Writings

[3058]
I have written to you and begged insistently that you send me Sr Maria Bertholon as soon as possible with one or two Sisters, and I repeat the same prayer to you now; and if you were in Marseilles I would be capable of kneeling down before you (without letting myself be seen by Cardinal Barnabò) to beg you to give me Sr Maria for Central Africa.
[3059]
With this, my exhausting and difficult Mission would go perfectly well and I would be really happy, since all the Sisters you have given me, well directed by your charity with wisdom and God’s spirit, have the virtues to overcome wonderfully well the difficulty (which Sr Veronica has never mentioned in her letters) and which will completely disappear with the arrangements I have made. The Superior and Sr Elisabetta (who do not lack solid virtues) would also have their place. But I need Sr Maria Bertholon as Superior in the Sudan and Sr Veronica as Superior of Old Cairo.
[3060]
You are a Mother, you have done immense good to my Mission and you must continue. I have appointed a new Superior in Old Cairo who is highly esteemed by the Sisters and is able to recognise and correct their faults. Sr Veronica is very happy about her. I want to make Sr Veronica one of the Congregation’s most capable and best Superiors: especially for the perfect observance of the Rule and for the Congregation’s spirit.
[3061]
With regard to Sr Giuseppina and Sr Maddalena, be assured that we will take a more than fatherly care of them. At the moment they are wonderfully well; I know their ailment which Africa will cure perfectly, better than the doctors who had given me up for dead.
It is 12.00 o’clock and the post is about to close. I expect Sr Maria within 12 days. I count on your great heart.
Pray for me.

Your unworthy son

Daniel Comboni

I sent this letter to Sr Germana’s cousins.


Translated from French.

[3062]
I am impatiently awaiting your answer to my letters about Sr Maria Bertholon and some other Sisters. The departure is fixed for the end of this month. The houses are prepared in the Sudan: if they delay another month, they will have problems with the North wind.
[3063]
I have two large boats or dhows available, one for the Sisters and the African girls, the other for the Missionaries. With Sr Maria Bertholon my Work is in good hands. Since Sr Maria can only be happy doing God’s will as expressed by the Superior General, I have not written to her once since the Council, that is, for two and a quarter years.
[3064]
The climate of Central Africa has done so much good to the Fathers Stanislao Carcereri and Giuseppe Franceschini that they have never been ill; both of them have made the trip from Cairo to Kordofan four times.
I am taking with me to the Sudan Canon Pasquale Fiore, Fr Bortolo Rolleri, Fr Vicenzo Jermolinski, Fr Pio Hadrian, Fr Abramo Riga. They are all priests, plus four farmers.

[3065]
As regards the Sisters, please send the letters of obedience to Sr Maria Bertholon, Sr Giuseppina Tabraui, Sr Germana Assuad and Sr Maddalena Caracassian and, if Sr Maria comes with two Sisters, the letter of obedience will also be necessary for Sr Elisabetta Cambefort. You could have problems with Sr Maddalena because of her health: we think that the journey and stay in the Sudan will do her good. Moreover, I need a Sister to take about twenty African girls whom we have in Khartoum to Cairo. Within four years, we will be able to travel from Khartoum to Cairo by train in four days. I am expecting many crosses and some triumphs.
[3066]
In the meantime, please prepare for me some oriental Sisters like Sr Giuseppina and Sr Germana. I am ready to offer you 500 francs for the Novitiate expenses of each. As for Signor Lorenzo, I will pay you 5,000 francs as soon as I receive the first offering from the Propagation of the Faith, which should not take too long. My dear Mother, I am waiting for Sr Maria. The Sisters are well, thanks be to God.
I look forward to your letters, pray for

Your son Daniel Comboni

I ask your forgiveness for this ink: I am writing from the house of the Frères.


Translated from French.

[3067]
The delay of Sr Maria and of the others whom you have had the goodness to grant to me is a cause of worry. But I hope that in the Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, your motherly heart full of love for Jesus Christ will not wish to delay the work of the conversion of more than a hundred million souls, of which the Sisters of St Joseph are the first Apostles. I need two Superiors. But give us Sr Maria and I will be fine. With Sr Maria, Sr Giuseppina Tabraui, Sr Germana and a few others, we will found a magnificent Work. It is difficult to find Sisters as generous as these. If the Arab Sisters are like these, I assure you that the Catholic Church will greatly benefit Central Africa.
[3068]
As for our dear Sr Maddalena, Sr Veronica has written to her. We have every hope that she will recover. The Superior of the hospital and the doctor also condemned Fr Franceschini to death, giving him 15 days to live, and he made the journey from Khartoum to Kordofan and is now thriving, since the climate of Cairo is good for consumptives, and that of the Sudan very good.
[3069]
If you do not immediately send Sr Maria, I shall lose a year. For love of God and St Joseph, please make this sacrifice.
A thousand respects to Mother Assistant and to all the Sisters, from

Your most humble son Daniel Comboni


Translated from French.

[3070]
Your Most Reverend Eminence knows that the Holy Apostolic See erected the Vicariate of Central Africa in 1846 and sent several Missionaries there from various countries and a Bishop, under the most famous leadership of Fr Ryllo, S.J., a Pole.
[3071]
But the sad effects of the harmful revolution of 1848 prevented the Holy Roman Congregation of Propaganda Fide and the pious Society of the Propagation of the Faith in Lyons and Paris from sending further aid to this Mission. Therefore when my venerable Predecessor Dr Ignazio Knoblecher of the Diocese of Ljubjlana who had certainly not lost hope because of such serious neglect returned to Europe, he immediately encountered sentiments of extraordinary piety in the magnanimous hearts of our august Emperor Franz Josef I who, moved by compassion for such innumerable and unhappy tribes of Hamites, groaning under Satan’s yoke, not only lavished many subsidies from his royal private purse on the Most Reverend Pro-Vicar, but also deigned to accept the Vicariate of Central Africa under his protection.
[3072]
He then took the trouble to think of the idea that the Vicariate should be safeguarded by “firmans” of the supreme authority of the Turks, and opened the Austrian Consulate, situated in Khartoum. With his authority he reinforced the institution of the celebrated Society of Mary, commonly known by the name of “Marienverein”, founded in Vienna for the purpose of collecting aid to sustain the Mission.
[3073]
This led the venerable Bishops of the whole Empire to respond with concern to the age-old groans of millions, indeed of a hundred millions of pagans, which seems to be the number of inhabitants in Central Africa, exhorting his own diocesan faithful with the most passionate zeal to collect enormous sums of money to go to the help of those people, and sending them to the distinguished Marian Committee for this Mission.
[3074]
But if it does not seem that the fruit of the Missionaries of Central Africa shines ith a certain great splendour at the moment because of the enormous difficulties hindering the Missionaries’ ministry, nevertheless their efforts brought significant benefits, and concretely: between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, along the Nile and the White Nile, four Catholic Stations were founded.
[3075]
They even studied the customs, law, superstitions, temperament and defects of many peoples. The most enormous regions were explored and villages visited. Unknown languages, such as that of the Dinka and of the Bari, were printed with Austrian characters, thanks to the work of the distinguished Prof. Mitterrutzner of Bressanone.
[3076]
Like all God’s Works, even this one had to experience difficulties and immense efforts caused by the cruelty of men, the inclemency of the climate, etc. It is these difficulties which sign the Works of God, that is, the institutions of the Church and of the Apostolic Missions.
[3077]
Were problems of all kinds, persecution and cruel deaths sometimes insuperable hindrances for Christ’s Apostles? Were not the battles and the trophies of the Apostles most glorious where the difficulties were greatest? Is not sacrifice the price of Redemption and the blood of Martyrs the seed of Christians?
[3078]
This happened, O most Eminent and Reverend Prince, in the mission of Central Africa. Strong men fell, but divine Providence has raised others whose last words, inspired by Christ’s charity, will always be: “Africa or death!”
[3079]
As Providence disposed, I founded the Institute of the African Missions in Verona; and in Cairo, Egypt I opened two schools, one for boys and one for girls, to educate the indigenous clergy, to instruct the natives in craft skills and also to accustom European Missionaries to the climate of the regions of the African interior.
[3080]
Our most Holy Lord Pius IX, having heard the opinion of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, announced at the general assembly of 21st May this year, established that the whole Vicariate of Central Africa should be entrusted to priests from Verona of the Missionary Institute for Africa, and deigned to put me, although I am unworthy, at the head of this arduous and laborious Mission, with the office and faculties of Pro-Vicar Apostolic.
[3081]
The most Eminent Cardinal Barnabò, General Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide sent a letter to the Society of Mary of Vienna, urging the Society’s members to redouble their efforts to collect help from all parts of the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire, on behalf of this Mission.
[3082]
Here then before you, Most Eminent Prince, is Africa, that sits in darkness, that moves away from the straight path, that is on the point of falling into the abyss, being without light, without Faith, without God. It is a question of the salvation of the whole of Central Africa, which makes up a tenth of the whole human race, and which covers an area greater than Europe. Here before your Eminence is the most extensive and difficult Mission on earth, stretching from the Tropic of Cancer to the 12th. degree of latitude South, and which enjoys the protection of the glorious flag of the Emperor.
[3083]
Come then, Most Eminent Prince, for the sake of the Heart of Jesus deign to make this cause your own; and while every day we labour with sweat, effort and blood for this neglected vineyard, I beg you, urge the most pious of the faithful in your Diocese to pray intensely and send their offerings to the Society of Mary in Vienna, which through its Annals will make known our efforts, our travels and also the conversions of the peoples of Central Africa.
[3084]
In a few days I shall set out from Cairo for the vast regions of Central Africa with a group of Missionaries, Sisters and artisans, who since they are already acclimatised, will more easily adapt to the terrible climate of the interior regions of Africa. Thus what Sacred Scripture says will be fulfilled: “Venient legati ex Aegypto, Aethiopia praevenient eos”.
Prostrate at your feet, I humbly commend this cause to you and with a grateful heart I sign myself, in the Heart of Jesus and Mary,

Your Most Reverend Eminence’s
most humble and respectful servant

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from Latin.

[3085]
The delay in the arrival of Sr Maria Bertholon is significant and means that your great love grants this admirable Sister to Central Africa. You will have received my letters in which I implored you to hasten the despatch of this Sister. In the Institutes a novena to St Joseph has been made to obtain from you the grace of this Sister and on the 29th we shall begin another novena to the Immaculate Conception for the same purpose. The Blessed Virgin and St Joseph are stronger than the whole world and you will send me Sr Maria.
[3086]
But if you delay, my Mother, in sending her to me, the effect of postponement will be considerable: the longer we delay the more expensive the price of the boats is, because we shall lose the favourable wind and the boats will cost twice as much, and also instead of arriving in Kordofan in less than two months, we shall arrive within three. Tomorrow two Missionaries will leave with three Brothers, to prepare the camels in the desert and the houses in both Stations. A lovely long letter from Fr Stanislao who writes to me from Kordofan and who describes the condition of thousands of girls whom our Sisters can save and win for Jesus Christ made the Sisters and the African girls weep for ages, and they threw themselves at my knees saying: “My Father, for the love of God, let us leave immediately, let us go and save these poor abandoned souls. If our Mother General were here, she would send us immediately”.
[3087]
Naturally I could do no less than weep too, we all cried, one and all. Oh if only Sr Maria were here, she would have cried and we would have left by now. The journey in this season is fairly easy and pleasant. Kordofan has made our Missionaries really strong and robust. Sr Giuseppina wanted to leave with our Fathers of the vanguard, and says that since I have received the Sisters for the purposes of my Vicariate I had the authority to send her. But I want to receive the obediences first.
[3088]
Now everything is ready: two large boats, one for the Sisters and the African girls, the other for me and the Missionaries, are available. Provisions have been loaded: we are only waiting for Sr Maria. If Sr Veronica refused to receive the money for the sisters, she will not do so any longer.
I am waiting for Sr Maria to give the Superior of Central Africa one more year for herself and for the Sisters who depend on her, and to give the Superior in Old Cairo the money for her and her Sisters who are staying in Cairo. Moreover, all they will need (apart from the rent) will always be provided by the mission, because they are our daughters and work with an admirable zeal. Oh, if I had 12 Sir Giuseppinas, twelve Sr Germanas and twelve Sr Maria Bertholons, Central Africa would be half converted. Sr Giuseppina Tabraui is stronger and more vigorous than me! For 20 days she has been doing the work of four.

[3089]
My Mother, I need five Sisters for the Sudan. By giving me Sr Mary, you are providing me with two good Superiors, because Sr Giuseppina is a good Superior. I lack nothing. In the Sudan, we must open two very important houses. It is understood that for the coming year you will prepare for me at least five Sisters, most of whom are Arab.
[3090]
I beseech you for the love of God to telegraph Sr Maria to have her come to Marseilles, and send her to Egypt. Charge everything to me and you will immediately be reimbursed for all the expenses. If in a fortnight the Sisters are not in Cairo it will be a great disaster for me and for my Mission. Failure for me and also before the Cardinal who has ordered me several times to hasten to my Mission. At the present time because of Sr Maria I cannot leave for my Vicariate. To wait another season would be a great evil for the Mission and will cost 20,000 francs more. For the love of God do not make me waste any more time. I hope that the Blessed Virgin and St Joseph will be more powerful than you and all the crosses.
[3091]
With regard to those who are remaining in Cairo, besides the work with the African girls, they have the parish school in Old Cairo which is becoming our house, since the old house where there was the former Mother Caterina and Marietta has been closed. Later our Sisters can open a boarding school in our large house. I say that our Sisters will even be able to do so in just a few months. Thus in Cairo, which is becoming one of the first capitals of the world, unbeknown to all and without anyone being able to create obstacles, the Sisters of St Joseph, through me, can open and direct a magnificent boarding school, which will later be moved to the centre of the city where I am going to build.
[3092]
I am expecting Sr Maria Bertholon soon; a thousand greetings to Mother Assistant; may God grant the prayers of
your unfortunate son in Jesus Christ (if the Sisters do not arrive)

Daniel Comboni Pro-Vicar Apostolic

This morning Sr Germana’s brother arrived from Aleppo to see her. He is staying with me. Please send the enclosed letter to Lourdes.

Translated from French.

[3093]
I am very unfortunate because I see neither letters nor Sisters. Propaganda has kindly made me understand that I must leave for Central Africa. I have written to Cardinal Barnabò with the plan I shall follow for the caravans of Sisters and African girls and Missionaries in the journey from Khartoum and Kordofan, and this morning His Eminence wrote me a letter full of praise for the precautions and measures of prudence I am taking for this great journey, showing that he has read the plan with great pleasure and will pray the good Lord to bless my journey and my undertaking.
[3094]
These last fifteen days waiting for Sr Maria and the Sisters have seemed like fifteen years. Through you, the good Lord certainly wishes to give me crosses. Last Tuesday I sent two missionaries and four brothers to prepare the camels in the desert and the houses for the Sisters in Khartoum and Kordofan. Since they are only six, they will complete the journey in 50 days. I had found a boat for them a fortnight ago (this boat was prepared for the Sisters) at a suitable price. This week the price of the boats has tripled.
[3095]
In a fortnight boats will cost more, camels will cost more and the journey will take longer because of the North winds which die down. There in Central Africa so many souls are waiting; our Sisters here are full of zeal and impatient to leave. I am full of problems because of the delay of Sr Maria whom you promised me so many times in Rome. I went to the hospital for advice from that good Superior and she told me she does not know the reason for this delay. Yet it seemed to me that perhaps you are not sending me the Sisters because on my arrival in Cairo I did not hand over to the Superior the money I am supposed to give to the Sisters according to our Agreement. I cannot believe this of my Mother.
[3096]
As soon as I reached Cairo I took 15,000 francs and offered them to the Superior; she did not want to accept them and in her this was due to generosity. But I did not press her to take this money, because I was sure that on the arrival of Sr Maria she would have accepted it. And perhaps this is better, because then I give Sr Maria the money for the Sisters who will stay in Cairo. Finally, I beg you, my good Mother, if you have some observations to make me please do so freely, because you know I listen to you and will act according to your opinion. You know that your letter and orders make a greater impression on me than those of the Cardinal, although I have great esteem for our Father and consider him as God’s representative.
[3097]
The Sisters’ delay has already caused me a lot of harm in God’s Work, and if you wait another fortnight, it will be very bad for the Work.
We are in the novena of St Francis Xavier and of the Immaculate Conception, which we are offering for the prompt arrival of Sr Maria and the Sisters. I want to see if the Blessed Virgin and St Francis Xavier are more powerful than you. St Joseph has been somewhat deaf and lazy this time. I thought I would see Sr Maria in Cairo, at least in the month of October. Here we are in December, and the Sisters have not yet arrived. I am most unfortunate!

[3098]
I need at least six Sisters for two houses: send me at least six letters of obedience. As for the Superiors, one is Sr Maria, and the other, please, Sr Giuseppina Tabraui. Sr Giuseppina is tougher than me and you. However much I insist that she look after herself, she does not really do so, but she has great judgement and the magnificent climate of Central Africa and Kordofan will do her a lot of good. With regard to Sr Maddalena, I am sure that the climate of Kordofan and an active life, and Sr Maria who loves her very much, will do her good and restore her health. I do not agree with the verdict of the hospital doctor who says that Sr Maddalena’s lungs are damaged. He has always been wrong about us. The Superior of the hospital supports his opinion, but I have consulted other doctors, especially our own. He does not find the disease that the hospital doctor diagnosed.
[3099]
The treatment we will give Sr Maddalena and the excellent climate of Central Africa will fortify Sr Giuseppina and Sr Maddalena. I await the obediences of these two good Sisters. In the five years since we have been in Egypt and in the Sudan, none of the 37 Europeans of our Institutes have died, thanks to our way of life and the care we take of them.
[3100]
For the love of God take pity on me: I am unlucky. Now that God has provided the means to sustain the Mission, I am unlucky because of the Sisters’ delay. At night I do not sleep two hours; I cannot approach the Nile, seeing such a fair and favourable wind because I return home pensive and sad, thinking that in a month perhaps we shall have a contrary wind and the trip will take a month longer and cost us at least 2,000 francs more. I am rightly shouting at St Joseph because he is asleep.
[3101]
The hospital Superior told me yesterday that you have blankets at 4 francs apiece. In a word, send me 40, and everything you think necessary for the Sisters and the African girls, both in Cairo and in Central Africa. Buy it all and send me the bill so that I can have you reimbursed by my banker in Rome and in Cologne.
In the hope that you will relieve me of this problem that consumes my life (and the Sisters witness it), I commend the matter to the Blessed Virgin and sign in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary with all respect,

Your unworthy and unfortunate son,

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from French.

[3102]
Do not think that I can forget you an instant and cease a single day or say a single Mass without praying for you. You know that I have you engraved upon my heart, as well as my dear Auguste, Signorina Maria and all yours. My tasks are so serious that I have been unable to write much. But I shall write you some good long letters from the boat. I am leaving this month with 33 people for the centre of Africa. It is a three months’ journey, and I travel through the desert with many apprehensions and troubles. I have the largest and most difficult Mission in the whole world: 100 million inhabitants. Read Missions Catholiques, the Lyons bulletin, and the December issue of Messaggero del S. Cuore; you will find my work in them.
[3103]
In the meantime, send me news of yourself and your family. Tell Urbansky to write to me and tell him that Signorina Ernestina is here in Cairo with our St Joseph Sisters in my Institutes. I am strong, but pray for me and my Africans. I have two houses in Verona, two in Cairo and am founding two in Khartoum and two in Kordofan. I shall write to you soon, from the boat.
A thousand affectionate regards to Auguste, to Signorina Maria and to all your dear ones, from your

most affectionate

D. Comboni Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from French.