Writings

[3674]
Since the chief of the Nuba continues to express his willingness to have our missionaries in his lands, and since from the repeated reports of Fr Carcereri it seems that Propaganda approves the foundation of the Mission planned in Jebel Nuba, and that soon I shall be joined by good reinforcements of missionaries from my Institute in Verona and from the Order of St Camillus, it seems to me that the time chosen by Providence has come to found the new Mission among the Nuba. Thus after invoking help from the sweetest Heart of Jesus with insistent and public prayers and after mature thought, I have decided to prepare all that is needed to send two Missionary priests, that is the Superior of Kordofan with Fr Franceschini (who was Carcereri’s companion during the exploration) and two of my lay brothers who are craftsmen, as soon as possible to Delen, the chief’s residence, in order to prepare two houses with a chapel; for this purpose already for some time, as I wrote you earlier, I have been gathering the necessary things in Khartoum, while the chief and Cogiur himself let me know through his messengers not long ago, that as soon as we announce our departure for Jebel Nuba, he will prepare wood, matting, and other materials with which to build our dwellings.
[3675]
I am therefore preparing the small caravan for Jebel Nuba, as though it were to leave immediately; but I shall not allow it to leave until I receive official notice that this is really the wish of Your Eminence or of the Sacred Congregation. Then when I receive the venerable instructions about it from Propaganda, and when the new caravan of Fr Carcereri has arrived in Khartoum, having distributed the staff in the various stations, and established the Camillians temporarily or permanently in Berber, I shall leave my principal residence and go via Kordofan to found the mission of Jebel Nuba, as soon as the houses to be prepared by the above-mentioned two Priests and the two lay brothers are ready.
[3676]
I will make a short trip to Berber on the Government steamer at my disposal, after All Souls, to purchase a house for the Camillians. Already since April 1873, when I passed through this city, I have had an eye on a lovely house with land for a garden which since then I have set my heart on buying, either as a resting place for caravans coming from Cairo and exhausted by the terrible journey through the desert, or to have a permanent pied à terre for the visits it will be necessary to make to the provinces of Taka, Suakin and Dongola, where there is a small scattering of Christians who need our help. I do not yet officially know what measures Your Eminence or the Sacred Congregation will have taken with regard to the requested participation of the distinguished Camillian Order in my Vicariate. Neither Propaganda, nor the Most Reverend Fr Guardi have written to me in this regard. But from the fact that three Camillian Fathers have arrived in Cairo with one lay brother, I believe it necessary to provide a house for them in Berber. However, before canonically erecting the Camillian House, I must wait to know what Your Eminence or the Sacred Congregation has determined.
[3677]
With the Lord’s help, the Sisters are already installed in their new house which I have just built in this capital according to the plans of the famous Engineer Carlo Roesner of Vienna. But building work is still continuing at a good pace. This
sound and majestic building is a truly Catholic work which in time will be a great benefit to the Vicariate. The residence of the Missionaries and this new building for the Sisters are the wonder of the people in Khartoum and of all the Sudan. They are the two soundest and largest buildings in all Central Africa.

[3678]
This contributes greatly to acquiring a certain prestige and to making ourselves respected by the very materialistic people of the Sudanese Government and by the Muslim peoples. In Kordofan too, building is going full steam ahead: the female Institute in particular needs enlarging in order to be separate from the various works it includes. Before His Excellency Ismail Pasha, Governor General of the Sudan, left Kordofan for the conquest of Dafur, he visited my establishments in Obeid and wrote me a very kind letter in which he praised the works and arrangement, especially of the Sisters’ female Institute, congratulating me on it and promising to be ready to help me for a work, as he says of true civilisation. These are the promises of Turks, but in the meantime we are going ahead with God’s blessing.
[3679]
The Egyptian army, headed by the above-mentioned Ismail Pasha, has large cannons, Remingtons and 10 machine-guns with about 12,000 soldiers. So far, the Sultan of Darfur has just over 80,000 men; but they are armed only with spears and arrows, a few flintlocks and some rusty old cannons. It seems that the Sultan of Waday, whose empire is located to the North West of Darfur, has gone to the aid of his neighbour with 120,000 men armed with their great courage alone. But the fact is that Ismail Pasha has already conquered the lands that constitute, as it were, the customs barrier of Darfur, and is marching on Tendelti, the capital and residence of the Sultan. Here the conquest of this State is expected; until now it has been closed to all foreigners, since at the orders of those Sultans any foreigner who penetrated it was put to death; and in 1861, the present governor of Kordofan was held hostage there (as he himself told me) although he had been sent with precious gifts by the Viceroy of Egypt; and he remained a hostage for 23 months, fearing death at any moment. Therefore it is probable that if this kingdom were to fall under Egyptian dominion it would be easy for us to plant the Cross and establish a mission there in the not too distant future.
As I kiss the Sacred Purple, I have the honour to present you the deep homage of my humble service, and to sign myself with filial veneration and respect
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble, devoted and obedient son

Fr Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[3680]
….It seems that God really wants that the whole caravan, seculars and religious, should come to Khartoum (because the first idea was to leave the Camillians at Berber, and take the Korosko route from there). I received your telegraphic despatch an hour after it was sent from Wadi-Halfa… Therefore I ask you to bring the caravan and the Camillians to Khartoum by way of Dongola and Dabba on the Nile, and from Dabba to Omdurman through the beautiful desert of Bayuda, which is more delightful and less troublesome than the journey to Kordofan, etc… Although I know the journey from Wadi-Halfa to Khartoum well, because I did it myself when I returned from Central Africa to Europe 14 years ago, I still sought the most precise information here, etc…

(Fr Daniel Comboni)


N.B. This letter of Comboni was transcribed only partially by Fr Carcereri in one of his Reports to Propaganda

[3681]
With real jubilation I received your precious letter of 31st August, N. 6, in which Your Eminence was kind enough to inform me of the results of the General Assembly of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, during which you deigned to deal with the affairs of my arduous and difficult Vicariate. Since I am extraordinarily busy at the moment, I shall be answering each of the points of Your Eminence’s important and precious missive in a separate letter, and will show you how wise and practical are each of the esteemed instructions the Sacred Congregation has been kind enough to give me on the way I should conduct myself in the different matters which concern this Mission.
[3682]
Yes, Eminent Prince, it is obviously the Holy Spirit who is guiding this sublime Assembly which governs all the Foreign Missions in the world; and I and my companions, to whom I have shown the precious Document which contains the voice of God speaking through the Church, were greatly consoled to see God’s will in our regard so clearly outlined and indicated. I promise you with all my heart that I shall faithfully carry out with all my strength ad litteram the wise and most prudent dispositions given to me in that letter, which is a monument to the wisdom of the Most Eminent Fathers of Propaganda. I lack the words to express my gratitude to Your Eminence and your Most Eminent colleagues for having deigned to encourage me steadfastly to pursue the holy enterprise assigned to me by the Holy See, and to expect all the help of God’s loving assistance. I am quite convinced that I am far from worthy of deserving such condescension from the Eminent Cardinals who make up the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda.
[3683]
But I sincerely confess that in my weakness, such encouragement, in the midst of the continuous hardships of this difficult Apostolate, was real manna from heaven and has strengthened and redoubled my courage and the vigour of my spirit, bringing a health-giving balm to the hearts of all my colleagues. When one knows with all certainty that one is doing God’s will, every sacrifice, every cross and death itself are the sweetest comforts to our spirit, the sweetest reward for our sufferings. I therefore implore Your Eminence to transmit to the aforementioned Most Eminent Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation my deepest sentiments of gratitude, devotion and unshakeable steadfastness in responding faithfully to their bountiful expectations and magnanimous wishes which inspire the pure glory of God and the salvation of souls.
[3684]
I am late in writing this time because I was absent from my main residence, having been in Berber, buying and furnishing one of the largest and finest houses in the city located on the banks of the Nile, in which to settle the Camillians. There is room for an infirmary or hospital, a chapel, schools and a garden. I have put Fr Franceschini, a Camillian, there. Originally I had wanted him for the new mission in Jebel-Nuba, but I then kept him for Berber, following a letter from Fr Carcereri who wrote that it was the wish of Propaganda and the Father General, Guardi, that all the Camillians should stay together for a whole year in the House in Berber. Before making any objection to what he wrote on this matter, which is not altogether in conformity with the Convention I have with the Most Reverend Father General of the illustrious Order of the Crucifers, I deemed it appropriate to await the above-mentioned Father’s return to Khartoum and to discuss the matter with him.
[3685]
Meanwhile, as soon as I received Your Eminence’s esteemed letter referred to above, in which your Eminent colleagues have ordered me without further ado to set up the new Mission among the Nuba people, I instantly sent two able candidates to join the Superior of El Obeid to accompany this little vanguard of mine in their lands to assist in my project. The latest news I have received this week is that the great chief sent one of his relatives to our mission with six other Nuba people, who are staying in our establishment and in a few days’ time will be leading my little apostolic caravan to their destination. As soon, that is, as my excellent Missionary, Fr Giovanni Losi, who is to replace Fr Salvatore Mauro as Superior in El Obeid, has recovered.
[3686]
To give news of the caravan led by Fr Carcereri, I shall wait until it has reached Khartoum. It left Cairo on 25th October. However, the aforesaid Father wished to follow the long and uncertain route via Wadi-Halfa and Dongola, abandoning the old route through the Atmur desert which was always followed by the missionaries and all the merchants. I fear that it will not reach its destination here in Khartoum even in two more months, even though this is the best season for travel in the Sudan.
[3687]
The Egyptian army, commanded by Ismail Pasha, Governor General of most of the Sudan, has already conquered the capital of the empire of Darfur, cut off the Sultan’s head and borne it in triumph to Tendelti. The Generalissimo Ismail Pasha himself wrote to me from the capital of Darfur to tell me of his victories and to assure me that he was able to make the conquest of this important city without too much bloodshed and that after the feasts of the Great Bairam, he hopes to return to Khartoum and to come and shake my hand inside my residence. But I know from an even more reliable source that the Darfur people have chosen as Sultan the uncle of the deceased who, after the burning of the capital Tendelti, withdrew to the mountains in the north-west of the empire, which are quite fertile and less accessible, and determined to die defending himself. Therefore, while the capital is conquered, it cannot be said that the empire of Darfur has been conquered; and the Egyptian army still has a long way to go before it can say that the conquest of Darfur is assured.
[3688]
I also have positive news of the expedition led by Colonel Gordon, Governor General of the Equatorial Regions of Africa, who writes to me quite frequently. His main adjutant, the American Colonel Long, reached Lake Nyamza Victoria discovered by Speke and Grant and spent some time at the Court of the king of Metísi, the most powerful of the equatorial princes. Colonel Long, who came to see me when he returned to Khartoum, told me that in order to feast him the king of Metísi had 15 people’s throats cut before his very eyes, this being a sign of joy to express the king’s delight at the presence of an illustrious visitor.
[3689]
In addition to the interesting information I have gathered on my long journeys among the tribes of the White Nile in 1858 and 1859 about the most important kingdoms located in the equatorial regions and bordering on the great lakes which constitute the sources of the Nile, Colonel Long has given me such interesting details about these peoples which belong to my Vicariate that I am of the opinion (given also the repeated invitations I have had from the Governor General, Colonel Gordon) that after the Mission we are starting at Jebel Nuba is well established, we shall manage to set up another in the equatorial regions near the sources of the Nile; of course, after having submitted the project and the results of my research to Your Eminence and having obtained your esteemed approval. In the meantime I am taking the greatest care in carrying out what Your Eminence and the Sacred Congregation have just ordered as regards the mission in Jebel Nuba.
[3690]
Renewing the expression of my heartfelt gratitude and perfect obedience, I offer you a thousand wishes for the coming holy Christmas and for the New Year and, kissing the Sacred Purple, I remain in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble,
devoted and respectful son

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa



[3691]
As you will certainly have heard, as a result of the intrigues of the English Diplomatic Agent and Consul General in Egypt and the Prussian Consul General, the Khedive of Egypt has had appointed as Coptic Patriarch of Cairo a monk from the Great Monastery of the Virgin Mary (Deir el-Aadra) which is located between Alexandria and Cairo, and he has taken the name of Cyril IV.

I have reliable information from the Coptic priests in Khartoum that the new Patriarch Cyril IV will not take long to appoint a new Coptic Bishop of Khartoum in the person of a monk from the Monastery of St Anthony in Egypt.

[3692]
Many matters and things to do have prevented me, and prevent me at this moment, from writing. However I will write a word to wish you a happy Christmas Season and all prosperity for the new year: I wish this to you, to the Mother Assistant, to Sr Celeste (that she may form good Arab Sisters for me so that they may sanctify themselves and Central Africa), to the good Sister Caterina Tempestini, to all the Sisters, to Mme de Villeneuve, etc. You may rest assured that from now on good Fr Bortolo Rolleri, Superior in Cairo, will no longer be reading the letters addressed to me. He read yours and all the others because he was authorised to do so by me and I had authorised him because I had received in Khartoum and even in El Obeid some letters with letters of credit for thousands of francs enclosed which I had to send back to Cairo to get the money because there was no way of changing them here.
[3693]
Now that I can see the inconvenience of the fact that these letters to the head of the Mission should be read by others, I have ordered Fr Bortolo not to open any of them. Therefore you can now be sure that your letters will not be read and you will be able to send them care of Fr Bortolo.
I am very sorry that only three sisters will be arriving with the caravan. I need ten more, most of whom should be Arabs. I do not doubt your zeal for my Mission. I know that Fr Stanislao complained bitterly in Cairo that by mid-October you had not sent the five Sisters you had promised. I believe that you did everything you possibly could to send them to us and that you will find a way of sending them to Cairo as soon as possible, with the Provincial Superior of Central Africa I asked you for. I know that Fr Stanislao wrote to you in rather strong terms. But you must remember that the major Superior and head of Central Africa is myself, and that I do not approve of rashness and lack of manners. You know the esteem I have for you and the interest I have in your Congregation; I know your heart and your positive nature. So it will all blow over.

[3694]
Fr Carcereri, in his haste and impatience about waiting a few days for the camels in Korosko, led the caravan through the cataracts of Wadi-Halfa and he has been there for 25 days with the caravan and the Sisters, stuck in that desert village. This lack of prudence on Fr Carcereri’s part will cost me at least 6,000 francs more than it would have cost to go from Korosko to Berber. The good God sends me real crosses to bear; may He be blessed forever.
[3695]
We shall deal properly with our affairs in Rome and Verona, where I hope to return after I have founded the Mission of Jebel Nuba. I want at least 36 Sisters in the Vicariate. The best Sister I have at present, who will be as useful to Africa as Sr Giuseppina (whom I still mourn and for whom I have celebrated and have had celebrated more than 100 Masses) is Sr Anna Mansur. She is still young and still needs a Mother, but she is good, able and generous. Sr Genoveffa is awaited with impatience.
In three years we shall have the railway 50 leagues from Khartoum, then you will come here with the Mother Assistant. Sr Maddalena is perfectly well. If only you could see, dear Mother, how happy these Sisters are, and how prepared to give their own lives for Central Africa!

[3696]
Last Sunday, the feast of Pentecost, I administered confirmation in Khartoum for the first time. Never had such a celebration been seen in Khartoum. In my pastoral letter I have announced the project of building a church. Today I received 6,000 francs to begin. We only have about 130 Catholics.
Please accept my respectful sentiments,

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from the French.

[3697]
Please would you send this copy immediately to our venerable Father Monsignor the Bishop of Verona. The multitude of things I have to do and the enormous heat have not allowed me to write to him with this post to accompany the Convention. But I shall do so by the next post. Meanwhile please tell him yourself of the great advantages this represents for the Vicariate, for us to have the two good fathers, Carcereri and Franceschini, and even a small body of top-class Camillians. The Vicariate is big, the biggest in the world; and St Joseph is sending the financial resources which correspond to our needs. Long live the Sacred Heart of Jesus!


Daniel Comboni

[3698]
You are right a thousand times to reproach me for my long silence after all our edifying relations in Rome, but you will be kind enough to forgive me when you hear of the crosses I have had to bear, to the point of preventing me from writing.
My Institutes which I founded in Cairo have been the object of the most frightful persecutions. They were on the point of being overturned. But since God died for all men, he also wants the poor Africans to attend the banquet of the Eternal Father. Not only were these threatened Institutes saved by the hand of God, but he went further, and where there were two, there are now three. The first is called “House of the Sacred Heart of Jesus”; there are four priests to run it.
The second is called “House of the Sacred Heart of Mary”; it is directed by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, of which there are three, with 19 African women teachers and many catechumens.

[3699]
The third is called “House of the Holy Family” because it is a few paces away from the place where Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived for 7 years in Egypt. It is Mother Caterina Valerio from Verona, with the assistance of five African women teachers, who run this house, whose school is attended by Muslim, pagan and heretical girls of all kinds.
In the city of Old Cairo where there are 23,000 souls, there is a large number of girls who do not go to school because they are naked. If only I had old clothes to cover them! Oh, how much good would be done! So I have three chapels to provide for. What you have given me is a little more than half of all I possess. Please therefore have compassion on our poverty.

Daniel Comboni


Translated from the French.

[3700]
With the aim of assisting the Mission of Central Africa in all branches of education and charity as regards women and children, the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition generously participates with its Sisters in this sublime work of Apostolate. For this reason, the Most Reverend Mother General, Sr Emilie Julien, and the Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa, Daniel Comboni, have mutually agreed the following formal reciprocal Convention, which will remain in force and be applied even after their death by their successors, as long as it pleases the Holy See.


Article One

[3701]
The Superior General will bear in mind that since the Apostolate of Africa is supremely arduous and difficult, she will aim to send Nuns who are suited for the purpose.


Article Two

[3702]
The Pro-Vicar Apostolic will take the utmost pains to see that in each House belonging to the Mission the Sisters may perfectly observe the Rules of their own Institute in conformity with the practical needs of the Mission.


Article Three

[3703]
The Pro-Vicar undertakes to provide the Sisters with decently furnished Houses, equipped with everything they need to constitute a regular Mission institute.

Article Four

The Pro-Vicar undertakes to supply each Sister with the sum of five hundred lire a year in advance, that is, two hundred and fifty each semester.


Article Five

[3704]
The Pro-Vicar assumes responsibility for all the Sisters’ travel expenses to and from the Vicariate, as well as expenses due to changes, transfers, replacement of Sisters, whether for health reasons or unforeseen cases where this is deemed necessary by the Pro-Vicar Apostolic or by the Mother General.

Article Six

The work done by the African girls will be for the benefit of the Mission, as will the offerings made by benefactors to the Institute for these African girls.


Article Seven

[3705]
In the case of death, the Sisters will be given the same funerals and prayers as are given to deceased Missionary priests as far as the rubrics allow.


Remarks on the Convention in Appendix N. 1

[3706]
1. Since the Mission of Central Africa is entirely new for the Sisters and it is impossible to gauge at this stage the benefits or burdens this Convention may bring to both parties, it would be prudent for its validity to be ad quinquennium, thus allowing both parties to stipulate a new Convention after the five-year experience.

2. The Sisters’ duties and offices consist principally in educating the African girls, running orphanages, infirmaries, etc. and preparing themselves for all the charitable functions required to meet the needs of the mission, and which are in conformity with the purpose of the Congregation of St Joseph.


[3707]
3. The Fifth Article should be modified as follows: “The Pro-Vicar Apostolic assumes responsibility for the Sisters’ travel expenses, both in their journey to the mission and in their return for health reasons or in unforeseen cases deemed necessary by the Pro-Vicar Apostolic and the Mother General. The Mission will not be liable for the travel expenses of Sisters recalled by the Mother General and destined for other establishments at her specific request.


[3708]
4. The Sixth Article should be modified as follows: “All the assets, offerings, donations or legacies left to the Institutes directed by the Sisters, as well as all the income from the schools or from the work of the Institutes themselves, will be of benefit to the mission and, therefore, at the disposal of the Pro-Vicar Apostolic.
[3709]
Nota Bene. Having submissively made these minor observations, the Pro-Vicar Comboni will be very ready and pleased to do anything deemed appropriate by the Sacred Congregation in this matter. He will therefore sign, without needing to be heard further on the issue, whatever Convention is sent to him by Propaganda, in which he recognises the will of God.

[3710]
… After many months, I have asked Sr Genoveffa to write to the Mother General asking her to prepare a Provincial Superior for the month of March and to send her to Egypt. We need ten Sisters because at the end of the year we shall be opening the Mission of Jebel Nuba. I beg you to send me Sisters like Sr Giuseppina: I need Arab Sisters, virtuous ones, who have been through the noviciate. They will adapt more easily.
Thank you for sending me Sr Anna who gives me good hopes of success.
Please keep in your thoughts Central Africa, to which the thoughts of all France are turned. For this mission we need able and holy Sisters, because it is the most difficult Mission.
May God bless you, pray for me.

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa