Writings

[5564]

Since the Missionary must teach not only by words but even more and better by his example, so each one must see to it that he observes the common timetable of the house precisely, in all that concerns him, taking part promptly and calmly in all devout exercises and ensuring that he makes up at the most appropriate time for all the community prayers he has been obliged to miss. He will show that he is obedient and respectful to his Superiors at all times, he will deal lovingly with his own confreres, and whenever he is obliged to correct or punish those in his care, he will do so with charitable zeal and never with unbridled bitterness or thoughtless anger.

[5565]

His bearing should always be modest and serious, and he will never allow himself to make a noise or create any disturbance which could upset the mutual tranquillity and peace; he will never permit himself to judge, or far less to criticise the conduct of others, nor scrutinise every action of the Superior, but will attend to his own business and fulfil his duties, and should there be cause for controversy or litigation with anyone, he will refer at all times only to his legitimate Superiors, with whose judgement he must be content.

[5566]

It is therefore absolutely forbidden to circulate or divulge hearsay, gossip or disturbing rumours, both inside the house and with outsiders or members of other Stations, which always upset the order of a Mission and the peace and tranquillity of its members. In such circumstances, the Gospel precepts about fraternal correction and Christian charity should be strictly adhered to.

[5567]

Each Priest will celebrate Holy Mass every day according to the Superior’s arrangements, when there is no legitimate reason for not so doing. The application of the Mass will be made according to the Superior’s intention, with the exception of a quarter of the total number of Masses, whose intentions the celebrant may choose as he pleases. Every month each Priest will present his Superior with a note of the exact number of Masses he has celebrated for the Mission.

[5568]

All donations to the Church and stole-fees for baptisms, weddings, blessings and funerals are the property of the Mission and must be handed to the Superior.
Should anyone have to go out, he should inform the Superior, explaining the reason, and depend upon his consent.

[5569]

Whenever it is necessary to enter the women’s house, prior permission must be obtained from the Superior, explaining the reason and ensuring that the matter is accomplished as quickly as possible, taking care not to remain there any longer than necessary.
Each Missionary should be satisfied with the community meals, nor claim the need for special food without permission from the Superior; and in any case he will never go to the hatch or to the kitchen, to ask for something outside the established times.

[5570]

He cannot employ any boy for his own private service, except after asking permission from the Superior, or from the boys’Prefect, and once the service is completed, he should be sent back to his post as soon as possible.
If anyone wishes to use the equipment or tools of the Mission, he should request them from the Superior; he should never use them without his permission and must return them after use, to the Superior himself or to the person in charge, as soon as the need or work for which they were granted has been accomplished; the Superior should be informed of the personal equipment in the possession of each one.

[5571]

TIMETABLE

5.00 a.m. Rising
6.00 a.m. Mass, Meditation and Community prayers
7.00 a.m. Breakfast and free time
8.00 a.m. Work, school for the boys, study or other occupations
11.30 a.m. Spiritual reading in church, and visit to the Blessed Sacrament
12.00 noon Lunch, Visit to the Blessed Sacrament – Rest
2.00 p.m. Work, school for the boys and free time
At the Angelus Rosary in Church and Prayers; then dinner and free time or recreation
8.00 p.m. Examination of conscience, prayers in church, bedtime

Note: This Rule and Timetable is obligatory for all those who live permanently or temporarily in this house.

[5572]

In my last letter n. 3, I told you how when the ambassadors of King John of Abyssinia conferred with Gordon Pasha, Governor General of the Sudan and ambassador of His Highness the Khedive of Egypt, the latter had promised and
assured them that he would persuade his lord to appoint the Abuna of Abyssinia or schismatic Coptic Bishop, and that he himself would meet the expenses of his journey and have him accompanied to Adua by a detachment of soldiers.

[5573]

Yesterday I received a visit from the above-mentioned Gordon Pasha, who bitterly complained because His Highness the Khedive absolutely refused to grant the Abuna to the Christians of Abyssinia, and after a reiterated exchange of telegraphic dispatches, the Khedive remained intransigent with regard to his suggestion and will never grant Coptic Bishops to those peoples who are his enemies. The schismatic Bishop of Khartoum also came to see me to complain of the Sovereign of Egypt’s procedure.

[5574]

Moreover, the Khedive, who for so many years refused to appoint the current Patriarch of Cairo just because his mother had predicted his imminent death, is a man capable of forcing the schismatic-heretical Church of Abyssinia to remain widowed, perhaps for many years, many more than the humiliation which affected the Khedive in the war against Abyssinia, increased his hatred and fury against that Nation, which he will never be able to subdue, just as the numerous determined efforts of at least 12 centuries deployed by Mecca could never subdue that most powerful nation.

[5575]

Perhaps God is preparing the way to ease things for Mgr Touvier and his Vincentian missionaries in order to extend his Kingdom in that worthy nation, which has been proof of miracles of heroism for a good 12 centuries, and keep it Christian, since it was disgracefully injured by the most lethal errors of the terrible heresiarch Dioscorus of Alexandria, mingled with thousands of other superstitions contracted through age-old contact with unbelieving nations.

[5576]

I have thought it right to advise you of this for your information, although it has nothing to do with my Vicariate’s affairs, because perhaps Your Eminence will not have information available on this important feature of the Abyssinian mission.
Five Sisters of the Institute of the Devout Mothers of Africa, which I founded in Verona, left Khartoum on 14th January and have not yet arrived here in Kordofan. These are gruelling journeys. I heard today that they left Duen on the White Nile on 29th January last with 17 camels, and are bound for Teiara. I therefore telegraphed the Pasha of Kordofan to send camels to that town to transport them to El Obeid, since from Duen to Teiara they could only find camels worn out by hunger, who haven’t a breath of life in them.

[5577]

There are only four Sisters of St Joseph left here in the Vicariate, and one or another of them is always ill. In August 1877 my secretary, Fr Paolo Rossi, now in charge of my Institute in Verona, spent 42 days in Rome to make arrangements in my name with the late Mother General; they came to an agreement, but the Very Reverend Mother never reached a definitive conclusion with His Eminence the late Cardinal Prefect. I wrote again and again to the current Mother General, who is now in Rome, and made her the broadest proposals: but I could never manage to discover her intentions, nor whether she would send me Sisters. In the meantime, the 4 who have remained are oppressed by exhaustion because they have laboured very hard, and really have worked miracles of charity.

[5578]

Gordon Pasha is absolutely adamant about wanting to entrust all the hospitals in the Sudan to me. He would like me to accept the one with 40 beds in Khartoum for the Sisters of St Joseph, and the one in Fashoda, in the tribe of the Shilluk on the White Nile for the Verona Sisters. But with such depleted numbers, it is impossible for me to accept. The great Pasha is now beginning to build a new hospital on the Blue Nile.

[5579]

To tell the truth, I am very keen on keeping the Sisters of St Joseph in the Vicariate because of the element of Arab Sisters which is so useful, but on condition that they send me a sufficient contingent, that they designate for me a Provincial or First Superior who would have full jurisdiction over all her Congregation’s houses in the Vicariate, and give each house a good and able Superior. But with 4 Sisters, what can we do? They wear themselves out and the schools and the many works they direct, which are so useful, all suffer.

[5580]

I hope that my fear is unfounded, that is, that the excellent Mother General and her council may be discouraged by the generous deaths of 9 Sisters whom they have lost. No, we must not be disheartened, and Your Eminence, I beg you to keep up the letters and encourage her not to sound the retreat from Africa. This year was exceptional. Many Sisters and missionaries died and many coadjutor brothers. But they died from the epidemic and contagious diseases. And from 1871 to the present time, no missionary Priest has died who was first acclimatised in Cairo. All those who died had not been acclimatised at those Institutes, because for the mission’s needs I had them come to Africa without spending at least the summer season in the Cairo establishments. So, at the cost of all of us dying here without help, I have established that every European and missionary sister must be acclimatised in Cairo before settling down to face the climate of Central Africa.

[5581]

My health his broken: the fever does not want to leave me: I am oppressed by fatigue and the heartbreak of so many crosses. However my spirit is sustained by hope in that Jesus whose heart beat and who died for Africa.
I hope that I shall soon be able to baptise about 30 adults who are being prepared, and a lot of work has been done in Jebel Nuba, for those difficult languages. I kiss your Sacred Purple and remain Your Eminence’s
Most humble, devoted and obedient son,

+ Daniel Comboni, Bishop
and Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

[5582]

I send you the enclosed which I received yesterday with others from Gessi, for the Esploratore. Yesterday, I received others dated 30th November, from the same Gessi. A dispatch also arrived from Sciacca, which claims that Gessi has overcome the rebel Ziber, who fled to Dar-Fertit and to Bahar Saldana with a few faithful followers, while it seems Gessi has conquered four Scribes and put the enemy to flight, causing two thousand men to fall, between dead and wounded, and taking seven hundred prisoners.

[5583]

I would therefore like to have this news confirmed by Gordon Pasha, as soon as the fever has left me and I have recovered my breath. The tremendous mortality this year which destroyed so much of the population, more than three thousand members of the mission between the local people and Europeans, as well as my right hand in this Work of mine, has prevented me from replying to hundreds of letters.

[5584]

I received some important things from Emin Effendi, from Lado and from Darfur, etc.; but I am unwell and cannot cope with them… Just think that I have not yet read them all!… I am so worn out by my efforts, but my spirit feels as strong as a lion, and I am firmer and more unshakeable than ever despite all the obstacles of the world, in my original war cry: “Africa of death!”
Yesterday I telegraphed Matteucci and tomorrow I shall be sending telegrams to Massaua for Gessi.

+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa”

[5585]

I have already explained several times in my reports for the Annals of the praiseworthy Society of Cologne that God’s works are always born at the foot of Calvary and bear the mark of the Cross.
In this, good Providence shows us a disposition of wisdom which we generally find confirmed in the Church’s history. It tests us in the perspective of the most luminous truth that all God’s works, which serve for his glorification, can only be undertaken by following the paths of sorrow through great trials and continuous obstacles, and demand extraordinary sacrifices and martyrdom. Apostolic missions are such works of God; consequently they are mostly marked with the seal of the Cross, since they are dedicated to the lofty task of doing away with the powers of darkness, and to extend Christ’s kingdom in their place.

[5586]

This is why it is quite natural that they should come up against continuous hostility and persecutions of all kinds: for the powers of darkness do not at all readily want to give up their dominion and their throne, and prepare taxing battles for us, to make us feel the full force of their power which brings ruin.

[5587]

Therefore no apostolic mission has ever been founded or could ever make progress without crosses and suffering, without sacrifice, bloodshed and martyrdom. The vicissitudes of the Catholic mission resemble the glorious history of the Catholic Church and the Papacy: the former was founded and developed with the blood of her martyrs and continues full of courage, despite the raging storms that have accompanied her as she progressed sublimely, safe and triumphant, through the impetuous waves of the centuries to the haven of eternity for which she was founded.

[5588]

So if this is how the regal and glorious journey of all the Church’s Catholic Missions appears, why should this mission, which is by far the most difficult and burdensome in the world, whose goal is the advancement of man and which covers such a vast and densely populated territory, tread a different path than that of the other missions and holy undertakings in God’s honour? No, its ways cannot but be strewn with thorns and tribulations of every kind; it must pass through the crucible of sorrows and sufferings and martyrdom; the Cross is what it must expect.

[5589]

The devil of impiety and hostility to God must be fought without fear of death and will be hounded out of Africa. We hope that with God’s help our epoch will be granted success in converting this most abandoned and unhappy of all peoples on earth. Yes, it does indeed seem that God has decided thus!

[5590]

And now, my dear gentlemen, you who gave the first impulse, the first support to this sublime work for the salvation of souls, you who were the first to sustain the work of the regeneration of Central Africa with a zeal worthy of admiration and unequalled constancy, so that more than a hundred million poor unfortunates might be led to faith and civilisation; you who through your Society and charity have fired Catholic Germany with enthusiasm, consider now the fruits of your most praiseworthy activity; you see how the eyes of the whole contemporary world are focused on Africa. Some want to bring civilisation there, others religion. Still others aim to abolish the slave trade and are concerned with the possible productivity of the land and the country’s riches; some are making precise notes from the geographical viewpoint, etc.

[5591]

Thus it seems that science, industry and philanthropy should join forces to make discoveries there and somehow solve the problem so that Central Africa can be civilised and converted to Christianity.
You were not surprised, gentlemen, at the grandiose efforts which America, England, Germany are making with regard to Central Africa. You have before your eyes the project of His Majesty, the present King of the Belgians, which is a splendid testimony of this monarch’s right notions and noble ideals that have stimulated various European and American states to be concerned with Africa and to direct their aims there, to endeavour to introduce the benefits of Christian civilisation.

[5592]

You may rest assured that the work your Society has done, combined with the efforts of the whole of Catholic Germany for the liberation and Christian education of Africans, which made it possible to carry out my “Plan for the Regeneration of Africa”, has played a large part in motivating minds and in the provisions for Africa now being made everywhere in the world; not only in the world of science, but especially in the many different associations of the Catholic Church.
You may take great comfort from this, gentlemen, since it was God who awakened this Christian love in your hearts, this zeal for the African peoples; and there is no doubt that your Annals have also made a great contribution: revealing the great needs of these peoples and their unlimited wretchedness has awakened a keen interest in them among humanity.

[5593]

For this reason the Apostolic See is also compelled to do all it can to expand the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in Central Africa, and to put the missions on a firm footing. Take into account, then, the great truth that the scientific and civilising aspirations of the European powers and their humanitarian intentions will all turn out in the end to be to the advantage of the Catholic Church and the Catholic apostolate in the exercise of its works of salvation, to which the Society for Central Africa has been dedicating its activities for a good 25 years.

[5594]

In addition, a Society of magnanimous missionaries of Algeria, founded by the energetic and eminent Archbishop, Mgr Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie for the apostolate of the Prefecture Apostolic of the Sahara, is now directing its own diligent cares to Equatorial Africa; this extends towards the southern part of the Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa, which at the present time, given that it is part of Central Africa, by virtue of the Brief of 3rd April of holy memory, comes under my jurisdiction.
Since the Lord has placed me in my office for the salvation of souls, I consider myself fortunate to cede to the new Congregation of Algeria, which has a lot of personnel available, the territories around Lake Tanganyika and in the kingdom of Muati-Yamnvo, as well as the whole region which extends from Victoria Nyanza along the line of the Equator, for due to the lack of missionaries I would not immediately be able evangelise those zones.

[5595]

Furthermore, you should take note of the zealous work of the pious Fathers of the excellent Congregation of the Holy Ghost and the Heart of Mary, founded for the Apostolate of Africa by the very Reverend Fr Libermann. They are extending their conquests in the interior of the Prefecture Apostolic of the Congo. And then we should record, first of all, the very successful results of Fr Antonio Horner who after great efforts has succeeded in proclaiming the Gospel from Bagamoyo to the interior of Nguron and Mihonda, and in Onssigna.

[5596]

Lastly, you should consider the recent missionary foundation in the Upper Zambezi, entrusted by Leo XIII to the Reverend Jesuit Fathers of England. It is headed by an excellent, brave veteran of the Indian apostolic mission, the most Reverend Fr Depelchin, who has taken six missionaries with him from the Cape to found the first missionary station there among the Matabele and the Bechwara; from here it is his intention to continue on towards the banks of Lake Banguelo where Livingstone died.

[5597]

Having said this first as an introduction to my report, I would like to fill you in on the events in our Mission during recent months, and on the thorny beginning of my apostolate as the first Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa. Such a brief space of time contains a series of terrible and frightening hardships. They are a harsh trial to the existence of the Mission which is in any case already exceedingly demanding.

[5598]

But precisely because the Lord has impressed the seal of his Cross on the apostolate of Central Africa, the promise of its duration, holiness and success is assured. Any amount of disgraces and sorrowful events will be unable either to discourage or to destroy, even for a second, the spirit of the Gospel workers who have received from God their vocation to this difficult, sacrifice-filled apostolate; and because of this our zeal has grown, our hopes are freshly revived and we remain, without hesitations, unwavering on the way we have undertaken, faithful to our battle cry “Africa or death!”


The famine in Central Africa in the year 1877–1888.

[From § 5599 to §5631, a repeat of the information on the famine].

[5632]

However, more than anything else, the high mortality rate among the principal members of the mission fills me with unspeakable sorrow and breaks my heart. All the members of the Khartoum mission were stricken in September by violent fevers and other serious illnesses; as well as myself, all the missionaries, all the lay brothers from Europe, all the indigenous pupils – with the exception of two Africans – all the Sisters of St Joseph, including Sr Germana Assuad of Aleppo, who has often been so ill in Khartoum, Kordofan and Jebel Nuba as to be on the verge of dying and to whom I myself administered the Holy Viaticum. In addition, all the African women teachers, sewing women, pupils and slaves of the female Institute sickened, except for two.

[5633]

The fevers and the other previously unheard of terrible diseases lasted for three months. They brought many to the brink of the grave. In October I was the only Priest, with Sr Germana’s help, night and day, in the mission and outside it, who assisted the sick and the dying. Both the majestic houses of the mission in Khartoum became hospitals; not only did I have to attend to the duties of my ministry as Bishop, but I also had to act as superior, parish priest, chaplain, administrator, doctor, surgeon and nurse, outside and inside the mission, and sometimes even undertaker.

[5634]

I was always busy, on my feet day and night. For four months I could not sleep more than one hour in twenty-four. My loss of appetite and nausea had reached the point that I suffered unspeakably, and when I had to take some food, it was as if I were going to my death. On some days I had no meat broth for the sick and the dying who, like the missionaries and Sisters, belonged to the mission; I then provided various servants with a lot of money to get hold of a fowl or a pigeon so as to prepare a little broth. Formerly fowls cost very little in Khartoum. But neither in Khartoum nor in the surrounding villages could anything be found. I even sent to places a day’s journey away, towards Ondurman, Karari and Tamariet, but it was all in vain. The servants returned without having managed anything. It was a really desperate case of which I could not give you the palest idea.

[5635]

Fr Policarpo Genoud died in twenty minutes, unexpectedly smitten with typhoid fever; I also lost my good and pious Ferdinando Bassanetti from the African Institute in Verona; he had the office of gardener in the Mission, and with his considerable economic and agrarian knowledge and choices, managed to make the large garden of our mission in Khartoum marvellously productive. However in recent years there has been only grass for the oxen that carried the water from the river to irrigate the land and vegetable garden. Formerly, through the diligent care of the generous Tyrolean missionary, the incomparable Augusto Wiesnewky of the Diocese of Ermeland, now deceased, it had been brought to the peak of great usefulness to the mission, whereas now it has gone to ruin because of the drought.

[5636]

The able farmer Lazzaro of Verona also died, then the blacksmith Augusto Serrarcangeli of Rome and the really holy, peaceful engineer and mechanic, Antonio Iseppi, whom I had brought with me from Verona to install a steam engine to irrigate the vegetable garden, and do without the animals.

[5637]

I also intended to have a mill built to grind grain for the missions of Khartoum, Berber and Kordofan, since in these lands grain is still ground between two flat stones called “marhhaccas”. They produce a flour which is neither clean nor good, and the method requires numerous female staff. This skilful man put together the machine and installed it in a suitable place. Then as he was also highly educated in other things, he was very useful as a catechist and the example he set did a lot of good. Later however he suffered from gallstones and other illnesses for 4 months; then he contracted typhoid and finally went to his eternal repose, to receive the palm for his virtues.

[5638]

The reverend Mother Superior of Kordofan, after extraordinary privations, was also stricken by typhoid and died. Sr Enrichetta, 26 years old, strong and healthy until then, stood out for her excellent qualities and angelic innocence, and was the directress of the institute for orphan girls in Khartoum, caught typhoid fever after caring for the numerous sick who suffered contagious diseases. Totally serene and content, she gave up her soul to the Lord and throughout her painful illness she could be heard to exclaim: “Tout pour Vous, mon Jèsus” (everything for you, my Jesus). She was French and had been in Khartoum for only 18 months.

[5639]

I pass over in silence the many very sad deaths among the pupils of both sexes in our Institutes for Africans in Khartoum, whom, through your Society, you had redeemed. They went to heaven with smiles on their faces to implore the Lord for merciful graces for all the members of the Society through whose help they had been freed from the shadows of paganism and the torments of slavery. As children of God, they had been welcomed into the heart of the Catholic Church.

[5640]

I would still like to mention how stricken I was by the serious and irreparable loss of the man who was my right hand in my work. He had been beside me like an angel and a wise counsellor, and for eight years directed my Institute in Verona, which flourished in an extraordinary way under his direction.

[5641]

In 1877 I brought him into my Vicariate as General Administrator of the financial sector of the mission of Central Africa, with the intention, should he resist the African climate, of appointing him Vicar General and later, of having him named Bishop by the Holy See and my coadjutor-successor. He was the pious, erudite and able Fr Antonio Squaranti. Although he had not yet been stricken by fevers, from time to time, in July and August in those days of extreme tropical heat, he had been overcome by an extreme weakness. This was nothing unusual, given that all Europeans, especially at the beginning of their life in Khartoum, are exposed to many physical ailments. We too suffer from them every year, especially in the season of the rains (Kharif). Whenever the rain fell in such abundant quantities, I used immediately to think that it would cause fevers and illnesses. In Khartoum the Kharif fevers are deadlier than in any other place in Central Africa.

[5642]

Since it was the first time that Fr Squaranti had been exposed to these dangerous fevers of Khartoum, I thought a change of air would be better for him. I sent him to Berber to visit that station where five Sisters, Devout Mothers of Africa had been working on this distant mission for several months. They rightly deserved comfort and help, since they too had been smitten with fevers. I told him he was to stay there until I recalled him. He did not realise my intention, with which I managed to distance him from Khartoum at the time, and like an obedient son set out in an Arab ship to Berber, which he reached after 13 days.

[5643]

There he recovered perfectly and his original good health was restored, so that he wrote that he felt even stronger and healthier than he had been in Europe. During his absence we were beset by the terrible fevers and other illnesses which I have already described to you. But as soon as he heard that deaths were so frequent in the Khartoum mission that people were dying there like flies and that I was all alone and had no one, apart from myself, to administer the Sacraments, he did not hesitate an instant to come to the help of myself and the mission, so sorely tried. Accompanied by a member of that mission, he boarded a boat overloaded with passengers, including many poor Muslims.

[5644]

The boat took 14 days to reach Khartoum. However, already at the beginning of the voyage he had begun to feel the first symptoms of fever, and in addition his provisions of quinine had run out since he had given it to other sick people. On the twelfth day, his temperature rocketed, and on the fourteenth, he was already on the brink of death. Then the fever subsided somewhat, but when he arrived in Khartoum, I immediately knew, from long experience, that his fever had become typhoid which is raging here. We welcomed him in the most loving way possible and for 12 days gave him all the best physical and spiritual care we could. But it was all in vain! On the evening of 16th November, at 6.30 p.m. he breathed his last, happy in the Lord, in peace and full of trust in the eternal reward, while we were having difficulty restraining our tears. His great kindness and fraternal love led him to death, which caused us all unspeakable sorrow, but deeply afflicted me in particular.

[5645]

His fraternal charity, his righteousness and the apostolic spirit that motivated him were far above any praise. His loss is irreparable to me. But the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus will send me new help, as I hope, for the salvation of unhappy Africa. The extremely demanding efforts which I have had to bear for more than ten months, the many emotions, afflictions and worries which the Lord wants to shower upon me in his decrees which are inscrutable but always rich in blessings, have finally undermined even my health which was so vigorous. In Boure, two miles from Khartoum where I had gone to visit our sick, I caught a very violent fever, the consequences of which I am still suffering, and my strength has been extraordinarily sapped. Who knows if and when I shall manage fully to recover my health?

[5646]

Confronted by so many afflictions, among the mountains of crosses and sorrows which I have already described to you and those yet to be described, in these enormous complications, the Catholic missionary’s heart has been shaken, but this is no reason for him to despair; strength, courage and hope can never desert him. Could a true apostle’s heart ever be downcast and fearful at all these obstacles and extraordinary difficulties? No, it is not possible, ever! Triumph is in the Cross alone.

[5647]

The Sacred Heart of Jesus also beat for the black peoples of Central Africa and Jesus Christ also died for the Africans. Central Africa too will be welcomed into the sheepfold by Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, and the apostolic missionary cannot but take the way of the divine Teacher’s Cross, strewn with thorns and all kinds of efforts. “Non pervenitur ad magna praemia nisi per magnos labores”. Thus the true apostle cannot fear any difficulty, nor even death. The Cross and martyrdom are his triumph.

[5648]

The missionaries of Central Africa, who are subjected to slow martyrdom by deprivations of every kind, by their superhuman labours and by the burning heat of the climate, will all follow the example of St Boniface, Apostle of Germany and of our dear confreres of China and India, who are not afraid of the most terrible martyrdom. Before the standard of the Cross, Central Africa is bound to bend her head, and will be conquered for Jesus Christ.

[5649]

Gentlemen, after telling you of the losses and misfortunes of this important and difficult mission, it remains for me to add that this year, through our extraordinary efforts, despite our great needs, we have obtained an abundance
of results and marvellous successes of which we may be proud, and which have even exceeded those we obtained in recent years.

[From § 5650 to 5655, Comboni again recalls the famine].

+ Daniel Comboni

Translated from German.

[5656]

Allow me, Mr President, to come and throw myself at your feet to plead for the most holy cause of my Vicariate and I beg you, with tears in my eyes, to deign to hear the prayer I addressed to the Propagation of the Faith this year. I sent the two statistical tables for Lyons and for Paris a week ago, with the very detailed double report of 12 pages the size of this letter, on my Vicariate’s situation. I hope that by now they have arrived at the Paris office.

[5657]

However, here is a short summary. The famine with the drought and mortality in Central Africa have been far more dreadful and frightful than the famine and mortality in China, Oriental India and the other Missions throughout the world. Many essential foodstuffs are either completely lacking here, or cost eight, ten fifteen or twenty four times as much usual. You can easily understand, Mr President, my enormous anxieties and difficulties.

[5658]

Furthermore, the mortality has been even more appalling. In one part of my Vicariate, two or three times the size of France, half the population has died and more than half the animals and livestock. In a good part of this same Vicariate, three quarters of the people and animals have died, and in many places, not far from Khartoum, not only has all the population died, but also all the animals and livestock, even the dogs which are the only providential guardians of public security in these lands.

[5659]

Because of this dreadful epidemic, the Mission itself has suffered enormous losses among the Europeans, the Sisters and my Administrator and Vicar General, Fr Antonio Squaranti, who was my right arm and that of my Work.
Very far from losing heart (although I myself have been at death’s door and for the 14th time in 21 years), I feel a lion’s courage. I am more certain than ever that I shall succeed in my Work which is the most enormous, difficult and arduous in the whole world, because divine Works and especially apostolic Works that aim to overthrow Satan’s rule to replace it with the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, must pass along the regal way of the Cross and of Martyrdom, and Jesus Christ attained the triumph of his glorious Resurrection through his Passion and Death.

[5660]

As a result, to restore the Vicariate and to pay part of the debts we have been forced to incur in order not to die, in addition to the specific donations collected by the Bulletin of the Missions Catholiques of Lyons, I have asked the Central Councils this year to increase the subsidy the Propagation of the Faith allocated to me in previous years, and I have begged it to grant me, for the financial period you will now define, the sum of 90,000 francs. I have calculated that even if this sum, with the other small resources I hope to obtain, were insufficient for the immense needs of the Vicariate, it would nevertheless allow me draw breath for a while; besides, the divine Work of the Propagation of the Faith is here to help all the world’s Missions.

[5661]

Mr President, this is my humble prayer. I beg you for love of God to commit the Council to grant it; may God pour out his mercies on Africa; Jesus Christ also died for these wretched unbelievers in Central Africa, and the Propagation of the Faith is the channel of his graces and mercies.
In the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, I have the honour to sign myself, Mr President
Your most humble and devoted servant,


+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop of Claudiopolis i.p.i
Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from French.

[5662]

To avoid all future delays, I beg you, after having the extreme kindness to grant me a contribution, to invite Mr Brown and Fils, the papal bankers in Rome in Via Condotti, who are also used by the Vatican, by Propaganda, to charge your representative in Paris, the General Society in Via di Provenza, to withdraw from the Holy Childhood account any sums you will have the kindness to allocate to me. If you think it better to write to your representative in Rome, Rev. Fr Martino y Beues, Vicar General of the Trinitarians in Via Condotti, who is the confessor of the pious Brown family, it would be just the same. One is never certain here in Khartoum of finding some Frenchman in order to draw on Paris.

[5663]

I have postponed writing because after my last letter the famine caused an unheard of mortality. My great Vicar and General Administrator himself, Fr Antonio Squaranti, the right arm of my Work, died in the epidemic with other Missionaries, Sisters, Lay Brothers and Mission members.
There was a period in which I was the only one left to administer the sacraments because all the rest were very ill or had died, and I had to exercise the functions not only of Bishop, but also of curate, vicar, superior, administrator, doctor, surgeon, nurse, and assistant to the sick, night and day.

[5664]

There were times when, having an Italian Missionary and a French Sister, with the rest of the two houses transformed into two large hospitals, I sent out for a pigeon or a fowl or a little meat to make them some broth and could not find any, even with gold in hand. In Kordofan, Sr Arsenia Le Floch of Brittany, Superior of the Sisters of St Joseph, on her deathbed (she was an angel), begged the kindness of a little wheat bread soaked in water. It was impossible to find. At last a little was discovered at a Jewish shop, but the Superior had already gone to heaven.
Had I paid attention to the most urgent needs, I would not have asked for 15,000 but for 100,000 francs, but with 15,000 francs and those from the Propagation of the Faith, we will not suffer hunger and privations for much longer. But all for Jesus and for the redemption of Central Africa!

[5665]

Lastly, worn-out by sorrow, efforts and mortal worries, despite my robust constitution, I myself fell ill with a very high fever, and after two months it is still oppressing me and has brought me to a sorry state.
Now it is 26 hours since it abated, but I can neither sleep nor eat nor walk. For four months I did not sleep one hour in 24, day and night, and for three weeks I will have slept two hours in 24.

[5666]

But since God’s works, and especially those of the apostolate, must be born and grow at the foot of Calvary and pass along the regal way of the Cross and martyrdom (and you are competent judges of the heroism of our dear confreres in China), I am filled with more courage than ever, and more than ever convinced that after the passion and death, we will attain the resurrection of Central Africa, who will bow her head before the Cross of Jesus Christ and enter his fold.

[5667]

As I await your reply, I send you the completed form, because it is required for the allocation of funds. I have also written a compendium of the report, but feel so weak that I am not sure whether I shall be able to transcribe it in a week.
At the present time I only have one sheet of paper to hand. I have the honour of being, with all my gratitude and respect
Your most devoted servant,

+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop of Claudiopolis i.p.i.
Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa

Translated from French.