Writings

[6039]

Just a couple of lines to express my heartfelt satisfaction with the proposal to assign a mission or a Prefecture Apostolic to the Seminary of Lyons.
What I had outlined for the Belgians is not at all suitable because, learning from your Eminence that it was a question of Belgians, I had designated as operations base the Great Congo River where the Belgian expedition led by Stanley has been working for two years. If that territory were to be entrusted to Mgr Planque, the same mistake would be made as that of giving Mgr Planque the Central Cape of Good Hope, which is too out of touch with his operations centre.

[6040]

Instead, calculating that Planque has two houses in Egypt and that he also hopes to move to Upper Egypt beyond the places occupied by the Reformed Franciscans, etc. (which is very good), I would be of the humble opinion that the house in Shellal with Lower Nubia and the ancient kingdom of Dongola should be entrusted and made over to Planque; these two places are in a very healthy climate; they would serve as operations bases for the evangelisation of the empire of Waday or other areas in contact with the operations base in Shellal and Dongola (where I wanted to set up an establishment, and which is also inhabited by Copts).

[6041]

In any case I will deal directly with Mgr Planque, indeed I shall exchange views with him to do positive and enduring things, so as not to see him always wandering about clutching bundles of maps, but concluding nothing or very little.
I do not intend by this to fail to complete all I have been doing to make the proper arrangements for my Congregation in Verona, to ensure its prosperity. Indeed, I am devoting all my energy to it and of course I shall succeed, since here I have a magnificent Work of students and Sisters who are training for the difficult and thorny apostolate of Central Africa, which is so little known in Europe even by great and important men.

[6042]

By the time I leave I hope I shall have organised everything. Then I have not given up the idea of entrusting a small part to the good young priests of Don Bosco and of helping them, so that with my assistance they will succeed in their intentions.
The first pillar of Central Africa in the early days is now staying at S. Pietro in Vincoli, the most learned and holy “Rocchettino” (Canon) Mitterrutzner. I implored Propaganda in vain to appoint him as a Consultor. He never knew of the steps I took for him. However, supposing that Your Eminence celebrate Mass at your Titular Church on 1st August, I beg you to give him a warm welcome, for he is a great man of great merit and would really deserve an Episcopal See. He has been helping Central Africa for 29 years, he has compiled two dictionaries and grammar books, in Dinka and in Bari, and he has donated – collected – many hundred thousand Francs for Africa.
I kiss your Sacred Purple and remain
Your most obedient son,

+ Bishop Daniel Comboni

[6043]

I beg your pardon for my delay in answering you. It is only partly my fault, because I am alone and have a great deal of work.
I did all I could to be in Brussels on the 5th, but since the Emperor of Austria is still hunting he has not yet received me, although I have been here at Aussee for five days, that is, only two hours from Ischl where his Majesty is staying.
However, if I do not have the luck to see you in Brussels, I shall see you in England. I therefore accept the generous offer of your honourable hospitality and will stop off in your neighbourhood, as you suggested in your letter. I shall certainly have your address there and will be able to reach you in England.

[6044]

In the meantime pray and have prayers said for me, as the most heavily burdened Bishop on earth, but my strength is in the Blessed Sacrament which you, my good Mother, serve and have served with such heartfelt devotion. Your Work is the most sublime apostolate on earth, the most powerful force to crush the head of the devil. May your admirable Work spread throughout the earth! Yes, it will certainly spread, despite the petty heads and hearts that think they are important enough to do without the Work of Perpetual Adoration.
Pray for your devoted

+ Daniel Comboni
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa


Translated from French.

[6045]

It has never happened that people forget their benefactors because of the passing of time, a change in customs or any kind of social upheaval. They are also impelled by the sentiment of gratitude – which cannot be deleted from men’s hearts unless they first become worse than brutes – to honour their memory, to proclaim the greatness of their deeds, to celebrate their glory; they are likewise prompted by the reflection of their splendour on their homeland, of which are openly displayed both the greatness to which these benefactors raised it, and the glory they procured for it.

[6046]

Moreover, since the greatness and glory of a people is both moral and material, the first deriving from the goodness of the laws that govern it, from the gentleness of the customs it is taught, from the virtues that it honours; the second, on the other hand, from a comfortable life, the prosperity of its industry or cultivation of the arts; and since, in the very nature of things, the first is significantly more valued than the second, because it belongs to a very much higher order; so the venturesome hero who has given his life for a people’s moral glory and greatness, not only acquires a right to its gratitude, but his brow is crowned with a wreath of perennial blessings which his name will never cease to inspire, as long as one single descendent of this people is left alive on earth. If Rome, the city that is queen of the world, superior to all peoples, Rome the Eternal City par excellence applauds its first ancestors and all those great men who strove in every way for its splendour so that they procured immense glory for it, the equal of which no other city can boast, Rome gives even greater plaudits to the name of that poor fisherman of Galilee who once entered her walls, stirred up the greatest revolution that the annals of peoples and nations have ever recorded, entirely changing her doctrines, laws and customs, transforming her from the teacher of vice, error and profanity that she had been, to the whole world’s teacher of truth, virtue and holiness.

[6047]

Nineteen centuries have now passed since that day; and, as then, the sound of Peter’s name is still revered and sacred for Rome. Still today Rome utters the name of Peter with the greatest transports of gratitude and joy: in Peter’s name Rome still stands dignified and glorious before all the peoples of the world.

[6048]

Ladies and gentlemen! If by chance someone who does not know much about the history of the Veronese people would like to hear from you why ever Verona today proclaims and celebrates the name of Zeno, apostle and martyr of Jesus Christ, why it desires to dedicate this entire day to his cult and why it wishes to celebrate his memory with the most splendid pomp in several solemnities during the year, I well know what answer you would give him: “Zeno is the greatest and most illustrious benefactor of the people of Verona”. As Peter was for Rome, so was Zeno for Verona: as Rome from Peter, so Verona received from Zeno the faith of Christ, that faith which bathes the peoples who accept him in such bright glory that it makes them a spectacle of admiration to the world, to angels and to men.

[6049]

Just as Rome’s glory and greatness was immeasurably increased when Peter, shedding his blood within her walls, sealed the truth of the faith which he had proclaimed there, so the greatness and glory of Verona reached their heights when, witnessing to the faith of which he made it a gift, Zeno bathed its turf with his sweat and tears and made its name famous with the greatest and most extraordinary sufferings of his laborious apostolate and his death, so as to merit from the Church and from the world the sublime and glorious title of Martyr of Jesus Christ. And shouldn’t a people who have benefited to such a lofty degree honour their benefactor? Yes, honour him, O people of Verona! Do your utmost to honour Zeno. I can see clearly that on this most auspicious day you have flocked to this vast Basilica from the quarters of this town and from the country regions, and make a beautiful crown around the sacred tomb of our worthy ancestor, blessing his name and imploring his protection. Indeed, in Zeno you venerate the august Father who regenerated you to the immortal life of faith and the purity of the Gospel.

[6050]

Pay homage to his church with the splendour of the celebrations and external pomp in his honour, and preserve him on that throne of greatness to which your forebears’ piety raised him. Cherish an eternal memory of this great Saint and keep in your hearts and fulfil with your deeds the sacred duty of gratitude that keeps you close to him. Since the venerable Antistite (Bishop) of our dear Verona, Prince of the holy Church, has courteously invited me to say a few words to you on this most auspicious day when the solemn Discovery of his Body is celebrated, I shall briefly mention the lofty benefits which, with the faith, St Zeno shared with you and which constitute your glory and your true greatness; these benefits oblige you to be eternally grateful.
Your attention is already well bestowed, so that I may ask you kindly and courteously to grant it to me. I begin.


First Part

[6051]

Only Jesus Christ, Ladies and Gentlemen, can fashion the true greatness of peoples; for only Jesus Christ with his life-giving action, thanks to his doctrine condensed in the Gospel which he bequeathed as a deposit to the Catholic Church, can cause all the social and domestic virtues which are the principle and foundation of true greatness to flourish among the peoples. Consequently to know Jesus Christ the Son of God, and in knowing him to love him, and in loving him to practise his teachings, all this constitutes a people’s greatest good fortune. Whatever earthly philosophy maintains, whatever is held by those who cultivate the senses and materialism, whatever proud incredulity insinuates, it is a fact that the people that knows, loves and obeys Jesus Christ, outstrips by far those peoples who, lacking the benefit of faith, do not know how to be concerned with anything but the vulgar and base interests of the world from which they subsequently receive in exchange anxieties, humiliations, shameful wretchedness, bitter disappointments and, ultimately, eternal death.

[6052]

Nosse Deum, here the Book of Wisdom’s maxim is apt, nosse Deum consummata iustitia est, et scire iustitiam et virtutem suam, radix est immortalitatis (Wis 15:3). Now this, O Ladies and Gentlemen, is the principle that gives rise to the great benefits that your holy Bishop Zeno has lavished upon you; this is the foundation of the sublime greatness to which he raised Verona which has venerated him as its Father and important Protector for more than 15 centuries.

[6053]

To understand the greatness of the benefits which you have received from Zeno, it is necessary to have a clear picture of what Verona was like in his time. Oh! How vividly could I paint the miserable condition in which it lay groaning in that unfortunate period! Come now, people of Verona, change your ideas, forget what you now have of religion, of piety, of virtue in this magnificent city: yes, forget that holy religion which, through the zeal of the ordained clergy, the wisdom of the wisest Bishops and the docility of minds now flourishes in your midst, flock of the beloved Church and dear to God: forget those sublime native virtues which so commend you for their charity, piety and Christian customs. To have a pale idea of what it was like in those disastrous times, imagine for a moment that you were to lack these sacred temples in which the Lord is adored in spirit and in truth; do away with all the monuments of devotion to him and of Christian philanthropy; strip the truth of faith from your minds, tear devotion from your hearts, loose the control of your passions and uproot the life of the Church’s sacraments from your souls.

[6054]

What a spectacle our people offered before the faith of Christ with his bright radiance shining upon it!… Merely to recall it, as I can clearly see, a shudder of disgust arises in your breasts. Paganism was still powerfully prevalent among our people with its wicked rites, its infamous laws, its brutal abominations, with the long cohort of all its obscenities, excesses and most despicable crimes: what a wretched state! The deadly consequence of people having disowned their God, disrespectfully rejecting his precepts to conform to the dictates of passions unleashed from all control. The Arena, the Circus, the Theatre, magnificent monuments in which people admired (and in some even today still admire) the greatness of Rome, which Verona communicated in such a splendid way: look on them rather as monuments to our ancestors’ treachery, barbarities and dissipated state, and a testimony of our ancient shame.

[6055]

Nor is the deadly picture that I am sorrowfully painting for you yet complete. Amidst the dissolute rabble of the Gentiles, whom you rightly condemn, there were also heretics who in those times were preparing to fight and destroy the venerable Bride of Christ with the deadly poison of false doctrines; look at the Ebionites, the Basilidians, etc., and especially the Aryans, who tore from the Catholic Church the sublime and substantial character of Christianity, that is, the divinity of Jesus Christ; these heresies, if not in name, still bring with them all the deformities and vices of idolatry, in addition to their piercing spite, their consuming hatred and the fraud and cheating which were always more fatal to the Church than outright war. Such poisonous serpents tore at the entrails of our unfortunate Verona; and although there were also some Catholics amongst us in those days who worshipped Jesus Christ in the truth of the Faith whose light had shone since the beginning of Christianity, thanks especially to the sweat and toil of at least seven holy Bishops who preceded our Patron Saint in the Episcopal See of Verona, nonetheless they were few, timid and hidden; they were as nothing in the heart of the multitude that was inundated by its total error, as by a turbid torrent.

[6056]

That is what Verona was like in those times, O Ladies and Gentlemen; when at last the Almighty turned his merciful gaze upon it and put an end to its evils, he entrusted Zeno with the immense task of its conversion and final regeneration. And lo and behold, the new Apostle was wonderfully guided by Providence the very first time he presented himself. Do you want to know him? So what are his roots? The lofty treasures of sacred and profane knowledge with which he is endowed, clearly show that they were illustrious. His homeland? From the most reliable documents it appears, as I am deeply convinced, that he was African. But although there are some contrary arguments, I will tell you that my beloved Africa is as right to be proud of him as it is of Cyprian, from whom he inherited his robust and fiery style; Asia would like to boast of him as of the Chrysostoms, as his eloquence often flowed no less imperious than theirs. Italy boasts of him as of Ambrose, whom he equalled in penetrating as shrewdly and explaining as eloquently the ancient principles of theology.

[6057]

His companions? The zeal that inflamed him and the virtues that shone from him as though from a candelabrum. The proofs of his Missions? They were already shining in Syria, from where he bore the glorious scars of martyrdom; in addition there are the miracles with which God glorified his prodigious Apostolate. Go out to meet him, O Verona, and greet him as an angel of peace who brings you the Gospel; rejoicing, hail those steps directed towards you, and reverently kiss those feet that trod your fortunate land; quam speciosi sunt pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona! Exult yes, now that the night is about to pass in which you had been wandering blindly; shed the squalid clothes of melancholy and put on those of joy. Already more smiling, your hills will henceforth no longer echo with the impure names of Venus and Adonis, of Mars and Jupiter, of Minerva and the other revolting pagan deities, but with the sweetest names of Jesus and Mary. You will break the shackles of the ancient slavery; and the voice of powerful Zeno will chase away those demons under whose merciless rule you groaned for so many years; and you will experience how sweet it is to breathe that aura of freedom which the children of God, regenerated with the saving waters of holy Baptism, enjoy in Christ’s kingdom.

[6058]

So lift your eyes to your pleasant hills, O fortunate city; and prepare yourself worthily to receive your Liberator who, guided admirably by God, moves before you and walks on the banks of the Adige, bringing with him the Faith of Jesus Christ for you; and with it, the blessings of heaven are about to descend upon you. Rejoice, O Verona; and thinking of the greatness and glory to which you are shortly to be raised, forget the days of your sorrows and the long years of your abjection.

[6059]

And behold, Zeno, armed with his faith, on fire with his love, is ready for his arduous and laborious undertaking. Verona, enslaved anew by the stupid superstitions of paganism and, as we have said, although privileged by heaven to hear the divine name resound through the activity of your holy Bishops and glorious martyrs, had briefly forgotten Jesus Christ. Thus in its midst it dedicated sacrilegious temples to monstrous divinities; wicked altars on which impure victims were sacrificed: abominable rites during which, at the same time, the most scandalous orgies were legitimised; laws violated, justice oppressed; the very principles of natural honesty prostituted. What more should I say? Vice and crime were carried in triumph, virtue unknown even by name. Well then, Zeno wants to destroy the temples of the idols, to overturn their altars and put an end to the impious rites and the shameful solemnities once and for all. Zeno wants the law and justice respected, honesty honoured and in the place of crime, virtue. In a word: henceforth, here where the devil reigned, Zeno wants Jesus Christ to reign over minds and hearts, and only He for ever.

[6060]

He is setting to work immediately, not in the least deterred by the rage of the priests, the fury of the powerful or popular passions. He sets his hands to the task; and there are no obstacles that can intimidate his heart, no dangers that can stay his arm, no hardship or effort that can undermine his will. He is setting his hand to the task; and although the hardness of hearts and unruliness of spirits is manifest and mental prejudices abound, no, this will not make him despair of succeeding in his intentions.

[6061]

Look at him, Ladies and Gentlemen; inflamed with apostolic zeal he enters the palaces of the great, penetrates the cottages of the poor, walks the city’s most crowded streets and shows himself on public squares, on the busiest streets, everywhere proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ; and while some turn their backs on him, others make him the butt of insults and yet others lash out furiously against him, Zeno, the fearless apostle, is proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ louder and louder everywhere, and everywhere invites the children of this land to worship Jesus, the one true God of heaven.

[6062]

So that Jesus Christ should prevail and triumph over minds and hearts, he reveals his infinite glories, discloses his ineffable qualities, preaches his virtue, wisdom and power; and in the very act of explaining his doctrines, maxims, precepts and laws, he uncovers the infamy and monstrosity of the absurd doctrines, impious maxims, wicked precepts and barbaric laws of paganism: Our apostle was inflamed with such zeal that he also launched himself against the heretics of his time and attacked them. With his prophetic words he makes more dazzling and sublime the truth of the eternal begetting of the Word by the divine Father and makes the divinity of Jesus Christ radiant with life-giving light in the face of the furious assaults of the wicked who, in denying this fundamental doctrine of our holy Religion, so fiercely tortured the immaculate Bride of the divine Lamb who died on the Cross for the salvation of mankind.

[6063]

History has not preserved in its pages all the details of the time St Zeno spent in our city, the fault of those sad and inauspicious times, in order to regenerate it entirely and win it for Christ with his teaching, his example, his gentleness, his perseverance and his fervent prayers and with strict fasting, assiduous tears and severe and continuous suffering, both in the light of day and in the silence of the night, in private and in public. But we can profitably discuss all he did in our Verona for the glorification of Jesus Christ, because we know with infallible certainty that it was only through Zeno’s labours that Jesus Christ became known amongst us; and amongst us he established his reign on foundations so firm that with the passing of time they would never again collapse. Yes, O people of Verona; Jesus Christ reigned among you, both with his teachings and with his laws; and at the foot of his throne, he saw humiliated your ancestors who had paid him tributes of faith and love: he reigned among you; and in the shadow of his tabernacles, he saw great crowds of all classes, ages and both sexes who still swore allegiance to him emerging from the villages of our whole diocese and region.

[6064]

And let me repeat all this, O people of Verona, it was all thanks to Zeno. It was he who replaced the superstitious ceremonies of a sacrilegious cult with the august rites of Christianity; he who stood up for the rights of the weak and the oppressed against the tyranny of the powerful; who made the slave woman in the possession of her cruel consort into a beloved and indivisible companion, who called the children thus born, no longer esteemed as possessions of their ruthless parents, to be part of the family: in a word it was he who set up the Cross, previously seen as an object of scandal and foolishness, on the ruins of the altars of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Minerva; that august Cross which after destroying idolatry, demolished the profane temples, conquered the powers of hell and became not the altar of a single church but, according to the emphatic expression of one Holy Father, the altar of the world which flew into churches and was adored there; flew to kingdoms and was respected; flew onto banners and was feared; flew onto masts and was invoked; settled on the heads of monarchs and brought them honour, into the breasts of heroes and gave them courage, on the brows of priests and made them holy.

[6065]

In a word, it was Zeno who sanctified this people of Verona; and he could draw these examples of heroic virtue from all the saints who adorned this city and diocese and filled the Church with marvels. Yes, it was Zeno, claims the inviolable tradition that the anonymous Pipiano has passed down to us, who converted and baptised Verona: Qui Veronam praedicando reduxit ad Baptismum.
So it was he who first proclaimed that Gospel which has been preached and venerated among us for almost sixteen centuries; it was he who implanted that faith which indeed we have cherished uncorrupted for so long; it was he who planted it in our hearts; he was the first to administer those most holy Sacraments in which we participate; and he was the first to instil in us and engrave in our souls that religious piety and devotion which we have always fostered. Zeno, yes Zeno, was the true apostle who changed pagan and heretical Verona into Christian and Catholic Verona, impressing the Faith of Jesus Christ on hearts in indelible characters. This is why Verona rose to such glory, such greatness, to which it would previously have aspired in vain.

[6066]

In the awareness that it is Jesus Christ alone who forms a people’s greatness and glory, when this people received the influence of his life-giving, glorious and great action, what could this city of ours have said to itself, as it was given so large a share of the bountiful influence of Jesus Christ’s action? Oh! Isn’t it right therefore that Zeno’s name should be venerable and dear to you and that you should be honouring him today? All he did among you for the glorification of Christ brought true glory and true splendour to our homeland.

[6067]

Whenever I take stock of the great good Zeno did to us by giving us faith in Jesus Christ, I cannot find among the great and worthy people of this famous city anyone to whom we are bound by a greater debt of gratitude. Indeed, who could have done you greater good, O Verona? Perhaps those who on new routes and over new seas opened the ways to the riches of a more flourishing trade? But how much more indebted you are to Zeno, who showed you heaven’s treasures and gave you the hope of them and a right to them through Baptism? We also feel, O people of Verona, that we owe gratitude to the many distinguished people men who in all the sciences, in literature and in the arts have made our city the object of the whole world’s admiration. We preserve their works and writings as sacred objects; we erect splendid monuments to their immortality and place their statues in our squares, thus perpetuating their fame and our grateful memory for posterity. But did Zeno not ennoble our city so much more? It is because of him that Verona can boast of an eloquent man of letters, a writer whose works are as prized as those of the ancient Fathers and praised even by Protestants. Through him the Church of Verona has the glory of having a holy father as its principal founder. How many glories of our Religion and virtue were and are honoured by our homeland because of him!

[6068]

Indeed, if it is by the choice fruits of a tree that we remember and praise the clever farmer who grafted them with his diligent hands, without which the tree would have produced nothing but wild and bitter fruit, who can fail to see that the copious and fine fruits of virtue and faith which Verona, the choice plant of the garden of the Church, has been producing for nearly sixteen centuries are due to Zeno; it should be repeated, who like a hard-working farmer first grafted them onto this tree? Were I not conscious of offending your modesty, O people of Verona, I should talk of this faith and these virtues which are the main features of your people. I would tell you of the glory of that faith, which you kept intact in the purity of the dogmas, thus gaining for Verona the proud boast of being: Verona fidelis: a most holy faith whose foundations Zeno grafted in your hearts. Well this great man rejoiced when he saw his beloved children faithful, gathered for the first time in a church, joyful and triumphant, which he was the first to build in Verona on the ruins of paganism, his gaze raised to heaven and preaching Christ’s victory.

[6069]

I would speak to you, people of Verona, of your fraternal charity and love for the afflicted and the wretched; but to tell of these there will always be those public establishments which offer shelter to the elderly, the sick, the young, the poor, the waifs and strays. Zeno gave you this dear virtue and he himself described it in these splendid words: “Your generosity to all provinces is obvious; your houses are open to all pilgrims; your poor no longer know what it is to beg for food; your widows and your poor have something to leave in their wills; and I would say more in your praise were you not my own people”. Nor will I be silent about angelic virginity, whose glorious standard Mary, the great Mother of God, was the first daughter of Eve to plant on this earth, sowing its white lilies in the Church which our Saint was the first to make flourish in this sacred land of Verona among the thorns of the world, the vales of the cloisters and the flowering meadows of Christianity. Zeno counselled many virgins in their homes and established law and order for many in the silence of the cloister; he was perhaps the first in the West to provide sacred enclosures for those souls who wished to live as angels among men.

[6070]

No, no, Verona, the fertility of your soil, the pleasantness of your famous hills, the clemency of your climate, the magnificence of your monuments, these are not the things that adorn you and honour you with true and beautiful glory; for of what use would these things you can boast of be to you without faith in Jesus Christ? Oh! August faith, you are the decorum of nations, the peace of peoples, the honour of the city, where you are sown. You teach the great to use their power, the wealthy their riches: you bind men in society with the bond of charity. But without you, kingdoms are unhappy, cities are wretched; thrones supported by fear alone tumble; laws are spurned, virtue is downtrodden, vice is honoured; the wealthy become excessively rich, making thousands of people poorer: oppression feeds on pride, injustice on treason, greed on theft, revenge on the blood of others and even on mockery and barbaric curiosity. Remember, O Verona, when in your famous and monumental amphitheatre, just for amusement you goaded against gladiators wild beasts which by natural instinct filled their bellies with human flesh, while you glutted your cruel eyes with human blood in studied barbarity.

[6071]

Look at yourself now in that state, if you can; the evils which, without the faith, inundated your districts; that was how useful your gentle customs were, once upon a time, without the faith. Where would your peace be now? Where would the order that preserves you be? Where would your characteristic fine decorum of virtue be? Therefore oh! Blessed be Zeno a thousand times, O people of Verona! By bringing you the faith through his efforts, he gave you every other benefit and favour. Bless this great Apostle who won you for Jesus Christ! Bless this loving Father who regenerated you to the eternal life of grace! Bless this sublime Shepherd who, to lead you to the chosen pasture of the Gospel teachings, bore agonies, efforts, worries and sorrows, and spent his whole life in a continuous and painful martyrdom!

[6072]

And in truth, Ladies and Gentlemen, I say to you, Zeno was a true martyr for Jesus Christ. I will not speak of this here because I have already hinted at it in my brief and very rapid sermon, and I will draw a veil over the whole series of sorrows, persecutions, betrayals, deceits, crosses and martyr’s agonies which, like the Apostles and all the Church founders, our saint bore in the name of Jesus Christ, to conquer and win our beloved Verona for him. In short, St John Chrysostom says that a martyr is also a person who, even without shedding his blood, harbours within his breast a soul endowed with a powerful urge for the glory of God and a heart burning with an ardent desire to die for Christ for the salvation of souls. St Cyprian considers martyrs those who have suffered greatly for Christ. But most of all I deeply revere the opinion of the ancient Fathers and writers who called St Zeno a martyr. I bow my head respectfully to the majesty of external devotion and the sacred rites and esteem the feelings of our Church which today celebrates with the red vestments, proper to martyrs, the solemnity of the discovery of our saint’s holy body, as well as the even more splendid feast of his birth. Lastly I bow before the celebrity of his name and his devotion, for which as soon as he was freed of his earthly remains, he soared gloriously on the wings of fame and filled with devotion not only Verona, but cities and kingdoms: honours that only Holy Martyrs receive.

[6073]

Therefore, glory be to Zeno, true Apostle and Martyr of Jesus Christ; and you, beloved people of Verona, judge for yourselves from what I have said so far whether St Zeno could have assured you any greater glory and greatness with his sublime apostolate and with his precious death than by bringing you faith in Jesus Christ, which, for all the people who receive it, is the only principle, the only foundation of true greatness and of true glory.


Second Part

[6074]

Do not believe, dear people, that the source of benefits for Verona was exhausted with the end of St Zeno’s precious life. Down the centuries, his protection from heaven has lavished many benefits on Verona, and remarkable ones too.
Once idolatry in Verona was destroyed and the pestiferous heresies had been purged from our city by the action of the indomitable and holy Bishop Zeno, in other parts of Italy and of the Christian world innovators and heretics of all sorts attacked the Catholic faith, seeking to bring disfigurement to her immaculate teachings; and cities, provinces, kingdoms and nations fell into the clutches of error, turning their backs on the sources of life and rushing to quench their thirst at the putrid sewers of heresy. But not in Verona, oh no! Faith never weakened in Verona! Indeed, that was when it flourished, because that was when it produced the precious fruits of devotion, of religion: that was when magnificent churches were built within its walls, cloisters and monasteries opened and at every level, in every walk of life, at every age, the most heroic acts of virtue were performed.

[6075]

Who would deny it? Here in Verona the faith withstood all trials because those who fostered it, strengthened by the zeal, the efforts, the sufferings, the death and the protection of their Apostle Zeno, fearlessly professed it and diligently practised it. And later when Italy itself was struggling with both political and religious turmoil, when in the horrors of civil unrest and the anarchy of opinions where on one side the blood of many if its sons was shed and on the other, papal Rome was being betrayed by many others, in Verona no: there was neither a disturbance of the peace nor a weakening of faith. Ruled by its own Princes and Rulers and a subject of the Queen of the Seas, sharing in the glory of her conquests and ever united with the See of Rome, Verona lived on her spirit, which is the spirit of truth and life. The faith here in Verona won such fine victories because day after day it drew new strength and powerful virtue from the fervent patronage of its Apostle and first Father.

[6076]

What concern for the Church of Verona our illustrious patron has always shown from heaven! He perpetuated his paternal care in those twenty-eight Bishop Saints whom we venerate on the altars, who succeeded him in his sanctified Episcopal See and in whom he infused his spirit and his love. From heaven above he sustained their faith and courage, and made most worthy heirs of his pastoral care well over one hundred more Bishops who have presided over the important Diocese of Verona until our day. From heaven he has always implored for the Veronese clergy that zeal, faith, serious behaviour and ecclesiastical discipline which so honour it. From heaven he still watches over the Veronese people as his own, loves them like a father, and cares for them as their heavenly Shepherd.

[6077]

And in our days, dear people? Ah, contemplating Verona nowadays no one can fail to be filled with truly great admiration for her. While faith is exposed to grave risks on all sides, while faith… Oh, what misfortune! is weakening in many parts of Italy because a tremendous war has been declared against it, a war of extermination and of death; who would not be filled with admiration seeing that the faith is blooming among you in its full vigour? How many proofs have you not given in the last few years of reverence, of submission to the Catholic Church! What deep respect you have shown for the infallible Throne and the Chair of Peter, strengthened by your faith and stimulated by the most edifying example of your venerable and Most Eminent Prince, your Bishop and Father! How many proofs of filial love you gave in holy remembrance of the angelic Pius IX, whose greatness increased the more he was insulted, contradicted and constrained by his enemies! What tributes you have paid to his most wise and venerable successor, the gloriously reigning Leo XIII!

[6078]

I will say it, dear people; everyone will say it with me: no, here in Verona the faith cannot weaken, and nothing can ever damage its vigour or its splendour even for an instant. For Zeno’s efforts and sufferings, his shining apostolate, his martyrdom, are an incessant cry to the Eternal Father for the faith to remain here, forever safe and sound, for it never to be damaged by any vicissitude whatsoever. It was certainly not without God’s special Providence that his sacred remains have remained with us, discovered a few years ago in the ancient and monumental crypt of this grandiose and wonderful Basilica, to our general and solemn exultation, and which have been an inexhaustible source of grace and blessings for Verona and for us.

[6079]

Therefore hail, O most revered Saint, merciful Protector of this illustrious city; Hail, O Holy Father Zeno, Ah! If you find acceptable this prayer I address to you, I implore you from the bottom of my heart on this solemn day to deign to shower a greater abundance of heavenly blessings upon this people. This people promises once again to belong entirely to you. Thus may it be for you, that you may see its desires granted and its wishes fulfilled.

[6080]

But I wish to deposit another prayer, O most glorious Saint, on this sacred Tomb which for more than fifteen centuries has been a fruitful source of so many graces and mercies. Turn a loving gaze with pity on those people of Central Africa, who for so many centuries have been bowed under Satan’s dominion and on whom the horrible curse of Ham still weighs. It was from this beloved Verona of ours that there went out the mighty flame of that sacred fire destined to throw light on those unbelieving nations, and to give life and growth to that vast and abandoned vineyard of Christ, bristling with many thorns, that God entrusted to me in my unworthiness, to my weak and inept pastoral concern, but for which too, the Sacred Heart of Jesus beat and died on the Cross.

[6081]

From your glorious tomb, the scene of so many acts of compassion, stretch out, St Zeno, your kind hand over the humble Cenacle of future workers for the Gospel and of consecrated virgins, who are organising and preparing for the demanding African apostolate. Their work has only recently had its beginnings, here in this devout city, under the wise protection of the most worthy Prince, our Bishop, your most distinguished Successor. Ah! O most glorious St Zeno, deign to awaken in this sacred land of Verona choice vocations for the arduous and holy apostolate of Africa, and to ensure that from this devout city and Diocese, through the powerful help of your children’s assiduous and fervent prayers and holy and generous apostolic vocations, that the precious treasure of that Catholic faith which you brought to us in Verona in the past, may be transplanted to Africa; so that this most holy faith which constitutes the true greatness and glory of Verona’s people, may return to Africa and to its unhappy people as an inexhaustible source of redemption and of life. In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

+ Daniel Comboni

[6082]

It is with the greatest satisfaction that His Eminence the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda has let me know that you are prepared to accept a Mission in my Vicariate, since you have a considerable number of personnel. I, on the contrary, have very few; and this is why I am extremely keen as the pastor of so many souls to procure the means for them to enter into the fold of Jesus Christ, without worrying about whether it is I or others, whether it is my Institute or that of others, as long as Jesus Christ is proclaimed.

[6083]

As soon as His Eminence expressed his pleasure to me and charged me to grant you a part of my Vicariate and not to give you as an operations base only the bone but also some meat, in other words, a good climate, I wrote to my Missionaries about my plan, concerning which part to grant you. But since the reply will take at least three months to arrive, and His Eminence wants us to come to a conclusion on this matter before my departure for the Vicariate; and since I must return there as soon as possible (although my health is not very good), that is, in a few weeks’ time, let me tell you in a few words what I have arranged to do for the greatest advantage and …
[a part is missing] …
to agree about everything. Now tell me: would you be prepared to …

[the whole of the last part is missing]…

[+ Daniel Comboni]



Translated from French.

[6084]

I received your venerable letter of the 3rd of this month about two weeks ago at Ischl, where I went to pay my respects to the Emperor of Austria, the Protector of the Mission. I well understood the full import and meaning of the letter, and I have seriously considered whether, given my weakness and indeed nothingness, I can still be really of use to the African apostolate, doubtless the most trying and difficult in the world, or whether I am more likely to do it harm; the more so because now I have really become more sensitive to the blows of adversity and far less able to carry crosses, because of so many difficulties, privations, illnesses, fevers; because of so much heartbreak, struggle and opposition, all borne for many years, but particularly during the recent and terrible period of the famine and plague.

[6085]

However since we must always trust in God and his grace alone and whoever trusts in himself trusts in (sorry!) the world’s greatest ass, and since the works of God are always born at the foot of the Cross and must always be marked by his Cross’s adorable seal, so I have decided to abandon myself in the arms of divine Providence, the source of charity for the poor and the protector of justice and innocence. Consequently, I put myself in the hands of my Superiors, God’s true representatives, and in the hands of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, of your Most Reverend Eminence and those of the Most Eminent Cardinal di Canossa, appointed by Your Eminence and your late, venerable Predecessors to help me in my holy undertaking in the governance of the Sacred Congregation.

[6086]

First of all heartfelt thanks to your Eminence for having effectively persuaded the most Eminent Cardinal di Canossa to want to continue helping me, both in the choice of a good Vicar and in supervising those first Institutes of mine which I founded in Verona. I am likewise truly grateful to your Eminence and deeply moved by your exceedingly alert and wise zeal and by your loving care to ensure that the challenging and difficult undertaking, in Verona, in Egypt and in the Vicariate, continues safe and unharmed towards its holy goal: to convert to the faith and to Christian civilisation that unhappy part of the Vineyard, bristling with so many thorns, which is entrusted to my weak cares.

[6087]

As soon as I could obtain an audience, I presented myself to the most Eminent Cardinal di Canossa to entreat him in your Eminence’s name: 1) to continue to help me, as he has done for at least 13 years, for the smooth functioning of my African Institutes in Verona; 2) to give me an excellent and capable Priest from his clergy to help me as Vicar in spiritualibus and as administrator of the temporal goods of the Work and of the Vicariate.

[6088]

Ad primum he replied: “Yes, gladly and very gladly, because I love the work and the mission and would like those poor souls of the Africans to be saved; yes, I will gladly continue to do the little that I can, although I can only do the little that depends on me as Bishop of Verona: you can rely on that”.

[6089]

Ad secundum: “I have no one available nor can I do anything, because I need my good priests who are getting scarcer, and I cannot deprive my Diocese to help another, etc., etc., etc.” In short, after two good hours of discussion, my pleas, his refusals, my insistences, his wriggling, etc., etc., (and in the antechamber several parish priests were waiting), he finally decided he would grant me an excellent, able and very zealous Priest, who is robust, prudent, wise, etc., the V. Rev. Francesco Grego of the Diocese of Verona, born in 1833, 47 years old, who was Curate at St. Massimo for 7 years, Parish Priest of Prun for 4, and for 12, Archpriest and Dean of Montorio Veronese, hence a man practised in business and in the spiritual governance of souls; since he was 25 years old he had felt strongly called to be a missionary of Central Africa, a vocation formerly approved by my late holy Superior Fr Nicola Mazza, but which he could never fulfil because of being burdened with the duty of maintaining his mother, his sisters and the uncle who had always been a father to him; and afterwards, because the Most Eminent Cardinal di Canossa never let him leave since he considered him necessary to his most important and large Parish and Vicariate, etc.

[6090]

In short, St Joseph gave me the grace of obtaining this candidate, whom I believe most suited for the task. I also asked him for a second, but in vain. I then rushed immediately to Montorio to inform this Archpriest Dean, Fr Francesco Grego, of His Eminence’s decisions and the conditions I had accepted of giving his family their keep in a country house of mine on my father’s property where the uncle would work as my squire or bailiff (director of my property) and would live there with the mother and sister. And the above-mentioned Archpriest was beside himself with joy; he told me that in two or three days he would tell his mother of his decision, for she had declared on other occasions that she would never oppose her son’s true vocation. At the same time, I asked him to begin the necessary procedures with the Episcopal Curia to provide for his Parish and Deanery, etc.

[6091]

But the most Eminent Cardinal Bishop of Verona pointed out to me that it is not appropriate to send a priest from Europe directly to Central Africa; we therefore rightly agreed that the above-mentioned Most Reverend Fr Franco Grego will be appointed Superior of my establishments in Cairo for a year so that he will become acclimatised and acquaint himself with Eastern matters; at the same time he will be the General Administrator of our temporal possessions, obtaining help in the private administration of my Cairo Institutes from Fr Francesco Giulianelli, the Roman, who thoroughly knows his job in this area.

[6092]

This seems to me a favourable opportunity to be rid of the man who was the main cause of all my problems and who provoked and kept alive the disagreement among my missionaries in the Vicariate, that is, Fr Bartolomeo Rolleri who was Superior of my Institutes in Egypt from 1873 until last May.

[6093]

I have expressed this opinion and judgement to Your Eminence in this letter after deep thought and with full knowledge of the matter. Had I yielded to the wise and reiterated advice of very serious persons I should have done better and would have dismissed him in 1877; but since he is devout and a priest with good moral conduct – and good conduct is the most beautiful way to preach to unbelievers – and diligent in his priestly duties, I always hoped that he would repent of his grave errors and failings. He is a man so stubborn and pig-headed that I never saw the like. Further, he is ruled by his emotions and sees everything black in his adversaries and white in his supporters.

[6094]

From 1868 to 1875 he was a great comfort to me, wise, obedient, respectful although very introverted. He loved me as a father and I responded to him as a brother. In October 1875, in a circumstance which I still cannot explain, he was deceived by inimico homine who made him believe whatever he wanted, to put him in my place. Ever sine then he wrote dozens of letters to my missionaries in the Vicariate, inciting them to join him unanimously to lodge a complaint at Propaganda against me; and between here and Khartoum I have more than thirty of his letters as proof of this. Since most of them refused, bound by a sense of justice and of truth, he became the enemy and slanderer (but always in conscience!?!) of those who did not respond to his call; and so he went on for a long time. Then he calmed down, especially when I took my late Fr Antonio Squaranti to the Vicariate as my administrator and Vicar, as the Sacred Congregation had ordered me.

[6095]

However, after the above-mentioned holy and most prudent Priest Squaranti had arrived in Khartoum and had thoroughly examined the state of affairs, he wrote to him in Cairo that he, Rolleri, had been the cause of all the Vicariate’s problems by wrongfully discrediting the Head of the Mission among the missionaries, his dependants (almost all those who agreed on one point or another of his wrongful insinuations were Neapolitans) and abusing him in thousands of ways, Rolleri began a squabble with Fr Squaranti himself, which only ended with the death of the latter. But because Rolleri is a man of very short-sighted and stubborn views, he continued to discredit those good missionaries who disagreed with him; and seeing that I, who had discovered the truth of the matter on the spot, was not bending to his demands, he asked me for his dimissorial letters so that he could go elsewhere. I immediately granted them to him and sent them to him from Khartoum in January 1879, only begging him to wait until I had provided for another Superior in Cairo. For this office he suggested the former Capuchin, Fr Bellincampi of the Mastai College, who had come to Cairo with the permits of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda.

[6096]

Since I had only had depressing information from Cairo about this candidate, I again entreated Rolleri to stay in his office until I came to Cairo; which he did. Indeed, I came to Cairo and to Rome whereupon, after consulting the Most Eminent Cardinal Consolini through Prof. Pennacchi, I dismissed Bellincampi from the Cairo Institute as having no vocation to the mission of Central Africa; and after that Rolleri no longer spoke of leaving my Work. It should be noted that Rolleri always refused to go to the Vicariate, despite my repeated requests from 1875 onwards; I had invited him to do this both in order for him to work there and so that he would see with his own eyes how things were and modify his errors and false opinions.

[6097]

Although he had never set eyes on even an inch of the Vicariate, although he had never ever gone beyond Cairo and Suez, he always presumed to have the gift of infallibility in making judgements on even the smallest details and on the staff of the Vicariate, contrary to the opinions of the Bishop and the Vicar Apostolic. Then last May, with permission, he came to Italy and Rome and he is now at home, but with the idea of returning to Egypt in October. He declared to me that he would never go to Central Africa nor accept to stay in Verona; he would only belong to the work on condition that he remain in my Cairo Institute, as Superior of course. I told all these things to the Most Eminent Cardinal di Canossa the day before yesterday, and his Eminence decided with me to invite Rolleri to stay in the Verona Institute to help my most venerable Rector, Fr Giuseppe Sembianti, under his eyes and those of the Most Eminent Bishop; otherwise let him go wherever he pleases.

[6098]

In speaking to Your Eminence with filial trust (and I should be very glad to be mistaken and to withdraw what I say), I will add on this subject that the ominous news which has reached the Sacred Congregation about the functioning of the Vicariate, that there is no one in it who can be Vicar for me, as well as the false information about Fr Bonomi, etc., etc. was all initiated either directly or indirectly by Fr Rolleri, who directed all the lines of the reports etc. But it doesn’t matter; the truth will surface, because God is all mercy, love and justice and God will be able to draw from these providential sufferings the greatest good for Africa; and one good in the meantime is that I have gained a good candidate, Fr Grego who, although he will not be good at preaching in Arabic because he is a little too old, will be most useful for the direction of business, for good discipline and for the smooth functioning of things so that they go in accordance with God’s spirit.

[6099]

Moreover, for love of the truth I must tell you that the Vicariate is not going as badly as Your Eminence was told (and I will certainly withdraw this statement if on my next pastoral visit I observe the contrary). Reverend Fr Luigi Bonomi – he is 39 years old – was Curate for seven years and since 1874 has been in Africa where he has had a lot of practice, and he is a true missionary. This is my humble opinion of him. I do not say that he has all the qualities to be Vicar: he lacks good breeding and does not have all the views necessary to deal appropriately either with the authorities or with the mission’s members: he is too hard: but with regard to upright thinking, zeal, self-denial, a head in the right place, humility and obedience, he is one of the best that a Vicar Apostolic could have, especially since he is loyal to his duties: but since he did not respond to Rolleri’s suggestions in 1875 that he should rebel against me, that is, join him (Bonomi was down at the bottom of Jebel Nuba and Rolleri in Cairo) and had him told, that is, had a letter written to him that he, Bonomi, did not recognise other Superiors than those he had been given by the Holy See or who represent the Holy See. Thus he became an enemy to the point that for three and a half years now, aided and abetted by two Neapolitans etc. Rolleri has been spreading the most serious calumny that he had been confabulating with a Sister for many nights. This was clarified by the Most Reverend Squaranti and by myself in June 1878, with the confession and formal retraction of the slandering culprit.

[6100]

So also Rolleri, responding to the slander of a Neapolitan priest who had been taken to Africa by Carcereri at the Archbishop of Trani’s request, urged me with heated threats to expel a Piedmontese missionary from the mission; and I had already summoned this missionary, Fr Gennaro Martini, by telegraph to Khartoum. But then the slanderous Neapolitan priest, after a very high fever, fearing that he would depart for the next world wrote a conscientious retraction, declaring that what he had written to Rolleri was mere slander and invented by him to curry favour with Rolleri; and he gave one copy of this retraction to Rolleri and one to me (which I took with me to Rome, and the Archbishop of Trani, seeing the signature, will attest to Your Eminence of the truth and authenticity of the writing). Well, after Rolleri had received this declaration, made as it were on his deathbed by the slanderous priest (he then really did die four months later), shouldn’t Rolleri have come to me to retract his slander of an innocent priest? But he did no such thing; and he let the slander spread in conscience… a favourite expression of his. In short, I have suffered martyrdom: but I am glad of it because this was the Lord’s will, and I forgive everyone.
But Martini was tired of it, and went home.

[6101]

What is more, neither the Vicariate nor my Work are proceeding as Rolleri says. The capital remedy to apply to my Work was to rebuild my Verona Institute on very firm foundations, especially by giving it an excellent and capable Superior: this is what I did on my arrival in Europe and I succeeded with the help of the most venerable Cardinal di Canossa, as I hope Your Eminence will realise. This Institute will provide me with good personnel.

[6102]

I still have other things to do, the first of which is to return to the Vicariate as soon as possible, etc., etc., etc. So too, I must reply to your most venerable letters: but I shall do so tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
Reverend Planque and I agreed by letter and by telegraph to meet in Turin and to agree on everything, which we will do during this novena of Our Lady of the People.
Forgive me for going on for so long; I kiss your Sacred Purple, and remain
Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble, devoted and respectful son

+ Daniel Comboni,
Bishop and Vicar Apostolic

[6103]

Whenever you have to pay for provisions or for other things in Rome (since I hear from your last letter that you paid a few hundred francs in Rome, sending them from Egypt), do not send money, but let me know so that I can have my banker pay. We are at last rid of Fr Grieff who was destroying our Institute and with his example and perverse insinuations was the cause of some members shamefully leaving the Institute. After I had enforced the Rule and called on a holy Priest, Fr Sembianti, to be the Rector of the Institutes, Grieff who has no religious spirit was the first not to observe the Rule and attracted many others. After consulting the Eminent Cardinal di Canossa and the most prudent General of the Stigmatine Fathers, I gave Grieff his letters of dismissal and on Wednesday morning he left for his Diocese of Luxembourg.

[6104]

Thanks be to the Lord. Fuchs and Bouchard, as well as Moron and Dichtl were right to write to me what they wrote because, having lived together, they knew him. Thanks be to God! Tell Dichtl and Fr Giuseppe that Grieff has gone home. Now the Institute will function very well.
With the 5,000 francs that I have sent you, please see to the urgent needs. They will only send some more funds to me from Cologne when I am in Egypt. In the meantime, do your best. I will hurry with everything in order to leave soon. Bless everyone, including the Sisters, etc.

+ Bishop Daniel

[6105]

Write to me in Rome, addressing the letters to your mother from whom I myself will receive them. Give my regards to Fr Paolo Rosignoli and Fr Pietro, the Jesuit Fathers and all our Institute. It is highly probable that I will bring an Arab teacher there for you, since the other one has left for Syria.