Writings

[3711]
It is with the greatest satisfaction that I received your dear letter together with that of our beloved Mother General, in which I am given the splendid news that you have been chosen as Provincial Superior of Central Africa as I had wished, and for which I had insistently beseeched the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda and the Reverend Mother General. I frankly confess to you that our dearest Mother General could not have better satisfied my ardent desires than by the favour of choosing for my great Mission, as she has, the most senior of the Missionary Sisters of the East, you yourself, my dear Mother, who has educated nearly all our Arab Sisters and especially the one I have not got over mourning, Sr Giuseppina Tabraui. You were brought to the East for the first time by Fr Ryllo, whose tomb lies in the middle of our Sisters’ garden in Khartoum, 30 paces from the new house I have built for you. As I was saying, you have a perfect knowledge of the apostolic life and the Missions.
[3712]
I shall never be able to thank the Mother General enough for having granted you to me, just as in my last letter I thanked Cardinal Franchi, who has never failed to ask the Mother General to satisfy my desires.
It does not matter that you are a little on the elderly side: I think you will grow younger here. It is enough for you to have the eye and the presence of an able Superior, without doing a lot of work, to make things progress. Your name is well known to us: not a day has passed without us hearing your name spoken in veneration by the Sisters and especially by Sr Giuseppina Tabraui and Sr Anna Mansur whom you trained so well. I therefore await your arrival in Khartoum with impatience and shall make arrangements for you to start off in the best possible way. Please, dear Mother, spare no expenses to make your journey less tiring.

[3713]
The journey is easy: only the desert is somewhat exhausting for a few days. Your admirable obedience to the Mother General in coming to Central Africa, even though you are old and tired by so many years in the Mission, has been very edifying to me. With such a spirit, God will bless you, the Sisters and the Pro-Vicar Apostolic Mgr Comboni to whom you will give your instructions.
In this way you will be able thoroughly to test Sr Genoveffa (who has some defects as well as virtues and who is a Sister of St Joseph, a daughter of ours, that is) and we shall then be able to determine clearly what is to be done: send her to a good post in Central Africa or give her the letter of obedience.

[3714]
I hope you will have understood my thoughts. I therefore ask you to take it upon yourself to write to the Mother General in those terms, since I do not have the time to write and thank her for having made the gift to Central Africa of Sr Emilienne, the veteran Missionary of the East.
[3715]
Never again will I give any commission or any assignment to Fr Stanislao Carcereri. In his headstrong folly he has exposed a whole caravan to serious dangers and so much suffering; he has used up much of my money by taking a route he did not know. By the normal route, in this season the caravan could have been in Khartoum by the Immaculate Conception, whereas now I only expect it to arrive in February.
Since I trust you completely, I will tell you of my sorrows. I am most aggrieved because I fear Sr Angelica and the other two will have greatly suffered from the cold.

[3716]
Sr Anna has tapeworm. She is at school one day and in bed the next. I have written to Fr Bortolo to send me the medicines needed to get the tapeworm out of Sr Anna. Be so kind as to inform yourself thoroughly with the Superior and the doctors in the hospital, and send me the medicines and bring some with you as well. It is agreed that, if before you receive the Mother General’s answer, you should have the opportunity to leave, you are to leave for Khartoum right away, since you will receive the letters here.
[3717]
Travelling via Suakin on the Red Sea, you can reach Khartoum in less than 30 days. But Fr Bortolo will tell you all.
Be so kind as to give my regards to the Sisters and especially to the Mother Superior of the hospital. With my blessing, I remain in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
ever yours,

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic


Translated from the French.

[3718]
On the 22nd of this month, at 7 in the morning, Sr Genoveffa went to heaven, after receiving the Sacraments and the Papal Blessing in articulo mortis. She had a seven-day sickness: she was very strong and in perfect health; after an attack of indigestion (according to Sr Severina and Sr Anna) she took castor oil, of which she had picked the fruits and sucked out the juice herself. The doctors said it was typhoid. The fact is that I had wanted to treat her, but she refused. Faustina was in the same state; like Sr. Genoveffa she had never been bled. Faustina allowed me to treat her at midnight, and she is now beginning to get up. Sr Genoveffa did not know that I had her letter of obedience. On the contrary, I had decided to await the arrival of Mother Emilienne to appoint Sr Genoveffa as Superior in Kordofan, if it should please her.
Well, let us adore the secrets of Providence. I am afflicted indeed.

[3719]
The Pasha sent a Bey with 12 soldiers and four janissaries to accompany her to the cemetery. Her funeral was magnificent. She was pious and had a great love of prayer. I who confessed her during the last six months never saw her miss the tribunal of Penance. After Sr Maria Giuseppa’s departure for Kordofan, I was satisfied with Sr Genoveffa and she was also mourned in Khartoum. I shall celebrate many Masses for her. As soon as the caravan which has already left Dongola arrives, we shall give her a great liturgical service, for at the moment I am the only priest who says Mass here.
[3720]
My infinite thanks, dear good Mother, for having conceded Sr Emilienne, the veteran of the Missionaries, to Central Africa. You could not have done me a greater favour. You could not have sent me a Sister more suited and capable for the fulfilment of my purpose. Have no fear on account of her age. We shall make her young again. We shall keep her like a relic: her presence is enough, she will not work. With her I hope to be able to have good and competent Sisters like Sr Giuseppina and Sr Anna, who is doing so much good even though she has tapeworm.
[3721]
Receive my thanks, good mother, for the precious gift you have made in the person of Sr Emilienne. Everyone here is happy, but the happiest of all is myself, because from what I have heard from Sr Giuseppina and from all the Sisters about Sr Emilienne and from the letter she wrote me, I am convinced that Sr Emilienne is a holy and able religious and Superior. She is coming to live beside the tomb of Fr Ryllo (which is in the Sisters’garden) who had taken her with him to Syria for the first time.
This is one of the greatest consolations I have had in the midst of my crosses (the heaviest of which is that of Fr Carcereri, about which I shall write to you). Thank you, my good Mother. The Holy Spirit has inspired you for the good of Africa.

[3722]
Though I knew perfectly well that Sr Emilienne was available in Marseilles, I would never have had the courage to ask you for her, for a Mission as hard as that of Central Africa, being much more modest in my prayers.
But the day I received your letter with one from Sr Emilienne telling me that in accordance with the orders of her Mother General, she believed she was doing God’s will by coming to Central Africa, I was quite struck by her generosity and her perfection. This is a holy religious who is worthy of canonisation. She, an old woman, used to the comforts of Saïda and the confidence of the Jesuits (who are the most admirable missionaries) and of the Patriarchs and Bishops of the East, is coming to bury herself with the Africans. She is a saint: this is a great blessing for Central Africa.

[3723]
Receive all my thanks for this. Sr Severina is an incomparable Sister for the sick. She has also done a lot for Fr Pasquale. Give my regards to Mother Eufrasia, your Assistant, to Sr Celeste and to Mme de Villeneuve.


Daniel Comboni


Translated from the French.

[3724]
It would be my duty to inform Your Most Reverend Eminence of the successful start of my proceedings for the foundation and forthcoming establishment of the Camillian Community in Berber. But since most of what is relevant in this important affair in my Vicariate is described in the enclosed letter of the 23rd from Fr Franceschini Crucifer, who sent it to me open, so that I should read it and send it on to his General, the Most Reverend Fr Guardi, since I have so little time due to my serious and pressing occupations, I take the liberty of sending it to Your Eminence exactly as it was sent to me, that you may deign to read it to inform yourself of the situation in this affair and then forward it to the above-mentioned Most Reverend Fr General. Trusting in Fr Franceschini’s full consent, I have taken the liberty of copying an extract for Your Eminence, that is, the part which refers to the Berber Mission and concerning the African Work I have entrusted to the Crucifer Fathers on the basis of my Convention which you know about with the Very Reverend General of the above-mentioned Order, valid for 5 years.
[3725]
Since the Vicariate of Central Africa is today entering a new phase with the introduction into it of a new religious Order which, treated and governed with prudence and wisdom, can prove useful to the Apostolate of Africa, and since the experience and history of the Missions in which different Bodies collaborate teaches that the co-operation of different Institutes in a single mission can lead to great good as well as to great harm, especially through the prudence or imprudence of its head and the spirit in which the work in Christ’s vineyard is done; thus, knowing quite well the gravity of my position, after mature reflection and incessant prayers to the Giver of Lights, I have decided not to take any significant steps in my Relations with the young Camillian Order, and with the local Superior of the new house in Berber, without consulting Propaganda and requesting the precious participation of Your Eminence’s wise counsels, lights, instructions and orders, and informing you precisely and conscientiously of every single one of my actions regarding the said Order (especially because it is essential to test over a few years its attitude to the apostolate of the holy missions, which until today was not its main purpose) and specifically as regards the Superior of the new house in Berber, Fr Carcereri.
[3726]
The sole aim for which I agreed to found a Camillian House in my Vicariate was the hope and the desire to save a greater number of souls in the immense Vineyard entrusted to me by the Holy See. To succeed in this intention of mine, it is necessary for me to proceed with the greatest prudence and moderation without abandoning my post and firmly asserting my rights which are for the greater good of my Vicariate; it is therefore supremely useful and necessary for me to avail myself of the most efficient and powerful of providential means offered to all missions, and especially to the most laborious and difficult ones in the world: Propaganda, which is directed by a super-human wisdom, infinitely superior to all the enlightenment of experience that the direct superiors of the Foreign Missions may have.
[3727]
I therefore implore Your Eminence also to deign to help me in these aforesaid matters, while I, with the help of the Lord, the Immaculate Virgin Mary and St Joseph, and joyful tolerance of the inevitable crosses that accompany them, firmly trust that I will overcome every obstacle and succeed in all things.
[3728]
In the enclosed letter from Fr Franceschini to the Most Reverend Fr Guardi Your Eminence will certainly note these words: “I was not a little surprised, when I saw the Pro-Vicar, whose critical circumstances I knew well, sparing no expense to buy a house that would be fit to receive a religious Order, etc.” It is true that I am in critical circumstances, because I have an empty money-box. Indeed, it is not that this Vicariate lacks resources or that we are doing more than we are able, for the Vicariate does receive sufficient resources, and I never undertake a work without being sure of having the necessary means.
[3729]
The cause that put me in these circumstances [ … ] is the caravan’s delay in reaching Khartoum. In a few months, more than 74,000 francs were given to this Vicariate, part of which were received at my recommendation by Fr Carcereri and a part reached Cairo, as usual, into the hands of my excellent and incomparable representative Fr Bartolomeo Rolleri, the Superior of my Institutes in Egypt. But the latter sums reached Cairo while Carcereri was there. Using his authority as my Vicar General, he wished to take all the money with him. Of no avail were the pleas and remonstrations of Fr Rolleri, who according to the established procedure for greater security, wanted to send me the money through the Austrian Consulate, knowing that I needed it.
[3730]
Carcereri left Cairo on 24th October last, and has not yet reached Khartoum because he wanted to take a different route from the normal one of the Korosko desert always used until now by all the Missionaries and traders, and took the route via Wadi Halfa which is uncertain, longer and more costly. The caravans which left Cairo at the end of November or the beginning of December have already reached Khartoum days ago. I do not even know where Carcereri’s caravan is. I have paid for the Berber house down to the last centime: but the cash-box is empty. That is the true situation. I kiss your Sacred purple, etc.,
Your most humble, obedient and respectful son

Daniel Comboni,
Pro-Vicar Apostolic

[3731]
The news of Monsieur Auguste de Villeneuve’s marriage to Mademoiselle Tanquerelle des Planches filled me with immense pleasure and true consolation. The incomparable Mme de Villeneuve deserved this grace through her dedication and through her faith.
I shall write properly to Madame and Auguste; in the meantime, give her and him my regards and my wishes. I have not let a day pass without praying for them. The Convention will be applied according to the wishes of Mother Emilienne, who should arrive this evening from Suakin on the Red Sea, where I have already sent Fr Giuseppe to welcome her.
I no longer have anything to do with Signor Lorenzo, thank God, since the document you sent me. If he has the audacity to go to court, he will be beaten as he deserves. This affair is only between you and me and regards the small sum of 3,000 francs.

[3732]
At the moment I cannot send you a penny. The enormous expenses I have to cover especially in Cairo to build two great works, and the houses of Berber and Khartoum, do not allow me to give even a penny. I thought I would have been able to settle this matter of the 3,000 francs when the caravan had arrived, but during the journey, the bad administration of Fr Carcereri who spent 40,000 francs and left all the provisions in Wadi Halfa, etc., has somewhat ruined me. It is his fault if, of the 73,000 francs my Vicariate received in six months, I have had only 10,000. Sisters Teresa and Vittoria are witnesses to the waste of money and provisions irresponsibly perpetrated by the one who was my Vicar General. But I have had enough. Patience, Fr Bortolo Rolleri is a holy and able man: he is very generous with the Sisters. I shall make an effort to pay you this year.
[3733]
His Eminence Cardinal Franchi, our Father, writes: “I have learned with pleasure that the Convention drawn up between the Vicariate and the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition has turned out to your satisfaction. You are right to praise these Sisters who, putting aside all their interests, sacrifice themselves in these lands for the good of our religion”.
This passage gave great pleasure to our good Sisters. Sr Severina is very active. She has done great good here.
Pray for
Your most affectionate

Daniel Comboni


Translated from the French.

[3734]
The illnesses we have all had in this burning climate due to the enormous spate of the Nile which last autumn threatened the city of Khartoum with destruction, and the impossibility of rendering exact accounts for last year because of the late arrival of the caravan led by Fr Carcereri who was bearing a considerable part of the resources from the Propagation of the Faith and from the other small Associations which had been granted to me in 1874, have prevented me from sending you by 1st October the statistics of my Vicariate with the complete information for the next allocation of funds. This is why I limited myself to sending you on 3rd December last a short Report on the good progress of this Mission and the above-mentioned statistics, though incomplete.
[3735]
Now that Fr Carcereri has taken 103 days to lead the personnel of the caravan from Cairo to Khartoum, leaving, for lack of camels, all the trunks and the few remaining provisions in Wadi Halfa, that is at the second cataract 40 days away from here, I am also giving you, in abbreviated form, a more exact financial situation with the statistics of the Vicariate. I beg you therefore, Mr President, to take this little Report into consideration rather than that of the 3rd of December, since having just become aware of the enormous expenses incurred by Fr Carcereri’s journey and caravan, I have changed somewhat the estimates shown in the statistical tables which I had sent you recently. I am thus forced to emphasise the urgent need my Vicariate has of more abundant help than in the previous years so as to make up for last year’s deficit, for this important Mission to be firmly planted and widely developed in these lands where the Word of the Gospel has never penetrated.
[3736]
In order properly to consolidate the main mission in Khartoum, it is absolutely essential to build a church and the Sisters’ Institute with schools, an orphanage, rooms for a nursery, an infirmary, etc. We shall see about the church (which will be the cathedral) later on. For the complete building for the Sisters we will need at least 80,000 francs, including what we have already spent.
[3737]
Thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to you, nearly half this house has just been finished. Spending 24,416 francs, I have built a house which, for the moment, is large enough for the Sisters and the orphanage. To construct this half we used (under my direct supervision) 723,947 red bricks, each 25 centimetres long, 12 wide and 6 thick, as well as 1624 ardebs of mortar, 948 days’work by masons at 9 or 10 francs each a day, 10,372 days’work by slaves and 4394 francs’ worth of wood. My blacksmiths, carpenters and mission personnel enabled me to save more than half the construction costs. Although it is incomplete, this building is immensely useful, both for the salvation and the Apostolate of Khartoum and Central Africa. At the end of March I shall stop the work on this building, and start it again another year.
[3738]
The Mission in Kordofan, especially with the Sisters settled there, now has a new lease of life. In addition to the repairs made to the Missionaries’ house, to protect the Africans’ little Seminary or College, I was obliged to completely enclose the Sisters’ house with a wall and to repair the huts. After the month of May we will have a chapel here with the Blessed Sacrament perpetually present. Everything is built of sand walls, according to the local custom. For all these things which are the bare necessities, I spent 4,105 francs 7 centimes. Much work and expenditure are still required before the mission has all it needs. Nevertheless, it is still the operations base and communications centre for the whole central part of the Vicariate.
[3739]
At present Kordofan has become the starting point for the new mission in Jebel Nuba. His Excellency Ismail Pasha Ayub, the Governor General of Khartoum, passing through El Obeid on his way to Darfur to conquer it, visited our two establishments in Kordofan and wrote to say that he was delighted and quite amazed at how flourishing they are and assured me that he would always be pleased to protect such an eminent work of European civilisation.
[3740]
The Sacred Congregation of Propaganda has ordered me to found the Mission of Jebel Nuba to the south-west of Kordofan as soon as possible. As you know, in October 1873 I sent Fathers Carcereri and Franceschini to these tribes and had them accompanied by the veteran of the Central African Missions, Mr Augusto Wisniewski from the Diocese of Ermeland who has been in our Vicariate for 20 years and knows all the tribes perfectly in these lands as far as the 4th degree of Latitude North.
[3741]
In the company of this good man, Fr Carcereri visited the first villages of these tribes where the great chief resides, and chose to start the Mission and the regeneration of the Nuba in the village of Delen. In the month of November I sent two members of the Mission to prepare some living quarters there. For this little expedition I spent 2,490 francs on camels, provisions and iron, etc. But when Fr Carcereri’s caravan reached Khartoum, I hastened to send two priests to prepare two houses, one for the Missionaries and one for the Sisters.
[3742]
When the Mother Provincial, Sr Emilienne Naubonnet (who has been Superior in Syria for 30 years) arrives in Khartoum next month and I have received the trunks from Wadi Halfa, which Fr Carcereri left there because he did not have enough camels, I shall go to Jebel Nuba to found the new Mission. For this operation and to erect the two houses for the Missionaries and the Sisters, at least 10,000 francs will be needed this year.
[3743]
Already last November I opened the Mission in Berber, to be entrusted to the Fathers of St Camillus de Lellis, and I have placed Fr Franceschini and one of my lay brothers there. At the present time, five Camillian Fathers and two lay brothers have settled in Berber (one of the most commercial cities in the Sudan). The purchase of the fine house on the Nile, the fittings, basic furnishings and repairs cost me 8,134 francs 75 centimes. This house will not need repairs for a few years. With the 5,000 francs agreed in the Convention with the Most Reverend Father General of the Camillians, this house will function very well.
[3744]
The Superior of this house is Fr Carcereri, who consequently ceases to be my Vicar General.
To this very important position, to the universal satisfaction of all my Missionaries, I have appointed Canon Pasquale Fiore, who has until now been the Superior and Parish Priest of the Mission in Khartoum.
In addition to the Missions of the Vicariate I shall have extraordinary expenses this year for the two preparatory establishments in Cairo, to which the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda attaches great importance, especially for the acclimatisation of the European Missionaries and Sisters on their way to the Vicariate.

[3745]
You know that until now my two Institutes in Cairo were housed in two buildings for which I was paying a high yearly rent. In order to avoid this, after trying a thousand solutions, after three years I asked His Highness the Khedive if I could have a piece of land in Cairo to build two houses.
His Highness told me he would obtain it for me, but after a thousand difficulties and efforts also on the part of my representative, Fr Bartolomeo Rolleri, the piece of land was only granted in the month of August and on conditions that will require many sacrifices.

[3746]
In truth, the land granted to us is in one of the best locations in Cairo and is worth at least 43,000 francs, according to the estimates of the engineers. Indeed it is a magnificent deal in the interests of my Vicariate. But I will need, in this first year, the sum of 50,000 francs for building costs and securing the property. To this end, I enclose an exact copy of the French-Arabic document the Egyptian Government gave me (Appendix II).
Even though I and my Missionaries have suffered greatly from shortages over the past year while preparing, building and organising our works, we are prepared to suffer greatly this year so as to save money for the construction of the Houses in Cairo.

[3747]
If God blesses us, in 5 or 6 years the Institutes and works of the Vicariate will be more flourishing. Our courage in creating and developing the world’s most difficult and colossal Vicariate into full life and activity despite a thousand obstacles, will be unshakeable if you will have the courage to increase considerably the generous donation that your immense charity has given to this Vicariate in previous years.
These houses in Cairo have already been started and so far we have spent about 8,000 francs. But the Egyptian government requires that 50,000 francs be spent over 18 months from 4th August, that is, by 4th February 1878. However, I hope that by spending these 50,000 the two Institutes will be able to settle there, and the rest of the building to complete the work can be finished little by little. In order to be able to face all this, I have reduced the Cairo personnel to the minimum and I have also transferred the three theology students who were in Cairo to Khartoum.

[3748]
As you will see from the administration statistics, a considerable outlay is required not only for the journeys of individuals from Europe to Khartoum, but also to the other stations of the Vicariate. To these enormous costs last year was added the misfortune of Fr Carcereri’s caravan. On this caravan and on ordinary provisions, including his journey to Europe, he spent the enormous sum of 36,680 francs 91 centimes, whereas if someone else had led the expedition he would not even have spent 20,000 francs; and despite all this expenditure, the provisions they left at the cataracts are still 40 days away from Khartoum, at Wadi Halfa, where it is impossible to retrieve them for the moment.
[3749]
Fr Carcereri made two big mistakes on this expedition. Having reached Aswan, he should have done what all Missionaries have done since 1848, as well as all the traders, which is to have all their effects unloaded and transported by camel to Shellal (a two hour journey); and from Shellal, transported by boat to Korosko, where it is necessary to take to the desert to reach Berber. This is what Missionaries have always done, whereas he tried to pass the Aswan cataracts to reach Shellal, not only with the boats but with all the personnel, thus exposing both the personnel and the provisions to being swallowed up by the Nile.
[3750]
The travellers were fortunate enough to save their lives by landing at the beginning of the cataract and walking to Shellal; the boats passing the cataracts were badly damaged and one was engulfed by the river. I shall say nothing of the tragedy of the death of one of my good farmers from Verona, who fell into a whirlpool of the Nile at the Shellal cataracts and drowned. If Fr Carcereri had taken camels for two hours from Aswan to Shellal as everyone else has done, all these misfortunes would not have happened.
Secondly, Fr Carcereri wanted to travel via Wadi Halfa instead of via Korosko. He had never done it, did not know Wadi Halfa, and he went that way, whereas many other traders took the route via Korosko and travelled safely from Cairo to Khartoum in 60 days.

[3751]
Now, when he reached Wadi Halfa, Carcereri had to stop for 34 days and then (after the steps I took with the government) was able to leave with only 19 camels, and reached Khartoum in 103 days from Cairo. More than half the provisions were lost in the cataracts and the rest are still at Wadi Halfa where we risk losing everything. I have now sent one of my good lay brothers from Khartoum to Wadi Halfa to collect the provisions.
When he met the caravan (to which I sent the biscuits they needed), in the Bayuda desert Fr Carcereri ordered him to stop in Dongola. I have just learned of this new difficulty and have hastened to give my lay brother the order to proceed to Wadi Halfa and there to retrieve the remnants of the provisions, take them to Korosko and, via Berber, bring them to Khartoum.

[3752]
All this, to avoid losing everything, makes the cost of the caravan even greater, so that in the end this caravan will have cost more than 40,000 francs. It is true that travelling in Central Africa is very difficult, but never again will I entrust such a task to Fr Carcereri.
Despite this enormous expenditure, I find myself without provisions and I am still in financial difficulties so that I cannot leave this capital to fulfil Propaganda’s orders to go and found the new Mission in Jebel Nuba. But all my trust is in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Propagation of the Faith.

[3753]
Thanks to the divine Heart of Jesus and to you, despite these difficulties, the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda has been able to recognise that it is not in vain that the benefactors of the Association should make sacrifices for this colossal Vicariate. Here is a short extract from a letter Cardinal Franchi wrote me:


Rome, Propaganda, 29 August 1874
[3754]
“At the general assembly on the 14th of this month of August, the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda dealt with the affairs of this Mission, with the aim of putting it on a sounder footing. Therefore, after considering the reports sent by Your Lordship at different times, as well as that presented by Fr Carcereri, it is with pleasure that the Sacred Assembly learned how the Lord has deigned to bless the beginnings of a work so much to His glory and that it is hoped with good reason, that he will continue to protect it with his heavenly favour. The Eminent Fathers have therefore ordered that the new Mission in Jebel Nuba be instituted without further ado so as to obtain, with the means presently at its disposal, the conversion of these most unfortunate people to Christianity”.
[3755]
After giving me wise instructions on the way I should behave with regard to the slave trade and slavery, as well as the way to gradually destroy the disorders of these peoples, His Eminence informed me that the Sacred Congregation has decided on my nomination as Bishop and Vicar Apostolic, but this will be communicated to the Holy Father only after the establishment of the Mission in Jebel Nuba. His Eminence’s letter ends:
[3756]
“Finally, I have the pleasure of informing you that my Eminent Colleagues offered praise for the tenacity with which you have begun the arduous enterprise of evangelising these peoples and urge you to continue without being discouraged by the obstacles you are bound to encounter, but relying on divine assistance which will certainly not be lacking, etc., etc."
To give you an even more just and true idea of the administration of this Vicariate, I am forwarding the following notes:

[Administrative notes and four Appendices are attached]


[3757]
With this Report and the one I had the honour to send you on 3rd December last, I hope to have explained the situation and the great future of the Vicariate of Central Africa. With tears in my eyes, I implore you this year to greatly increase your generous help to my Vicariate, that it may reach the proportions which seem ordained by God for the salvation of so many millions of souls.
[3758]
The conquest of the Equator by Colonel Gordon and of the Darfur Empire by the Khedive will soon open a safer and larger field of action for our difficult apostolate.
Please accept, Mr President, my humble respects and pass them on to all the members of the Central Councils and to all the ordinary members for whom we pray every day.
Your most devoted and grateful

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from the French.

[3759]
The Kordofan Mission has acquired a new lease of life. I have been able to finish building half the house for the Sisters. It is in red-brick and, for this region, is a marvel. I have had to enlarge the Seminary or little College for Africans.
Khartoum, which is the centre of communications, remains the operations base and starting point for the Mission of Jebel Nuba.

[3760]
When His Excellency Ismail Pasha, Governor General of the Sudan, passed through El Obeid on his expedition to Darfur, he visited our two buildings in Kordofan and wrote to me that he was delighted, especially by the Sisters’ house; he assured me that he would always be happy to protect “such an eminent work of European civilisation”.
Since November last, I have set up a house in Berber, a very commercial city in Upper Nubia. Five priests and two brothers have already settled there under the direction of Fr Carcereri, their Superior.

[3761]
I have appointed as my Vicar General, in lieu of Fr Carcereri, Canon Pasquale Fiore, the Superior of the mission in Khartoum. The Berber establishment can become the centre for other missions in the provinces of Suakin, Taka and Dongo.
[3762]
I have told you of some very happy changes in the situation of our Institutes in Cairo, intended, as you know, for the acclimatisation of European Missionaries and Sisters. For the two houses, I was paying a very high yearly rent. To remove this heavy burden, for the last three years I had tried a variety of solutions. Finally, I turned to His Highness the Khedive and asked him for a piece of land in Cairo. After a thousand trials and efforts on the part of Fr Rolleri, Superior of the Institutes, and Fr Carcereri when he passed through Cairo, His Highness the Viceroy has given me the land I requested, free of charge, on 4th August 1874. This land is worth 43,000 francs.
[3763]
One of the clauses of the agreement obliges me to spend 50,000 francs on the construction work within 18 months. These are onerous conditions, but the Vicariate absolutely needs two houses in Cairo. The land, which measures 3,609 square metres, is located in the Ismaïliah quarter, one of the finest in the capital of Egypt. They have just written to say that the foundations have been completed. For the moment I cannot continue work on the buildings for lack of resources.

Daniel Comboni


Translated from the French.

[3764]
Darfur is already partly conquered. The Sultan of this vast empire is here in Khartoum. He has a few women with him, but is accompanied by many soldiers and five of his sons. In Darfur he had 200 women and thousands of slaves. I see that he is resigned to his fate: God alone is master, he said to me; instead man is king today, servant tomorrow. Yesterday I was sultan, today I am a prisoner. God has wanted this and he is right, for he is the only Master and the only sultan of the universe; we are all his servants and slaves. The sultan of Darfur is guarded by a sandiak and a troop of soldiers, who will be taking him to Cairo in a few days’ time.
[3765]
His knowledge of Arabic is mediocre. I will soon be sending you news of the conquest of Darfur. All these human enterprises are, in my opinion, means used by Providence to facilitate communications in my immense vicariate and allow the faith to penetrate it. In the meantime, work continues actively on the construction of the railway between Wadi Halfa and Mothhammah near Shendi. It should be finished in five years. Then we shall no longer have to cross the desert. Fr Carcereri is in Berber and is staying there as Superior. All his caravan’s trunks are still in Wadi Halfa.


(Daniel Comboni)