Writings

[1618]
Allow me to send you, only now, just two lines because I am very busy at the moment, since I have moved house to have better air and larger rooms for the community.

Words fail me to thank you properly for the kindness of your heart, your generosity and for what you are doing for Africa and for the faith. I am also very grateful for your dear letter of 6th June which gave me great pleasure. I send you all my affection. The glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of souls is the precious bond that will make our friendship eternal. Since France is both the mainstay of the Church’s apostolate as well the protector of the Sovereign Pontiff’s temporal power, I feel all the more in union with you, because you are a son of the eldest daughter of the Church.
[1619]
From now on we shall have two correspondences: a secret one, between you and me, and the other public, that you will be able to publish in your much appreciated journal which is frequently despised by some because it contains some truths (very impressive ones) which make an impact. This letter is secret.
[1620]
I ask you a thousand pardons for having been unable to send you some of my letters: I had prepared lots, I had even told our friend Ildenfonso and Mgr Canossa, but I never ever found a moment to send them. You are very dear and kind. You have continued to send your admirable journals (which I shall try to distribute and make known so as to increase the membership, especially in Rome).
[1621]
If I were to try and describe the crosses I bear, a volume would not suffice. Mgr Canossa does not know them all. But, dear friend, I shall never lose heart with the grace of God. Before I succeeded in drawing Mgr Canossa into the association (already 15 months ago) I suffered greatly for the work I wanted to found for Africa: I am used to battles. Even if I remained alone, without support, I would continue alone in the Work God has shown me comes from him. The acquisition of Mgr Canossa is a great advantage: his name, his zeal for the salvation of souls, his great generosity to great works are very useful to the Work. He belongs to one of the most noble, famous and ancient families of Italy. He is a direct descendent of Countess Matilde di Canossa, who endowed the popes with a part of their temporal power; he is a nephew of Maddalena di Canossa who performed many miracles and will soon be venerated on the altars. The Monsignor was inspired and borne in her arms; his brother the Marchese Ottavio is, perhaps, a better man than the Bishop (between you and me) from many points of view, but both are admirable. The Monsignor is highly venerated by the Catholic episcopate and well loved by the Pope. I have pondered all this and decided that he would be a very appropriate President and Director for the Association for Africa, worthy as it is of his heart which is so passionate for the salvation of souls.
[1622]
A Frenchman like yourself, Lodovico di Canossa in 1512 was one of the most famous Bishops of Bayeux and a member of this family, in which piety, faith, loyalty to the papacy and charity are traditional. The Canossa family is the mother of the Catholics of Verona: that is why the evil ones and the masons detest it. I am not answering your letter now. I will only say that I cannot follow your advice where you say: “I advise you not to support me, not to speak of me in the presence of people who are of little intelligence…”. Never. I am sincere, I cannot lie, I have to give merit to those who have it: I either keep silent, or I speak the truth. These people of little intelligence know me perfectly well. I will either speak well of you, as I have done, or I will not speak. I know well what is opportune. You may rest assured that you speak great truths. People may say that you are more French than Catholic, but that is not true. You frankly defend the Pope and desire all that is necessary for the regeneration of East. You do not like the fact (nor do I) that a monopoly of souls should be established in Egypt and the Holy Land. The religious orders are the arms of the Church, but they are not its whole body. You understand me.
[1623]
As for me, I will explain my great necessities to you. I have 30 people and I haven’t got a penny. God knows how I work. For my chapel, I have what is needed to celebrate just one Mass: two booklets, etc. but not to say two, nor to celebrate Benediction, etc. It appears, from Mgr Canossa’s letter, that you have money to send me. I could kiss you a thousand times. I will write to you about my journeys from the Red Sea to the Indies, and also about the real progress of my Institutes. You have the whole heart of

Fr Daniel


Translated from the French.

[1624]
It is with the greatest pleasure that I received your letter of the 4th of this month in which Your Most Reverend Eminence informs me of His Holiness’s declaration that those who have been crucified by the so-called Crown of Italy must refuse this decoration. Although Your Most Reverend Eminence will already have noted in Unità Cattolica that I perfectly fulfilled His Holiness’s respected wish, I nonetheless do not think it inappropriate for me to give you an account of my action in the circumstance.
[1625]
On the 4th of this month the Italian Consul sent to the Very Reverend Father Guardian of the Holy Places in Cairo an envelope addressed to me. When it was delivered to me the next day I found it contained the Royal Diploma of the Cavalierato (knighthood) together with a very kind letter from the Consul himself. Fearing that if I rejected the Diploma directly into the Consul’s hands, he might not send it back to Florence immediately; since I also had other business to see to, I instantly went to Alexandria to consult the Vicar Apostolic and determine with him the safest and most appropriate way of sending my refusal with the Diploma back to the Ministry in Florence. But as I did not find His Most Reverend Excellency, who had gone to Port Saïd, I sent the royal Decree with the following letter to the Bishop of Verona, asking him to send everything to Florence, and begging him to have the said letter of refusal inserted in Unità Cattolica, and to do so right away.
[1626]
I would have liked to make a quite logical declaration to the Government of Florence, as befits a true son of the Church and of the Pope: but since many Bishops had had this sort of decoration bestowed upon them, out of respect for them it appeared to me appropriate to stay in my humble place, not to precede them and to limit myself to this simple declaration addressed to Signor Cibrario, Councillor of State and Head of the new Order of Chivalry.
[1627]
“Excellency,
It not being in keeping with my character as a Catholic priest and my capacity as an apostolic missionary to receive the honour of the Cross of Cavaliere della Corona d’Italia (Knight of the Italian Crown), which His Majesty has deigned to bestow upon me, I take the liberty of returning to Your Excellency the Diploma which appoints me a Knight of this Order of Chivalry and which the Reverend Agent and Consul General recently hastened to deliver to me personally in Cairo. At the same time I assure you that I will always seek to behave in every circumstance and everywhere as an Italian Catholic, in a manner that befits a true priest and missionary of the holy, Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church and a loyal subject of my beloved Sovereign. While I beg Your Excellency to present my humble thanks to His Majesty’s throne and to convey to him my profound feelings of respect for his august self, I have the honour of signing with every respect
Your Excellency’s

your humble and devoted servant,
Fr D. Comboni”

[1628]
Since true priests of Jesus Christ must in the best way possible be open before the faithful and the world, and profess wholesome principles in such calamitous and delirious times, both to satisfy my own heart and to give good example to others, and since one of the ways is to offer Peter’s Pence, although I live in extreme poverty, I have sent to Unità Cattolica (through the Bishop of Verona) my meagre offering of 20 lire with the following too long but most appropriate declaration:
[1629]
“Cairo, Egypt. Fr Daniel Comboni, Apostolic Missionary, to the immortal Pontiff and King, the high-priest of the New Covenant, the Successor of the Apostles, Prince of Bishops, Pastor of Pastors, Pius IX; upon whom God has conferred Abel’s Primacy, Noah’s Dominion, Abraham’s Patriarchate, the Order of Melchisedech, Aaron’s Dignity, Moses’ Authority, Samuel’s Jurisdiction, David’s valour, Peter’s power, the unction of Jesus Christ; and has made him the centre of Catholic unity, the stone on which his Church is founded, the sincere witness of his revelation, the faithful depository of his doctrine, the infallible interpreter of his oracles, the fearless supporter of his altars, the just vindicator of his law, the legitimate propagator of his holy Religion. I salute in you, O Most Blessed Father, the true friend of humanity, the glory of the Supreme Pontificate, the champion of universal civilisation, the terror of the multiform hydra of impiety, the strongest athlete, the illustrious martyr, the hero of the 19th century whom the present generation will venerate above all others; the saint whose faith, wisdom, courage, fortitude, piety and constancy governs, supports, defends, saves, exalts and glorifies the venerated Bride of Jesus Christ against the fury and assaults of the infernal powers which try in vain to annihilate her and which will never succeed in tearing the seamless garment of this glorious Queen who, conquering nations and kings, sees the bewildered centuries pass before her, whose voice resounds in the garden at sunset, whose mantle covers the peoples as the dome of the heavens covers the world.
[1630]
Pour out, O Most Holy Father, your healing blessing upon me your poor son, upon my dear fellow missionaries, upon the Association of the Good Shepherd for the regeneration of Africa and upon these two new Institutes for Africans, which stand a few paces from the Holy Grotto where the Holy Family sheltered while in exile in Egypt, and which are destined to form strong elements for the conversion of wretched Africa. It is better to suffer with you than to enjoy the world: the cross and the tribulations suffered with you are a thousand times sweeter and more tender than worldly honours and than all the riches of the earth. Accept the small offering of 20 lire, which is the alms of a Mass celebrated in the aforesaid Shrine of the Holy Family and which I dedicate to you as my heart’s slender homage to you, Pontiff and King”.
[1631]
As I announce the acquisition of another soul belonging to the Copt heretical sect of Abyssinia, whom I am instructing in Catholicism, I thank you again for your precious letter, I kiss the Sacred Purple and profess that I remain ever

Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble and devoted son

Fr D. Comboni

[1632]
You will be surprised to see that I am suddenly in France. It is normal. Someone as burdened as I am has to seek a way out. This is why, with the consent of Mgr Ciurcia, I decided to go where I can find money. I will go immediately to Cologne, but first of all I want to seize this favourable opportunity to visit and unburden myself to my venerable and dearest M. Girard in Grenoble and discuss the interests of the most unfortunate and abandoned race.
[1633]
So I am happy to see that the Cross of Jesus Christ surrounds me and thank the good God for the thorns with which he afflicts my existence: this consoles me and gives me more courage than all the riches of the earth, because they are signs of divine love and that the Work at which we labour is wholly God’s Work. In two or three days I shall have the honour to see you in Grenoble and to bring you a letter from our dear Ildenfonso. I therefore have the honour of being, in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

your most devoted Fr Daniel Comboni

I did not find Fr Biagio Verri who is in Verona.


Translation from the French.

[1634]
After having taken the new and most beautiful house and paid for three months, I again found myself without money but with new and urgent needs and without the hope of receiving any help, either from the Associations, which are silent, or from private benefactors who for the time being do not exist. After having thoroughly examined the situation, all four of us decided that one of us should go to Cologne. When I explained the emergency to Mgr the Delegate in Alexandria, this gentleman found our determination most just. Therefore, after he had given me a splendid open recommendation and a sealed letter (which he previously read to me) for the President of the Association for the Propagation of the Faith in Lyons and Paris, with his blessing I departed at 4.00 in the afternoon on the Saïd for Marseilles, where I have arrived safely today. Tomorrow, if the fever leaves me, I am going to Grenoble to stay with our dear M. Girard, and then on to Cologne. From there I will go to Paris, then to Verona and then to Egypt I hope, with two Camillians, Tezza and Savio, and with the postulant Missionary from Piacenza, si ita placebit Your Most Reverend Excellency.
[1635]
I see from the crosses the Lord sends me and from the Work protected by the Apostolic Delegate of Egypt, that it is a Work of God. So take courage, Monsignor; even before we undertook the work, we foresaw the crosses, now that they have come should we not be consoled? There are bound to be new ones to come: but that is where I find a great comfort. In spite of all this the devil will be crushed and Jesus will triumph.
[1636]
In Marseilles I sought Fr Biagio Verri to discuss what was explained to Cardinal Patrizi two years ago and is published in the Cologne Yearbook of 1866. In other words, that we were to give each other mutual help; but he had gone to Verona, and I fear that they will have done little, given the fact that he is expected in Marseilles where the 12 African girls he had bought in Cairo are arriving from Cairo, Syria, Asia Minor, Smyrna and Greece.
[1637]
I cannot go on because I have a bit of cold fever. Please accompany me with your blessing and prayers. Fr Zanoni is standing in for me at the moment in Cairo, with the help of the most worthy and truly good Fr Carcereri. I would love to know where Mme Thérèse is: but I shall soon find out in Paris. In the meantime pray and have prayers said for me: offer my respects to the Marchese Ottavio and all the family, to the members of the Council, to Fr Vincenzo and also to Giovannino.
I kiss your Sacred Vestments and declare myself in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

Your entirely devoted son,

Fr Daniel

[1638]
Immaculate Virgin of La Salette, reconciler of sinners, here I am at your feet, prostrate before Jesus Christ in your privileged shrine to obtain your patronage of a cause which is so difficult, perhaps the most arduous there has ever been and yet the most important of the Catholic apostolate, the mission to the cursed race of Canaan, to the poor blacks who live in those vast regions, as yet unexplored, of Central Africa.
[1639]
Having been called for some years by Divine Providence to this laborious apostolate, to you, O Mary, I owe the fact that I have not yet perished like so many Missionaries through the great efforts and deprivations that await us in those scorching lands, and that I was able to study the means to overcome the obstacles which, until now, have prevented the evangelisation of the nations that populate the Equator. It is you, divine Mother, who inspired me with the new plan for the regeneration of Central Africa, which the Vicar of Christ and many Bishops have approved as the wisest and the most appropriate. And also with the authorisation of the Holy See, I have devoted myself, with my generous companions, to the conversion of Africans who are still unbelieving despite the efforts of the Church; even if the Blood of Jesus Christ has redeemed them, and you, O Mary, have also adopted them as your children on Mount Calvary.
[1640]
Profoundly moved by your appearance here to invite men to atone for their sins and to announce the reconciliation of earth with heaven, I have come to this holy mountain to implore you, divine Virgin, who wept here over the evils of humanity and came here to change justice into mercy; so I come to send up to you a cry of extreme despair that you will change into a cry of hope and salvation. For centuries innumerable evils have oppressed the poor Africans; horrible too are the superstitions and crimes that degrade them... More than a hundred million souls are oppressed under the yoke of Satan... but the terrible forty century-old anathema must at last be lifted.
[1641]
O Immaculate Virgin of La Salette, who regenerates the human race, this is where you came down to proclaim this great news to the world, this is where you ordered it to be made known to all your people, this is where you display each day the miracles of your power and your bounty; here you show yourself to be our real Queen who rules, but also our Mother who obtains graces and forgiveness, because this is truly a new Calvary, a new altar of expiation. O Mary, refuge of poor sinners, show that you are also the Queen and Mother of the poor Africans, since they too are your people. I want to teach them this great news that you have proclaimed from the top of this holy mountain.
[1642]
Yes, good Mother of mercy, you are the Mother of the Africans: at this moment I, their father and their missionary, bring them all to your feet so that you may place them in your Heart. Show that you are their Mother! I know that I ask of you a great miracle. But, Divine Mother, you did not come to weep in these places except to multiply your miracles. I too weep with you now to obtain one for the good of my Africans: be their Mother! The East has already turned towards this holy mountain. We see some of Shem’s children together with Japheth’s. On this solemn day I come to unite the sons of Canaan so that the whole human race may be consecrated to the Virgin of forgiveness and salvation.
[1643]
O my divine Mother, you know how many beautiful souls and generous hearts I have found, thanks to you, among these African tribes… Yes, in these first fruits of my Mission, which I again place under your protection, there is the certainty that the time has come for humanity as a whole, who are God's people and yours, to form but a single flock under the care of the Good Shepherd. In fact, Virgin of reconciliation, something would be lacking in your glory, and your triumph and that of the Church would be incomplete if the race of Canaan were to remain rejected from the banquet of the Father of the family. Countries who murder the poor Africans have halted the impetus of the Catholic Missionaries; but in the same way that the schismatic orientals are going to be converted mainly by means of the Catholic orientals, I have understood, through your inspiration, that we have to work above all for the conversion of Africans by the Africans themselves. O Mary, work this miracle: I consecrate them to you, I entrust them to you that you may wash them of their filth and remove this terrible curse which still weighs upon them: then they will become worthy of all your love.
[1644]
Then, as you were proclaimed by my venerable Pastor, the Bishop of Verona, as you were proclaimed by the Pontiff of your Immaculate Conception, you will always be the Queen of Africa, the Queen of the black people. Make it so that the more they are liberated from misfortune, the more they may, through you, be immersed in all the joys of faith, of hope and of charity. O Mary, you are most powerful, and since God can turn stones into sons of Abraham, I ask you, turn these unfortunate sons of Canaan into sons of Abraham, to such an extent that from now on the Church may apply to them the praise the Holy Spirit paid to you: “I am black, but beautiful, my daughter of Jerusalem”. Amen.

Fr Daniel Comboni
Apostolic Missionary to Central Africa


Translation from the French.

[1645]
Just a word from the holy Mountain, where for the last 4 days I have been staying with our dear friend M. Girard, with Mgr Millos, Archbishop of Achre and with Mgr Salzano, a Bishop from Naples who resides there and has pontifical responsibility for the thirty-six vacant dioceses of the Neapolitan region. I cannot tell you the impression the Holy Mountain made upon me: it was greater than the one I had from the Holy Places in Palestine. I entreat Your Excellency to visit La Salette, which Mgr Millos calls the Holy Land of the West. To get there one leaves Grenoble at 6 a.m. in a coach drawn by three horses. To reach Corps, the horses are changed 4 times; the second time 6 horses are harnessed, the third 5 and the fourth 4.We reached Corps at 4.30 p.m. At 5 we started to climb the mountain on horseback and at 7.30 we reached the Shrine. It is a moving spectacle of devotion and piety. I do not have time to give you a description of the service we celebrated yesterday, at which Mgr Millos consecrated Chaldea and I consecrated the poor Africans. Terre Sainte will be publishing our act of Consecration.
[1646]
Yesterday, after Mgr Salzano had presided over Vespers, I took the pulpit and spoke of the importance of the act we were accomplishing and laid out a clear idea of the apostolate of Chaldea and of Central Africa. When I left the pulpit, we all went to the main altar. Monsignor Millos read his act of Consecration in Chaldean and then the Superior of the La Salette Missionaries read the same act of Consecration in French from the pulpit. Then I knelt before the Madonna surrounded by the two Bishops and M. Girard and another gentleman who is the representative of the interests of the Orient in France, and I read aloud my act of Consecration in French. Our emotion was at its climax. The service ended with the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. There were many priests and male and female pilgrims. In sum, I expounded the cause of the Africans and the Chaldeans, and the Superior of the La Salette Missionaries said to me: “The Holy Virgin has to hear your prayer, here we pray all the time; you are about to leave with your prayers already answered”.
[1647]
The fact is that no sooner had I said Mass in the morning than people came from all sides to ask for my blessing. I gave them all my blessing and in exchange I too received many blessings, because some gave me 10 francs, some 20, some thirty and one 50. The fact is that in less than an hour during which I gave blessings I received a blessing of as much as 220 francs which, as soon as I reach Grenoble, I will send to Cairo together with the 50 francs I received from the General of the Charterhouse in Grenoble. Today I am leaving the Holy Mountain because tomorrow I am preaching in Grenoble, where I also preached last Wednesday. The most venerated father of Africa absolutely must come to La Salette. I will tell you in person what a spectacle the Holy Mountain offers and how impossible it is for anyone to come here without being converted and improved. Massimino is in Versailles: I will speak to him; he did not respond too well to the graces of Mary, to whom he is nonetheless most devoted. Melania is in a convent at Castellamare near Naples.
[1648]
In Chambéry I stayed with the Cardinal Archbishop and slept there. I hastened to the Sacred Heart to search for Mme Teresa Durazzo: but she returned two years ago to Paris, where I shall go and find her. Coming to our Work, trust in Our Lady of La Salette, for she will succeed perfectly: let us not fear for the means or for anything. Oh! How I thanked Mary on the Holy Mountain for calling a Bishop who is the nephew of a saint to govern the fate of the poor Africans! Oh! How I thanked the Virgin for the zeal that you, our father, have for God’s work and for the cause of Africa! Oh, Mary, from the top of this mountain, will bless you, Verona, your family, Marchese Ottavio and Africa.
[1649]
I said it from the pulpit, where I finished my sermon with these words: “Before I leave you, my Mother, I will say another sad word: I know well that I am about to wound your heart, but you have wept on this mountain over the sorrows of your people… Bear in mind, Mother, that the hundred million Africans I have offered up to you are all condemned to eternal perdition, they will all go to hell if you do not come to their rescue. Most beloved Mother, will you tolerate such a thing? Oh, no! Remember, I repeat, remember that in Africa one hundred million Africans are holding out their arms, weeping and saying to you: ‘Queen of Africa, save us: we are all falling, all of us are falling into hell if you do not come to our help’ etc.” Courage, O Monsignor, let no obstacle frighten us. Let us place all our trust in the hearts of Jesus and Mary: let us place all our trust in Our Lady of La Salette.
[1650]
M. Girard has an immensely generous heart and singular piety: he is a great Catholic of the first order. With the steamer of the 9th of this month, he sent me 300 francs and gave me another 100 francs and is paying everything for me here. The La Salette Missionaries (a band of little saints, destined to make the Church grow gigantic) accommodated me free (thanks to M. Girard) on the Mountain and in Grenoble. The Superior will have collections made for our Institutes. Thursday, I leave for Lyons and Cologne.
[1651]
Remember what I have told you and written so many times: the Canossian Sisters must be apostles to the Africans because they have the spirit of Jesus Christ and great self-denial. Place all your trust in God, in the Virgin and in your saintly aunt, whom at a later stage we shall choose as one of the patrons of Africa; indeed in my heart I already pray to her as such. Oh! How good Jesus is! How dear Mary is! A thousand respects to the Marchese Ottavio, Mgr. the V. G., Mgr Perbellini, etc., all the members of the Council, Fr Vincenzo, etc. I have no time to write to my dear brother Fr Alessandro: please give him this little image which has touched the place of the Apparition. I kiss your Sacred Vestments, your hands, and declare that I remain,

Your most humble and affectionate son

Fr Daniel Comboni

[1652]
I have been wanting to write to you since the first day that I arrived in Lyons, but I especially wanted to say a few words about the results with the Propagation of the Faith. I will tell you that the members received me with great kindness. If for the moment I shall receive nothing because the cheques have already been issued, I can still hope to receive a small cheque for next year, because the Council showed great interest in my report: The Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa and the African Institutes in Egypt, which I had to draft so that my request could be submitted to the Council. If the Paris Council is also favourable, I will be given something this year.
[1653]
The Contess of Starane is a true woman of the Gospel; I am very grateful that you commended me to her protection. The Cardinal Archbishop of Lyons received me with great kindness, as did the venerable Count of Herculais. I always dine at Count and Countess Herculais' house. That is where I heard Mgr Millos mentioned with great enthusiasm and esteem and chose the occasion to express my opinion to a few members of the Council, saying that the best way to help Chaldea is to support Mgr Millos who, to my mind, now represents the hope of the Chaldean Church. I would impress this truth on the minds of these gentlemen. It is superfluous to thank you for the goodness of your great heart, which is as vast as the universe and aspires only to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. On my return from this short journey, I will write you a letter worthy of being published in your journal.
[1654]
Please send me your journal in Cologne where I hope to arrive in 4 to 6 days. You too should write to Mgr di Canossa. Let him understand that I am most grateful to him for the zeal and love he shows for Africa, and especially stress what I told you (and I am quite convinced of this) that if the Work has started it is because he took it to heart and made it his heart’s desire. For the rest you know perfectly well that I send him my best regards. For your part, encourage him greatly so that God’s Work may effectively be accomplished for the good of Africa, despite all the obstacles of the infernal powers. You know that apart from grace, everything depends on our constancy, wisdom and dedication.
[1655]
Anyway take courage, dear friend, my incomparable friend. God is with us because the only thing we want is his glory: the time has come to incite all the hearts of the universe to love God, the Church, its Head, the Missions and especially the most destitute.

I have been to Ars and was very pleased.
[1656]
Send the journals to Miss Leonia Castillon at Saint Vallier, Drome: she has just written to me that she is expecting them. Also to Rome, to Cavaliere Da Gama and Princess Falconieri. She has also passed them on to Countess Carolina Mocanigo Soranzo in Cremona. If these people do not send you the money, put it all on my account, but send them the journals. In any case I shall see to finding many subscribers. Please give my greatest thanks to the Mother Superior of La Salette. I will write to her when I have a moment’s peace. A thousand regards to Mme Girard and to her dear and good children.

All yours

Fr Daniel Comboni


[1657]
P.S. I will write from Lyons before I leave. I will not leave Lyons before next Monday. You will have to send the trunk of church vestments to Signor Lorenzo in Marseilles.


Translation from the French.

[1658]
If the two small Institutes for African boys and girls are to have a solid foundation, they must be provided with sufficient income so that they at least have the stability which can be supplied by the charity of Catholic Associations. As the permanent pledge the Cologne Association has granted me is not sufficient, I wrote either directly or indirectly to the sources of funds which provide support for the Vicariate of Central Africa, pointing out that the ultimate purpose of the new Institutes is aimed at the evangelisation of inland Africa.
[1659]
My pleas having produced but a meagre effect, and being oppressed by various worries, I opened my heart to the most venerable Vicar Apostolic in Egypt, who after mature reflection, thought it expedient to issue me with a letter of recommendation to the Council of Lyons, so that I could come here in person to present my cause, mindful of the great truth that whoever wants something goes to get it and whoever does not, sends someone.
[1660]
Full of trust in God, I came before this Council in Lyons and in a brief Report entitled: The Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa and the two new Institutes for Africans in Cairo, I exposed my small fixed resources and the urgent expenses of primary necessity that I had and still have to make for the foundation and maintenance of the two Institutes. Although all the members really have shown the greatest interest in my cause and really want to help me, nonetheless from the horizon that spreads before me it seems I must deduce with certainty that the Council will consult Your Most Reverend Eminence, and that in accordance with your reply, it will make a resolution.
[1661]
Although I clearly explained (because the Council was already informed of its existence) that the Pious Association of the Good Shepherd has as its single purpose to maintain the minor Seminary in Verona, it seems to me that these gentlemen still consider it as an association that helps the two new Institutes in Cairo, which is not true and never will be. It turns out, therefore, that the small Association in Cologne is so far the only sure support I have.
[1662]
Things being thus, I submit to Your Most Reverend Eminence a humble and ardent prayer that through the charity that burns in your heart, through the zeal that inflames your heart for the salvation of the most abandoned souls on earth for whom I have toiled and suffered until now and will sacrifice my entire life, you may deign to give me your valid support with the Council of the Propagation of the Faith which, as I have said, I have good reasons to believe heartily desires to help me, whatever sense or form its consultation with Propaganda may have had. While this affair is being dealt with, I am going to Paris to seek some favours from the Ministry of Foreign affairs and return instantly to Cairo, as I was instructed by my most beloved Local Superior, the Vicar Apostolic.
[1663]
I see in the French newspapers these precise words: “Le Pape vient de confier à Mgr. Lavigerie, Archev. D’Alger un territoire de 25,000 lieues carrées, un territoire grand comme l’Europe, qui comprend le Touarik, le Sahara, et l’intérieur de l’Afrique jusqu’au Senegal”. This mission will be called the Vicariate Apostolic of the Sahara. Although French style is somewhat prone to exaggeration, it seems to me nonetheless that in this matter journalism is overstating to excess. I am happy and delighted that gradually some thought is being given to this poor Central Africa whose boundaries are immense as defined in the decree of establishment of the Vicariate of Central Africa promulgated by Gregory XVI. It would seem more precise to name the Archbishop of Algiers’ new Mission: Vicariate Apostolic of the Western Sahara, because the Sahara touches not only eastern Senegal, but also Libya and Nubia. Trusting in your strong recommendation to the Council of Lyons, I kiss the Sacred Purple and declare myself to be,

Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble and obedient servant

Lyons, c/o the Missionaries

Fr Daniel Comboni