Writings

[7204]

Today I had news from Kordofan, where they are all quite well. Fr Losi was bleeding and seemed on his last legs; now he is better and walks with a stick. A hurricane damaged the church a little, the zinc sheets. But I am sending some from Khartoum.
They are all well in Jebel Nuba. Since I cannot write, I send the letters from the two Sisters, Amalia the Superior and Eulalia.

[7205]

Oh! I dream night and day of possessing the Pope’s ring with Mgr Ricci’s signature left to me by Brown. Oh, beloved ring! It was worn by that holy Pontiff, Pius IX! Use all your prudence and skill to wrench it from the greedy hands of the son, who was thought to be a saint, who was made a cavaliere by Pius IX because he was wounded at Castel Fidardo. Oh, beloved ring! I dream of what I must do with it. Use it myself, no, because I am too profane; sell it to princes who eat too much for two thousand marenghi, no, that would be a profanation of the ring. We shall see. Pray and have prayers said for it to be retrieved. Vale, et fave .

+ Bishop Daniel

[7206]

From a certain point of view I lost 200 thalers by sending the money through the Greek Consul; but from another I lost nothing. But after thinking about it, I lost nothing, because your letters of credit were payable not in Kordofan but in Khartoum. In Kordofan the Megid thaler is worth 16 Egyptian piastres; in Khartoum it stands at 16.35, the going rate. You see that if I had cashed the money in Kordofan I would have gained; but I could not expect the Greek Consul to pay me in Kordofan at the Kordofan rate. So I lost nothing, and in any case the Consul is a gentleman.

[7207]

Since we are building and money is going out by the handful, we shall do the following: you keep the money Jesus sends you in the bank. When I need some, I will send you a brief telegram, saying for example: I need money, or send money. Then you will go to the usual banker, as you did for the 300 Egyptian guineas, and have a telegram sent from the banker to the Greek Consul for him to give me the sum. At the same time you will send me a brief telegram telling me that you have available the sum I will draw from the Greek Consul. Everything just as you did the last time but one.

[7208]

A week ago I received 3,000 francs from the government in the form of 150 gold Napoleons, which I have cashed.
Do not send me any more medicines, except under specific orders from me or one of the Superiors or Mother Superiors, because for 325 megids (1,445 francs) I have bought a magnificent and copious pharmacy which contains everything and is enough for all the Stations for a long time.

[7209]

I am not making any Sisters or lay brothers come from Cairo. Let them acclimatise in Cairo. I shall, as soon as the church is finished and it can be used in perfect order, as soon as the Sisters’ chapel and annexes are suitable for them to live there and as few as possible need to be downstairs, because I am sure that this is one of the causes of their illnesses.
Fr Paolo is happy under Fr Losi in Nuba (per accidens Fr Losi has been in Kordofan ever since the Kharif), Giuseppe Fortini is doing extremely well, works all the time, is good and devout, and is a real blessing to me as a manservant, and to the House where everybody respects him. He has already bound more than 40 volumes. He is manna. He says he is really happy and has… [the rest is missing]

 

[+ Daniel Comboni]

[7210]

I do not know why you are so reluctant to write. I was expecting an answer to one of my letters in which I told you that we would be making an exploration to the Nyanza, but failed to get an answer, positive or negative. I read in the Museo that you were ill in Bienasco; I expected a letter, but nix. Here the Sisters and all the Missionaries, especially Fr Luigi, always asked after you. But what reply could I give?

[7211]

In the Nuba I made a magnificent exploration all over the Nuba mountains, the Great Golfan, the Little Golfan (where a Station will be established after the Kharif), Tarda, Karkendi, Kujala, Jukor, Karco, Sobes, Kondokor, Kondrkara, etc., etc., and we made a new precise map (the one made by Fr Carcereri was wrong), which I have sent to nearly all the Geographic Societies in Europe and which I shall now have printed myself. I made this exploration with Fr Luigi, Fr Vincenzo, Fr Leone and in the Little Golfan with Fr Losi…

[7212]

In the Nuba, where Fr Losi compiled a dictionary of more than 3,000 words, given the immense difficulty in discovering the language, we held a meeting where it was decided to establish ourselves in the lands where the Dinka and Bari languages are spoken, for which we have had grammars and dictionaries for 16 years and on which I have worked myself, because it is much easier to work in a language for which there are dictionaries and grammars than having to dig it out as we did in the Nuba. Since the province of Bahar el Ghazal, which includes the Guaw Gram, the Maraka, etc. is really flourishing, we have decided to found a Mission in those parts. Gessi has written and spoken so much about them. The new governor who is Gessi’s successor, Lipton Bey from London, has invited me to go there. He is leaving in a few days and, due to the trust he has in me, he has asked me, and I have accepted, to collect his monthly salary here in Khartoum and keep it in my safe, and when I am absent, in the local Superior’s.

[7213]

In addition, the crossing will not be made on the White Nile, but from El Obeid via Nuba, Bahar el Ghazal, Makraka and Albert Nyanza.
In addition, it is probable that I (with you if you come) with Fr Arturo, will make a three month journey with the Hokomdar, Rauf Pasha, from Khartoum to Sebath, Bahar el Ghazal, Giser, Guaw Gram, Makraka and Albert Nyanza, and after a tour in the steamer over the whole lake, we shall reach Fatiko, etc. Gondokoro, Ladi Halfa and Khartoum, it seems around the end of November.
Say nothing, and print nothing of all this. I prefer to do things first, and then talk about them. The African, Fr Dobale, whom we saw in Secakim, died in El Obeid. Sister Maria who left Cairo with me for Malbes also died.

[7214]

After three months of rain in El Obeid, not even a drop of water appeared in the wells, which means that for ten months I have been spending 8 to 10 thalers a day for water. Therefore I am seriously concerned for Kordofan, and I must reach a decision. Here we have a very able French Consul, Mr Voision, who was previously a diplomat in Burma and India; he has superb quarries and is very well off and well paid. Hansal is happy about this, saying that they are now a real power feared by the French. The French Consul always comes to consult me, but he is a man who can give advice. His chancellor and dragoman is none other than the first-born son of Faragialla Musalli; Giorgio Papa is established here in Khartoum.

[7215]

In Nuba there are already 300 soldiers; but I have had the inspector and commissioner for slavery changed, and I have proposed for the post Pasha Roversi, from Bologna, our companion in exploration in the Nuba, who will leave here next week. The government has adopted all my proposals for the defeat of the Baqqarah. Fr Vincenzo Marzano (who has done very well) has left for Naples, where he must have arrived by now. He will leave Naples after Christmas to return to Africa. He will go still to Verona.
My greetings to your mother, sisters and brother, the Provost, the Mayor, our dear Fr Casalegno and the parish priest of SS. Pietro e Paolo, and I bless you.

+ Daniel, Bishop

[7216]

I was most surprised to hear that my letter had so distressed the Mother Superior, for in it I had asked things which concerned her duty and which I had the right in conscience to ask. If this is the way things are, since I do not want to be the cause of any disturbance, I assure you and please assure the Mother Superior, that I will never disturb her again with any letter of mine. What wonderful relations there are between an Institute in which charity, obedience, trust and respect for authority should flourish, what wonderful relations, I say, there are between the Institute of the Devout Mothers of Africa and their Founder who sweats, labours and goes without sleep in order to support them and make sure they lack for nothing! What a spirit of the Lord!

[7217]

This morning under the patronage of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary I solemnly baptised fourteen non-believers, some pagans and some Muslims. The most joyful of them all was a young Muslim girl of fourteen or fifteen, the daughter of the wife of the former Commandant-General of the troops of Kordofan and Darfur. After five continuous years of tears and sighs, she obtained the permission of her Muslim mother to receive baptism. I first wanted a legal document to be drawn up, and this was done through the Austro-Hungarian Consul. In contains a declaration that the daughter wants to be a Catholic, that the mother gives her full permission, and is signed by many witnesses. The mother, who is illiterate, though of noble birth, signed it using the symbol of the Cross, even though she is a Muslim.

[7218]

In Cairo, where the General went with his wife, the daughter who was longing to become a Catholic and a Sister under Sister Vittoria (and I gave her the name of Vittoria) was pining and wasting away day by day, until her mother, in order not to see her die, took her to Sister Vittoria in Khartoum. Now she is the happiest creature in the world. I will write a special article about this wonderful conversion for the Annals, so that God may be glorified in the conversion of this Muslim girl.

[7219]

I also baptised a 60-year-old Dinka who was converted by a miracle of grace, and I gave him Mitterrutzner’s name, John Chrysostom.
We did our sums today with the help of Fr Francesco, etc. From the feast of St Joseph on 19th March until today I alone have baptised 52 pagans and Muslims, of whom 46 were adults. Many others, including Sister Teresina and Sister Vittoria, did their part. All these souls would have been eternally lost had our holy Work not existed.

[7220]

In the midst of this consolation I feel the weight of the Cross on my heart. The condition of Paolo Scandi of Rome has deteriorated. Fr Francesco Pimazzoni (who offered his life to God so that the Lord would put an end to the deaths of missionaries and Sisters in the Vicariate) has had a relapse. Fr Giovanni Battista Fraccaro feels very ill indeed.

[7221]

O my sweet Jesus! Yes, he did not build the Cross for fun but so that we might carry it. Yes, we will carry it, and willingly too. Fair news from Kordofan. Please pray and have prayers said for us.
The accounts of the administration do not show the sum that Giacomo took with my permission and with the obligation to repay it when he can, to deal with the case against his brother.
Any money you receive for me or for the mission, take it as for Verona, giving me an account of it.
Praised be Jesus.
Your most devoted

+ Bishop Daniel

[7222]

Khartoum, 3 October At 7 o’clock this morning Paolo Scandi of Rome died. His death was most edifying and he died very happy, assisted by everyone, from typhoid fever. For seven days, at his request, he had received Communion as Viaticum. Fr Francesco, deeply shocked and nearing his end, asked for the Sacraments. Fr Battista, after hearing his confession, etc., and assisting the dying man, has taken to his bed with a very high fever. Have prayers said, especially by the Stigmatine Sisters.

+ Bishop Daniel

[7223]

I was right when I gave orders for the catafalque to be left intact after the Office and Requiem Mass for the three whose deaths I mentioned in my last letter. This morning the lay brother, Paolo Scandi of Rome, died of typhoid fever in a most edifying way. He was a locksmith, and expert in copper work. He had been more than a year here in Kordofan and served us well, which is why I feel so sad about him. As I write, Fr Francesco Pimazzoni has asked me for the last Sacraments. For piety and true holiness he is certainly the first in the mission, and with this he combines admirable good sense and talent. Having had to interrupt his studies to be a soldier, he sanctified the barracks, and in his regiment preserved his faith and religion and induced many of his companions to frequent the church and the Sacraments. Reasonably well-grounded in Arabic, he had already started to have good results here.

[7224]

So we have started to pester St. Joseph, and to pray most ardently, begging him to spare Fr Francesco. No, he must not die. Immediately after Paolo’s funeral, I had them take the catafalque away, because Pimazzoni must have no need of it, at least for now. Immediately after the funeral and after being all night with the dying Brother, since he was his confessor, my excellent Fr Battista Fraccaro, my future Vicar General, was obliged to take to his bed with a fever.

[7225]

My God! Always crosses! But when Jesus gives us the Cross he loves us; all these crosses weigh terribly on my heart; but they also increase its strength and courage in fighting the Lord’s battles, because God’s works have always been born and grown like this; the Church was founded in the blood of the God-Man, and of the Apostles and Martyrs; all the Catholic Missions in the world which have borne fruit have developed in the image of the Church, and thus they have prospered, thus they have grown strong, thus they have made progress, in the midst of deaths, of sacrifice and in the shade of the saving tree of the Cross.

[7226]

Yesterday, the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, I solemnly conferred Holy Baptism on fourteen adult non-believers, including a Muslim girl whom I mentioned to you in my last letter. It is a true miracle of the grace of God who in wonderful and extraordinary ways led this vigorous, fortunate soul to the heart of the Church. She has not only become Catholic, but firmly desires to become a religious with the Devout Mothers of Africa. It is worth telling this story to Your Eminence and here it is in a few words.

[7227]

In 1877 Mohammed Bey, commander in chief of the troops of Kordofan and Darfur, was stationed in Kordofan. For medical reasons two Arab Sisters of St Joseph were visiting his harem and even baptised a child in articulo mortis. One of them was Sister Anna, that is, the petulant and unruly Virginia, whom Fr Sembianti wanted to dismiss from the community even before he became Rector of my Verona Institutes. In the harem was a young girl called Sekina, whose name Virginia subsequently changed to Nina.

[7228]

Having seen the Sisters several times, she insistently begged her mother to go to the Sisters to learn how to sew, etc. In brief, since the Commander-General had to leave El Obeid for Darfur, his wife sent her daughter Sekina to our Sisters. Since she showed her desire to become Catholic, she always took part in the catechetical instruction that Virginia gave the little African girls on the Mission, and often asked for explanations of one point or other of our Faith.

[7229]

In 1879, when my Sisters replaced the Sisters of St Joseph, Nina became particularly attached to the Superior, Sister Vittoria Paganini, who is now Superior of the house in Khartoum. However, when the Commander-General returned from Darfur, His Highness the Khedive summoned him to Cairo; he therefore took his whole family with him, and Nina shed many tears at leaving the Sisters. In Cairo she constantly implored her mother to go to the Sudan to the Sisters under Sr Vittoria; but both her mother and her father the Commander absolutely refused. Nina continued crying and pleading to return to the Sudan. Her father died in Cairo (it is said that he was poisoned), and when the mother saw her daughter pining and visibly wasting away, she decided to take her to Sr Vittoria in Khartoum. Then she busied herself in claiming the enormous sum owed to her husband who had not been paid; and she has not yet obtained it. When I arrived in Khartoum this lady presented herself to me, begging me not to let her daughter receive Baptism. I answered her that this matter depended entirely on the wishes of her daughter. She added that all their relatives were against it.

[7230]

However, the daughter continued to insist that she wanted to be Christian and then become a Sister of the Devout Mothers of Africa, so that on my return from Kordofan and Jebel Nuba, the mother, who could no longer resist her daughter’s entreaties and tears, consented to her Baptism. However, knowing that this business was common knowledge to many Turks in senior positions and to the great Pasha, I proceeded with great caution; I first wanted the Imperial Royal Austro-Hungarian Consul to intervene to obtain the consent in writing of both the mother and the daughter, and I wanted the document to be signed by many witnesses as I said above.

[7231]

No words can describe the daughter’s joy, especially yesterday, at the moment she received Baptism; everyone was amazed. I know that His Excellency the Governor General of the Sudan frowned on it, although he is a friend of mine, since he is a fanatical Muslim. But now he will have to come round to the idea. Yesterday, after the completion of the baptismal ceremony, the General Inspector of Health of all the Sudan, Georgi Bey, came to see me and said: “His Excellency the Governor General wanted to attend the celebration for all the Africans made Christian by you this morning; but since he had heard that the ceremony was taking place too early, he did not come”.

[7232]

Among the baptised there was also an old man of 60 of the Dinka tribe who had heard about Christianity twenty-three years ago when I went to the land of the Gog at 6 degrees Latitude North in the autumn of 1858. I don’t know whether this old man came to Khartoum because in those internal regions he never saw a missionary again, or whether he was kidnapped and then brought to Khartoum. Last February he escaped from his master and took refuge at the mission, and we settled things with his master for a few scudi.

[7233]

There is certainly every reason to adore God’s loving Providence, which in so many ways leads souls to the harbour of the Church, the only place where eternal salvation is found. Likewise, when the Sisters visit the harems, either for charitable work or to baptise infants of non-believers in articulo mortis, or for mundane reasons and to maintain good relations with the women of the great, the Catholic faith always triumphs; also because the good example and conduct of the Sisters is a most eloquent lesson to the Muslims, who always admire them. I have noted this in my long experience. Moreover the solid conversion of this young Muslim girl who took the name of Vittoria at her Baptism is a beautiful proof.

[7234]

Last night while we were assisting the layman Paolo Scandi, we calculated that from 19th March, the feast of St Joseph, until yesterday, the feast of the Most Holy Rosary, I alone have baptised 52 (fifty-two) non-believers, pagans and Muslims, including 46 adults, who without our holy Work would have been lost for ever. That is just myself. But the other Missionaries and Sisters also did their part in all the Stations of the Vicariate.

[7235]

It should be noted that this Vicariate is the most difficult and laborious of all the Missions in the world, and we almost always have to contend with a deadly climate, with ferocious illnesses and with death itself, much more frequently than in all the other African Missions. Then as the Lord has disposed, I have had to struggle with immense and just as perilous internal difficulties which it is pointless to mention here, because they are partly known to the Sacred Congregation. I have had to re-assign Mission personnel over and over again, wasting much time and health and energy.

[7236]

I have never felt as content as I do now, because although they still are few, I have available people of great virtue and self-denial who face the most terrible privations and death itself, as easily as drinking a glass of water. This must seriously be taken into consideration. Therefore if Your Eminence will wait, verbi gratia, until 1890 before making a definitive judgement on all the most recently founded Missions of the African interior, that is, Central Africa, the Sahara, the Nyanza, Tanganyka, the Upper Zambezi, the Lower and Upper Congo, and the interior of the Guineas, and will attentively examine the different phases and the progress made by each one of these Missions, estimating the natural and extraordinary difficulties and the forces of each one, Your Eminence, I hope, will have to conclude that Central Africa is not in the last place, although it is the toughest and most dangerous of them all.
I am burdened by a bad rheumatic fever. The heat of these days with the [Khamsin?] wind, exceeds every limit. I kiss the Sacred Purple,
Your most humble and devoted son

+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic

[7237]

Since I would like Virginia to recover her health for a while and to have some relief after her distressing upsets before she returns to the Orient via Rome, where I would like her to have the comfort of kissing the feet of the Holy Father and receiving his blessing, I beg you to go yourself to Verona or to send a trustworthy ecclesiastic to fetch her and take her home to devout Teresina, your worthy sister.

[7238]

If good Fr Sembianti should make any difficulties in granting Virginia this grace, beg him with your love and concern, and he will certainly grant it to you.
I am sure that you will do me this favour, and please give my greetings to Teresina, Monsignor, Dr Manfroni, Fr Pietro and all my friends, as well as Fr Tilino, and I will always remain
Your most affectionate friend,

+ Daniel,
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic

[7239]

Yesterday morning at 7 o’clock Paolo Scandi died a most edifying death from typhoid fever. It is really evident that Rome is the metropolis of faith. Seven days earlier, when he had just fallen ill, he himself asked for the Sacraments, and received Communion in the form of the Viaticum with great devotion, telling me that he would be lucky if God were to call him to himself. On the other days, although he was better, he nonetheless made his confession every day. The other night his fever suddenly shot up, he wanted to receive Communion again with the Last Sacraments and when he had received the Holy Oil and the Papal Blessing, he said: “I am really happy to die”. He gave his confessor, Fr Battista, his watch for his father, and expired like a true Christian. We were all edified.

[7240]

Fr Francesco and Fr Battista are also ill. Fr Francesco has relapsed into an extraordinarily weak state. Pray for us who are happy and resigned to carrying the Cross, on which our sweet Jesus died.

[7241]

I found it impossible to understand anything from your telegram. I suspect that Cardinal Consolini, prompted by the Rector of the Mastai Seminary may call you to Rome. I strongly protest against such a decision, and you, by the will of God and the Sacred Congregation are a missionary of Central Africa, in whose service you have a most important office for the greatest glory of God and which you carry out magnificently.

[7242]

Write to Fr Sembianti that you will not accept the short Domenico in the Institute but that you are sending him home.
Say special prayers for me, because I am full of crosses from head to foot. But beloved Jesus! Should we refuse him, when he enables us to acquire heaven?
The other day we baptised – I did – 14 non-believers, including a Muslim girl.
I bless everyone.

+ Bishop Daniel