Writings

[6680]

I am here for a change of air because the extreme and suffocating heat of El Obeid is such a burden to my physical constitution that I can neither sleep nor eat. It is all for Jesus and that’s enough, but I am not able to attend to all my heavy responsibilities.
First of all I must tell you that the thousand francs or more that Fr Vincenzo Marzano sent to his father in Naples were partly earned by him and partly requested from benefactors, so I have nothing to reproach him for; indeed I found him much better than I had thought; he worked terribly hard as parish priest (he knows the language well) and it is nearly all thanks to him that we have the new church, which is magnificent. Therefore, as a duty of conscience and to be quite truthful, I retract all that I said about him in my letter from Khartoum. Since I also saw that 100 francs were sent to Angelo Composta in Negrar I had to approve, because they were sent under the authority of the Superior, and because Angelo Composta, as far as can be seen, deserved this because of his assiduous and great work on the church as a builder, and because, it appears, he is an excellent man.

[6681]

Here, the Superior Fr Fraccaro has worked and is working very hard, although he is nearly always ill. These two missions of El Obeid have laboured a lot and Fr Fraccaro did not pocket anything belonging to the mission, indeed he spent several thousand francs of his own on it, but he was not able to give me the accounts of his administration because he wrote nothing. Imagine, he did not even note down the 3,000 thalers or more that I paid in Khartoum for El Obeid in February and March, at his request. He did not record the 209 English guineas (5,225 gold francs) which he received from Zucchinetti, and that I had paid in Cairo last year, etc., etc., etc. What must I do? It is now nearly a month that I am in the Kordofan, and every day I have pestered him to give me the accounts: he said he would, but I have seen nothing so far, and I never will.

[6682]

But I have the exact accounts of what I paid for the Kordofan, and I found others here: they reveal that in the three years during which the silly and mendacious Fr Losi wrote to His Eminence that I never sent him a single piastre, I had spent in cash alone more than four thousand gold napoleons, without counting thirteen dispatches of provisions. I have had to swallow so many injustices and bitter pills from holy fools that it is a miracle that I have been able to survive at all. But my ideas are different from theirs: I am working for the glory of God and for poor souls and I am doing this as well as I can. Then I just go ahead and do not worry about anything else, because I am sure that all the crosses I have to bear are the will of God for me and so they will always be very dear.

[6683]

Fr Bortolo writes to implore me to allow him to go back because he feels he lacks the strength and the health to stay in the Sudan, and he asks me to give him recommendations and to send him either to Cairo or to Europe. I am really very sad about this, because I had got it into my mind that having by my side as counsellor and confessor such a rigid, unjust and rabid censor as Fr Bortolo would have been very beneficial to me and would have fortified my patience, which is the most necessary thing in forming a mission in Africa. But on the other hand, as a counsellor I am not losing much, because he is completely without judgement, and does not even see the end of his nose, understands nothing and is stubborn; no great loss to the Vicariate. For me, instead, as a confessor, he is a great loss. In the precise and appropriate things he would suggest to me, I lose much, as well as in the exercise of patience (between you and me) for whatever I call white he calls black and whatever I call red he calls yellow.

[6684]

Although he now has a quite different idea of the Khartoum mission and has said that he was badly informed, it was nonetheless noticed by all, even by Francesco Pimazzoni and the two Germans, that he never misses a chance to speak ill of me and they are convinced that he is against me. And yet I love him because he is a poor unfortunate, and good for nothing, not as a Superior, nor as a missionary, nor as representative of the mission. Therefore, since he asked me where he was to go, I consulted nearly all the missionaries. It was agreed by common accord that it would be most harmful to send him to Cairo where under his direction (always in his room or denigrating the Vicariate) the candidates who go to Cairo from Verona run the risk of losing their vocation, as has already happened to several. Indeed, the two Germans, Fr Giuseppe Ohrwalder and Fr Giovanni Dichtl have said several times that they were on the point of abandoning the mission in Cairo because of the bad news Fr Bortolo gave them of the Vicariate and its members, etc.

[6685]

Instead, here these two always say they are happy, because in Khartoum and Kordofan they found the opposite, and they found excellent missionaries full of self-denial and above all they were convinced that the moral power of the Catholic mission under my guidance (for which I thank the Lord, not through my merit, for I have none, but for my state as Bishop and Representative of the Holy See) is the foremost power in Central Africa, and that despite the calumnies and the infernal attacks of my old enemies, the whole of Central Africa shows me respect and esteem although, as I said, I deserve nothing. I am only aware that I have worthily and to the best of my ability supported my delicate rank and represented the Catholic religion. And yet holy Fr Losi (??), who has not seen me for five and a half years has always spoken ill of me to our Sisters (they told me this themselves) and to even the most thieving and devious traders, (such as our Procurator, appointed by Fr Charterer) who by the grace of God is going off to Egypt; and Fr Leone of the Nuba, whom I found here and who stayed with us for 20 days, admitted to our people that he found me, the Vicar Apostolic, completely different from the one described to him by Fr Losi, who wanted the Head of the Mission to be Fr Rolleri, as being more prudent and capable; and Fr Leone said that we should not listen to Fr Losi’s judgements on the Nuba and hold them as true, because they are false and contrary to the truth, etc., etc.

[6686]

And yet, as regards self-denial, Fr Losi is a rarity. He needs nothing, neither a bed, nor clothes, nor food: he is a prodigy; for a single soul he deprives himself of everything and says he wants to die for Africa. It is true that he makes huge blunders for lack of brains and judgement: several times, to marry a boy, he made a young prostitute Christian, and two days later they split up and went Muslim again. This happened to him in 1875, after I had formally forbidden him from celebrating those marriages, etc., etc., etc.

[6687]

He is honest and chaste: and yet Sister Teresina assures me (she saw this) that he is capable of staying one hour with a perfectly naked twenty year old woman taller than himself to negotiate the purchase of four eggs or a hen. However she always says that God works real miracles in helping missionaries in the midst of these completely naked African men and women… without them ever having the slightest bad thought: and this is true, it having been an article of faith among the missionaries from 1849 to our day. In addition, Fr Losi said that he would always write against me to Propaganda and to the Cardinal of Verona each time his conscience tells him. Let him do so: I forgive him wholeheartedly. Instead I take advantage of his fine qualities for the good of the mission.

[6688]

I had another cross to bear the other day. In spite of the order I gave in 1872 (as do all Vicars Apostolic) not to have anything printed without it being seen by the Head of Mission, five months ago, Fr Leone, pressed by Fr Losi, sent an article to the press on slavery against the Egyptian government, as a supporter of slavery (Fr Losi has rebuked me twice in writing for not having done the rounds of the European Courts, before coming to Africa, to raise funds and protection to repress the slave trade in the Nuba!!! just when Europe is so favourable towards Catholicism!!!)

[6689]

This article was published in German in the Cologne Gazette and got into the hands of Blum Pasha, the Minister of Finance in Cairo, and at the same time the English minister went to the Khedive and said: “You see what Monsignor Comboni’s Missionaries of Central Africa are writing; it means that it is quite true that Your Highness’s Government is doing nothing to repress slavery”. The Khedive and all the ministers of Egypt were displeased, and Blum Pasha sent this article from the Cologne Gazette to the Governor General in Khartoum with the order to send it to me and to invite me to express my judgement on this article (which states that the Governor of Kordofan, among other things, receives African men and women in lieu of taxes, which has been untrue for a number of years. Naturally, accepting slaves stolen in Nuba instead of money from taxpayers is maintaining slavery).

[6690]

The great Pasha sent it to me the other day, and now I must answer him. Certainly, if the government grants us great protection as it does, it surely does not expect us to be ungrateful; and that is exactly what we are doing if, instead of reporting the disorders in the Nuba to it, we make them public through the European press, exaggeratedly decrying its poor governance. I hope you understand me. In the meantime, pray for your affectionate

+ Bishop Daniel

[6691]

I am very tired, because apart from all my ailments and crosses I must always be thinking, stay on my feet, dealing with business matters and providing. Fr Giulianelli, who after I left Cairo received about 20,000 francs, claims to have done a great thing in sending me 3,000 francs. He bought 5,532 Oke (about 6,000 litres of wine and spent 3,371 francs and 20 centimes. And he wanted to send 3,100 litres, no less, to the Vicariate with one of the laymen; and he does not realise that what we need here instead is money. In the name of holy obedience, I ordered him to tell me why he bought so much wine, which is enough for 4 years, and who gave him this order, but he piously did not answer. Here they say it was Fr Bortolo who gave him the order; but Fr Bortolo has told me several times that he never ordered anything from him. Today I told him not to order any more wine until further notice, and not to make any more candles, because he spends enormous sums and wants fat candles with thick wicks, and in the accounts I find a fine sum recorded for their manufacture alone.

[6692]

In February he bought 96 rolls of wax for 172 francs 50; and there is 1 priest, 3 laymen and 4 sick Sisters, etc. In addition I have asked him to send you an elucidation of that stupid expenditure on wine, when here we hardly ever drink wine but merissa, etc. and we have no money. Not having the time to write, I send you Giulianelli’s letter itself for the other bits of news. It is impossible for me to send Sisters to Cairo. Faustina is a good enough Superior there. In adversity, Faustina is a great Sister, a true Missionary and is worth two Campostrini Sisters: I know her inside out. In Verona, with a quiet life, diametrically opposed to the activity every Sister needs to have in the mission, Faustina seems an idiot: in the field she is worth two of our Sisters.

[6693]

So let us trust in God. I send you the letter from Giulianelli, who is dear to me after all, because he is very devout and prays a lot, and I am happy to have him in Cairo. Of course, if I had another Superior to send there, I would do so willingly because he does not know how to deal with Consuls and the Government, and they laugh behind his back, which displeases me. Now for our business, with the new cross brought by the two enclosed letters from the Peccati ladies which I send you for you to show to His Eminence when you deem it appropriate to expose that woman (who I believe is a Campostrini) who writes with such a lack of delicacy accusing me of being ungrateful, etc. I will answer the Peccati as soon as I can and will send you the letter, because I am really sick with being constantly told of the good she has done to the mission, how ungrateful I am (sic) and that they regret having done what they did.

[6694]

These are not the feelings of Signora Luigia, but it is that nasty nun with no religion, charity or respect for a Bishop. I do not deserve to be called ungrateful, and I would never deign to receive an offering, even of one hundred thousand francs, if afterwards it is constantly brought up again, and cost me so much bitterness, mortification and pain. In my name, please ask these Ladies to give you a copy of Sembiante’s document [this is a slip of the pen for Squaranti] for 10,000 lire, which they claim are theirs, while they gave them for a large number of Masses. Besides this, I will write to them that I approve of your behaviour in limiting yourself to advancing them only two weeks on the three months, and of writing to me to ask whether you should give them money or not. Then, how these silly women (or rather the nun, whom I will call teacher, without the “nun”) can expect an Institute like ours, that lives on charity, to have 500 or even 1,000 francs on hand, without giving a suitable amount of time, etc.!! Then, is it theirs, once they have donated it? And then, do they have a right to claim money they gave (and which has been spent) for Masses to be offered after their death? They declare they have given it to the Mission, and then ask for it back?… I think that this time it is not the priests that are little devils, confusing the heads of those two good ladies, but the Campostrini nuns. The matter should be clarified, to remove any cause of future annoyance. And the man who is suitable to help in this would be our very dear Mgr. Bacilieri.

[6695]

I tell you truly that, while I feel the liveliest gratitude towards the Peccati ladies, as I said to you not so long ago, it is beginning to cool down considerably, because after they asked my forgiveness the last time for having taken me to court, making me spend thousands of francs for the lawyer, Segala, and after dragging me in the mud with insults and abuse in a letter to Segala, now I am being accused of ingratitude, and they say they are sorry they gave… etc., etc. this is something that causes me sorrow. This is not the way to give charitable donations. They do not show (that is, the nun who writes) either faith in God or respect for a Bishop, or love for neighbour, or virtue. The one who writes the letter is a woman without religion, faith or charity. Enough. If you can, try to give them 500 francs, and then later do your utmost to give them the other 500. I imagine that will be enough.

[6696]

Otherwise, do the best you can according to the circumstances, and in the next mail I will send you an open letter that I will write to them.
Here the Sisters, especially Sr. Teresa and Sr. Vittoria, are begging me to bring Virginia to the Vicariate. All things considered, I approve of their request, because there is extreme need for Virginia here, and it is the most simple, equitable and just arrangement, and the most opportune for me and for her, to send Virginia to the Vicariate. Sr. Teresa (who is the most perfect model of a Central African sister) takes on the responsibility for everything that regards her. Do ask His…

[one sheet missing = two sides]

… and these [Sisters] who are on the spot, and know how to suffer for Christ, are my strength, after the Heart of Jesus. And we all have boundless trust in you, that you will train good personnel for us: and be quite sure, dear Father, that God will help you, as I am sure that God assists my littleness, even though quite insignificant.

[6697]

The little colony at Malbes is a seed-bed of 37 Catholic souls who live like true Christians, who all hear Mass in the morning, and in the evening say the Rosary and prayers, under the guidance of Fr Antonio, who leads them quite well. It will become a village, then a small town, etc. etc. of Catholics, an example for others, and that in the midst of an area that is all Muslim and idolatrous, is a light in the midst of darkness. Next week I will leave for Nuba, from where I can only write rarely, and I will not return before having decided on and started off the Central Station at Golfan.

[6698]

It is 10 days since I started a letter to His Eminence, without making any headway; but I will write to him.
Some of these Sisters are happy to have received your letters. Write to them often; take courage in the midst of the thorns where you are: Jesus was crowned with thorns, and then rose again. Respects to His Eminence, Fr Vignola, Fr Luciano, Mgr Bac. and Casella, and pray always for
Yours ever,

+ Daniel, Bishop

[6699]

I have received at Malbes, where I have been for my health, your honourable letter with the article from the Kölnische Zeitung: Slaveniagd und Slavenhandel in Ägyptische Sudan in which, to my great surprise, I found the name of one of my Missionaries of Nuba, Fr Leone Henriot. I say “to my great surprise” because from 1873 I gave orders to my Missionaries of Central Africa not to send reports or articles on our Missions to be published by newspapers, and that they send only to me or to my Vicar every article and report about the Missions. My orders to this effect have been observed, always and perfectly.

[6700]

I have read and re-read the article in question and I have spoken to the author, Fr Leone, who was here with me for health reasons. I have learned the truth about this matter, and hasten to let you know, in confidence, the truth regarding all this.
Last year Fr Leone wrote a letter to Fr Luigi, Superior in Khartoum, regarding slavery in Juba, and Fr Giovanni Losi, Superior in Nuba, wrote to me in Europe about the same topic.

[6701]

Don Luigi went to see the Hoccomdar with the letter of Fr Leone, and talked to him and with Marcopolos about the problem. Then he wrote to me in Europe that he was satisfied and pleased because His Excellency had promised to send orders to the Mudir of Kordofan to put an end to the disorders in Jebel Nuba.
I was very pleased about this, and never said a word about Fr Losi either in Cairo or in Khartoum; indeed, I heard that the orders of the Hoccomdar of Nuba had been carried out.

[6702]

But at the same time Fr Leone had written the article for the newspaper and for Fr Luigi in Khartoum; he also wrote another letter to the Consul Hansal, asking him to contact the Government to put an end to slavery in Nuba. Mr. Hansal replied to Fr Leone that he would be very pleased to do that favour. I asked him to write to him at Khartoum and to keep him informed about the situation of slavery in Nuba. He promised to contact Dr Schweinfurth (the author of the aforementioned article in the Kölnische Zeitung etc., etc.) in Cairo, and he would have spoken to the Consul General of England, who would in turn have spoken to the Khedive.

[6703]

In the meantime Fr Leone, very pleased with the reply of Mr. Hansal, wrote yet another letter about the snatching of slaves in Nuba, with the promise of further information about the horrible Trade. This letter was sent from Nuba at the end of February this year; I think it must have come into the hands of Dr Schweinfurth, and may have been published in the Kölnische Zeitung with comments of Dr Traveler, as he had already done in the same paper.
I had to scold Fr Leone for his disobedience to my orders of 1873; he was not aware of my directives, because he came to the Mission in 1879, and since he is obedient and good, he begged my pardon and promised to send only to me all the news about Jebel Nuba.

[6704]

Therefore, my dear Pasha, you will now be convinced that the members of the Catholic Mission do not know the Kölnische Zeitung, and that Fr Leone was not in contact with Cairo but with the local authority of the Austrian Consul, with the aim that he would provide, with the help of the Sudan Government, whatever was necessary for Jebel Nuba.
You will also be convinced that the merchant to whom Fr Leone had written from Delen was Consul Hansal, and that the letter that had arrived from the heart of the Nuba mountains was sent by Consul Hansal to Dr Schweinfurth in Cairo, who wrote to the English Consul General and published the article in the Kölnische Zeitung, etc. etc. (I translate from German: ‘ So today, after a journey of months, a letter arrived in Cairo from the heart of the Nuba Mountains, where resides the missionary Fr Leone Henriot who had written to a merchant of Khartoum, etc. etc.‘).

[6705]

Next week I will go to Jebel Nuba to visit that Mission and those mountains. After studying everything I will send you detailed information about the snatching of slaves. I hope to assure you of the suppression of slavery in Nuba, carried out on the energetic and precise orders of His Excellency Rauf Pasha. You will be able to pass on my report to H.E. Blum Pasha in Cairo, and it will be published by Kölnische Zeitung etc. etc. to put a halt to and demolish the affirmations of Dr Schweinfurth.
The affirmations of Fr Leone are true. It is also true that the Hoccomdar, with his orders given to the Mudir of Kordofan, has remedied this disorder in Jebel Nuba.

[6706]

I have full confidence in the government of the Khedive and the firmness of our most esteemed Governor General of Sudan, Rauf Pasha. Therefore I will always send my reports and comments on the problem of slavery to the Government and to the Hoccomdar. For me this is a duty of justice, of gratitude and of appreciation.
I am profoundly convinced and persuaded that the government of the Khedive has the good will and all the power to destroy, with God’s help, the abominable trade in slaves, and thus give a great push forward to the civilisation of Central Africa.
I beg you kindly to give my respects to H. E. Blum Pasha in Cairo and to Rauf Pasha in Khartoum.
Your devoted friend

+ Daniele Comboni
Bishop and Vicar Ap.lic of Central Africa


Original in English not available.
Re-translated from the Italian.

[6707]

On this beloved solemnity of the Patronage of our venerable Patriarch St Joseph, it is my pleasure to describe an exquisitely fragrant little flower and to give our benefactors in Europe a short account of a young woman who has just been converted from paganism to our Holy Faith, namely Bianca Lemuna, who is without a doubt the finest flower in our garden of the nascent Church of Central Africa.
For more than 4 years we have had at the Catholic Mission of El Obeid, capital of Kordofan, a girl of about fifteen, white and rosy, although she was born to two black parents. I believe it would be of interest to give a report on her here, both on account of the anomaly of her colour, and because of her moral qualities which include a singular piety, an integrity and modesty which are truly admirable and a special fervour for our holy religion, comparable to that of the early Christians of the time of the Apostles.

[6708]

This girl’s original name is Lemuna.
But since we have the custom of giving our converts a Christian name and using their original name as a surname, and as the name Bianca was given to her in holy Baptism administered on 7th June 1879 by Fr Battista Fraccaro, Superior of the Catholic Missions in Kordofan, she is now called Bianca Lemuna.

[6709]

She was born in the land of the Nambia located, it seems, in the Upper Nile regions among the Nyam-Nyam cannibalistic tribes, very near the territory of the Banda, and a few weeks’ walk from Dar-Fertit. The land of the Nambia is unknown to geographers. It now seems to me that, from this data and on the basis of what follows, I can report that this region is located between the 4th and the 6th degree of Latitude North. In 1858, or twenty-three years ago, while I was with the Kish tribe between the 6th and 7th degree of L.N., on the western banks of the White Nile, I heard many people speak of a town called Dor, located in the interior to the west and completely surrounded by tribes as black as ebony, which is inhabited by people who are all white and pink. I had confirmation of this information from the merchant and traveller Angelo Castelbolognese, a Jew from Ferrara, during the journey I made with him in 1859 from Khartoum to Dongola crossing the Basuda desert. He told me he had visited this town of the Dor together with Jules Poncet, the well-known geographer of Africa, whom I met in Khartoum and on the White Nile. I hope that in our future explorations we shall be able to explain these mysteries.

[6710]

Bianca Lemuna is a short girl, physically sturdy, slim with a robust constitution, a tireless worker and with a voice more like a man’s than a woman’s. She is not very attractive and is of the Ethiopian race in type. But the colour of her whole body is much whiter than that of Italian, French, German or English women; indeed, it is whiter than that of the women from Circassia, and her hair is perfectly blond, but quite woolly, like the Ethiopians’. Her skin, both on her face and all over her body, is extremely tough, so much so that when trying to let some blood, the lancet was blunted. Her eyes are more white than they are blue, but in the daytime she sees little, although she does her duties well: however, at night she sees much more. Without a lamp or a candle, in complete darkness, she opens the pantry and finds what she wants, washes dishes, pans, spoons, glasses and puts everything back in its place; in the dark she sweeps and cleans, works and accomplishes her duties very well, as I said, in the pantry, the refectory and the kitchen.

[6711]

Her father, whose name is Ninghina, is quite black in colour; her mother who is called Jen-tidi is also Ethiopian-black, and of the two sisters she says she has, one is quite black and the other is reddish but tending towards the colour of the Abyssinians. Her father Ninghina is one of the proudest and fiercest jallabas or slave traders who enriched himself with the blood of the poor slaves, stealing them from their homelands and selling them to other jallabas. While he was away on a slave hunt in lands distant from his own, our Bianca was captured with one of her slaves by a band of other slave-driving traders in human flesh. After an exhausting journey of several months through endless forests full of lions and other fierce beasts, partly on foot and partly on buffalo-back, she reached the border with the Muderia of the Shakkas, not far from Bahar-el-Gazal, where together with the band of slaves of which she was a member, she was captured by soldiers of the Egyptian government of the Sudan and taken to Darfur and presented as an interesting gift to His Excellency Gordon Pasha, Governor General of the Sudan who, when he came to El Obeid, had the noble thought of donating her to the Mission of Kordofan, to be made a Christian and to ensure her future.

[6712]

Her mother tongue is called Itinirizandi; and from the few words I have gathered of this language with her help, it appears to be Semitic and monosyllabic, like the Dinka and Bari languages, which are spoken by many tribes located between the 3rd and 12th degrees of Latitude North. Bianca still understands the Dinka language, but she does not speak it, as I was able to observe personally several times. Nevertheless, she is fluent in her own Itinirizandi language, as is apparent from the frequent conversations she has with that old slave she was captured with, whom she wants to convert to Catholicism and who is currently a servant of one of our Aleppo Catholics living in El Obeid, Mr Ibrahim Debbàne.

[6713]

Bianca asserts that her land of Nambia is rich in surprising vegetation; that it has fine rivers, glorious mountains, vast fields and flowering gardens in which lemons, grapes, bananas, tomatoes, aubergines, wheat, sesame, maize, yams, beans and sweet potatoes grow. She says that to get water even far from the rivers, all you need to do is to place a borma (round terracotta bowls that contain 7 or 8 litres) under a hillock or a rock and it fills very quickly. She says that they have the greatest of rivers there and it is called White and that she saw that it was not far away. She says that in her land people travel on giamus (buffaloes), and that there are oxen, rams, sheep, goats, buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, ostriches and birds of all shapes, colours and sizes, but that there are no donkeys, mules, horses, camels or dromedaries. There are also numerous elephants, lions, hyenas, leopards and snakes of all types and sizes. Above all, she says that many people in her country practise the shameful jallaba trade, or trafficking in slaves, hunting and capturing each other between tribes, and that life there is always full of fear and trepidation.

[6714]

Leaving aside further interesting information I have gleaned from her mouth on the Itinirizandi language (including numbers and much vocabulary) and the customs of the Nambia, I will end this account with something about the sublime moral qualities which adorn the soul and heart of this fortunate creature.
As soon as Bianca entered our Mission, she was instructed about the maxims of our holy religion by a young oriental Sister from the province of Damascus in Syria called Virginia Mansur; and then she was taught by the African Fortunata Quashè from Jebel Nuba, who is now a novice in the Institute of our Sisters and is continuing her formation. From the day that Bianca knew our holy Faith, she became a fervent Catholic. Although she shows no great talents or skills, and it was a great effort for her to learn the Catechism in Arabic (which is not her language) she has grasped the rules and the principles of our holy Faith and she has engraved them deep in her heart. She is of a singular piety and loves to pray: she prays at the hours established by the rule and attends holy Mass with singular devotion, receiving Holy Communion with the utmost respect and fervour; and on these days she is always merry and serene.

[6715]

She prays before her work, prays as she works, and prays frequently during the day. The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Blessed Virgin and St Joseph are her treasures whom she venerates with special devotion and love, and are forever on her lips. She is most faithful in her duties and religious practices, rigorously observing all the fasts prescribed by the Holy Church and the vigils of Our Lady, and she observes them in such a way that in 24 hours of each day she does not take any food of any sort, not even in the smallest quantity, and sometimes, she even abstains from taking the slightest sip of water. With such temperance and frugality in eating, she has never accepted for her sustenance anything but the plain food our Africans eat; a kind of mealy porridge made of Dokhon, a grain, or other such things; and she often even goes without this food to distribute it to the poor or to some other more suffering or needy African girl: and all this in a spirit of mortification and charity.

[6716]

With extreme tenacity in carrying out her duties, she is never lazy, and never wastes time in childish games with the other girls, although she is only fifteen years old, and indeed she attends with assiduous diligence to all the duties imposed by her obedience.
As the most trustworthy person in the Institute, she has the key to the pantry, the kitchen and the refectory. She jealously guards the provisions and foodstuffs given to her and never dares give away or distribute the slightest thing without permission from whoever is acting as her Superior. Nor has she ever allowed herself to take, or even to taste, the slightest morsel of the food that is entrusted to her by the Sisters.

[6717]

Fortunata Quashè, her teacher, invited her several times to eat the Sisters’ white bread, which is made of wheat, though very inferior in quality to our European bread; but Bianca always refused saying: “It is not proper for me, as a poor slave, to eat the bread of the Sisters who are free”. And to those who have pointed out to her that from the moment she received holy Baptism she had become as free as the Sisters, she replied: “It is true that I am now free, because I have had the luck of becoming a Christian; but I was born a slave, and it is not proper for me to eat the bread of the Sisters, who were born free and have always been Christian. It is fitting for me to eat the bread of Africans, and I am happy and fortunate to be the servant of the Sisters forever”. Bianca is happy with everything, living in complete peace with her companions, to whom she never gives the slightest annoyance or disturbance. Whenever something annoying does occur, or her colleagues or assistants break something, etc. she gets angry and emotional, and her fury is like a wild beast’s; but her religion soon calms her. The thought of God, the Virgin Most Holy and the Faith instantly changes her and she becomes gentle and patient as a lamb, and proceeds calmly and quietly with her work.

[6718]

But the virtue which shines most brightly from her is the purity of her ways and the candour of her angelic innocence; despite all she saw with her own eyes and heard with her own ears in her own home, and above all during her travels under barbaric masters in the days of her slavery… yet Bianca is a most splendid flower of innocence, a little angel of fearless behaviour. In the midst of her occupations she is her own jealous custodian, scrupulous in avoiding anything that might offend her virtue, she is scandalised by the slightest thing and fears offending the Lord. She knows how to slip away and avoid any communication or exchange with the opposite sex: and whenever some African man passes through the Sisters’ courtyard for whatever motive of work or service, she withdraws to the kitchen or the refectory and remains there serious and dignified.

[6719]

Gordon Pasha, having received from the equatorial provinces a white young man of her race, thought of sending him to Kordofan with the intention of proposing him as a husband for Bianca. Accompanied as he was by government officers and soldiers, we had to allow him to be introduced to her. As soon as she caught sight of him, Bianca ran off to hide in the Sisters’ rooms. It was several times suggested to her that she should marry him, but all in vain; she did not want to see him again or hear another word about him. Our Fr Giovanni Losi, whose maxim is to arrange Christian marriages for our unconverted African girls, repeatedly suggested to Bianca that she marry a young white man that he found in Singiokàe coming back from Nuba, and assured her that she would be happy with this. But it was all useless; she said that she would never think of a spouse on earth, but would always live with the Sisters and spend her whole life as the servant of the Sisters, who have renounced earthly matrimony forever. Bianca Lemuna has chosen Jesus as her spouse; in Jesus alone she has found her good, her peace, her delight, her life.

[6720]

She is the most fervent and edifying creature we have on this Catholic Mission of Kordofan; she is perhaps the brightest and most fragrant flower that this young vine of the Lord Sabaoth has ever produced among the people of Central Africa.
May God keep her here for many years for the edification of all of us, and for the growth of our Faith in these remote lands, where the mass of these wretched peoples still groans under the rule of Satan, wrapped for centuries in darkness and the shadow of death.

+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop Claudiopolis i.p.i.
Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[6721]

I am very pleased to see the Museo delle Missioni Cattoliche greatly improved and rich with interesting reports from all the Missions in the world, which is why from now on I shall make it an honour to send you important information about Central Africa.
I am also pleased to see the headquarters of the Museo and the correspondence with our church of the Apostolic Missions at the Most Holy Trinity, and under the direct auspices of my dear friend. I am certainly most grateful to you for assuming the succession of our dear Canon Ortalda, the most zealous Archbishop of Turin, and all those who have given new verve and new vigour to the Museo delle Missioni Cattoliche.

[6722]

Here we have a water shortage. Certain days, I need fifty or sixty francs to buy only muddy and brackish water to drink and cook with.
I will send you a short report, as well as a note about Bianca Lemuna, whose skin all over her body is as white as a Circassian woman’s, whose face is quite pink and whose hair is quite blond, although her parents are black. I sent it today to the Osservatore Romano.

[6723]

I will write to you often for the Museo. If you launched an appeal in the Museo for the thirsty people of Kordofan that would be good, but I see that some specific information about it is needed.
Since the Museo contains the life of Fr Leone d’Avancher, I will tell you that a few days ago I received a letter in French; I send it to you as it came with its own enveloppe. This letter, which was begun years ago and finished before his death, was written to me by Fr Leone in his own hand. I send it to you so that you may publish it in Museo if you wish: after publication you can send it to Fr Sembianti, Rector of my African Institute in Verona.
A thousand respects to the Archbishop, to the whole Chapter, to Arpino the theologian, parish priest of S. Salvario, to the members of the Circolo della Gioventù Cattolica of Turin, to your venerable father, etc., etc. The mail is going. Vale.
Your most affectionate friend

+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[6724]

Just a couple of lines in confidence and between us.
If I could, and had the time, I would write to you often, and even once a week; but I cannot. Apart from the very serious matters of the Vicariate, I must also think about gathering 500 francs a day to support my establishments: this is why I have to write all the time as a correspondent for 15 other German, French, English and American journals which send me fine sums of money. In Italy, I have relations with nearly all the Catholic papers, especially L’Oss. Romano, l’Unità Cattolica, l’Oss. Cattolico, etc. (to which I hardly ever write) as well as my own Annali del Buon Pastore in Verona, which is a quarterly.

[6725]

Now I will always write you letters, but when you find any letters from me in the Catholic papers you may have them printed as though they were addressed to you, because that is what I want and you will be doing me a favour. You can say: “We are pleased to have received the following letter from Mgr Comboni etc. dated in Kordofan etc.” In a matter of days I shall send you a description of the largest church in Central Africa dedicated to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Queen of Africa; and you must be the first to print it because the prime merit of this wonder of Central Africa is due to a Neapolitan who since his youth has been a member of the Neapolitan clergy (what a fine institution is that of the Archbishops of Naples to create sublime vocations especially for the priesthood) and whom I ordained in Africa, namely Fr Vincenziello (Marzano). You will have seen the letters in the Museo delle Missioni of Turin and in the Missioni Cattoliche of Milan and Lyons: lay them out and print them as though they were addressed to you and to Libertà Cattolica because that is what I want. Dear friend, since I have to keep my Missionaries busy I am alone in the ministry, without a secretary, without a Vicar General; to support the Mission I have to write every day in different languages.

[6726]

I was given a stupendous recommendation by the Viceroy or Governor General of the Sudan (who governs a territory 5 times the size of Italy) a Muslim, in which he says that Comboni is a high dignitary of his Catholic religion which we must honour etc. A Turkish high dignitary who says that our religion must be honoured!! And our liberal Italian Freemasons who persecute this faith… You can work on this as you did so well about the arrival of whites and on other occasions. What lasting good do those people do compared to the humblest of my Italian Sisters in Central Africa and with the Nuba whom they clothe for the first time? There they all go naked as before the fall. Therefore please print Rauf Pasha’s Letter.

+ Daniel Comboni

[6727]

I send you herewith the description of the new church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart built in El Obeid, capital of Kordofan, and which without a doubt is the largest and most majestic church consecrated to the true God in the whole of inland Africa. This description was written by the one of my good and laborious Missionaries who was its architect and main builder, namely Fr Vincenzo Marzano. And I am quite convinced that Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Queen of Africa, patron of the Heart of Jesus, will convert these people, who until now have been wrapped in the shadow of death.

[6728]

This sacred church is the object of the amazement and marvel of these natives; and I was pleased, on Holy Thursday, to celebrate and consecrate the holy chrism, and also to pontificate on the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
When I return from Jebel Nuba, I shall administer holy baptism to quite a number of catechumens who have been receiving instruction about the principles of our religion for a long time. In the month of May, as we celebrate daily with special prayers and litanies sung by many voices to the sound of the harmonium, it really gives the idea of a Roman church where such holy exercises are practised.
Prostrate as I kiss the sacred Purple, with deepest respect I remain
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble, devoted and respectful son

+ Daniel Comboni,
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic

[6729]

My arrival in Kordofan has sown, as God disposes, terror in the hearts of the merchants of human flesh, because they believe I have been given extraordinary powers by the Khedive (and this is partly true) to eradicate the trade, which means destroying their main source of income and their wealth. Here, there are millionaires (among whom there is Tefaala, who snatched Daniele Sorur, a student of Propaganda) who enriched themselves by stealing slaves from their homes. One of these (whom the students Arturo and Daniele know) who for his merits as a slave trader was actually made a Pasha seven years ago because he helped the government in its conquest of the Darfur, is called Elias Pasha. He has a thousand slaves in his employ; he has 42 sons and daughters (without counting his women) to each of whom he can give a dowry of 2,000 Borse, that is, 10,000 Egyptian guineas, equivalent to 260,000 gold francs, for each son or daughter. For his 42 sons and daughters he can thus allocate 10,920,000, nearly eleven million. This man no longer practises as a slave trader, as also Daniele Sorur’s master, who had me to lunches with 25 courses at each meal, etc. 30 or even 35 courses.

[6730]

But the present Khedive is making great sacrifices for the abolition of slavery, and he is not joking. The Mission has no small role in this.
Arriving here in Kordofan, having heard that the Baqqarah infest the Jebel Nuba (they are thieving and murderous Arab nomads), stealing boys, girls and fodder not so far from our station, at the request of the chief and my Nuba missionaries, I have asked the great Pasha for a small military force to patrol the area surrounding the Nuba mountains and to free us from these thieves, who have even taken quite a few of our things. Rauf Pasha immediately sent one hundred men and wrote to me saying I could make use of a thousand and more who are at my disposal.

[6731]

While I myself was preparing yesterday to leave for the Nuba with two missionaries and two Sisters (I sent the others ahead and they arrived a fortnight ago), I received the following letter from Rauf Pasha, which I have translated literally into Italian for Your Eminence:


“To His Excellency Monsignor Comboni,Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of the Sudan –
Khartoum, 10th May 1881.
Monsignor,

[6732]

I heard with great pleasure of your safe arrival in Kordofan, and at the same time of the excellent effect of your presence in the Province. I am told that the area was stricken by a great drought; and I have no doubt whatsoever that it was due to your prayers (sic) that the sky poured forth its beneficial rain. May God grant that by going to Jebel Nuba, your presence there may be accompanied by felicitous results, and that, for their part, these grateful populations may accompany you with their blessings.
You may have already arrived in Jebel Nuba and I implore you, Monsignor, carefully to examine this region and its administration so that we may take the necessary measures for the welfare of the people and see to their prosperity.

[6733]

The question of slavery in particular must be the object of an in-depth study. Being on the spot, you will be in a position to discover and acquire a good knowledge of the errors that are being perpetrated there, and propose effective remedies for them. You will find in my person, Monsignor, the most valid support for the implementation of His Highness the Khedive’s orders; and this all the more because, as you know, these orders are in perfect accord with my own convictions.
Deeply convinced as I am of the human sentiments that animate you, I have no doubt, Monsignor, that you will give serious consideration to this request of mine, and that despite the trouble it may cause you, you will not fail to help me with your lights and with your wise advice in such an important matter.
You will be pleased to know, Monsignor, that I have appointed an officer with one hundred soldiers to supervise Jebel Nuba. I have no doubt that this will be well appreciated in the area and above all in the Mission.
Please accept, Monsignor, the expression of etc.
Governor General of the Sudan (L.S) Rauf Pasha”


I kiss the sacred purple, etc.

+ Daniel Comboni, V.A.