Writings

[4385]
I present my most ardent best wishes for a very happy new year to you, to my dearest M. Auguste and Madame his wife, in the hope that God will fill you with spiritual and temporal happiness. First of all I ask you to forgive me a thousand times for my long silence for which I am really guilty, but it was not due to ingratitude, nor to lack of love or respect, since not a day went by without my thinking of you and your two children and without my praying for them and for you.
I myself would not have imagined that I could go so long without writing to you, since I have always kept your letters and the ones giving news of your dear ones with letters to be answered; but a furious storm which caused me mortal pain flattened my spirit so much that I was on the point of death. This furious tempest which tortured me for two years was the cause of my silence.

[4386]
A horde of enemies, wishing to take possession of my Work and my colossal Vicariate, brought terrible accusations against me to the Holy See, one of which alone, had it been true, would have sufficed for my eternal perdition. But Rome alone has the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and it is in the light of this wisdom that it has done justice to truth. After a study and examination of both sides lasting six months, the Cardinals met in a full General Congregation on 27th November and, after having weighed and examined everything, they pronounced a sentence which was submitted to the judgement of the Pope who confirmed it on 10th December.
[4387]
The sentence was a colossal triumph for me and total and eternal perdition for my enemies — as long as they live, that is. They were brigands who had been covered with favours by me and, when they saw my Work grow and the eleven Institutes I founded in seven years, to take possession of them they tried to ruin me through slander and intrigue, making use of Muslims, idolaters, heretics, bad Catholics, the Turkish government, persons devoted to Bismarck, freemasons and liberals; they tried to overwhelm me. But I was able to resist and I triumphed over everything. But Satan was not happy.
He incited my enemies to have recourse to the Holy See and the supreme authority of the Church annihilated them. God be praised! God does not abandon those who trust in Him. God and papal Rome always protect innocence and justice.

[4388]
I know that you are in Paris with Monsieur Auguste and Madame. I shall come to see you in Paris. Oh, what bliss to see you and Auguste and meet Auguste’s angel! But I cannot say when I shall be coming to France because affairs in Rome are eternal. Propaganda has so far taken care of the enormous difficulties I faced in January and February; I am sure it will take care of the rest. I think I will be able to be in Paris at the latest in May.
[4389]
I know that Madame Marie has become a Baroness and that M. Sangiacomi has resigned. Please give my respects to Madame and my greetings to Urbansky. It is now 1877. I wish you every possible joy, since you both deserve it and have a right to it as an incomparable Christian mother. I would be grateful to receive your news. Sr Caterina is still in bed; she is an angel of a Sister; she sends you her affectionate greetings. She has no health, but she admirably directs the house and my Superior Mgr Franchi is proud of her.
I remain in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Your affectionate Daniel Comboni

Please give me news of Madame la Duchesse de Valence and her address.


Translated from French.

[4390]
It fills my heart with consolation and great joy to find myself with you once again, after encountering serious dangers and withstanding a great many adversities and troubles in the torrid regions of Central Africa, to plant there firmly the standard of the Christian faith which, in your city of Cologne, called the holy one, so radiantly spreads its bright rays in the religious works, by the heroic constancy, fidelity, self-denial and admirable charity of its Bishops and its zealous clergy, and by the truly edifying conduct of the good Catholic people.
[4391]
After leaving Central Africa behind me with its immense territories of Africans and the demanding journeys across the desert, I am glad to be able to express my gratitude to you, esteemed Gentlemen, who have had this country so much at heart; for you were the first to give me your magnanimous trust and to grant me the wherewithal to begin the holy work of the regeneration of Africa. Therefore after mature examination and in view of the activity of the most esteemed Committee “of the Society for Aid to Poor Africans”, the Holy See entrusted to my care the Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa with its population of 100 million infidels, by far the largest and most difficult of all the Vicariates and Dioceses in the whole world.
[4392]
If it has been possible to undertake so colossal and holy an enterprise, for the sake of God’s glory and for the salvation of the most abandoned and unhappy souls in all the world, thanks are due to you and to the impetus you provided.
[4393]
You still recall how I once came to Cologne in 1865, for a second time when I was still far from finding any human aid, and after submitting my Plan to your enlightened judgement with all humility, your clarity of vision found that only with the system explained in this Plan, based on the thinking of the most illuminated minds I have known, is it possible to spread the light of the faith in the regions of Central Africa. It was in a period when opinions about the Plan’s implementation still differed widely, and ideas on many points were still very hazy. With your praiseworthy decision you granted me 5,000 francs a year to found an Institute on the African coast for the purpose of training candidates who could be used in the interior.
[4394]
These 5,000 francs were the first spark of that enthusiastic charity which grew to a flame in various countries, in both Europe and America, to promote this great work of the conversion of the Africans. When the good results I achieved in Africa with your help had been seen, other Societies, such as the distinguished Society of the Propagation of the Faith in Lyons and Paris, as well as the worthy Presidency of the Society of Mary in Vienna, founded by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, called the Ludwigverein, as well as other smaller French and German Societies, hastened to provide me with the means to further extend my great work in Central Africa. I also obtained considerable assistance from the royal court of Prague, from the Emperor Ferdinand I and the Empress Maria Anna, as well as from the late Duke of Modena and the royal court of Saxony and many princes and noble families of Germany and Austria.
[4395]
Compare the Vicariate’s situation in 1865 with its present situation, and by all the things it has appropriately achieved, you will be convinced that the results of your Society for aid to the poor Africans have been truly extraordinary.
[4396]
In Europe in 1865, no Institute to train missionaries for the conversion of Africans in Africa existed, nor any Institute of Sisters for this same purpose. There was only an Institute for boys in Khartoum, founded by my predecessor, Mgr Knoblecher, under the direction of a single priest, Fr Fabiano Pfeiffer from the Tyrol, and of several Franciscan Fathers, and supported by the donations of the worthy Society of Mary, amounting to about 3–4,000 francs a year.
[4397]
So now consider the results of your generous aid to the great work, of which I would now like to give you a rough idea, and you will observe their importance:
1) The Holy See entrusted me with the direction of this immense Vicariate, which could be called the most difficult apostolate in the world.
2) In 1867, I succeeded in founding in Verona an Institute for the Missions in Africa which today is provided with a sufficient income for its normal maintenance and has a good number of candidates in training for the African missions there.

[4398]
3) In 1872 I founded the Institute of the “Devout Mothers of Africa”, to train missionary sisters to teach African girls in the institutes of the African countries.
This Institute which is in Verona already functions very well, and will provide us with excellent help in Africa.

[4399]
4) In 1867 I founded two establishments in Egypt as stations for acclimatisation and preparation for the Missions of Central Africa, one for the missionaries, the other for the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition.
[4400]
Until last year, I had to pay the annual sum of 2,000 francs as rental for these two houses in Old Cairo. But thanks to the benevolent offices of Comthurs Ceschini, diplomatic agent of His Majesty Franz Josef and of the Austro-Hungarian consul in Egypt, we recently obtained as a gift from his Highness the Khedive a piece of land on which to build our establishments, worth 43,000 francs and in the best district of Great Cairo. The building is so far advanced that the missionaries and sisters will be able to move in this July.
[4401]
5) In Khartoum I have built a large building, 112 m. long, for the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, which houses schools for the African girls, a home for female slaves who seek refuge there, another for orphan girls, a hospital and a chapel. The Missionaries of the African Institute of Verona live in the house, which had already been built there by Mgr Knoblecher, where they teach African boys; in 1861 it was definitively abandoned, together with the Stations in Holy Cross and Gondokoro on the White River, and in 1865, Shellal. Both Institutes have a lovely garden, the largest and the most beautiful in all the Sudan, which earns the mission more than 1,000 Prussian thalers a year. Thus Khartoum is the Pro-Vicar’s residence, provided in the best possible way with buildings for all those Christian charitable works which are indispensable in a parish.
[4402]
6) In El Obeid I have likewise founded two large houses for the Missionaries and for the Sisters, with a parish church and chapel. Here the buildings were constructed of mud and sand, which in the dry season are sufficiently solid.
[4403]
But, given that in the rainy season (Kharif) this material is not very resistant, we turn to the generosity of Germany and all Europe for the means to build a church and dwellings in brick. The mission of El Obeid is the centre of communications and starting point from which to bring the Christian faith to the tribes in Central Africa and in the western part of the Vicariate, just as Khartoum is the place from which to advance to the east and preach the faith among the most extensive tribes of the White River and as far as the Equator, to the 12th degree of Latitude South.
[4404]
7) Last year two houses were temporarily built in Delen among the peoples of Jebel Nuba, south west of Kordofan, but only of straw and branches, until we can subsequently afford more solid buildings situated in a good and central position in Jebel Nuba, perhaps at the foot of the Carco mountains.
[4405]
8) I also saw fit to construct a building in Berber, between the 17th and 18th degrees of Latitude North on the banks of the Nile, and with a canonical decree of 1st April 1875, I entrusted it to the Order of St Camillus.
[4406]
The house in Shellal, built by my most distinguished predecessor, Mgr Kirchner of Bamberg, who is now parish priest of Sheslitz and a member of the Berlin Parliament, is very suitable for the Missionaries and for the Sisters who come from Egypt on their way to the Vicariate; when the number of Gospel workers has increased, it will be re-opened as soon as the railway is completed as far as Khartoum.
[4407]
So all these considerable establishments, Gentlemen, have emerged since with your deliberation of 1865 you promised me your exceedingly important co-operation; it was all completed within eight years, from 1867 to 1875, at a time when my way was frequently barred by the most unfavourable conditions and when I had to fight against countless obstacles and both external and internal problems, at a time when good has to suffer a thousand contradictions and when there is even a wish to put an end to God’s Church. Despite this, God’s omnipotent hand was clearly visible in our work; you have had reason to recognise this joyfully and to receive some well-deserved satisfactions.
[4408]
Therefore, as your hopes have not been disappointed, do not cease to help this most holy work, redouble your zeal and procure new benefactors for us among the Catholic people of Germany who, with their prayers and donations, will take part in promoting the conversion of Africa, mindful of the saying of St Augustine: “Whoever wins a soul for God has predestined his own”.
You and the Catholics will not lack heaven’s blessing in the fight between heaven and earth, and your courage will be strengthened anew when you hear that God’s cause, through his grace, is celebrating ever new triumphs. In a few months, I hope I shall be able to send you a historical outline of our great work which you have patronised.

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from German.

[4409]
Your letter of last July found me amongst the people of Jebel Nuba, where I witnessed the sad state of the slaves. It is such that to capture 50 slaves they kill more than 200 people; they bind them round the neck with a cord, men and women, and these wretched people travel for months on foot, until they are sold.
After arriving in the capital of Kordofan, I travelled for more than two months on the route from Suakin on the Red Sea; I arrived in Cairo, from where I left for Rome. From there I will send you a report on the Vicariate, on the great good that the Apostolic Work can do and on what it has done until now.

Daniel Comboni


Translated from French.

[4410]
Yesterday I received your esteemed letter containing a letter of credit for 9,600 francs, and I am infinitely grateful to you for it. I am touched to see this divine Work of the Propagation of the Faith, ruled by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit as is the Catholic Church, come to the aid of the foreign Missions twice a year, at the most opportune times and when the needs of the Missions require it.
It is God’s light that rules the Central Councils of your admirable organisation with superhuman wisdom; it is God himself who, in this unfortunate and difficult time, makes this divine Work prosper amidst so many problems.

[4411]
It is true that everyone contributes to the prosperity of the Propagation of the Faith, but its prosperity is due especially to the charity of France, this eldest daughter of the Church, who spreads the effects of her charity and admirable zeal over all the face of the earth. She will never perish, because amidst all the misfortunes that afflict her, there is so much good and virtue that they surpass the evils and vices. The destiny of France is united with the destiny of the Church, against which the gates of hell will never prevail.
Because of the merits of the Propagation of the Faith, as I was told by an august son of France who has the faith and virtue of a saint, France will live and will be blessed by God.
Please accept, Mr President, the homage and gratitude of
Your most devoted servant,

Daniel Comboni
Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from French.

[4412]
This morning I received your most venerable letter of yesterday, in which you have the kindness to inform me that in a Congress held the day before yesterday in Propaganda between the Most Eminent Cardinal Prefect and Your Most Reverend Paternity, in the presence of Mgr the Secretary, it was agreed that you would recall all your Religious, with no exceptions, and that it is my duty to provide the necessary funds for them all to make the return journey.
[4413]
Based on twenty years’ experience and on the Report of the last journey of Fr Carcereri and his companions in 1874–75, for the return of your four Religious who are currently in Berber, that is, the two Fathers Carcereri and Fathers Chiarelli and Bresciani, 1,500 francs in gold will be more than sufficient. I hasten to send you seventy-five gold Napoleons immediately, V. Reverend Father, by my Secretary, Fr Paolo Rossi, who keeps my accounts. I assure you, at the same time, that should this sum be insufficient due to extraordinary and unforeseen circumstances, I am ready to give orders to my Representative Fr Bartolomeo Rolleri, Superior of my Institutes in Egypt and a close friend of Fr Carcereri, so that when they reach Cairo he may provide the said Religious, your sons, with the extra they need to continue their journey to Rome and Verona in comfort.
[4414]
I said that there are four of the above-mentioned Fathers who are your only religious still remaining in Africa and who have made the four solemn vows of your illustrious Order as is required by the 1st Article of our Convention, stipulated in August 1874; because the first of the two laymen who were with your Religious, Giuseppe Bergamaschi, as you will know, fled from the Camillian House in Berber ten months ago and is now in the small Friary of the good Franciscan Fathers in Cairo, where he is tailor and cook’s assistant. The second is the layman Giacomo Rossi, aged 52, who, banished from the Hospital of Mantua after the barbarous suppression in 1866, in 1867 was accepted at my establishments in Verona and soon afterwards at those in Egypt and in the Sudan, and last year, in accordance with Fr Carcereri’s request, I granted that he serve in the Camillian House.
[4415]
If it is true that he was clothed in the Camillian habit after my departure from Berber last year, he is not a Religious who has completed the Noviciate and made the Order’s solemn vows; thus I have no obligation to provide for his return to Europe. However, I would be prepared to grant that the said layman accompany the Religious at my expense as far as Cairo, to help them and to serve them during the journey across the desert and on the Nile. However, to tell the truth, I must assure you from my experience, that far from being a true help to the 4 fathers, he would be an embarrassment and a burden, as Fr Franceschini can observe, and the fathers would be forced to serve him. Thus if he wishes to remain in the Sudan the Fathers could hand over to him the house and all its contents, which belong to the Vicariate, since he has always been a fairly trustworthy man under my governance; he could stay on until those commissioned by me arrive in Berber from Khartoum or Cairo.
[4416]
I fully trust that Your V. Reverend Paternity’s renowned wisdom, experience and kindness will order or suggest to Fr Carcereri to take with him to Europe only those things or objects which belong to the Religious and none of the articles I so bountifully granted him and the religious for their comfort and use in actu missionis, which were procured by the mission, either with the mission’s money, or with my tacit or expressed consent. In conscience I cannot grant him these things, since I must safeguard the proper interests of my Vicariate.
[4417]
I rely on Your V. Rev. Paternity’s goodness, conscience, authority, justice and charity, which I have always esteemed and will appreciate until I die, despite what my adversaries may have led you to believe. From my excellent secretary, already mentioned, you will be able to obtain any explanations you might require with regard to this present business.
[4418]
As I offer you my heartfelt good wishes for the Holy Feast of the Epiphany, and assure you that I will always pray to the God of mercies for you and for all the Religious, your sons who were active under my banner in my arduous and laborious Vicariate, I have the pleasure to sign myself with my full esteem and respect,
Your Most Reverend Paternity’s
most humble, devoted and true servant,

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[4419]
Just a line. At the Congress held in Aedibus S. C. Christiano Nomini propagando on the 3rd of this month between the Most Eminent Cardinal Prefect Franchi, Monsignor Secretary Agnozzi and the Most Reverend Fr Guardi, General of the Camillians, it was decided that the said Most Reverend General must recall all his Religious from Berber, with no exceptions. After this decision I gave my Vicar General, Canon Fiore, the orders to go from Khartoum to Berber to receive the Camillian house from the hands of the Most Reverend Fr Carcereri and give him 1,500 francs, so that he can return to Europe with the other three Religious who are still in Africa. At the same time I gave orders in Cairo to prepare the new small caravan of missionaries and Sisters, and that they leave for Berber and Kordofan.
[4420]
Not only were the African Camillians against me, but they had a formidable colossus who presented a notorious libel against me to the Sacred Congregation: and he is Fr Guardi, General of an Order (which is still powerful in Rome), Consultor of the Sacred Roman and Universal Inquisition, Consultor of the Sacred Congregation for Regular Discipline, Consultor of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Affairs, Examiner of Bishops, Theologian Examiner for Parish Selections, Apostolic Examiner of the Roman Clergy and of the Suburbican Dioceses, highly thought of by the Pope, the Cardinals and all the Congregations, seventy years old and a man of true merit, who has done great good and is truly most respectable and venerable.
[4421]
Yet this colossus (deceptus a suis) waged war against me, declared I was guilty, etc, and for not having wished to listen to me incidit in foveam quam fecit pro me, and behaved like the mountain shepherds who go for wool and come home shorn. I must thank God often, because I escaped from a great danger which was supposed to knock me down.
[4422]
The extreme slowness of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda in this matter is the effect of supreme prudence and charity. It is obvious that Propaganda has decided to expel from Africa not only the famous two, but the whole Camillian Order. But it is proceeding very slowly; it makes them swallow one pill at a time, and inches forward by degrees. We shall see how it makes Fr Carcereri swallow the pill of my consecration, for he said that even if he were certain to be condemned for life by the Holy Office, he would submit to it as long as he could prevent Daniel Comboni’s appointment as Bishop. Ye t there is a prospect of this happening.
[4423]
In the past few days I have been corresponding with the Most Reverend Father Guardi: he is cutting; but I always treat him kindly and nobly. But fiat. I will pray all my life for Carcereri and his companions that God may bless them ever in soul first, and then in temporalibus. Fr Franceschini is most dejected and repentant: but it is too late.
[4424]
If the sentence had been pronounced by me, I could have revoked it, but the sentence was pronounced, omnibus perpensis et mature examinatis ad lumen S. Sp., and issued by the supreme authority of the Church, by the Sacred Congregation on 27th November, and by the Supreme Pontiff Pius IX on 10th December. Thus is is not up to me to remove it. May the Lord be blessed for ever.
[4425]
Now the 3rd part remains of the 5th resolution, that is: “in the case that all the Camillians withdraw, how would Mgr Comboni organise the Vicariate with his forces from Verona without the help (sic) of the Camillians”. I will write a brief Report on this, and at the general Congregation this month or next February, I hope that it will be mentioned and everything will be resolved. Ora et fave.
[4426]
I have suffered the anguish and pains of death: but now I thank God for having suffered propter iustitiam. Oh! How good is that God who showed almost greater wisdom in inventing the Cross than he showed in creating the world.
Ave, dulcissime, have a very happy year.
Tuissimus

Daniel

[4427]
His Most Reverend Excellency Monsignor the Secretary with his esteemed letter of the 2nd of this month, informed me of the venerable resolutions of the Sacred General Congregation of 27th November last year, which I accepted with the maximum respect and devotion as the very expression of the divine will; I was filled with admiration at seeing so clearly how the supreme rectitude, prudence and charity of the eminent Fathers who form this Sacred Congregation are accompanied by the supernatural enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, through whose splendour alone they pronounce their well-thought-out and most wise orders.
[4428]
Deeply convinced of this truth, I can assure Your Most Reverend Eminence that I shall thoroughly study how with the Lord’s grace I can execute faithfully and ad litteram all that the Most Eminent Fathers in their lofty wisdom have established, so that the governance of my arduous and laborious Vicariate may proceed regularly, and succeed in being acceptable to God and to the Sacred Congregation and reach the most holy goal of the greatest benefit to so many million infidels whom the Holy See has deigned to entrust to me.
[4429]
Likewise on the 4th of this month the Most Reverend Fr Guardi wrote me the letter, a copy of which is enclosed as Appendix A, in which he informed me that in a Congress held on the 3rd of this month in Propaganda between Your Most Reverend Eminence and himself, in the presence too of Mgr Secretary, it was arranged that he should recall all his religious, none excepted, and that I should duly make available and hand over the necessary funds for the return journey of them all.
[4430]
I replied to this invitation with the letter of the 5th of this month, enclosed as Appendix B, (1) in which I wrote to the Most Reverend Fr General that for the four Camillian Religious who are still in the Vicariate, that is, the two brothers, the Fathers Carcereri, and Fathers Chiarelli and Bresciani, 1,500 francs in gold are more than sufficient for their return to Europe; and I told him that should this sum not suffice, I was prepared to give my Representative in Egypt orders to provide them with all the extra they might need in order to continue their journey to Rome or Verona in comfort.
[4431]
In this regard on the morning of the 6th of this month, I sent my excellent Secretary Fr Paolo Rossi with seventy-five gold Napoleons, to give to the Most Reverend Fr Guardi, so that he might make the appropriate arrangements and send the money necessary for the recall of his four Religious subjects. But he did not think he should receive the said sum; so he arranged with my secretary that I should delegate one of my missionaries to have Carcereri hand over the Berber establishment, and hand over to the 4 Religious the money for their return.
[4432]
After this agreement, on the evening of the 6th of this month, making use of the Brindisi Postal Service, I gave my General Representative of the Vicariate, Canon Fiore, the orders to take 1,500 francs in gold from my account in Khartoum, and to take it himself to Berber to receive the Mission from the hands of Fr Carcereri and to give him the above-mentioned sum for the return of the Religious to Europe.
[4433]
Then with regard to the Mission of Berber, I ordered the said Canon Fiore to occupy it with my missionaries, and to hand it over to the Superior, Fr Gennaro Martini, who after having visited last October and November the provinces of Cadaref and Ghalabat, has already entered the province of Taka to help the Catholics there, whom the Camillians had for some time been supposed to visit, but whom they had never seen. Once my Priests are installed in the Mission of Berber, I will have them furnish a large house and garden, which is available to me in that city, where I shall put the Sisters, and I shall install them myself when I return to my Vicariate.
[4434]
As I thank the excellent kindness of Your Most Reverend Eminence who with admirable understanding and wisdom was able to conclude, with Mgr Secretary, the final negotiations which I had to resolve with the distinguished Camillian Order, thereby sparing me, in my littleness, the considerable trouble and embarrassment I would have had if I myself had had to resolve this matter with the Most Reverend Father General of the said Order, I have the honour to renew the expression of my eternal devotion, gratitude and unlimited and perfect obedience; and as I bow to kiss the Sacred Purple, I sign with the deepest respect
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s
most humble, devoted and grateful son,

Daniel Comboni
Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


(1) See Letter N. 677.