficient funds to see this year through, to maintain the Stations and found the Nuba mission properly and it also has credit everywhere, especially here and in Khartoum so that it can be sure to have any aid or subsidy available. The Lord is watching with loving care over his Work.
[3859]
In the neighbouring conquered empire of Darfur, five large Egyptian Mudirdoms or provinces are rapidly being organised by His Excellency Ismail Ayub Pasha, the Governor General and my friend. Furthermore, I am well informed that the wealthy Khedive aspires to the conquest of the great empires of the Waday and of the Bornù, and thus one could say the whole of Central Africa. Despite numerous objections in support of opposite views, I am of the opinion that the positive fact of the Egyptian conquests can contribute to the spread of the true Catholic faith in Central Africa. My attention is entirely focused on studying the ways to take advantage of these important events. Just as in the marvellous discoveries of industry and the sublime inventions of human genius, the light of the faith allows us to contemplate, especially in this century, the means God is using to accomplish his plans for humanity and to guide man to his eternal destiny, therefore it also seems to me, that Providence is using human conquests for the benefit of the spread of the Gospel in these lands and the triumph of truth.
[3860]
Egypt is becoming ever more important. In addition to the recent conquest of the empire of Darfur, a letter I received today from Colonel Gordon informs me that he has been able to negotiate the stretch of the White Nile from Rejaf to Kerri in a felucca, whereas it was thought until now that it was impossible to sail through the cataracts. Communication difficulties between Gondokoro and the Sources of the Nile, the Lakes, have therefore diminished. It seems that Gordon’s enterprise has taken a good turn.
[3861]
On the basis of the results obtained so far and the ones we shall probably achieve, allow me to point out to Your Eminence’s most perspicacious mind the following most important fact. If the Egyptian conquests proceed at this rate, in a few years the state ruled by His Highness the Khedive of Egypt will become a colossal kingdom. I have made it my great commitment to study every way of taking advantage of this for the benefit of our holy Faith. It is in our supreme interest that the Holy See should entertain good relations with the Khedive and the Egyptian Government, who are in fact more tolerant than the Grand Sultan and the Ottoman government. It is therefore to our supreme advantage that the Representative of the Holy See in Egypt remain on good terms with this Court and this Diwan (1).
[3862]
Here in the Sudan, thank God, I am on the best of terms with all the Pashas and Governors, although even here the Turkish, Arabic and French newspapers arrive, revealing to our governors the deplorable actions of Bismarck, the Grand Vizier, the heretical and schismatic Armenians against the Catholics and showing, most of all, the fierce war that cosmopolitan freemasonry is waging against the papacy and the Catholic religion. I am observing these things very closely to preserve our Vicariate and to keep any consequences at a distance. I hope for the Lord’s blessing.
I kiss your Sacred Purple, and asking for your fatherly blessing, remain in all respect
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most devoted, obedient and unworthy son

Daniel Comboni, Pro-Vicar Apostolic

(1) Consuls General are all bought by the wily Khedive and in general take their cue from their governments, save a few rare exceptions.

[3863]
The caravan and the trunks left behind in Wadi Halfa arrived in Khartoum on 7th June. I immediately saw to preparing a new caravan for Kordofan and the Nuba territories.
[3864]
On 18th June I sent 29 camels off from Khartoum. On the 21st, the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, I embarked on a White Nile steamer which Colonel Gordon had had his representative, Mr Gessi, make available to us. I was accompanied by two Missionaries, two Arab Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, three young clerics and Mr Augusto Wisniewski. On 26th June we landed at Tura-el-Khadra, where we found our camels with whose aid we could continue on our way. On 7th July we reached El Obeid. Our Missionaries, the Sisters and the Turkish governor gave us the warmest welcome.
[3865]
Two messengers from Jebel Nuba gave me letters from our Missionaries asking for whatever subsidies and provisions I could spare. These arrived in Delen, the residence of the Mission, a few days later, and Mr August, who is to accompany me later to the Nuba territories, is already on his way back here.
[3866]
The news from the Nuba Mission is consoling. In Delen the Missionaries have built a residence for themselves, a little house for the Sisters and a modest straw church. It is the first stage of the Mission. To establish a central station definitively we need to penetrate further into the interior. We shall make a decision about this after the exploration I shall undertake myself next September and October.
On 21st July I solemnly conferred baptism on 16 adults whom our Missionaries and Sisters in El Obeid had prepared. On the day of Pentecost the Superior of Kordofan, Fr Giovanni Losi, had baptised many African adults.

Daniel Comboni


Translated from French.

[3867]
Although I am very busy with the institution of this new mission, where the light of the Catholic faith has never ever shone, and which I am to found by order of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, my thoughts now turn to my homeland and especially to the worthy Pastor and Angel of the beloved Church to which I originally belong.
[3868]
At my orders, in this immense Vicariate Apostolic in all the parish churches, on the 30th of September next, Sung Mass with the Te Deum and the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will be celebrated for the 25th anniversary or Pontifical Jubilee of Your Most Reverend Excellency’s promotion to the Episcopate of the Church of Brescia. On that day, in the heart of Africa, fervent prayers and wishes as ardent as the burning sands of Africa, from where I write, will rise up to the throne of God for the preservation of your life and for Your Most Reverend Excellency’s prosperity, together with that of this glorious Church and Diocese which you have sanctified with your efforts, your wise teachings and your splendid virtues.
[3869]
Therefore, Your Excellency, please accept with a generous heart the ardent wishes of my filial reverence, those of my missionary confreres and my generous Sisters who on that most happy day will be praying for you and for my beloved homeland from this Nuba tribe, from Kordofan, from the main Mission in Khartoum and from the one in Berber.
[3870]
I do not have time now to give you even a brief idea of the ample blessings the sweetest Heart of Jesus (to whom I have consecrated this immense Vicariate since 14th September 1873 with the approval of the Supreme Pontiff Pius IX) has showered on our apostolate of Central Africa in the midst of a thousand crosses. I will just say that the Lord is pitching his tents in these regions and that in this year alone, with a thousand sacrifices, I have been able to found and establish two new Missions, one in Berber and one here in the Nuba territory.
[3871]
But so that qui incrementum dat may make this wild and virgin territory fertile, I appeal to Your Most Reverend Eminence’s illustrious mercy and charity in praying and having prayers said to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus that he may help us in this difficult enterprise, which is all for the glory of God and the salvation of the most neglected souls in the world. And oh, how happy I would be to be sharing our battles here for the Lord with some devout and generous priest from Brescia! My hope is not extinguished.
In the hope that I shall be able to present my respects in person next year, I beg you to give my regards to your venerable and most faithful Secretary, Mgr Carminati and to the most devout daughters of the Sacred Heart in Brescia, while I humbly kiss your sacred ring and remain in the sweetest hearts of Jesus and Mary
Your Most Reverend Excellency’s most humble, devoted and respectful son,

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[3872]
With a heart pierced by bitter grief we inform you, most beloved confreres and children, that on 29th June last, dedicated to the Princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in the imperial castle of Prague His Apostolic Majesty the Emperor and King Ferdinand I of Austria, an illustrious benefactor of our Holy Mission, expired in the embrace of Our Lord at the venerable age of 82.
[3873]
This glorious Monarch, this most splendid jewel among the truly Christian Princes, was born on 19th April 1793 to the Emperor Franz I and the Empress Maria Teresa, née Princess of the Two Sicilies, and on 2nd March 1835 he assumed the glorious crown of the Habsburgs, after marrying, in February 1831, the most devout Princess Anna Maria, the daughter of King Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia. On 2nd December 1848, with magnanimous resolve, he yielded the Imperial throne to his august nephew Franz Josef I, who has now been gloriously reigning for twenty-seven years as Emperor of Austria and Hungary.
[3874]
During his 14-year reign the Emperor Ferdinand I, flanked by his august Consort, was a model to other Sovereigns of incorruptible justice, supreme clemency, generosity, gentleness, munificence and love for his subjects. In his charity and good works, in his zeal for the glory and growth of the Church, in his piety and respect for the Holy Apostolic See and the Vicar of Jesus Christ, he emulated the splendid example of his glorious ancestors St Stephen of Hungary, St Henry the Emperor and St Leopold.
[3875]
During the following 27 years of his magnanimous and peaceful retirement, in an ever more intimate union of love and works with his angelic Imperial Consort, never far from his most wise and enlightened spiritual directors, he was a portent of Christian piety, a prodigy of regal charity and munificence; and the Imperial Court of Prague became, and still is today, a heavenly garden fragrant with sublime virtues, a paradise of Christian piety, an ocean of stupendous charity, from which sprung, and are still flowing today, rivers and torrents of generous and extraordinary grants and subsidies for the relief of the poor and the unhappy, for the benefit of all Works of Christian piety and charity, not only in all the provinces of the vast Empire of Austria-Hungary, but in all parts of the world where the interests of the glory of God, the salvation of souls and the honour and growth of our Religion required them. This immense Vicariate Apostolic of ours, from its foundation to our day, has had the pleasure of experiencing several times the beneficial effects of the magnanimous Emperor Ferdinand I’s sovereign charity; and our Holy Work for the Regeneration of Africa was built on solid and stable foundations thanks to the munificence of the Imperial Court of Prague.
[3876]
This is why, imbued with the greatest admiration and filled with the sentiment and duty of most sincere gratitude to our august Imperial Benefactor, we have decided to order, as we are doing with the present Circular, that on the coming 2nd September, dedicated to his glorious predecessor St Stephen, King of Hungary, in all parish churches of our Vicariate Apostolic, a solemn divine office with a sung Requiem Mass be celebrated, with all the splendour our normal limited means will allow, in suffrage for the soul of the deceased Monarch. For the same purpose we also call on each and every secular and regular priest in our Vicariate to celebrate five Masses before next September; and we ask all our most zealous Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition in all the Missions of Central Africa and all the pupils in our male and female establishments to offer their Holy Communion as often as they can during this year, and similarly our good faithful, to pray to the God of Mercy for the eminently Christian soul of this illustrious late Emperor.
[3877]
In due course, we intend to designate by special Decree a day in July which each year will be celebrated in perpetuo with the office for the dead and a solemn requiem Mass in memory of the august deceased, in the parish churches of the present Missions in the Vicariate Apostolic as well as in the churches or chapels of our establishments in Egypt and Verona.
[3878]
We take this opportunity, most beloved brothers and sisters, to exhort you warmly to pray and have prayers said to the most Sacred Heart of our Divine Redeemer for the prosperity of the august widow, the Empress Anna Maria, that in his infinite mercy he may console her and preserve her for many years for the dignity and glory of the august House of Habsburg and of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for the honour of the Church, for the relief of the suffering and destitute, for the growth and benefit of our most holy Religion.

Given in El Obeid, from our residence in Kordofan, 12th August 1875.

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[3879]
On the occasion of my sending you the enclosed from our Fr Gennaro, I send you an affectionate and respectful greeting and assure you of all the veneration, love and gratitude which I have always had for you and will always have. Now that I am off to the tribe of the Nuba, to stay there for a few months with Fr Gennaro, how happy I would be to talk to you every day, as I did in Khartoum during the time you stayed there in my main residence.
[3880]
I hope that next year, I will have the pleasure of passing through Turin to discuss the difficult and laborious apostolate of this great mission of mine. You who have the words of eternal life would do me so much good by writing me a few lines; and it would be a supreme charity to my Work if you were to send to Verona some good Piedmontese candidates, who would be able to do so much good.
Please accept the regards of my missionaries here, and pray to the sweet Hearts of Jesus and Mary
for your affectionate friend,

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[3881]
In the Nuba tribes work is proceeding briskly for the establishment of the new mission. There are already four missionary priests and two European lay coadjutors, as well as other indigenous elements from our houses and the veteran of the Vicariate, Mr Augusto Wisniewski. Although I have good hopes this establishment will be sound, I shall not give the Sacred Congregation official information until the essential works I ordered are completed and I have started the work properly.

[3882]
Here in Kordofan, I have two excellent clerics, students in theology who did their philosophy in Rome with the Dominicans at the Minerva. One is Vincenzo Marzano and the other Carmino Loreto, and they have excellent references from Mgr Pigliacelli. Since they ardently desire to receive the Minor Orders, I would be most prepared to gratify them, for they have given proof of excellent spirit and great self-denial, which leads me to have great hope in their abilities to help the poor Africans. I therefore implore Your Eminence to obtain the faculty from the Holy Father for me to confer Minor Orders upon the said clerics.
[3883]
On this Mission I also have two young Africans of lively intelligence and with good prospects who were two of the first fruits of our apostolate in Kordofan, when I spent six months in this territory two years ago. They are well grounded in piety and religion, and also in Italian and a little in Latin. One is called Daniele and the other Arturo and they are approximately twelve or thirteen. I would like Your Eminence to accept them in the Urban College of Propaganda Fide so that in that cenacle of true Apostles, they may be nourished with the Spirit and may then transfuse it here into the souls of their brothers and sisters who are still in the shadow of death. I humbly implore Your Eminence to grant my request in the hope that Africa will benefit from it.
[3884]
I have just received a very brief printed Circular of Your Eminence dated 4th August 1874, regarding publications related to the three periods preceding, during and following the Vatican Council. It so happens that I am in possession of a letter in Latin with the subsequent Postulatum to the Sacred Vatican Council pro Nigris Africae Centralis. This is one of my works. The Postulatum, undersigned by many Prelates and approved by the Congregation examining the proposals of the Fathers for admission in the Section de Missionibus Apostolicis, was then presented by Your Eminence, as Secretary of the said Congregation, to the Holy See on the evening of the memorable 18th July 1870, and obtained the signature of the Holy Father, etc., etc. I am of course sending a printed copy of the Document to Your Eminence for you to dispose of as you wish. I have received Your Eminence’s esteemed letter of 24th May in which I found the sum of 2,000 francs sent me by the Holy Childhood in Vienna. I shall soon be sending you a brief report on the work of my missionaries and Sisters in favour of the infidel children. I need a greater number of Sisters to develop this work, and also two dispensaires or pharmacies in Khartoum and El Obeid.
[3885]
In the same venerable letter, Your Eminence also mentions the fears you have concerning the too unhealthy climate in Khartoum. Allow me, O Eminent Prince, to postpone describing to you the real situation of the Khartoum climate to another occasion, since I am very busy at the moment, and I shall carry out to the letter any order Your Eminence will give me which I shall always regard as the clear will of God. Now I shall just call your attention to the following points.
[3886]
1. When I first came to the Sudan in 1857, Khartoum was indeed an unhealthy city; but since various Governors, imitating the mission, have had the pits filled from which earth was extracted for the building of houses and which after the rains exhaled murderous vapours and produced such murderous fevers, it has ceased to be unhealthy. Today it is no better or worse than Rome, which has a few months of malaria, like Khartoum after the rains; and so far I have taken steps to send the weakest to better air two hours away from Khartoum, to Geref, where two houses were offered me by a Muslim friend of mine. The problem will be perfectly resolved when I am able to add four rooms as a second floor of the magnificent house I have just built for the Sisters.
[3887]
2. None of the four Sisters who died in Khartoum (who were all assisted by me) died because of the Khartoum climate, but died either from chronic illnesses or others which they brought to Khartoum.
3. None of the European missionaries who have come here under my orders from 1871 till today have died.
4. Both the missionaries and Sisters must be free of chronic illnesses, or else they would certainly die in Khartoum, as they would die in any other mission.
5. The Missionaries and Sisters in Khartoum must follow the way of life which I have designed on the basis of long experience.
6. The Congregation of St Joseph must supply me with a suitable number of healthy Sisters, for here there is much work and toil; otherwise the few Sisters it has already sent me will get too tired.

[3888]
7. I must humbly point out to Your Eminence that Khartoum is a city with more than 50,000 inhabitants, the capital of the Egyptian Government of the Sudan, the residence of high dignitaries and the Government administrative centre for a territory which is four or five times the size of France. In Khartoum there are souls to be saved especially by means of the Sisters. There are all sorts of Europeans, Levantines and Orientals. The Austrian Consul, who is from Vienna, has been living there for 22 years. Our veteran, August, has been there for 20 years; Canon Pasquale Fiore, our Superior and parish priest, has been there for three years without interruption and I have been there for 19 consecutive months and have only had one fever, although I worked very hard both physically and mentally.
[3889]
Some of the Sisters who seemed weak even in Cairo have remained in good health. As has been shown by scientific evidence and by the experience of the worthy Holy Ghost Fathers and the Order of the Sacred Heart of Mary in their missions in West Africa, in these African climates Sisters resist better than male missionaries. So in view of the fact that there are many souls to be saved here, and that the merchants pay no attention to the climate in making vile profits, it seems to me that for the moment it would be prudent to forge ahead, perfecting and correcting what may be perfected and corrected with the help of the Lord; even more so since Khartoum, due to the Sudan railway which is under construction, and due to the vast conquests which have been made and are being made by the Egyptian army, seems destined to become a great capital.
[3890]
Here in El Obeid, on 21st July I solemnly conferred baptism upon sixteen adult infidels and during this year we have acquired a considerable number. There are many more catechumens, but my method is to proceed very slowly and circumspectly. What I am most concerned about and in which I believe I have succeeded, with God’s help, is the formal consolidation of this immense Vicariate, its stability and its permanence. Certainly, much suffering is involved: therefore solid, generous and sure vocations are necessary. More abundant means are necessary. But since it is all God’s work, I expect everything from the Sacred Heart of Jesus and our Bursar, St Joseph, who have never abandoned those who trust in heaven. This year too the Propagation of the Faith gave me 54,300 francs 56 centimes.
[3891]
But the construction of the two new establishments in Cairo and making up for the losses suffered by the last caravan from Egypt are taking up a large part of this. The high cost of food, due to the high consumption and thieving perpetrated by the thousands of soldiers going through on their way to Darfur, also increases the mission’s expenses considerably, and as a result setting up the new Nuba Mission is also costing me a lot. But St Joseph puts everything right. In his divine Son’s beard he finds guineas as well as little centimes. And his Immaculate spouse, the Queen of Africa, will play her part too.
[3892]
In a few days’ time, when the torrents produced by the rains have diminished, I too will be going to Jebel Nuba, but first I hope to submit a project of mine to you, its purpose being to enhance the development of the Sisters’ Work. The Sisters of St Joseph granted to me by the Mother General are very few and insufficient for the mission’s needs. But this Institute has the Arab element indispensable for Africa and which is not present in my Institute of the Devout Mothers of Africa, founded and nurtured by me in Verona under the aegis of my dear Mgr Canossa. Under certain conditions which I would demand, I would be prepared to merge this Institute (about which Mgr Canossa has just given me excellent news) with that of the Sisters of St Joseph, also with a view to avoiding any conflicts that might occur through human weakness between two Institutes of Sisters working in a single mission.
[3893]
But I have made no decisive determination on this; rather, after carefully pondering all things and discussing the matter ex professo with Mgr Canossa and the excellent Rector in Verona, Fr Squaranti, I shall submit the whole plan to Your Eminence’s most wise decision.
Kissing your Sacred Purple, I remain
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble, devoted and obedient son

Fr Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic

[3894]
It is with pleasure that I received your esteemed letter of 18th May; and I beg you to forgive me for taking too long to reply.
You condescended to ask me to consent to Fr Zanoni becoming a member of the Mission in Berber. I cannot oppose a wish so clearly explained by you, Most Reverend Father. Therefore, in the firm conviction that in your great wisdom and prudence you are concerned about the welfare of both the penitent Fr Zanoni and the Camillian Mission in Berber, I bow willingly and totally to your venerable will. You are fully aware of the candidate’s changes and dispositions: I therefore declare that I place no obstacle in the way of the full satisfaction of your wishes.

[3895]
However, it would seem to me appropriate that you should wait to send him to Africa until I reach Rome, since Fr Stanislao is completely opposed to such a thing and the other Camillian fathers are not at all in favour. I too would thus try to prepare and convince them thoroughly, both those who are with me here and the ones who are in Berber, when I pass through, and I think that these too will have to submit to your most wise and venerable wishes, and I do this most willingly because I have full confidence in your experienced wisdom and prudence, and in the rectitude and holiness of your will. Fr Zanoni has also written me a most moving letter full of repentance and good intentions. I therefore submit this whole matter entirely to your judgement. I, for my part, have no objection, even were you to send him out to Central Africa right away.
[3896]
I have sent Fr Giovanni Battista in Berber his absolute licence as parish priest with the faculty of administering the sacrament of Confirmation in the possible or probable danger of death.
[3897]
I have called to follow me to Kordofan and to the Nuba, the perfect African Fr Franceschini (who will accompany me everywhere as far as the Nuba and to Rome) and the good Fr Alfonso Chiarelli, who is a true and worthy religious and a most zealous missionary, for whom I have great hopes. I have sent them to Jebel Nuba with the veteran of the Vicariate, Mr Augusto Wisniewski. In a few days’ time I too will be going there with Fr Giuseppe and the Sisters.
[3898]
[ … ] a messenger from Nuba has arrived bearing the news that Fr Alfonso is a little sick and has had a high fever: but the letter from the Superior of that mission informs me that he spent quite a good night, rested, sweated and feels better. Since Fr Alfonso is fat and round and strong, and since the first fevers are wickedest, (after which, all the rest are nothing and one can say that after these a European is acclimatised), tomorrow I shall be sending Fr Giuseppe to Nuba with the good August, and an excellent servant, carrying new medicine to assist and immediately cure our able and excellent Fr Alfonso. I hope all will go well and that God will bless us.
I commend myself warmly to your prayers; and with the sincere wish to see you again soon, I remain in the Sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary
Your most devoted servant and friend,

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic