[2016]
I cannot express the sorrow I felt in seeing myself obliged to let Sr Maria Bertholon leave for Jerusalem. It will be impossible to find such a good and willing Sister. From this moment I declare to you that I do not give up Sr Maria. I let her leave to follow the obedience that you sent her, because otherwise I fear that the Congregation of St Joseph will not grant my requests for Sisters in the future. Sr Maria is most dedicated to my Work: I would never be able to reward her sufficiently for all the good she has done in my Institute. She put up with all the hardships that are inevitable in a work in the early days with admirable staunchness. There is great mourning in my Institute because of her departure. No one eats, no one cooks; the little African girls are inconsolable. She would stay very willingly, but since she is a true religious, she does not like to be disobedient. I therefore let her leave because I hope you will promise me in a letter to allow her to return to me soon. She has always asked not to be Superior, but she has never asked to leave my African girls. She is so humble that she would be very glad to stay here under Sr Veronica’s direction.
[2017]
So act carefully, good Mother; I am keeping Sr Elisabetta for ever, but in the hope that Sr Maria will be granted to my Institute. I am not thoroughly acquainted with good Sr Veronica, but to judge from these few days she has been with us, I like her very much and she is well loved by the African girls. I hope she will be the Superior I need. I therefore beg you to keep Sr Maria for me and not to destine her for anywhere else. She is going to Jerusalem, but I beg you to grant her to my Institute when she asks you. First obedience, but then I recommend you charity. I ask you for an efficient and good Arab Sister. I shall expect her after the Feast of St Joseph. Thus I shall have four Sisters, and later, five with Sr Maria, and I shall be content. And why five Sisters? Because before long I shall be going on to Upper Egypt (it has a better climate than Europe) so either I must go there, or with St Joseph’s help, undertake to establish the school for girls in Old Cairo, which is currently in the care of Mother Caterina about whose destination I am completely in the dark.
[2018]
I hold the Assistant, good Sr Maraval, in great esteem, but it seems to me that she has let things go to her head, taking Sr Maria from me. I cannot forgive her. I place all my trust in you, good Mother. You have done me so much good and I expect more in these circumstances. I am most grateful to you for having granted Sr Veronica to me because she seems to me, as I have already said, very right for us, but I would be even more grateful should you grant me to have Sr Maria back and a good Arab Sister. Do give me an answer on this matter, for which I have already made Fr Stanislao responsible. After your reply I shall come to an agreement with the Delegate (who will do what pleases me) and it will all be concluded. Give my regards to Sr Celeste, to Signora de Villeneuve and pray for your most humble son,

Fr Daniel Comboni


Translated from French.

[2019]
With deep sorrow, I allowed Sr Maria to leave. Had I not feared to jeopardise my position with the Congregation and to cause displeasure to Mother General, I should never have allowed a sister whom you know I hold in such esteem to leave, and whom I was very keen to see stay. But I declare to you that I shall not give up Sr Maria and will request her again for my Work which because of its present growth needs at least five sisters. I have written to Mother General and to Cardinal Baranabò that I shall eventually request Sr Maria again as the one who is so dedicated to the African girls. She asked to be relieved of the burden of being superior, but she did not ask to be transferred elsewhere. Sr Maria is humble; perhaps because of her humility she would be happy to submit to a new Superior. But her first concern is obedience: she wishes to obey and she is to be esteemed all the more for this. You could have sent me Sr Veronica (who seems to me very good and quite capable and whom I like very much, and so does Fr Piero) and have left me Sr Maria as well. You could have spared me such a deep disappointment, but I forgive you on condition that you favour my cause with Mother General, with the aim of granting me to have Sr Maria back, and a good Arab Sister. I need the Sisters for two houses.
[2020]
I tell you confidentially that Cardinal Barnabò has summoned me to Rome for matters concerning the Mission. He gave me a severe Cardinal’s reprimand because I took the Sisters of St Joseph to Egypt without regular permission from him, the Prefect of Propaganda and the Patron, and because I did not write to him every month. I only laughed and I will tell him that I won a plenary indulgence by doing my own holy will. The Cardinal will even see that I am granted Sr Maria and Mother General (who is to be in Rome) will be very kind to me. I shall not leave until the end of next month, but I beg you not to tell anyone this, because beautiful silence was never written down.
[2021]
I beg you to give my respects to the Superior of the hospital and to the cousin of my dearest friend, the famous Maltese Jesuit, Fr Fenek. There is grief in our house at the moment because of Sr Maria’s departure. Our Turkish doctor has just been; he invoked Mohammed as witness, and wept and was unhappy at Sr Maria’s leaving because there is not, he said, a woman in the world like Sr Maria. Fiat! The good Lord will give her back to us. Please accept the expression of my esteem and my sorrow.
Your most affectionate

Fr Daniel Comboni
Apostolic Missionary


Translated from French.

[2022]
A long time ago I prepared a long letter for you, which is still on my desk, and I did not send it even through Bakhit. Finally today I thought I would write to you, although I am swamped by a thousand things. I am upset and sorry that I gave the two pilgrims only 20 days including their journey to and from Jerusalem. I gave them 20 so that they could take 40; but they were unbelievably precise, a hundred times more so than Comboni; and against all my expectations they came home on 7th January, happy and content. I have never seen such precision in my life. They are lessons from Heaven. Another magnificent lesson from Heaven!
[2023]
I finally obtained Fr Bernardino from the Apostolic Delegation. He will eat, sleep, and work in my house from 2nd to 22nd February while from the 2nd to the 11th he will give a retreat to my African school mistresses and from the 11th to 21st, he will give one to my Nuns. Stanislao brought me one from Jerusalem who is a pearl. On the 22nd a magnificent regatta on the Nile will end our convention from Heaven. Of course, Fr Provincial is the star of the show. Today, for example, Fr Bernardino says that he had a lovely day; Fr Stanislao is not there, since I sent him to Alexandria yesterday morning.
[2024]
Your two dear sons Stanislao and Beppi are two jewels of missionaries. They are preparing for Africa, and already know as much about it as if they were old missionaries. That I am telling the truth is a fact. And you will be able to see it with Fr Bernardino, after he has lived with us for 20 days. Monsignor the Archbishop has great esteem for Fr Stanislao; I realised this in my talks with him. Thus it is necessary to arrange things so that not only are these two consecrated to Africa, but that others are sent. We will talk about it when we see each other. Tell Fr Tita Carcereri of the Hospital that he was right to write to his brother that the Ecumenical Council cannot be held without Fr Comboni. In fact, the other day the Bishop wrote to me, and yesterday His Eminence the Cardinal announced to me that I should go to that top-level meeting in order to clarify matters concerning the mission.
[2025]
I shall not leave Egypt before the 19th or 26th of February, because I have a lot to do in Egypt and also because on their return from Upper Egypt, their Imperial Highnesses the Archdukes Rainieri and Ernesto and the Archduchess Maria Carolina will come to our Institutes to be godparents at the baptism of 4 Africans. They already paid us a visit last Thursday, and Fr Stanislao spoke to them at length. But since I arranged a magical coup involving the Pasha with Archduke Rainieri, it could easily happen that I spend the whole of February in Egypt. However, what consoles me is that Mgr the Bishop of Verona is in perfect agreement with Fr Guardi. This is something that you, Most Reverend Father, ought to know. The Bishop gives me no further explanation; he only orders me to bid Stanislao write a humble letter to Fr Guardi; I did so obediently, and Stanislao promises me he will do his part. So pray and have prayers said that things will be arranged for God’s glory and for the salvation of Africa. So God wills, so Comboni desires, and so the two African sons of St Camillus are praying. If we pray, everything is achieved, because Christ is a gentleman. Today Fr Bernardino ate a lot of polenta; it is the first time that he has eaten it in the East. He is still that witty and dear Fr Bernardino of Paradise; and from his habit and his beard, externally he has not changed at all.
[2026]
St Camillus is also a gentleman. Many have helped me with gossip, and St Camillus has done so with facts. I won’t be happy, my Most Reverend Father, until I take you to Africa. Here you would live another 10 years. But I see you are too necessary in Europe. I wept with consolation when I read the Album of the Communions, etc. This is a work directed and concluded by Fr Artini. God must bless Fr Artini, because his heart is modelled on God’s. Please receive everyone’s respects, and send a great blessing to your poor, crucified, but ever happy and contented,


Fr Dan. Comboni

[2027]
It was the very reverend Fr Massimiliano Ryllo, a Pole by birth and a member of the Society of Jesus, who was the first to conceive the noble idea of founding the Mission of Central Africa. Since for many years he had been Superior General of the Jesuits in Syria where he worked with tireless zeal and had great success in the midst of obstacles and horrible wars, especially at the time of the conquests of Mohammed-Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, he made the acquaintance of a Christian merchant who had made a considerable fortune in the Sudan trading in elephant tusks and told him many interesting details about the condition and customs of the Africans; he had observed their willingness to be civilised when he saw the boy slaves who were taken to Khartoum. Since this eminently learned man, Fr Ryllo, who was full of zeal and courage and inspired by the good Lord to become involved in the most difficult and dangerous of undertakings for the glory of the Church, had been appointed Rector of the Urbanian College of Propaganda Fide at the time when the Jesuits were responsible for directing this glorious cenacle of apostles and martyrs throughout the world, he made it his concern to suggest the project of erecting a Mission in the Heart of Africa to the Sacred Congregation.
[2028]
In fact, amazed at the importance of this holy undertaking destined to lead the most unfortunate and abandoned part of the world back into Jesus Christ’s sheepfold, at the session of 26th December 1845 Propaganda declared Central Africa a Vicariate Apostolic. Gregory XVI, the champion of the foreign Missions, confirmed it with a Brief on 3rd April 1846. The boundaries of this vast Vicariate, according to the Apostolic Decree were:
to the East, the Vicariate of Egypt and the Prefecture of Abyssinia;
to the West, the Prefecture of Guinea;
to the North, the Prefecture of Tripoli, the Vicariate of Tunis and the Diocese of Algeria;
to the South, the Quamar Mountains, also called the Mountains of the Moon (1).
To care for this vast evangelical territory, Propaganda appointed these first venerable persons:
1. H. E. Mgr Casolani of Malta, Bishop of Mauricastre i.p.i. and Vicar Apostolic.
2. The Very Reverend Fr Massimiliano Ryllo of the Society of Jesus.
3. Fr Emanuele Pedemonte of Genoa (formerly an official of the Empire of Napoleon).
4. Fr Ignazio Knoblecher of St Cantien (Diocese of Laybach), a doctor in Theology and a student at the College of Propaganda in Rome.
5. Fr Angelo Vinco of Cerro (Diocese of Verona), a student at the Mazza Institute.

[2029]
These good Missionaries had taken on the noble enterprise of converting the black people, putting a stop to the infamous trade in slaves everywhere and caring for the few Catholics who for business reasons were scattered in those distant areas. The route the new caravan was to take and the base it was to choose, were not established. The goals of Providence and the experience of the Missionaries were to decide them. Mgr Casolani was of the opinion that he should take the route to Tripoli and Fezzan, cross the great Sahara Desert by camel in 84 days and settle in the vast empire of Bornù. Fr Ryllo, on the contrary, was convinced that it would be prudent to follow the course of the Nile and the Nubia route, since there was a safer route already known to travellers and used by the Egyptian expedition when Mohammed-Ali conquered Eastern Sudan in 1822. And the latter idea prevailed.
[2030]
Before the caravan could set out Gregory XVI died, but the august Pius IX, stirred by the same zeal for the conversion of Africa, confirmed the Decrees of his glorious Predecessor and blessed the holy undertaking and the new apostles of Central Africa. However, since the preparations for this expedition still required time and Monsignor the Vicar Apostolic still had to wait a few months to settle some family matters, it was decided that Knoblecher, together with Fr Pedemonte and Fr Angelo Vinco should leave Rome on 3rd July 1846 to go to the Maronites in Syria where they could get used to an oriental life which had some similarity with the customs of the countries of Nubia and the Sudan, to which they had to go. They stayed eight months. They made the most of this time studying the Arabic language which is spoken as far as 13° Latitude North. They visited Jerusalem and the Holy Places, remembered for the life and miracles of the Divine Saviour.
[2031]
The following spring, all the Missionaries gathered in Alexandria, but with a change in those directing the Mission, for reasons which are not worth mentioning here. Mgr Casolani followed the holy caravan as a simple Missionary. At its head was Fr Ryllo, who had been appointed Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa with the Apostolic Decree of 18th April 1847. The expedition was supplied with about 50,000 francs, of which Propaganda had contributed 37,634.41 (7,000 Roman Scudi). They spent five months in Alexandria and Cairo making preparations, during which the Missionaries had the benefit of obtaining the necessary and more precise information on the Sudan from the French engineer, M. Arnaud, who had visited Nubia and several tribes of the interior and guided the Egyptian expedition on the White Nile.
[2032]
Fr Ryllo, who was thoroughly familiar with the features of the Turkish mentality, had the courage to present himself in person to His Highness Mohammed-Ali and to his valiant son, Ibrahim Pasha. A few years earlier, the latter had set a considerable sum on the head of this courageous Jesuit because he had encouraged the Christians of Mount Lebanon and the Maronites to resist the proud conqueror who wanted to take over the country, despite his master, the great lord of Constantinople. Fr Ryllo, who spoke Arabic perfectly, knew so well how to behave at the Egyptian Court that he won the trust of the illustrious warrior, as well as of the glorious viceroy of Egypt who showered his former enemy with favours and issued him a signed document protecting the Missionaries from the authorities and heads of Sudan as far as the furthest boundaries of Egyptian rule. Thus favoured by Providence, the Missionaries left Cairo to travel up the Nile towards Upper Egypt and Nubia. Their plan was to go to the black tribes via Khartoum, the capital of the new Egyptian conquests in the Sudan, located two miles from the point of the triangle of the peninsula of Senna, at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles where they converge to form the Nile, between 15° and 16° Latitude North.
[2033]
Towards the end of the month of October, the holy caravan crossed the boundaries of the Vicariate of Central Africa for the first time, and thence travelled to the first cataract on the famous island of File, close to the Tropic of Cancer, where the baptism of a dying Muslim child produced the first flower of this important apostolate and the springtime of their difficult and perilous ministry. What a vast field of evangelisation unfolded before our zealous Missionaries! I shall only mention here the enormous number of territories and countries in this great Mission, as well as the numerous languages and dialects spoken both by the peoples and the tribes who occupy this immense expanse which geography has not yet been able to classify, except under the generic name of “Unknown Regions of Africa”.
[2034]
Here I shall say just a general word about the vast expanse of this immense Vicariate, since even excluding the area occupied by the missions founded after its establishment and calculating its southern boundaries, the Mountains of the Moon (should they truly exist), located between 5° Latitude South and the Equator almost on the spot where the famous explorers Speke and Grant most probably discovered the Nyanza Victoria in 1858, between 3° Latitude South and the Equator, that is, the lake which forms the first source of the Nile and where in 1864 Sir Samuel Baker saw the great Basin which forms the second source of this river, that is, the Nyanza Alberto or Louta N’Zige at the Equator (2) it is evident that this great Mission embraces virtually the whole expanse between 5° Latitude South and 24° Latitude North, and bounded by 10° and 35° Longitude East from the Paris Meridian. In addition, it includes the expanse between 10° and 29° Latitude North, between 9° West, and 10° Longitude East, according to this Meridian. This leads us to conclude that the Vicariate of Central Africa, after the Apostolic Decree for its establishment, is almost 20 times the size of France. Although Propaganda later took a considerable part of it from the West, in 1868, with which to create the Prefecture Apostolic of the Sahara Desert which is entrusted to the Archbishop of Algeria, it should nevertheless be recognised that the Vicariate of Central Africa is the largest in the world.
[2035]
It is true however, that in establishing this immense Mission the Holy See sent these first Gospel workers out to form other Vicariates and Prefectures Apostolic according to the hopes and results that Catholic activity could offer them and according to the different religious Congregations or ecclesiastical Societies which the Vicar of Jesus Christ was to assign to take part in the religious and civil regeneration of this vast part of the world, still enveloped in the shadows of death. During the journey in Lower Nubia, Fr Ryllo was struck by violent dysentery which forced the caravan to abandon the direct route through the Korosko Desert and Abu-Hammed and instead, to take the longer way via Wadi-Halfa and Dongola, thus travelling along the curve that follows the Nile’s course through the Nubian cataracts. After much hardship and suffering and great expenses, they reached Khartoum at last on 11th February 1848.
[2036]
In those days this city consisted of huts and small, single-storey houses built of straw and bricks of sun-baked mud, which the rains often destroy and whose limited capacity can only shelter a small portion of their inhabitants, while the rest sleep in little tents, or usually, beneath the stars. Its population was barely 15,000, most of whom were slaves of every kind and colour who had been violently wrenched from all the African tribes. All our Missionaries, sheltered beneath modest tents pitched on the banks of the Blue Nile, were ill from their efforts and the heavy strain of a long and dangerous journey. Fr Ryllo’s illness grew worse. They had almost run out of food and provisions and the resources they had were considerably depleted. It was impossible to continue their journey. Moreover, the city of Khartoum was the last European trading Station, the metropolis of Egyptian Sudan, the last place from which one could correspond with Egypt, and the point of departure and of communication for dealings between Cairo and the African interior. No place seemed as appropriate to the Missionaries to have reliable contacts with the natives of Central Africa, to be successful in making sound and positive plans about the system and way to exercise of their future ministry, and to prepare themselves to study the country’s way of life, beliefs, superstitions and customs, not to mention the various languages of the slaves which they needed to know, were they to carry out their duties properly. Lastly, it seemed the best place to become gradually accustomed to the climate of Sudan, so different from that of Europe, and to establish a resting place for the poor Missionaries who, after being dispersed for some time among the different tribes in order to bring them the Word of God, would finally be able to meet again and recover somewhat, the better subsequently to tolerate the efforts and work of their holy ministry.
[2037]
It was therefore decided to establish a Station in Khartoum. Kherrif Hassan, a Turk who had already offered the Missionaries generous hospitality in Dongola, wishing to make a dutiful gesture of gratitude to several Maronite Priests of Mount Lebanon who had saved his life in the Viceroy of Egypt’s bellicose expedition to Syria, also gave them generous assistance and kind protection in this tropical city. But on 17th June 1848, Fr Ryllo, full of merit and suffering terribly, gave up his soul to the Creator, after ceding his title of Pro-Vicar to Ignazio Knoblecher. He was buried in the middle of the square which shortly afterwards was made into a vast park. A modest mausoleum was erected there where from that time the pupils would meet every day before dusk to recite the rosary.
[2038]
After Fr Ryllo’s death, Mgr Casolani was reduced to such a weak state that it was almost impossible for him to recover. What a destiny for these poor Missionaries, sent beyond the desert, without means and struck down by most terrible diseases! Instead of the help they had begged Europe for, on the contrary they received terrible news. The storm of the revolution had swept over the whole of Europe, everything that had previously been honoured and venerated was overturned and the holy Faith, as the basis of the social order, seemed to have been destroyed. Preachers of the Divine Word were persecuted and hounded, as were pious institutions for conversion and for spreading the faith and even the Sovereign Pontiff himself: all had crumbled. Who in such overwhelming circumstances could still think of the distant Mission in Central Africa? How could the Messengers of the Faith hope for help in the interest of their extremely difficult undertaking? Rome’s Propaganda which had suffered the most terrible blows of the revolution solemnly declared that it could no longer help the Missionaries and gave them permission to return to Europe, to be appointed to other Missions.
[2039]
It was the venerable Dr Knoblecher who did not panic and inspired courage in his beloved companions. Without Knoblecher the Mission in Central Africa would have collapsed in 1848 and would no longer exist. While he was alive, Fr Ryllo had purchased a piece of land on the banks of the White Nile in Khartoum. Dr Knoblecher made it into a garden, built a little dwelling there with a very small and rather modest chapel, but which sufficed for the Missionaries’ barest needs. Every day they could offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, thank the Divine Saviour for the benefits of Redemption and every day ask his help and his blessing, in a country which had previously known nothing but the errors of paganism and the blindness of Islam, so that these different peoples might enter the womb of the Church, the only harbour of eternal salvation.
[2040]
There was a large slave market in Khartoum. These unfortunate prisoners from Central Africa, torn violently and forcefully from their families, were put on sale and chained up like vile beasts. Among these prisoners, delicate children were often seen who were given to those who would pay a high price for them. At this market, the Missionaries bought many children who seemed bright and who showed unmistakable signs that they would be successful. Here they also found several descendants of Europeans often pitilessly abandoned by their fathers, who had relapsed into the disbelief of their mothers. These children were taken into the Mission house. They started by teaching them the simplest things that could be of use to them in their lands, but above all, the truth of our holy Religion. They were to form the first Christian community in Central Africa and were eventually to be given their freedom. They were to return to their homeland to their fellow countrymen by safe routes, to serve them as apostles and to become the Missionaries’ active and reliable assistants. Fired by great zeal, these young people accepted the Divine Word favourably. Their love for God was alive, their habits gentle and calm and they felt a warm affection for the Missionaries. In a short time the first of them were able to receive holy Baptism which was administered to them on All Saints’ Day.
[2041]
On the eve of the great day, the Pro-Vicar, visiting the dormitory of these boys to check that all was well as usual, saw the catechumens all gathered on their knees in prayer. He asked them what they were doing. “We are praying”, they answered, “to the Blessed Virgin, our Good Mother, so that God may grant us the grace to reach tomorrow, the happy day when we shall become Christians”. What deep faith these first Central African boys had! On the other hand, Knoblecher and his companions were in turn the pupils of their own students since they were struggling with all their might to master the languages of the different tribes to which these boys belonged and also painstakingly to gather all the facts which could enlighten them about their customs and traditions, and facts on everything which could help them become familiar with the conditions of their native land. This was in order to succeed better in the apostolate they were resolved to undertake in the very heart of this land. When aid from Europe was delayed, this was no reason for their zeal to diminish and their activity continued, unchanged. Their pupils lacked nothing, because the Missionaries deprived themselves to meet their needs.
[2042]
Everything was bearable for these worthy ministers of Jesus Christ who sought only God’s glory and the salvation of the most abandoned souls. In the small community of Khartoum, peace, order and the spirit of Jesus Christ prevailed. Nevertheless Dr Knoblecher, though trusting completely in God’s Providence, was worried about the Mission’s financial state. He made the most of Fr Angelo Vinco’s return to Europe to seek help in Italy. Mgr Casolani, unable any longer to tolerate Khartoum’s oppressive climate and the great efforts of the Mission, went back to Malta with the intention of never returning.
[2043]
The Pro-Vicar Apostolic made Fr Vinco responsible for accompanying Monsignor to Egypt and then going on to Italy to beg alms for the Mission. On 19th January 1849, this courageous Missionary arrived in Verona at the Institute which had taught him to serve God and formed him for the apostolate. But if he had been unfortunate in not succeeding in the principle aim of his journey because of the revolution and the deplorable events of those days, he was nonetheless doubly successful in his return home, because he gained a great success for the Mission’s future without even realising it. Providence had led him to the eminently Catholic and faithful city which was the scene of the illustrious work and apostolate of one of the greatest African Saints and Martyrs: St Zeno, Patron of Verona, who is African. There where the pious Veronese had for centuries venerated the glorious relics of their first Patron, St Zeno, the first spark was to be kindled of the apostolic vocation which was later embraced by many members of the venerable Institute of the distinguished teacher, Fr Nicola Mazza of Verona.
[2044]
By telling the five hundred students in his Institutes at S. Carlo and Canterane with the full fervour of his soul a number of very interesting details, and giving numerous explanations about the deplorable plight of the unfortunate children of the Hamite race, he kindled in them the passion of divine charity that cannot be assuaged except in a career of complete dedication and sacrifice for the salvation of infidels. Fr Angelo Vinco’s accounts made a great impression on the ardent spirit of that marvel of charity and wisdom, Fr Nicola Mazza, a worthy imitator of the glorious champions of the Church, St Vincent de Paul and St Charles Borromeo. This venerable founder, inspired by a supernatural zeal for the salvation of the Africans and seeing that some of his students were disposed to support his fervour, decided to co-operate in the apostolate of Africa with his two flourishing Institutes in Verona, of which the first could provide zealous Missionaries and the second, true women of the Gospel for the conversion of Central Africa.
[2045]
Following this noble thought, Fr Mazza said to himself: “My male Institute, which provides good priests for the Diocese of Verona every year, could easily provide Africa with good Missionaries and educate African boys, who could later become apostles in their homeland. My female Institute, which teaches and keeps more than 300 girls every day, could easily teach religion and Christian morality to poor African girls, so that they could become useful for their own land”. It was through the members of these two Institutes in Verona that it was to be possible, with the Holy See’s authorisation, to undertake a Mission in Central Africa to spread the Gospel. This was the distinguished Founder Mazza’s idea. In fact, by means of the active co-operation of the reverend Fr Geremia of Leghorn, a Franciscan missionary in Egypt, he introduced a number of Africans of both sexes into the two Verona Institutes to teach them the Faith and Christian civilisation, and began to train priests and promising members to undertake his work.
[2046]
In the meantime Fr Ignazio Knoblecher, alone in Khartoum with Fr Pedemonte, through the latter had requested Missionaries from the Father General of the Society of Jesus for Missionaries. Thus he obtained Fr Luigi Zara of Verona, with another Father, as well as some lay Jesuits. It was in about the middle of 1849, when wretchedness was at its worst, that aid from Laybach arrived in time to help the Mission in its poverty. This aid, which had been requested in private letters, showed that the Faith and participation in works for the propagation of the Gospel was not yet extinct in Europe, and also gave some hope for the future. All the hardships borne until then seemed sweet and gentle to the generous hearts of these men who were so zealous for the salvation of the Africans, because they were motivated by that happy confidence which is never lacking in the spirit of those who trust in God.
[2047]
After Fr Angelo Vinco’s return to Khartoum, Dr Knoblecher resolved to verify the implementation of the great plan of the Mission and to penetrate as far as possible into the African interior, the better to know the field for his future efforts. Every year, in November, when the North wind began to blow, the governor general of the Sudan would send many boats up the White Nile to provide for the needs of the Egyptian inhabitants located along the river and to trade glass beads with the Africans in exchange for elephant tusks. Dr Knoblecher had arranged to join this expedition. A Muslim merchant offered him the money on rather unfavourable conditions. He volunteered to make a careful exploration of the country in order to find a safe place that was healthy and had water and timber, where a Catholic Station could be established.
[2048]
With the firm hope of succeeding in his plan, he set out on his voyage up the White Nile in November 1849. During the 64 days of navigation to the South, the boat dropped anchor at the foot of the small mountain of Lagwek among the Bari. He was made so welcome by these people that it was impossible for him to continue without promising to return the following year. After thoroughly examining the country, he undertook explorations in the areas neighbouring the Bari territory; he observed everything and was convinced that the tribe of the Bari was a safe and appropriate place for a Catholic Mission. After this he hurried back to Khartoum.
[2049]
The region to cultivate had now been found. But the holy undertaking lacked all that seemed necessary to succeed in the work, that is, the number of working companions, the means of support and the various requirements to give a moral and Christian education to the peoples to be converted and ensure their safety and that of the Mission from unexpected attacks by their neighbours. All the requests attempted in Europe, to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda and the pious Societies which helped holy Missions, failed to produce any good results even with regard to the basic necessities. For this reason, believing it was absolutely indispensable to undertake a journey to Europe, he set out for Germany after making the reverend Jesuit Fathers responsible for the Mission.
[2050]
After arriving in Laybach in his homeland, he sought and found emergency aid to maintain the house in Khartoum for some time. He then thought of a way of finding the means for his future undertaking on the White Nile, and succeeded. He was especially happy in Vienna, where he found unparalleled support at the Imperial Court. Dr Knoblecher had clearly and briefly explained the Programme for his Work in a short Note, and presented it to His Apostolic Majesty. Emperor Franz Jozef I received the Pro-Vicar with much kindness. He showed the greatest interest in this noble enterprise; he put himself at the head of the effort started in Austria for the Mission in Central Africa, and he himself gave from his own private funds the sum of 25,000 Austrian lire (20,835 francs). All the members of the imperial family, the Archdukes, the Princes and Princesses, as well as the Catholic Ministers of the Empire and the heads of the various offices, each according to their own means sought to be of use to the Mission. The noblest ladies of the capital and of the empire came and put considerable donations into the Pro-Vicar’s hands, in letters of credit and in currency.
[2051]
He was also favourably received by the Austrian Bishops and clergy. Shortly afterwards requests and pastoral letters from the Ordinaries followed, recommending the new Mission to the faithful in their dioceses and asking for donations. What is remarkable is that on all sides worthy ecclesiastics and pious lay people presented themselves who, for love of God and the salvation of their neighbour, wished to make a journey to Africa to help with the great Work of the Mission. There was no need for encouragement or persuasion to co-operate for the good of the enterprise. The personal appearance of the venerable Dr Knoblecher excited a holy enthusiasm. His presence inspired all hearts and irresistibly attracted them to him.
[2052]
Thus it seemed that the Mission had what it needed for the Khartoum Station and for the new foundation in the land of the Bari. But what about the future? Knoblecher’s foundations would have been built on sand, unless there was hope that aid would continue in the future. The most brilliant beginning cannot produce large-scale results in a work without the stamp of the perpetuity which will assure its continuity and improvement. This is why, on the advice of a venerable Bishop, Mgr A. Meschutar, a compatriot of his, a court counsellor and head of the section of the Ministry for Religion, Dr Knoblecher formed a Committee consisting of the most distinguished and influential people in the Austrian Empire, and, with the approval of the imperial government, the Association of Mary for the Mission in Central Africa was founded and directed at first by this Bishop, Mgr Meschutar.
[2053]
After the Holy See’s approval, obtained with the Brief of 5th December 1852, it was placed under the protection of His Eminence Cardinal Prince Friedrich Schwarzenberg, Archbishop of Prague, and under the presidency of His Excellency the court counsellor Federico de Hunter, a historian of the empire of His Apostolic Majesty and the Austrian Empire. This personage was one of the most brilliant prodigies of grace in the 19th century. The high Committee of this Association sent circular letters to all the Bishops in the empire and it was established in all their dioceses, and over many years it collected enormous sums for Central Africa. His Majesty the Emperor put the Mission under his protection and obtained a Firman for it from the great Sultan who guaranteed it every right and privilege in all the possessions of the Viceroy of Egypt with which the Catholic Missions were connected, after Treaties in the other provinces of the Ottoman Empire. An Austrian consulate was established in Khartoum expressly to protect the Mission’s rights and interests.
[2054]
Having settled matters well in Vienna, Dr Knoblecher went via Munich to Bressanone in the Tyrol to recommend the interests of his undertaking to the magnanimous heart of one of his most esteemed friends, with whom he had become acquainted in Rome in 1845, and by whom he was perfectly understood. This distinguished and wise professor was Dr G. C. Mitterrutzner, a Canon Regular of the Order of St Augustine, a man of rare talent who was a pillar of the mission and to whom the Vicariate of Central Africa is indebted for the greatest services. I shall only say that every year he collected enormous sums for the Mission to which he also sent a large number of priests, almost all from the German Tyrol.
[2055]
He also employed every kind of means, but above all his pen, to contribute to the great enterprise. Lastly, by means of the manuscripts offered to him by the Missionaries and aided by two indigenous Africans whom he had brought to Bressanone, he succeeded in compiling dictionaries, grammars, and catechisms in the two most important and widespread languages of the Mission: Dinka and Bari. By so doing he procured for future Missionaries in Central Africa the elements and material necessary for them to exercise the apostolic ministry in the vast expanse which is located between 13° Latitude North and the Equator, in the regions of the White Nile.
[2056]
Knoblecher received a very favourable welcome from the illustrious Mgr Gallura, Bishop Prince of Bressanone, and from his devout and wise Clergy. He was received with holy enthusiasm in Verona and Monza, and via Genoa he went to Rome to give the Holy See an account of the Mission’s affairs. But here in the eternal city great obstacles arose. Propaganda, after Mgr Casolani’s objections, based above all on the Mission’s lack of the necessary financial means which His Eminence Cardinal Fransoni declared he could not provide, decided to abandon the Mission. The Decree of suppression had already been signed and the order to recall the Missionaries from Khartoum who were ready to be posted to other Missions had already been given. The Report of Knoblecher’s journey in the lands of the Bari and the good results he had obtained in Austria averted this terrible blow. But he only managed it with great difficulty and effort.
[2057]
In a private audience, Pius IX listened to him with great attention and keen interest. Knoblecher was named Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa and was again made responsible for the Mission’s direction. In the month of August 1851, he went to Trieste to receive the abundant supplies he had collected in Germany, and the new Missionaries with whom he left for Egypt.
The following are the names of these zealous Messengers of the Faith who were all Slavs:
Rev. Fr Bartholomew Mozgan
Rev. Fr Martin Doviak
Rev. Fr Otto Tratant
Rev. Fr John Kociiancic
Rev. Fr Matthew Milharcic.

[2058]
They were accompanied by numerous laymen dedicated to the Mission and useful because of their aptitude in crafts and skills. The missionaries were obliged to prolong their stay in the Egyptian capital for longer than foreseen. Dr Knoblecher, as we have said, was armed with a Firman from Constantinople for the protection of the Vicariate by the government of Egyptian Sudan. But it was very disappointing that the rights due to the new Mission as well as its privileges should be known to the Viceroy, since that small degree of understanding which had existed for a long time between the “High Doors” and the “Diwan” of Cairo would lead people to believe that these orders would not obtain all the obedience desired in Egypt. Dr Knoblecher was very well received at the Viceroy’s audience. The Diwan also received orders to issue provisions as expressed in the Firman to the plenipotentiaries of Sudan. However, despite all possible protests, it refused to make the Grand Pasha’s Firman available to the Pro-Vicar.
[2059]
The cunning and the intrigues which the insolent Muslim permitted himself to use and the experience he had had in the past convinced Knoblecher that without being in possession of this document, his efforts could easily be side-stepped, and remain unsuccessful. It was then that he sent a Note to the Grand Diwan in which he declared that he was forced to ask Constantinople for another Firman and to have added (a clause) that this firman should remain in the Mission’s possession. The response was that he was mistaken to expect measures from His Highness the Grand Pasha and in the brief time of 48 hours he received a copy of the Constantinopolitan firman from the Egyptian government, signed by H.E. the Viceroy himself.
[2060]
Before leaving the capital, the Pro-Vicar thought of equipping the Mission with a reasonably comfortable vessel with which to transport provisions and Missionaries and make the voyages and apostolic visits on the White Nile. He therefore purchased a large boat called a “dahabia” by the Arabs, which H.E. Heiraldin Pasha had granted him at a modest price. It was an elegant iron vessel with three sails, and on 15th October the Pro-Vicar solemnly blessed it, giving it the name of Stella Mattutina. The ceremony was very moving. The last of the three cabins was really suitable for a small chapel. The harmonium which accompanied the singing of the Ave Maris Stella and the devotion of the pious Catholics who attended, made the festivities at the foot of the pyramids on the banks of the Nile very interesting.
[2061]
The Stella Mattutina became famous in Central Africa. It was hailed with extraordinary joy by all the numerous peoples of the White Nile and considered by the Africans as a good omen throughout the area, from Berber to Gondokoro. In the same way, the name of Abuna Soliman (our Father prince of peace) which Dr Ignazio Knoblecher was always called was heard and uttered with great reverence by all and by every kind of person from Alexandria to the Equator. On 18th October the whole caravan left from Cairo on board the Stella Mattutina, to go up the Nile again into Upper Egypt and Nubia. At Korosko (21° Latitude North) the caravan split up. The Pro-Vicar with four missionaries and several laymen took the route through the Desert of Atmur and arrived in Khartoum towards the end of the year. Fr Kociiancic passed the great cataracts of Dongola on the Stella Mattutina and on 29th March cast anchor at Khartoum.
[2062]
Since autumn 1850 Fr Angelo Vinco had been travelling on the White Nile, with the approval of the Jesuit Fathers who were directing the mission. Signor Brun Rollet, a Savoyard merchant in the Sudan, had made one of his boats available to him. In a short time Fr Vinco learned the language of the country, painstakingly visited many places in the Bari tribe and was the only missionary to explore the tribe of the Bari south-east of Gondokoro. In the hope that missionaries would follow to settle, he began a true apostolate among those peoples. His patience, his self-denial, his gift of charity and above all his courage, soon made him the most important and venerated man in the country. He started teaching children; he baptised many in “articulo mortis”, and prepared the villages properly to receive the Missionaries with true love.
[2063]
The following event further added to his reputation. In one Bari village an enormous lion was devastating the area and devouring people, especially children. Being used from his youth to hunting in the mountains of Cerro where he was born, he managed with great effort and trusting in God to kill the terrible animal with a rifle. It is impossible to imagine the cries of joy and the gratitude he inspired in those people who called him son of thunder and brought him oxen and many gifts as a sign of extraordinary veneration. His name was famous among the Africans.
[2064]
Fr Pedemonte visited the Bari and stayed some time there doing great good, while the devout Fr Zara remained in Khartoum where he left very good memories. They both worked teaching Coptic children the Faith and Catholic morals; they made a path in the garden of the Mission, which was well tended. The Fathers had been blessed in Central Africa. But they were obliged to leave it because the Society of Jesus, having recovered fairly well from the ruins of the revolution in 1848, recalled its members from the Vicariate of Central Africa, after the successful steps taken by Knoblecher. Fr Zara was sent to Ghazier in Syria where a few years later he gave up his soul to the Creator. The others were recalled to Rome and Fr Pedemonte went to Naples where he crowned his apostolic career with a holy death. In 1864 this great seventy-year old missionary told me that the greatest sacrifice he had made in his whole life was to have abandoned the Mission in Central Africa for which he had formed the most wonderful hopes.
[2065]
After the arrival of the new Missionaries in Khartoum, Kociiancic and Milharcic were destined for this Station, while all the others prepared to leave for the White Nile. In 1852 the Pro-Vicar Apostolic wrote in these terms: “After our return, the Station of Khartoum offers us the picture of a very active life. We have split up and classified ourselves according to our different occupations. Rev. Fr Milharcic, endowed with all the necessary qualities for teaching children well, is involved in the school for boys. Now that the schismatic Copts are entrusting their children to us, it has more than forty pupils who make a lot of work for the teachers. We labour from morning to night in our technical workshop and thus are gradually succeeding in making the furniture we most need. Every now and then we are surprised by the talent of Rev. Fr Kociiancic who invents new and useful objects”.
[2066]
On the Feast of All Saints, some of the African boys at the school were baptised. They had been bought at the Khartoum market. I shall speak of the slavery in Central Africa another time. For now it is enough to say just a word about the market in Khartoum, as Dr Knoblecher described it (4): “There is nothing more upsetting than to cross the slave market in Khartoum on a Friday and see the infamous abuse which is carried on with the greatest indifference and in the midst of a crowd of men, women, boys, young girls and children. These wretched creatures, before being handed over to their buyers, suffer an indiscreet examination of most parts of their bodies. It is truly heart-rending for a Christian to be an eye-witness of all the horrors these poor unfortunate brothers and sisters of ours in Jesus Christ are forced to suffer.
[2067]
How disrespectfully these purchasers lay their sacrilegious hands on these innocent victims before they conclude their bargaining, examining their teeth and tongue and feeling their hands, their neck, their ears, their feet etc.! It is most unpleasant to see how they go crying their wares here and there, how they shout, how these poor slaves are treated, without anyone thinking that those who are subjected to all this are their brothers and sisters! At the same time, in a corner of the market I saw several mothers, overwhelmed and in anguish, whose sons and daughters, whom they would never see again here on this earth, had been wrenched from them. These poor mothers wait from one moment to the next to know their children’s fate. But what made a deep impression on me was to see one young mother with three children, the youngest of which could not have been more than a few days old, all hunched up sitting on the ground and resting her head on her right arm, while with her left she held her baby to her breast.
[2068]
Thus immersed in her pain she watched her two elder sons who were clinging to her with a look so moving and with such strong emotions as though she presumed that separation was imminent. Suddenly someone cried: ‘How much do you want for this family?’ At this, the poor mother raised her head to look; but I did not have the courage to await the outcome. Only from afar could I catch these words: ‘Seven hundred piasters’ (182 francs). Alas! A family, a person redeemed with Christ’s Blood for such a price! Absorbed thus in my thoughts I reached the place of the men’s market. They seemed to submit more calmly to their fate. Looking around, they awaited their turn in the auction. But they well knew that at the slightest murmur they would be punished by scourging with violent strokes of the whip or tightly bound with heavy chains”.
[2069]
The very reverend Pro-Vicar Apostolic put affairs in order in Khartoum and sailed on the Stella Mattutina for the White Nile, with the reverend Fathers Mozgan, Dociak and Trabant. On this voyage everyone suffered badly from fevers. The Pro-Vicar had such a strong attack that they were obliged to give him the last sacraments. After much effort and suffering, they reached the territory of the Bari for the second time on 3rd January 1853. Here they found Fr Angelo Vinco stricken by sun stroke and a violent fever which degenerated into typhoid. After a few days, this courageous Missionary, after a short but busy apostolate, assisted in his last moments by his venerable Superior who gave him all the Sacraments for the dying, gave up his soul to his Creator in Markouk, in the tribe of the Bari, the first apostle and martyr of the Faith and of Christian civilisation on the White Nile. Fr Angelo Vinco’s name is still venerated among the Kir, Beri and Bari peoples who dedicated some songs to him in their own language which have become popular on the White Nile beyond 7° Latitude North.
[2070]
In Gondokoro (4°40’ Latitude North and 31°47’ Latitude East from Paris) Dr Knoblecher thought he would buy a piece of land to make a workshop and a garden. Several rich proprietors offered him land and in particular, an old man called Lutweri presented himself to him and gave him a considerable part of his property. The affair was discussed in the presence of numerous chieftains, including the famous chief of the Beri called Nighila. This is a very warlike tribe in the South-East of Gondokoro. For this reason the Pro-Vicar had a tent pitched which had been prepared for him by benefactors in Europe for just such an occasion, and gave each chief a long blue garment with a “tarboosh” (red fez) to cover his head. He then put on a white habit and with a cross-shaped lance in his hand, the sign of our Redemption (5) instead of a lance or a murderous sword. Thus accompanied by many chiefs he entered the tent where they all sat down. Suddenly one of them rose to make a speech after which another followed. Thus they all spoke.
[2071]
Their discourses focused on this point: “The foreigner must buy some land for himself and his brothers where he will plant trees and teach the children, and since these gentlemen have nothing in common with the foreign thieves and assassins, the chiefs assume the obligation of watching over it so that no one prevents these brothers from possessing their land”. When they had all spoken, the Pro-Vicar, with the help of his interpreter, made them a speech about the divine mission. All the chiefs remained standing to testify to their approval and they were all very pleased. They all told him that they believed his words and had great faith in him. For his part, the Pro-Vicar assured them that in their mission he and his brothers would strive with all their might for the greatest good of their country, and for all their people. Then the chief Nighila stood up for the second time, and spoke to the gathering saying that only those who lived closest to the missionaries should protect them from crimes and attacks by the enemy, and that those who lived further away would visit the Mission house and garden only occasionally.
[2072]
The assembly was over and the land considered to be the Mission’s property. But it was not easy to define its boundaries. After concluding, the Pro-Vicar called the seller, and accompanied by the chiefs, he followed him to the boat, the Stella Mattutina, armed with half an empty, dried pumpkin which to his great satisfaction was filled for him to the brim with glass beads of various qualities, by the Pro-Vicar. The sales contract in the Bari language was read to the chiefs and each with great respect put his finger on the pen of the Pro-Vicar Apostolic as he drew the sign of the Cross next to his name. Knoblecher distributed some glass beads to each, and they all went home happy and contented.
[2073]
Having bought the land it was necessary to think of building a chapel for the service of God, a dwelling for the Missionaries and a garden for the Mission’s needs. But there were no workmen able to do this. With great devotion for these peoples, the Pro-Vicar and the Missionaries made themselves all to all, and dedicated themselves to the work with heroic courage. It should be recalled that the Missionaries who needed to exercise a great influence on the villages of the Bari and on the neighbouring tribes, required a stable base where they could learn the various languages, the better to fulfil the duties of their vocation, instructing young people and teaching skills to a people which had been primitive until then. They wondered, “Even if we have sufficient materials for the task, where can we find masons, carpenters, farmers, carpenters, locksmiths, etc. for the work?”
[2074]
The Missionary had to provide for all this if he wanted to obtain a permanent place for himself in these regions where with a handful of straw and mud the poor Africans build their huts one day, and have to rebuild them the next, because of a little rain falling during the night. There the poor Missionary must have been deeply embarrassed when gazing round, he saw so many heads and hands unable to do this work. He was obliged to use his own means. All the technical knowledge he had acquired in his spare time during recreation periods at school was to stand him in good stead at that moment. After Holy Mass, for the love of God the missionaries would sometimes take a trowel and sometimes a saw, and some would arm themselves with a hatchet, a hammer, a hoe or a spade, etc., and show those surrounding them how to carry out these new jobs, urging them to imitate them. Thus with the sweat of their brow a house among these peoples was miraculously built for the glory of God. And the work prospered admirably since two years later, when the Pro-Vicar returned to Gondokoro, he gave the following details about this Station: (6)
[2075]
“In the midst of the territory of the splendid black tribes of the Bari, where the banks of the mysterious river rise to a height unseen in any other part of its course, stands a foundation in stark contrast with all the indigenous villages. From the northern side and from that of the river a square building can already be seen on a gentle rise in the distance, while the indigenous dwellings are spherical in form with conical roofs, typical of the native buildings. From the western part towards the river and the south, a great avenue of trees and plants appears to the eye, the like of which are not found in any other part of the country and which were brought from a very distant region. In the midst of this expanse of land small watchtowers rise above the embankments, made of the wood of the rather tall trees which are also used as poles for the Nile boats.
[2076]
“Today the summit is crowned by a metal Cross that shines in the distance at sunrise and sunset and proclaims the coming of salvation and redemption to the Africans close to the Equator. At the foot of the Cross, a white pennant with a blue star sometimes flutters, announcing the imminence of the feasts of Our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin, celebrated by the Catholic Church. “This is the aspect of the exterior of Our Lord of Gondokoro on the White River, for whose foundation and decorations our beloved European provided what was necessary”.
[2077]
Knoblecher appointed Rev. Fr Bartholomew Mozgan Superior of the Station of Gondokoro, and accompanied by Prince Nighila of the Bari, he returned to Khartoum whence he had to prepare to go to Egypt to make a considerable number of purchases and to await the new messengers of the Faith, whose arrival had just been announced and whose names were:
1. Luc Jeram, 2. Joseph Lap .......... from Carnia
3. Joseph Gostner, 4. Louis Haller ...from Tyrol
5. Ignaz Kohl ............................... from Lower Austria
(note in the right margin:) There was also an excellent layman from Vienna, Martin Hansal, a teacher and an excellent musician.

[2078]
In early September 1873, they reached Alexandria where the Pro-Vicar Apostolic was waiting for them. The head of the Bari, as we have said, had accompanied Knoblecher on his long journey to the 27° Latitude North. Thus Signor Gostner wrote from Alexandria to the distinguished Professor Mitterrutzner about his meeting with Knoblecher and his princely companion Nighila, who was still called “Mougha”. Finally the venerable Pro-Vicar appeared among Arabs, Turks, Jews and Greeks, etc., giving orders to all parties, I do not know in how many languages. They all had great respect for Abuna Soliman. When we had arrived at the Hotel of the North, the others went to dine, but I was taken by Knoblecher to the friary of the reverend Franciscan Fathers where he had received generous hospitality and we ate there. The Pro-Vicar then called Mougha and in a flash the Prince of the Bari leapt up from a block of stone on which he had been lying, and stood before me offering me his hand. He greeted me cordially, saying, “How are you?” To my reply he answered, “That’s good”.
[2079]
He only speaks his own tongue which no one understands except Knoblecher who, it seems, speaks correctly with the head of the Bari. He is 25 years old and six foot tall (Knoblecher says he is one of the smallest of his race); he is thin and slim and black as coal; he has a certain spontaneity in his movements and attitude but which does not lack respect. He does not like to remain indoors, he wants to be free and stay in the open air. Around his neck he wears amass of necklaces of coloured glass beads of various sizes; his feet and hands are covered by a quantity of bracelets and rings in silver, iron and ivory. They are his joy and his delight. In one hand he always holds a small wooden stick and in the other or on his shoulder, a graceful little wooden stool on which he sits down immediately whenever he arrives somewhere. He is clean-shaven and he sticks ostrich feathers into his hair, which is gathered on top of his head. He makes a great impact here… even the greatest lords and ladies are most interested in this royal black man… We often visit him and he shakes our hand saying: “Doto” (How are you?) and tries hard to make us learn to count up to ten.
[2080]
He says that his people did not like to let him approach white people because they would cut off the ears of blacks and would even eat them…The captain of the Austrian frigate, Bellona, invited the Pro-Vicar and His black Highness to dinner on board. The good prince could not get over his amazement at the things he saw on board; his good heart even urged him to go so far that, at table during dinner, he took the captain’s glass and held it out for him to pour water into it from his own hand, with which he then sprinkled him… and crowned him king in the Bari fashion… When the Pro-Vicar left the frigate Bellona, a thirteen-gun salute announced to Alexandria how much the head of the Mission of Central Africa was esteemed and venerated. Chevalier Huber, the Consul General of Austria and many other gentlemen came on 17th September to say goodbye to the Missionaries.
[2081]
Then Mougha placed himself in the midst of the Assembly and said in regal tones (Dr Knoblecher acting as interpreter): “The Europeans can always visit our country; the Arabs, on the contrary must stay away, because they come only to set fire, kill, sack and stir up a revolution”. And Dr Kerschbamer, a professor at S. Pölten who had to return to Austria, was charged byMougha to give his respects and compliments to all the friends of his Father Abuna Soliman, the Pro-Vicar Apostolic.
[2082]
In Alexandria and in Cairo, Dr Knoblecher bought abundant provisions and made considerable purchases for the two Stations of Khartoum and Gondokoro. At the beginning of October the great caravan left the capital of Egypt to travel up the Nile. When they reached the Tropic of Cancer, they pitched their tents opposite the Island of File, while 700 camels were prepared in Korosko to cross the Atmur to Berber.
[2083]
At Korosko two Missionaries educated at the Mazza Institute of Verona joined this caravan. They were Rev. Fr Giovanni Beltrame of Valeggio (in the Diocese of Verona), and Rev. Fr Antonio Castagnaro of Montebello (Vicenza). Fr Nicola Mazza, following his noble intention to come to the aid of the poor Africans, had made many preparations in order to achieve his plan. There were some priests in his male Institute who were keen on the Mission and who were in charge of the young African boys, to prepare them for the holy enterprise. In his female Institute were pious and good teachers who knew many languages and Arabic perfectly and who were involved in educating young African girls to train them for the apostolate of Africa. Seeing that all his care was promising good results for the future he thought the right moment had come for him to submit his plan to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, in order to obtain the authorisation to carry it out. He had made a former student of his responsible for presenting his project to Rome, Mgr Besi, Bishop of Canopo and formerly Apostolic Administrator of Nanking in China.
[2084]
His Eminence Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of Propaganda, replied that it would be necessary to contact the head of the Mission of Central Africa to establish the basis of his Catholic action and determine the place where his work was to be established, and that the S. Congregation would intervene to finalise the matter. It was then that Fr NicolaMazza sent two of his best priests to Khartoum, Fr Giovanni Beltrame from Valeggio in the Diocese of Verona, and Fr Antonio Castagnaro from Montebello near Vicenza, to deal with the new undertaking. They were received in Korosko by Knoblecher with great kindness. He told them how very satisfied he was to grant them what they asked, but that he wished them to remain for a while in Khartoum, that is, until his return from Gondokoro: after this they would lay the foundations of the Mazza Institute’s Work.
[2085]
When the news that the great caravan had entered the Atmur desert reached Khartoum, Rev. Fr Milharcic went to Berber with the Stella Mattutina and other boats to receive the Missionaries and to transport all the purchases they had made in Egypt.
[2086]
The Cross of Christ is never separate from God’s works. Half an hour away from Berber Milharcic ended his short but industrious career with a holy death. The caravan arrived in Khartoum on 29th December and found Kociiancic dying. He was buried next to Fr Ryllo in the Mission garden. In the first days of the following February, Fr Castagnaro uffered an attack of dysentery. He was a pure and candid soul who had wanted for a long time to sacrifice himself and die for the salvation of souls. When the priest was bringing him the Bread of the Angels during his last moments, he reached the door of the hut and had to stop, because the dying man, mustering the full strength of his spirit, stood up and made a tender address to Jesus Christ with such love and such a longing to die for him that everyone was moved and wept bitterly. He consecrated to him all his desire to save souls, he offered up his whole life and died a victim of his love on 6th February in Khartoum after receiving all the Sacraments of the Church and all the consolations of the dying.
[2087]
After putting Rev. Fr Haller in charge of the school and electing Rev. Fr Gostner Superior of the Station in Khartoum and his Vicar General, the Pro-Vicar left for Gondokoro where he discovered that the Reverend Fathers Doviak and Trabant had passed on to a better life. Dismayed at these terrible blows, the generous soul of Knoblecher did not despair. His spirit which lived only on God, sustained him with faith in the most frightful circumstances; he had put all his trust in God, following the teaching of the Holy Spirit: iacta curam tuam in Domino et ipse te enutriet.
[2088]
A few days after his arrival in the land of the Bari, an incident took place which could have had the most serious consequences for the Mission of Gondokoro, but contrary to its enemies’ expectations turned out to its advantage. The Pro-Vicar, like the Missionaries, did his duty as regards the European Catholics who, forgetting the principles of the Faith and Christian morals, had strayed. Especially when these wretches were ruthless to the poor Africans in a thousand ways, the Missionaries had protected innocence and justice before the Turkish government of Sudan, which learning from the eloquence of the facts and the Missionaries’ conduct, had great esteem for and trust in the Pro-Vicar and the Mission. This is why some of these wretched Europeans were very hostile towards the Missionaries, for their presence was a constant reproof and a reprimand for their conduct. The Africans had clearly distinguished between the Missionaries and the other whites, because they saw that the Mission, instead of killing the poor Africans, stealing their children and babies and their cattle, always dried their tears, cared for their sick and taught them morality, justice and the way to heaven. For this reason they clearly understood during this incident which I am about to relate, that the Mission was very far from what the most subtle evil and treachery wanted to attribute to it. God has always protected justice.
[2089]
Among the 40 boats which plied up and down under different flags on the White Nile to trade in elephant tusks and to exercise the shameful slave trade, there were three boats near Gondokoro that belonged to the Consul of Sardinia in Khartoum, who was called Signor Vauday. Although he had good relations with the Bari, he nonetheless openly declared that he was biding his time to make war on them and that he wanted to give them a thorough lesson, even before his departure. He said that he had everything necessary, weapons, gunpowder and more men than he needed. He told the Pro-Vicar all this the very evening he arrived (4th April 1854). Knoblecher advised him to be careful, but he refused his advice with mocking laughter. On 5th April, towards evening, one of Signor Vauday’s boats dropped anchor between the Stella Mattutina and the Mission garden. It seemed as though he wanted to jeopardise the Mission and let the Africans know that the Mission had a part in the war he wished to make on them.
[2090]
The Consul himself dropped anchor lower down, near Libo. A young Turk, an agent of the Consul, boarded the Mission’s boat and complained sadly about the failures of trading with the Bari. At nightfall, the boat left the bank. At that very moment, two fully loaded rifles fired among the natives. They were unarmed. With them, by chance, were some sailors of the Mission, who had gone there to buy meat. Two African boys fell. Great rifle bullets flew over the deck of the Stella Mattutina. The cook who was close to the stove was wounded in an ear and fell down unconscious. One of the boys was killed and the other lay groaning in a pool of his own blood. Suddenly the Africans ran like streaks of lightning from all directions towards the town, but the boat rowed with all its might towards Libo. It became known later that the Mission was a thorn in the flesh for Vauday and that he had been plotting all his evil undertakings against the Missionaries. The thought behind them was that vengeance would follow such unheard of conduct; the idea being to excite the Africans against the Mission and convince them that it was the Mission which was making war on them. The merchants returning to Khartoum had accused the Pro-Vicar of spoiling all their trade by offering gifts of glass beads to the Africans.
[2091]
Far off in the village, the sound of war drums could be heard. With terrible cries the Africans, brandishing their spears and arrows, came rushing from all directions. Knoblecher’s companions waited impatiently for them to calm down. Dr Knoblecher forbade the sailors of the Mission, who wanted to prepare to resist, from loading their guns and ordered everyone to board the boat. Only if they saw him fall were they to row to the middle of the river and they were to abstain from taking revenge. Luckily for the Missionaries, the consul of Sardinia’s boat with its constant firing had attracted the angered Africans. They followed it so quickly that after a few minutes their movements could no longer be seen, even with the telescope. Only the muted roar of guns could be heard in the distance.
[2092]
Before sunset the noise grew louder and seemed to be leaving the shore. They realised that it was a deadly battle because the Africans were bringing their wounded to the Missionaries, one after another. During the night the firing could be seen from the deck of the boat. Nothing certain could be found out about the wounded; for this reason a servant and a trusted tribesman were sent to the African camps to have news. They let them enter only when they understood that the two belonged to the Mission. In the meantime, one of Signor Vauday’s sailors had swum from the neighbouring islands and begged the pilot of the Stella Mattutina to give him shelter with the Pro-Vicar Apostolic.
[2093]
Shivering with cold and fright this is what he said had happened: “When Vauday heard the shots and at the same time saw crowds of Africans arriving, he did not wait for the arrival of this boat, which was hastening to leave and could easily have anchored in a part of the river out of reach of the arrows, but he took a double-barrelled gun, forced the servants around him to do the same, and ran towards the crowd that was armed with spears and arrows. “Without thinking of retreating, Vauday hastened towards the Africans with his following and although he had better weapons, he and his companions were defeated, because they were outnumbered”. Everything that the Stella Mattutina had was made available to treat the wounded and sick. While they stayed in the Mission house, their relatives flocked there in great numbers and cared for them with tender affection. Since the care and sacrifice of the Missionaries could not escape the native’s eyes, their trust in them increased from day to day, so much so that Knoblecher, with regard to that miserable trader from Sardinia, could adopt the words from Scripture: “You thought to dome harm and God made it into good” (Gn 50:20).
[2094]
The great esteem enjoyed by Knoblecher and the Mission prompted various chiefs in the Equator (especially after the latter occasion when the Missionaries used great charity) to invite the Pro-Vicar to settle near them. For this reason, after having entrusted the Station of Gondokoro to Signor Kohl, the Pro-Vicar decided to explore around the many cataracts south of Garbo, Gumba and Takiman, among those numerous tribes. Kohl felt very happy in this situation to divide his boundless activities between work and the care of the wounded, teaching children and perfecting his knowledge of the Bari language. In a short time he won everyone’s love. But while visiting a poor sick man who lived very far away during the hottest part of the day, he caught a harmful illness which took such a dangerous turn that on Knoblecher’s return he was obliged to administer Extreme Unction to him. For four days he bore the greatest pain with the patience of a martyr. On 12th June he gave up his soul to the Creator.
[2095]
This serious loss added to the Pro-Vicar’s hardships, and he was forced to become even more involved in the instruction of the young people, so as to give holy Baptism to the most advanced of them – as they most ardently requested – before his departure for Khartoum. Among them was old Lutweri too, the former proprietor of the Mission. The old man attended the children’s instruction and prayers every day. He was granted this grace. The Station of Gondokoro was abandoned because Fr Bartolomeo Mozgan had left the Bari some time before to go down the river and he had founded the new Station of the Holy Cross in the tribe of the Kish, between 6° and 7° Latitude North.
[2096]
On 14th June, after handing over the keys of the house to good Lutweri and at the same time making him responsible for the administration until his return, the Pro-Vicar returned to Khartoum where he was received with great ceremony by the Missionaries who had been saddened by the false news they had heard that he had been devoured by Africans some time previously.
[2097]
It was in this period that Dr Knoblecher thought of building a large house with a church for the Mission in Sudan, thus fulfilling the aim of the abundant donations provided by the members of the Committee of Marienverein. After the death of the good Kociiancic, Rev. Fr Gostner, the Vicar General, had been carrying on an intense discussion with its illustrious President about achieving this project, which cost more than 500,000 francs in 1859.
[2098]
In 1854 a new expedition of Missionaries was prepared consisting of:

Rev. Fr.....Matteo Kirchner.......from Bamberg in Bavaria

.“.....”......Antonio Überbacher
.“.....”......Francesco Reiner
...........................................of theDiocese of Brixen (Bressanone), in the Tyrol.

In addition were the lay workers:
Mr.....Leonardo Koch, architect
.“......Andrea Ladner
.“......Antonio Gostner (brother of the Vicar General)
.“......Giovanni Kirchmair
.“......Giuseppe Albinger of Voralberg
..........................................all from the Tyrol.

[2099]
They arrived in Khartoum on 25th October. Since Haller had succumbed to a fever on 10th June 1854, Fr Kirchner undertook to head the Mission school. Fathers Überbacher and Reiner were destined for the Bari. As the latter died shortly before their departure, the Pro-Vicar took with him Signore Daminger, an excellent layman who rendered many services to the Mission.
[2100]
On 11th April 1855 the Stella Mattutina cast anchor half an hour’s journey from Gondokoro. Everyone came and shouted with joy “Our steamer is arriving… the Bari boat is reaching the river”. Afterwards the cry: “Mougha, Mougha” could be heard everywhere. And he dressed himself in his red robe from Alexandria. What sentiments must have flooded the Most Reverend Pro-Vicar Apostolic when far from the banks he already saw the crowd accompanying him with cries of joy! The boys and the children were clapping their hands and everyone was singing: “Our Father is arriving, our Father loves us… he has not forgotten us”. After landing, everyone, young and old, wanted to present themselves personally to the Pro-Vicar, to kiss his hand and to tell him at least briefly of his joy at his safe return.
[2101]
Then Dr Knoblecher heard what false news the merchants’ boats had spread among the Bari: that he had died or was ill, that he had left Khartoum for Europe, that he no longer loved the Bari and no longer wanted to return to them. The greater his surprise, the warmer was everyone’s joy at his unexpected reappearance. The long exchange which Chief Mougha had with the crowd and with many chiefs who surrounded him was most interesting. He told them most enthusiastically of the wonders he had seen with the white men. The crowd pressing round him listened with extraordinary avidity, to hear what he had seen with his own eyes.
[2102]
With fiery eloquence he told them what had most impressed him. He spoke to them of the immense villages (Cairo and Alexandria) whose populations are as numerous as migrating birds in the rainy season; of the houses like mountains which are all made by human hands; of the sea with its vast ships towering as high as the clouds. He spoke to them of the customs and habits of the foreign nations and how there are some very rich and grand gentlemen like the sultans; how there are a great many chiefs and kings and how he saw a very great chief who is the chief of these chiefs and kings (the Viceroy of Egypt)… Full of wonder, the crowd shouted: “hha, hha!” Then he told them of the kind welcome he had received and how deeply the Missionaries were venerated by the chiefs and kings. How they had huge dwellings, eternal and indestructible, which could stand up even to the rain, spears or arrows. Lastly, he observed the good fortune of the children of the Bari who were educated in a great house in Khartoum, and who were growing up and learning like the whites, etc., etc. Nighilo’s address lasted well into the night. All were spellbound. In the morning Rev. Fr Überbacher disembarked from the Stella Mattutina, mounted a mule surrounded by children singing the Laudate Dominum, etc., and the little catechumens accompanied him to the chapel. At midday on 12th April, the Pro-Vicar also arrived with the Stella Mattutina filled with people. Men, women, children, boys, girls, big and small alike had followed the steamer along the banks of the river. The neighbourhood seemed to be reborn to new life.
[2103]
Dr Knoblecher found the land of the Bari in the grip of famine. The rains had destroyed and ruined everything. The poor were glad to come across wild herbs and roots in the fields to satisfy their hunger. The mission did all it could in the circumstances. The Pro-Vicar who had two boats laden with durra (black corn) was a cause of joy to a great many of the poor. As well as what was distributed outside, there were also the poor who ate one meal a day at the Mission. The children would come to the door shouting: “Father, we are hungry”. They would leave joyfully after eating.
[2104]
The Pro-Vicar started to teach the catechumens and the new converts with extraordinary energy. He gave proof of all his knowledge of the country’s language by translating the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed, and the most common Catholic prayers. Überbacher instructed the little ones and the Pro-Vicar the adults. After a few months, Dr Knoblecher was able to baptise a great many of the Bari and give Holy Communion, the Bread of the Angels, to 31 Christians. Among the baptised was the seven-year old child (called Logwit) of the former owner of the Mission’s land, Lutweri. He was given the name of Francesco Saverio and came to the Tyrol eight years later where, after helping the distinguished Prof. Mitterrutzner with the Bari language, he died like an angel in Bressanone. The Pro-Vicar then left for Khartoum after entrusting the Mission to Rev. Fr Überbacher who continued this work, most holy but full of thorns, on his own among the peoples of the Bari tribe, like a true apostle.
[2105]
While Fr Beltrame was staying in Khartoum to help the Mission, he acquired information about the various black tribes so as to reach a decision on the choice of an appropriate place for the work of Fr Nicola Mazza of Verona. He was told a great deal about the tribes of the Barta and the Berta who lived to the west of the Blue Nile between 13° and 10° Latitude North, between the Galla and the Sennar peninsula. He then resolved to talk about it to the Pro-Vicar Apostolic with the idea that these places could be suitable for a safe Mission, since they were located between the White Nile and the Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla. The Pro-Vicar agreed to the request of Fr Beltrame, who made the necessary preparations to explore the African lands situated to the south-west of the Blue Nile.
[2106]
Dr Penay, the head doctor in Sudan, had made this journey and had visited these lands as had many civil and military agents of the Egyptian government, above all to seek the gold dust in which the country abounds. Rusegger, the illustrious German himself, visited this land and made a fairly exact description of the journey and of the points of greatest interest, as can be seen in his magnificent volumes which have been so carefully written. This journey had also been made by one of the bravest and most zealous missionary Bishops of our century: Mgr Guglielmo Massaia, Bishop of Cassia and Vicar Apostolic of the Galla, whose history is too little known in Europe but can truly be compared (as regards his enormous apostolic labours) to the history of the Apostles and Martyrs of the first centuries of the Church.
[2107]
While a terrible persecution in Abyssinia provoked by the heretical Coptic Bishop Abba Selama forced Mgrs. Jacobis and Massaia to leave this land, Mgr Massaia was endeavouring to penetrate his Vicariate from the Gondar side in order to escape the cunning conspiracies of Abba Selama and the heretical patriarch. He conceived the plan of penetrating his mission via Nubia and the Fazogl. Under the name of Khauaïa Gerghes Bartorelli (his mother’s maiden name) he visited all the heretical shrines of the schismatic Copts of Egypt from whom he discovered all the plots being made against him by his persecutors, unknown to them. Since his name was well-known on the White Nile where the Abyssinians traded in wax, coffee and salt, the holy Prelate disguised himself as a poor Arab. Courageously heroic, sometimes as a humble peddler retailing pepper, sugar or medicines, and at others, walking and in just a few days, mingling with beggars, he succeeded in getting into Rossères and Fadassi in his mission by himself, eight months after having had a long discussion on the Blue Nile with Abuna Daoud (who subsequently became patriarch of the heretical Copts), who had just been preaching against the Vicars Apostolic of Abyssinia and Galla in Abyssinia. Nonetheless this worthy Prelate did not find this way of entering Galla suitable, because it was fraught with difficulties and dangers.
[2108]
Fr Beltrame, accompanied by Signor Francesco Mustafa, a convert from Islam baptised in Milan, left Khartoum on one of Dr Penay’s boats on 4th December 1854. ViaWas-Medineh, Sennar, Rossères and Fazogl, skirting the eastern edge of the tribes of the Barta and the Berta, he reached Benikangol among the Changallas tribes, near Fadassi, west of the Blue Nile. But since communications between these lands and Khartoum were too difficult, he did not consider it prudent to found there the first house of a work such as Fr Nicola Mazza’s was to become. This is why Fr Beltrame returned to Khartoum, planning to search for another spot on the White Nile. It was then that the Pro-Vicar expressed his desire to grant the Verona Institute a location among the Dinka tribes. But this enterprise needed Missionaries, so Beltrame returned to Verona to fetch new messengers of the Faith, after drafting the content of the following document in agreement with the Pro-Vicar Apostolic:



Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa
N. 10
[2109]
Charged by the Vicar of Christ to evangelise the infidel peoples of Central Africa and therefore, in so far as it depends on us, wishing to spread our Holy Religion as quickly as possible, we have supreme pleasure in granting the Very Reverend Signor Fr Nicola Mazza, founder of a Charitable Institute in Verona and represented by the Reverend Signor Fr Giovanni Beltrame, a member of this same Congregation, and sent to negotiate, permission to do the following:
1. To open an Institute in our Mission for the Christian education of poor infidels of that pagan tribe in whatever location the Priest-explorers, invited to do so by the Superior of the said Institute of Verona, prefer to choose;

[2110]
2. Since this new Institute, in accordance with the express desire of the founder, has to be maintained with the means common to both Institutes, that is, the one which already exists in Verona and the one to be opened in Our Vicariate, we grant the Priests of the above-mentioned Congregation the administrative direction of the said Institute;
3.Moreover, we reserve the rights, as is our duty, which the Sacred Canons guarantee to Apostolic Vicars in their Missions;

[2111]
4. Subsequently, to facilitate the necessary communications both with the Superior of the Vicariate and with Europe and to seek in a desirable way the best possible good of the Missionaries, it is our wish that from the beginning a Priest should reside in the main Station of Khartoum where, living in the Mission house, as well as being Procurator of his own Mission, he should find effective and sufficient occupations, in accordance with the orders of the Vicar or the Superior of the Mission. We shall therefore submit what has been set forth so far to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide for confirmation. Trusting in this, we issue this document bearing our signature and the seal of this Vicariate Apostolic.
From our current residence in Khartoum,
3 August 1855
(L.S.)
Signed: Dr Ignazio Knoblecher
Pro-Vicar Apostolic



[2112]
While the Pro-Vicar Apostolic was on the White Nile, a large caravan of Missionaries was travelling in the Mediterranean on a Lloyd steamer bound for Egypt. There were 4 priests, 1 teacher and 9 craftsmen all from the Tyrol: they were filled with the desire to sacrifice themselves for the good Lord and the salvation of the Africans in Central Africa.
Here are the Missionaries’ names:
1. Rev. Fr Giuseppe Staller,
2. Rev. Fr. Michele Wurnitsch,
3.Rev. Fr.Francesco Morlang
............................................Diocese of Bressanone
4. Rev. Fr.Luigi Pircher ............of Liefers near Bolzano, Diocese of Trent

[2113]
Unfortunately one of them, Rev. Fr Staller, was obliged to return to Europe on medical advice because of a serious illness. Another, Rev. Fr Wurnitsch died a few hours after leaving Korosko. The others arrived safely in Khartoum. Morlang was sent to the Bari, Rev. Fr Luigi Pircher to the Kish, to the Station of the Holy Cross. He was a pure soul, a true imitator of St Aloysius Gonzaga. He died too soon, a few days after reaching his destination in 1856. The other craftsmen were destined for the Station of Khartoum. There were true Christians among them who rendered great services to the Mission by their good example and tireless activity in building the house for love of the good Lord. We shall only mention the following:
Signor Antonio Vallatscher (weaver, cobbler, solderer)
Signor Gottlieb Kleinheinz (waiter and cook)
Signor Giovanni Juen (mason and stone-cutter)
Signor Giovanni Fuchs (cobbler, etc.)

[2114]
The most outstanding among them was the teacher, J.Dorer, of whom the Vicar General, Fr Gostner, wrote from Khartoum after his death: “For our boys Dorer was a prudent father, a tender mother, a wise teacher; in a word, he was ‘all in all’. His moral character can be expressed in this phrase: a ‘human angel’”. In 1856, the Pro-Vicar Apostolic also visited the institutes of the Holy Cross and of the Bari. He arrived at Gondokoro on 1st June on the Stella Mattutina. He was greeted by the students with pious songs in the Bari language, which have become popular with the whole tribe. There he found Fr Überbacher who had worked with admirable dedication and results, and who was glad to be receiving a new companion, Signor Morlang.
[2115]
At almost the same time, Rev. Fr Gostner, Vicar General, had accompanied eight of the best and most intelligent students from the school in Khartoum who were to be taken to Europe to be given a better education. On their arrival in Alexandria on 1st September, they met Prof. Mitterrutzner who was bringing a new caravan of Missionaries from Germany. On the 4th of that same month, Dr Mitterrutzner, who refrained from visiting the monuments and the classical sites of Egypt with admirable self-denial, returned to Europe with the above-mentioned students from Khartoum, including two good ones, Alessandro Dumont and Frederic Charris who were housed in the College of Propaganda in Rome; another two were taken in by that tireless and devout friend of the Mission, Luca Jeram of Laybach (who twice tried to return to Khartoum, but because of terrible illnesses the first time he returned from Cairo and the second, from Aswan), and four went to Verona, to the Mazza Institute. These are the names of the Missionaries who arrived:
Rev. Fr ..Antonio Kaufmann
"......." ..Giuseppe Lanz;
......................................both from the Tyrol
"......." ..Lorenzo Gerble,....from Wasserberg in Bavaria.

[2116]
There were also four lay craftsmen of whom three were Tyrolean. They found the Vicar General an efficient leader, and under his direction in mid-October they arrived in Korosko where they encountered an unexpected hitch. His Royal Highness Saïd Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, was travelling in Sudan and for many months all the camels were hired for him and his numerous retinue for the journey across the desert. Gostner was able to leave Korosko only on 7th January 1857, and he arrived in Khartoum in the middle of March.
Fr Kaufmann and Fr Lanz were given their destination: the former was to go to Gondokoro, and the latter to Holy Cross. The pious and zealous young Missionary, Signor Gerbl, stayed in Khartoum. He came from a very rich family, and when he was still a young man he was the first in Germany to set up of the Association of young students which is still widespread and in the places where it was founded he did great good, especially by protecting the university students from the poison of rationalism and by making them practise the maxims of our holy religion.

[2117]
When he was 24, Fr Gerbl arrived in Khartoum where he always enjoyed very good health. On 11th June 1857 he celebrated Mass in the Mission church, visited the sick and lunched at midday. During Ars (at 3 in the afternoon) he was stricken with a sudden attack of a very high fever while he was strolling in the garden in Khartoum with Francesco Mustafa. They were discussing the ways to teach young Africans. By that very evening, pious Gerbl was already buried. Dr Knoblecher himself took Kaufmann and Lanz to their destination on the Stella Mattutina. It was in this period that Fr Nicola Mazza’s expedition was being prepared in Verona. After Fr Beltrame’s return to Verona, this venerable Founder had prepared five priests and an excell1ent and devout layman for his undertaking: these are their names:
[2118]
Fr Giovanni Beltrame, 35 years old, from Valeggio

Fr Francesco Oliboni, a teacher, 34 years old, from S. Pietro Incariano

Fr Alessandro Dalbosco, 27 years old, from Breonio
.........................................................................all in the Diocese of Verona

Fr Angelo Melotto, 29 years old, from Lonigo in the Diocese of Vicenza

Fr Daniel Comboni, 26 years old from Limone, Diocese of Brescia

Signor Isidoro Zilli, 37 years old from Trieste, smith and mechanic

They had all long been looking forward to the happy occasion of leaving their country to go to Central Africa and die for Jesus Christ. But there was one terrible obstacle: the lack of money. Dr Mitterrutzner, passing through Verona on his way to Egypt, only stopped for a few moments at the Institute on 23rd August 1856. Returning from Alexandria on 12th September with the four pupils we have mentioned from the school in Khartoum, he stayed for a few days. Staying and living with the 34 priests of whom the Institute consisted at that time, he realised that many of them were constantly asking him about the Mission and that they were burning with the desire to go there.

[2119]
He tested the ground and did not understand why they did not leave for Africa since they were so keen to go, no less than their zealous Founder. On the evening of 14th September, he took Fr Beltrame aside to question him on this issue. Beltrame revealed that he was content with everything and declared that the day when they had the means, they would all set out. Keeping his own counsel, Mitterrutzner returned to the Tyrol with the firm resolution to turn to the lofty Committee of Marienverein in Vienna, to persuade it to make the necessary funds available to Fr Nicola Mazza to found his Work in Central Africa. After many obstacles, both on the Committee’s part in order to grant them, and on Fr Nicola Mazza’s to accept them, the matter was at last concluded with Mitterruzner’s mediation in about the middle of July 1857. The Society of Vienna granted the financial means to the Mazza Institute to make a foundation in Central Africa, and Fr Nicola Mazza immediately prepared for the expedition.
[2120]
On 3rd September their Imperial Highnesses Ferdinando Maximilian and his new wife, the Archduchess Charlotte, daughter of the King of Belgium, who were later to inherit the imperial throne of Mexico, honoured us with a visit and conversed with us for an hour and a half, promising to come to Khartoum within six years (this is what the Archduke stated to me). On 5th September the caravan left for Trieste where it was further increased by four pious craftsmen and on 15th September, aboard the steamer the Bombay, we arrived in Alexandria. Three of us, that is, Melotto, Dalbosco and I, visited Jerusalem and the Holy Places; in November we left Cairo, and headed for Central Africa via Upper Egypt and the desert. Dr Knoblecher received the new Missionaries from Verona with great fatherliness and all the joy of his heart. He ordered them to take up residence in the Station of the Holy Cross with the Kich, and from there gradually to explore the various African tribes and choose the place for the first house of their holy undertaking.
As my intention is to write a separate report on the perilous journeys and troubles of our apostolate in Central Africa, for the time being I shall stick to my idea of writing a simple, abbreviated history of the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa. This is why I hasten towards the purpose of this brief account.

[2121]
Since the Pro-Vicar Apostolic had noticed less deaths in the three stations in 1857 than in the previous years, and encouraged by the new expedition from Verona which reinforced the Mission, he decided to make a journey to Europe to tell Propaganda in Rome about the Vicariate, make some provisions for the future and, above all, recover his health which had been considerably undermined by the dangerous, constant journeys and spiritual and physical effort, and especially by the serious illnesses he had had. This is why he made Rev. Fr Matteo Kirchner responsible for visiting the White Nile Stations and for accompanying the Missionaries from the Mazza Institute to their destination.
[2122]
After leaving our beloved confrere Fr Dalbosco as procurator in Khartoum, with the blessing of the Vicar General, Gostner, we left that city aboard the Stella Mattutina on the White Nile. Favoured by a north wind, this famous river boat proceeded with the speed of a steamer against the current of the mysterious river. We passed the enormous lands of the Hassanieh, the Baqquarah, the Abourof, the Shilluk, the Dinka, the Jange and other tribes. A day never passed without us seeing with our own eyes the deplorable and unhappy state of the poor Africans which I cannot now describe. A night never passed without hearing lions and seeing great herds of elephants, hippopotamuses, groups of tigers, leopards and other savage beasts.
[2123]
After putting up with many hardships and illnesses, we arrived at the Station of the Holy Cross on 14th February. The pious and able Giuseppe Lanz, aided by two laymen, Glasnik and Albinger, was the only Missionary who had survived. Afew days before, Mozgan had breathed his last, exhausted by his efforts and stricken with a pernicious fever. While the Stella Mattutina was bringing Kirchner to the land of the Bari, we all (the superior Fr Beltrame, Oliboni, Melotto, Comboni, Zilli) settled in a little hut, which until that time had been used as a stable for cows; it was about three metres high and had a diameter of four metres. Our beds consisted of little boards, covered by the blankets we had brought from Cairo, except for Fr Oliboni who slept propped up on a small trunk. There was nothing in that country.
[2124]
First of all we set ourselves to learn its language, that is, Dinka, which according to what we could ascertain is the most widespread among the tribes of the White Nile River and the bordering regions. The first to have studied this tongue was Dr Knoblecher, but until this time he had only written about 600 words with which to understand and express the most necessary things. It was Mozgan after him who had busied himself with this important language. However he had only bequeathed to Lanz the legacy of a few dialogues and a small collection of 600 words which, on our arrival among the Kich, were the absolute minimum for us to make our most urgent needs known to the natives. We succeeded by applying ourselves constantly and assiduously to studying this tongue. First of all we took the Italian dictionary and transcribed 5,000 of the commonest and most useful words for our ministry. Then, with the help of the students of the Mission, and especially of little Antonio Kachonal and little Caterina Zenab who was from the Dinka and very fluent in Arabic which we knew, we (Lanz, Beltrame, Melotto and I) succeeded in compiling an Italian-Dinka dictionary of 3,000 words, a small grammar of the most common dialogues, and a voluminous catechism containing matters of dogma and Catholic morals sufficient to carry out our apostolic ministry with our dear indigenous peoples.
[2125]
We had made some enquiries in the countries where Dinka was spoken, where we observed the customs, habits, beliefs, errors and superstitions of the natives. Just to say a word about this (since it will be the topic of a treatise) I could say that the Africans in this neighbourhood are generally completely pagan and fetishist. They believe in a Supreme Being that they call Dendid, which means great understander; but speaking of the Creation they say that they were created just like the elephants, the cows, the moon, etc. Some tribes believe that white people were fashioned out of water and blacks out of coal and they say it is this which explains why they are black. Others say that the whites talk to Dendid but that the blacks do not speak to him. We can guarantee that the religion of Jesus Christ has never penetrated these tribes, because we never found the slightest tradition in them of the New Testament truths. On the other hand, they preserve many of the Old Testament traditions, such as sacrifices, the law of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, angels and demons.
[2126]
They call the angel Acïek and the devil Acïok. Considering these words which have the same consonants and only one different vowel in the second syllable, we consequently realised that like us, the Dinka believe that the angel and the devil have the same nature. They are always offering sacrifices and have some very interesting ceremonies for these sacrifices. But they never make sacrifices to God, nor do they attribute any honour to him since he does not need men’s prayers in order to do good. He always does it on his own. On the contrary, they always offer sacrifices to the devil (Acïok) to placate him and make him benign, and to prevent him from doing people harm. We witnessed countless sacrifices. This is one of them: between October and November 1859 a comet could be seen in Central Africa as in Europe. Since they believed that the comet was sent into the sky by the devil, the chiefs and the tyets (magic men and witch doctors) gathered and discussed what should be done in this unfortunate circumstance. They decreed that eight oxen should be sacrificed to the devil. In fact they solemnly killed the eight oxen, and after many ceremonies and much chanting, offered these victims to Acïok.
[2127]
But the comet appeared ever more terrible. Then they decided at a meeting to burn a great quantity of fields and pasture land. We clearly observed this one night when the light could be seen as bright as day, and asked the natives the reason: “It is to burn the comet” they replied. “And why do you want to burn it?” we continued. They answered: “Because the comet is an omen of bad luck and disasters”. But this time too, they did not succeed in burning the comet, so one day we saw a crowd neatly ranked on a plain and armed with spears and poisoned arrows which they were aiming at the comet. In the evening I asked a chief why they were shooting these arrows. “To kill the comet”, he answered me. When after following its course the comet disappeared, there were great festivities among the natives, singing and dancing and showing their gratitude; they ended by saying that Acïok (the devil) was placated and appeased.
[2128]
The man who sacrifices, that is, their priest, is a person highly esteemed among the Africans. He is called tyet, which means witch doctor, and combines the functions of priest, doctor and wise man. When someone falls ill and he is called in, he must be the first to declare whether the sick person will recover or die. If his sentence is recovery, all kinds of treatments are lavished on the patient and he often recovers. If, on the contrary, he declares the sick person will die, then he is immediately abandoned so that if he does not die from the gravity of the disease, he is bound to die from being neglected by all. Although the White Nile Africans have made less progress than our forefathers at the time of Adam and Eve, nevertheless in the lands where no Muslims or Europeans have penetrated their customs are simple and pure. Depression is completely unknown to them. These lands will shortly be converted to Catholicism if our ministry can continue.
[2129]
These tribes are also populated by immense herds of elephants. Not a night passes without the frightful sound of lions roaring: panthers, leopards and especially hyenas are almost as common as dogs in Europe. There are many different varieties of the largest snakes, a well as crocodiles, hippopotamuses, scorpions far bigger than ours, etc. As can be seen, all these circumstances add to the dangers of the Missionaries’ life. In spite of all, we were happy to be able to make known to these people the maxims and the faith of the Gospel. Tree stumps served as pulpits for our preaching and they were constantly surrounded by chiefs and naked Africans, always armed with lances and poisoned arrows. They listened to the Word of God with an extraordinary avidity and a most promising application. Our church, where we offered the Blessed Sacrifice, consisted sometimes of a small tent, sometimes of a little hut five feet high, and sometimes it was at the foot of a big tree. In the lands of the Ghog, we set up a Cross thirty feet high.
[2130]
It was the first time the Gospel had been preached in those lands. We told the natives that the Cross was the sign of our salvation and that they should always go there in times of need. They did this for a long time and perhaps they still continue, even today. However, since we are certain that our ministry will continue because of the death of so many Missionaries, we did not think it prudent to give Baptism to those who asked for it, after receiving the appropriate instruction. In the age when Missionaries, both European and indigenous, will be able to live permanently among the Africans, then the tribes of Central Africa will join the flock of Jesus Christ.
[2131]
We also built a church in the tribe of the Kich. It cost the tireless Lanz and all the Missionaries a great effort. Since there were no stones in that land, we used the wood of ebony trees of which there are immense forests. We erected ebony pillars and with bricks of mud and shells from the river, we built the house of God with our own hands, twelve metres wide and 22 metres long, and solidly covered with the straw used to roof the peoples’ huts. The church which was a marvellous success with the Africans, had two altars where the Divine Sacrifice and ceremonies for the annual feast days were celebrated with a joy that was no less than the jubilation of Catholic piety felt in Europe’s magnificent cathedrals. African chiefs arrived from afar and remained in it with edifying respect.
[2132]
But what harsh trials Providence was preparing for the poor Missionaries in Central Africa! Rev. Fr Kirchner, on his arrival with us at Holy Cross found, as we said, Bartolomeo Mozgan, director of that Station, dead. When he reached the Bari, he also found that Überbacher, the director of Gondokoro, had died. After naming Morlang Superior of this Station, he returned to the Station of the Holy Cross, where he found in addition that our confrere Fr Francesco Oliboni had passed away. This venerable Missionary, who for ten years had been professor at the Imperial College in Verona, was a man of eminent piety and wisdom.
[2133]
Briefly, he crossed the desert in 26 days and during this time, in the terrible heat he endured a very rigorous fast and abstinence, since he never ate nor drank more than once a day at sunset. Then to prepare for the feast of Christmas in the desert, he neither ate nor drank from midday on 23rd December to 10.00 o’clock on the 25th, that is 45 hours of continuous fasting after spending 18 days on a camel. In addition to his personal prayers to which he dedicated many hours of the day, he recited between 50 and 60 Psalms of David every night with a meditation on them, and during his stay among the Kich, he never lay down but slept sitting on a bench or a chair, leaning his arm on a box. He took to his bed only on 19th March and died on the 26th of the same month. I had bled him three times; he was better on 24th, but succumbed to a terrible fever. During his last moments he gave us a tender recommendation and encouraged us to be steadfast unto death to the conversion of the poor Africans. He gave up his spirit to God, filled with faith and embracing the Crucifix. When Kirchner arrived in Khartoum he found Fr Alessandro Dalbosco as head of the Station, because of the death of the Most Reverend Vicar General, Gostner. The Vicariate of Central Africa had lost a great champion in this worthy Missionary.
[2134]
Stricken by these drastic losses, Rev. Kirchner hastened to inform the Pro-Vicar Apostolic who had gone to Europe when a week later the news reached Khartoum that Dr Knoblecher had died in Naples. In fact, when the Pro-Vicar left the Mission in October 1857 to go to Europe, he fell ill on the Nile and already in Cairo he had found the temperature very cold, which had a bad effect on his illness and forced him to keep to his room in the convent of the Most Reverend Franciscan Fathers. In Alexandria, he became even worse. In the hope of finding amore reliable means of recovering in southern Italy, on 5th January he sailed on a steamer bound directly for Naples. The Austrian ambassador to the King of the Two Sicilies, Chevalier de Martini, visited him in the hotel where he had developed a bad cough and was being looked after by Dr Zimmerman. Through the mediation of the Apostolic Nuncio, Mgr Ferrari, the Pro-Vicar was kindly welcomed by the Augustinian Fathers, who took great care of him.
[2135]
He made a true friend in the Most Reverend Fr A. Eichholzer, the Queen’s confessor. By his good offices, Signor Lucarelli, a famous doctor, began his treatment with great care. But the illness continued to worsen with a violent cough, a continuous fever and bad chest pains. He was very soon confined to bed; he frequently brought up blood, and received the Sacraments of the dying. Nonetheless, the diligent, assiduous and intelligent treatment of the doctors brought him to the point of convalescence with hopes of a recovery. Since Pope Pius IX had granted a Jubilee, the Pro-Vicar wanted to gain all the indulgences which came with it. For this reason he begged his confessor, who was Fr Lodovico, Rector of the friary, to allow him a ten-day retreat which was a great consolation to him.
[2136]
“Often when I visited him”, the latter wrote to Germany, “he wanted me to speak only about divine topics. He frequently made his confession and often received Communion. To be unable to offer the Holy Sacrifice of Mass was his only disappointment”. Perhaps because of his application to the exercises of the retreat, he relapsed into a mortal illness. God called this great Servant to Him to give him a worthy reward for his great merits. Forty hours before he died, alone in the room, he wanted to follow the examples of the greatest saints and lie on the ground, waiting for his end in this position. The sound disturbed the religious who ran to him, put him back in bed and ordered him to submit to God’s will and stay in bed. The night before his death he had Fr Prior called. In indescribable pain, he had him hunt in his trunk for the candle he had received in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and light it. He had kept it since 1847 and begged the Prior to receive his last act of the consecration of his life to God. He himself took the Crucifix in his hands and speaking aloud made the sacrifice of his life to God his Creator in expiation for his sins. He pronounced the words so fervently that the Prior and all the Fathers could not control their tears.
[2137]
On 13th April 1858, towards midday, the Pro-Vicar Knoblecher died at the age of 38 years, 9 months and 7 days (he was born on 6th June 1819). His body was laid out in the Augustinians’ church. The High Committee of Vienna held a funeral service in Vienna and the Apostolic Nuncio, Mgr de Luca, was the chief celebrant. His body was then taken to Laybach where an imposing monument was erected to him. He left many writings to enrich the geography, botany, natural history and philology of the languages of the White Nile. Losing Knoblecher, the Missions lost a great champion and the Catholic Church one of her worthiest sons and apostles.
[2138]
When the Pro-Vicar Knoblecher started on his journey to Europe in 1857, the Mission Stations were flourishing. Schools had been founded in Khartoum, in Holy Cross and in Gondokoro and there were very capable apostles there who worked with great zeal and spared no pains for love of God and the poor Africans. The Missionaries were scattered along the eastern front of Central Africa between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator. However the following year, as we have said, the Mission received the hardest of blows in all its three Stations, but especially in Khartoum, where the Vicar General Gostner had acted with such dynamism and apostolic zeal on the death of the Pro-Vicar and in Europe people were consoled, thinking that Gostner would be able to keep up the Work. Propaganda had been busy electing Gostner as head of this great Mission, but the news did not reach him because three days after Knoblecher’s death, a violent fever carried him off in Khartoum on 16th April 1858; he was 36 years old.
[2139]
When Cardinal Barnabò, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, heard of these losses and especially of the death of Gostner, he spoke categorically: “After so many losses, after such sacrifices, this Mission must be closed”. The distinguished Professor Mitterrutzner, to whom the Cardinal addressed these words on 6th September 1858, permitted himself to point out and observe to His Eminence that the losses were great as were the sacrifices, but that there were many valid men in the Mission able to continue the Work begun, and that it would also be possible to find them in the future. Certainly there had been great sacrifices, but the successes were not to be scorned: there were three flourishing schools in this Mission, and the students at the College of Propaganda, Andrea Scharrif and Alessandro Dumont, were good proof of this. A message written by His Eminence had highly praised the talent, piety and judgement of these students. These representations were the reason why the matter ended with the Mission being allowed to remain and with the search for a new Pro-Vicar.
[2140]
Both Propaganda in Rome and the Committee of Vienna chose the venerable Missionary Matteo Kirchner. He was in Khartoum when the letter arrived notifying him of his appointment as head of the Vicariate. A man of deep humility, he was horrified by the enormous difficulties of the holy enterprise. He resolved to accept the direction of the Mission only after explaining to Propaganda all the obstacles to fulfilling his duty properly that he could see, so that everything could be decided in the best interests of the Mission. He left for Europe after entrusting the Station of Khartoum to the direction of the devout Fr Alessandro Dalbosco whom he also named his procurator for the missions on the White Nile.
When he arrived in Rome, after a lengthy resistance, he accepted the demanding office of Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa. On the advice of Propaganda, with a view to providing protection for the Missionaries, he drafted the plan of founding a Station in a part of the Vicariate where the air was good and the climate reasonably tolerable for Europeans.

[2141]
All the Missionaries were to gather in this Station to recover their health and to rest from the enormous strain of their apostolate. The Catholic Stations of Holy Cross and Gondokoro were to be entrusted, during the Missionaries’ absence, to the custody of a reliable and faithful local inhabitant, and only once a year, during the season of the North wind in November, some Missionaries were to leave the planned Station to visit the Catholic Stations of Khartoum and the White Nile, to see to matters there. Propaganda assumed the responsibility of supplying the necessary money to found this Station. It was to be based in the village of Shellal, located opposite the Island of File, about 100 kilometres from Khartoum and about 20 from Aswan, on the borders of the Egyptian and Nubian territories, above the first cataract, 24°11’34" Latitude North, and 30°16’ Longitude East, from Paris.
On his return to Central Africa, the new Pro-Vicar took with him three Fathers of theOrder of St Francis ofAssisi: Fr Giovanni Ducla Reinthaller from Graz, and two Italians of the Province of Naples, one of whom died in Cairo. Rev. Fr Luigi Vichweider, born in Virgl near Bolzano in the Tyrol, in the Diocese of Trent, left Europe in June 1858; he was already settled inGondokoro on 25th January 1859.

[2142]
While Fr Nicola Mazza’s Missionaries were hard at work in the Vicariate of Central Africa both in Khartoum, where Fr A. Dalbosco was managing the Station and carrying out the functions of procurator general of the Vicariate, and in Holy Cross where Fathers Beltrame, Melotto and Comboni, after learning the Dinka language, were busy teaching the Kich and were carefully visiting the bordering countries where Dinka was spoken, His Eminence Cardinal Barnabò expressed to the founder Fr Nicola Mazza his wish to give his Missionary priests the Station of Holy Cross. He thereby made the pious and able Giuseppe Lanz available to the Pro-Vicar Apostolic for the other Stations, thus all the others would later be destined for this Station. This is what Fr Nicola Mazza wrote from Verona on 8th March 1859:
[2143]
“My dear sons, His Eminence Cardinal Barnabò, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda in Rome has written to me that he would like to give the Station of Holy Cross to my Missionaries, and even put it in my hands; and that I should make every possible effort to educate the greatest possible number of African children of both sexes and train them as teachers in my African Institutes in Verona, so as to be able to found two colleges with them in the main Station at Khartoum, one male and the other female. I replied to his letter that I very willingly accepted the Station of Holy Cross and that I would do all I could to provide African teachers and educators for the two colleges in Khartoum.
[2144]
It seems that these thoughts were inspired by God: in this way the Station of Holy Cross will be our basic Station and as it were the capital of the area from which it will be possible gradually to introduce ourselves into the Dinka tribe. The two colleges founded in Khartoum by our teachers trained by us will cause us no harm, because finding our pupils at these colleges, it is certain they will be very fond of the Mission of the Dinka and will do the most spiritual and temporal good that they can. It will be a great joy tome and to you, my dear sons, to be able to act with the full approval of Rome which is our only and dearest Mother. It seems further that by supplying the two colleges in Khartoum with teachers of both sexes and by educating African boys and girls, the Station of Holy Cross and the Dinka Mission will not lack benefits, because I am certain that things will be justly shared, especially the male and female teachers from Holy Cross and the Dinka, and they will be assigned to these Missions”.
[2145]
We were completely unaware of this arrangement between Propaganda and our Superior General. This is why, continuing to follow the instructions we had received earlier, we devoted ourselves to preaching the Gospel and visiting the villages where the Dinka language was spoken. In fact, we noticed that this language was very widespread in Central Africa because it was spoken in the following districts:
To the right of the White Nile:
1. The Dinka tribes between 9° and 12° Latitude North, to the North of the River Sobat
2. The tribe of the Bors, between 6° and 7° Latitude North
3. The tribe of the Tuit North of the Bor
4. The tribe of the Donghiol
5. The tribe of the Agnarkuei
6. The tribe of the Abuiò
7. The tribe of the Agher
8. The tribe of the Abialagn
To the left of the White Nile
9. The tribe of the Eliab below 6° Latitude North
10. The tribe of the Kich between 6° and 1’8° Latitude North
11. The tribe of the Atuot, South-West of the Kish
12. The tribe of the Gogh, North-West of the Atuot
13. The tribe of the Arols, North of the Ghogh
14. The tribe of the Janghe who live on the left bank of the Shilluk and extend far into the interior

[2146]
15. The great tribe of the Nuer to the North of the Kich stretches a long way down the two banks of the White Nile and speaks a language of its own, but it also knows and speaks Dinka.
16. The powerful and terrible tribe of the Shilluk between 9° and 12° Latitude North speaks its own language, but also knows and uses Dinka.
17. The tribes located in the interior of the Sennar peninsula on the parallel of Mount Berta speak Dinka:
a) the tribe of the Ghiel
b) the tribe of the Yom
c) the tribe of the Beer
18. Many other tribes located in the upper region of the River Sobat and of Bahr-el-Ghazal also speak Dinka. They assured me that this language was also spoken by other tribes in the interior towards Lake Chad and the vast empire of Bornù, but I am completely ignorant of their names.
The most positive thing was that the unflagging Fr Beltrame, after his return to Europe, studied a great deal and thoroughly corrected the grammar and the dictionary.
But it is the distinguished Mitterrutzner who is rendering an immense service to the Missions in Central Africa. This famous polyglot, with his great philological knowledge, with the writings of the Missionaries and the help of two Dinka and Bari girls, published two very important works on these two languages, the most essential for the Mission in Central Africa:
Die Dinka-Sprache in Central-Afrika von J.C. Mitterrutzner; Brixen, 1866
and:
Die Sprache der Bari in Central-Afrika Grammatik, Text und Wörterbuch von J.C. Mitterrutzner, Brixen, 1867.

[2147]
After our long and interesting investigations and after huge efforts and painful illnesses, we hastened to return to Khartoum. When we arrived off Denab, which with Koski we judged to be the capital of the Shilluk, it was announced to us that the king had been strangled by chiefs who were relations of his, because among the Shilluk it was considered cowardly and shameful to die a natural death. He was still locked up in his hut and was not yet buried, after two months, because his successor, who should have been the son of his brother, called Gheu, had not yet been elected. The election depended on the people, and only after his successor had been installed would the deceased king be buried. It was confirmed to us that the king receives as taxes and tribute a third part of all objects stolen from foreigners by the theft and robbery of his subjects. As a result, it must be said that among the Shilluk brigandage and petty theft are favoured and encouraged by the king. This is the only black tribe to have this law.
[2148]
It seems to me that the reason for this is because the Shilluk are the tribe most exposed to the barbarous incursions of the Nubians who live on their frontiers. The Nubians and the Dongolese attack the Shilluk above all to seize black boys and girls for the infamous slave trade. The horrible violence of the Nubian jallabas have so irritated the Shilluk that they themselves have become cruel to foreigners.
After many hardships we arrived in Khartoum, where our dear companion, Fr Angelo Melotto, who had been the angel of advice and prudence of our little society, expired in our arms on 26th May 1859 at the age of 31, worn out by fevers and his labours.

[2149]
The Pro-Vicar Apostolic, Fr Matteo Kirchner, reached Khartoum determined to carry out the new orders concerning the deployment of the future activity of the Missionaries, about which he was in agreement with Propaganda. While he went to Egypt to beg His Highness the Viceroy for land in Shellal on which to build the new Station, Fr Beltrame was made responsible by the Pro-Vicar for going up the White Nile to recall the Missionaries, to fetch the prudently chosen African students, and to remove from the Stations all the objects deemed useful in order to transport them to the new house.
[2150]
On 1st December, Fr Beltrame left with the Stella Mattutina and three boats from Khartoum. When he arrived at Holy Cross he made Kaufman responsible for preparing all the items to be taken to Shellal, while he and Fr Giuseppe Lanz went to the Bari. In Gondokoro they found that the pious and zealous Fr Vichweider, after two months of intermittent fevers that had become pernicious, had died on 3rd August 1859. In a few days the three boats were loaded with items from the Mission and after putting the house in the hands of one of the most faithful chiefs called Medik, the Missionaries returned to Holy Cross where everything was ready for embarkation. When the Kich realised that the Missionaries were leaving there was general sorrow on the part of all. They said: “if you leave us, who will defend us from the Dongolese soldiers when they come to kill us and steal our children and our cattle? You have been our fathers until now, you have educated our children and have taught us the way to heaven, you have comforted our poor and cared for our sick. Who will come to console us and help us recover?” Although the Kich are suspicious by nature, they had nevertheless made a clear distinction between the Missionaries who had come among them to do them good, and the Turks and traders who went to their homes to steal their cattle and their ivory, to tear their women and children from them and to kill them. They were only appeased after we promised that the Missionaries would return the following year. The four boats arrived with the four Missionaries in Khartoum, and a little later, Fr Giuseppe Lanz, after four years of hard-working apostolate gave up his soul to the Creator.
[2151]
In the meantime, the Pro-Vicar Apostolic had gone to Cairo. He had obtained from His Highness Saïd Pasha a fine piece of land in Shellal, and had begun the building which was soon completed. The Missionaries from the White Nile and from Khartoum had already settled in it and the Stella Mattutina, guided through the cataracts, after a thousand obstacles, cast anchor in Cairo where the Viceroy of Egypt gave them a magnificent sum of many thousands of scudi to furnish the house, which was done in April 1861.
[2152]
The Pro-Vicar, overwhelmed by the new losses of Missionaries, concerned about the Mission’s future and ardently zealous for the salvation of the indigenous, resolved to carry out an idea he had conceived a short time before of entrusting the Mission to a very large religious Order which could undertake to bring good results to this Mission, which was so important and so difficult. Through the good offices of His Eminence Cardinal Barnabò he addressed Rev. Fr Bernardino of Montefranco, the General of the Franciscans, a man of eminent wisdom and charity who had been Custodian of the Holy Land from 1850 to 1856. The Father General was well disposed to join in this great undertaking, worthy of his glorious Order which has given the Church thousands of apostles and martyrs. When he had seen the preparations and hopes of the works for Africans founded in Naples by that marvel of charity which was the Rev. Fr Lodovico da Casoria, he received Kirchner’s request with pleasure.
[2153]
In accordance with the wishes of the High Committee in Vienna, which had expressed to the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda the desire that Germans be preferred for the reason that the donations to the Mission came from Austria, he wrote a circular letter from Rome, dated 1st June 1861, addressed to all the Franciscan Provinces in Germany, in order to gather a decent number of Missionaries belonging to his Order aiming to send them to Central Africa. The circular letter follows (translated from Latin):
Fra Bernardino da Montefranco
Of the Regular Observance S.P.N. Francis, etc., etc.,
Minister General of the Order of Minors, etc., etc.

[2154]
To the Superiors and subjects, priests religious of our Germanic Provinces and greatly cherished by us, good health and the seraphic blessing of the Lord. Since our Seraphic Order was founded by the supreme zeal of the illustrious Founder, the Holy Father St Francis, not only to rescue people from the mud of sin and vice for the grace of salvation, but indeed and even more for the conversion of peoples who are still lying in the darkness of mortal error, therefore, emulating our Holy Father’s zeal, and that of the holy successors his sons and our elders, as soon as we were elected, although unworthy, to the direction of the whole Order, we frequently and with many letters sought to incite our young priests, especially of the Italian Provinces, to this spirit of true charity. Now therefore that the distinguished Pro-Vicar Apostolic, Matteo Kirchner, has written from Greater Cairo to ask us to give him a hand through our young priests, especially of the German Provinces, in tending that mystical new vineyard of the Lord which until now has lain oppressed by troubles and thorns, we would like to help him. With this short letter we exhort our young sons, priests of the above-mentioned Province, should any of them feel called to this great work of piety, to waste no time before writing to us and we will immediately send the letters of obedience, as long as we see in them the necessary prerequisites for carrying out such a great task, by means of the testimonials that the respective Ministers Provincial should send us together with the request. Meanwhile we urge the Most Reverend Ministers Provincial not to try in any way to prevent these young men whom they recognise are filled with a true spirit of charity for souls, from dedicating themselves to this task.
Issued in Rome at Ara Coeli on 1st June 1861.
Fra Bernardino, Minister General.

[2155]
When he received this favourable response from the Most Reverend Father General of the Seraphic Order, the Pro-Vicar Kirchner went to Rome in August with Fr Reinthaller where with Propaganda’s consent, he definitively entrusted the Vicariate of Central Africa to the Seraphic Order and Rev. Fr Reinthaller was elected Superior of the Mission. After the Most Reverend Father General had given his permission, the new head of Central Africa, armed with about thirty letters of obedience signed by the General for those Religious who wished to dedicate themselves to the Apostolate among the Africans, Fr Reinthaller travelled all over the Venetian and Austrian Provinces and managed to gather a numerous band of 34 Missionaries, including priests and laymen. In the month of November 1862, he reached Shellal in the new Station.
[2156]
Once the Rev. Franciscan Fathers had settled in the Vicariate of Africa, all the Missionaries from Germany and Verona left the Mission and returned to Europe. Fr Reinthaller, after leaving several Fathers and Brothers in the Shellal Station, crossed the desert with all the others and arrived in Khartoum where some of the Missionaries remained, while most of them went south with the Pro-Vicar. Several confreres died on the way. In the tribe of the Shilluk, Fr Reinthaller fell seriously ill; for this reason he returned to Khartoum, while other Fathers settled in Holy Cross, among the Kich, where they received a few African children into the Church.
[2157]
In 1862, another caravan of sons of St Francis headed for Shellal, about 24, including three brothers of the Rev. Fr Lodovico da Casoria of Naples (in the 1861 expedition there were five). The latter were horrified to hear the news of the Rev. Father Superior Reinthaller, who, reduced to extreme weakness by fever, had gone to Berber where after suffering great pain, he gave up his soul to the Creator. Many others followed him to eternity; others either returned to Europe or were received with particular kindness in the mission of the Fathers of the Holy Land.
[2158]
In such circumstances it was necessary to abandon the Stations of Gondokoro and Holy Cross which were far away, and the decision was taken to be concerned solely with the Stations of Khartoum and Shellal. In 1862, the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, after Reinthaller’s death, temporarily entrusted the direction of the Vicariate of Central Africa to the Vicar Apostolic of Egypt. In a short time the Mission in Shellal was closed and that of Khartoum occupied by only two Franciscans of whom the Superior was Rev. Fr Fabiano Pfeifer of Eggenthal in the Tyrol and a lay brother.
[2159]
After this period the Cardinal Prefect charged Mgr Pasquale Vuicic, Bishop of Anfitello and Vicar Apostolic of Egypt, to make a journey to Central Africa to visit the Mission and inform Propaganda about the timeliness and the plan to re-establish the Catholic apostolate in that region. But the serious and important business of the Mission in Egypt never allowed him to have available the many months necessary to carry out Propaganda’s orders properly.
[2160]
Fr Lodovico da Casoria, the worthy son of St Francis of Assisi, driven by great zeal for the salvation of the poor Africans, founded two institutes in Naples in 1854, for Africans of both sexes. The male institute was directed by his Grey Friars of the Third Order whom he had founded to carry out his admirable charitable works for the poor in this capital. The female institute was directed by the Stigmatine Sisters, Tertiaries from Tuscany, whom he had summoned to Naples to run and to develop other works of charity which he had just founded for poor working-class girls. The male institute consisted of 60 Africans whom he had had taught sciences and crafts according to their individual inclinations, aiming subsequently to take them to the heart of Africa and make them useful to their compatriots. All, old and young, wore the uniform of the Grey Friars of the Third Order of Naples. The female institute was run with the same objective and system, and had up to 120 African girls. Now in 1865, Rev. Fr Lodovico, having been informed that the house in Shellal had been abandoned and seeing that his work was sufficiently developed to be able to send some black members to Africa, requested the house in Shellal for his African institute in Naples, through the mediation of the Most Reverend General of his Order. Cardinal Barnabò, ever anxious to support works aiming to convert the infidels, granted the house in Shellal to the Father General of the Franciscans, permitting him to entrust it to Fr Lodovico’s institute.
[2161]
In the month of June that same year, Fr Nicola Mazza, totally informed of the state of affairs in Central Africa, sent me to Rome equipped with a petition he himself had signed, to ask the Propaganda for a Mission in Africa for his Institute as a result of his plan which we have mentioned. It was then that the Cardinal Prefect expressed his wish to divide the Vicariate into two parts; the first was to be entrusted to the Franciscan Order, and the second, to the Mazza Institute.
At His Eminence’s request and according to my Superior’s instructions, I presented this project for division to Propaganda:

[2162]
1.Mission of the Western Nile to be entrusted to the Seraphic Order with the following boundaries:
to the North, the Vicariate of Egypt;
to the East, the Nile and the White Nile;
to the South, the Equator;
to the West… in infinitum.
2. Mission of the Eastern Nile, to be entrusted to the Mazza Institute with the following boundaries:
to the North, the Tropic of Cancer;
to the East, the Vicariates of Abyssinia and the Galla;
to the South, the Equator;
to the West, the Nile and the White Nile.

[2163]
Cardinal Barnabò received this plan for the division with great interest. He refrained from communicating directly with my Superior and the Most Reverend Father General of the Franciscans formally to ascertain whether the two Institutions possessed the necessary members and whether they had the financial means to embark on these Missions, until after the articles of the plan had been submitted for examination by the whole Congregation; he was then to promulgate the apostolic Decrees for the creation of the two new Missions. While I was waiting for the result of these bureaucratic procedures in the eternal city, the distinguished Founder of my Institute, Fr Nicola Mazza, gave up his spirit to God in Verona, at the age of 75, and the esteemed Definitor of Ara Coeli declared to Cardinal Barnabò that he could not approve any project of division for the time being, since perhaps he did not have a thorough knowledge of the situation on which the issue was based and did not possess sufficient information and details regarding the Vicariate of Central Africa to be ready to grant part of it to another Institution.
[2164]
After the venerable Franciscan Fathers’ just reasoning, His Eminence the Cardinal Prefect judged it timely not to issue any decision concerning the proposed division. However, in his great wisdom, he established that Fr Lodovico, representing the Seraphic Order and I, representing the Mazza Institute, should make a journey to Central Africa to study and examine the matter on the spot; and that after submitting our ideas to the Vicar Apostolic of Egypt, who was head of the Vicariate, for his advice and opinion, we would be better able to succeed in drawing up a plan that would be fair and appropriate for both parties who would then present it to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda.
[2165]
His Eminence’s decision was very wise, because in this way during the time we spent in Africa, the Direction of my Institute, obliged to limit its works because of the Founder’s death, would have sufficient time to determine its new position as to whether or not to accept the Mission. At the same time, Fr Lodovico could take the first members of his institute to Africa and take possession of the Station in Shellal.
[2166]
Our departure for Africa was fixed for the following November, and His Eminence the Cardinal Prefect had granted me a small sum of money for my journey to Africa. The previous October, Fr Lodovico, with me and with three African Brothers including Fr Bonaventura from Khartoum, wanted to visit the Austrian capital to beg the Society of Mary for assistance for Shellal. We passed through Bressanone for the purpose of consulting the distinguished Prof. Mitterrutzner about a new plan for the division of the Vicariate of Central Africa to be presented to Rome on our return to Europe, because Fr Lodovico was not satisfied with the one which had already been presented to Propaganda. The illustrious professor, with great wisdom, proved to us that the best project for division would be to divide the Vicariate from North to South, instead of dividing it from East to West, that is, it would be good to give the Franciscans the regions of Egypt as far as the first black tribes at 12° Latitude North and the Mazza Institute, from this point as far as the Equator. All this was for important reasons which are expressed in the Latin letter Mitterrutzner sent to Fr Lodovico in Vienna on 29th October 1865.
[2167]
The arrangements made in Vienna for the Station of Shellal were not in vain since the Committee granted Fr Lodovico the use of all the Mission’s furniture, of the chapel and the workshops for the various crafts. The Committee then declared that the Association’s resources were only just sufficient for the Station in Khartoum which was the only responsibility it could assume. Nevertheless three months later, after the Cardinal Prefect’s mediation, the High Committee assigned the sum of 1,200 francs a year to the Friars of Fr Lodovico residing in Shellal.
[2168]
On 6th January, the feast of the Epiphany in 1866, we arrived in Shellal and Fr Lodovico took possession of this Catholic Station. Three days later, after receiving urgent letters, Fr Lodovico left the Mission to return to Naples. In this way, the principal objective of our journey in Central Africa ran aground, and two months later I also returned to Europe. The Friars of Fr Lodovico da Casoria stayed on in the house of Shellal for eight months, then, because of lack of funds, this Station was closed and the Religious transferred to the direction and service of the Holy Land.
[2169]
Fr Fabiano stayed alone in Khartoum for four years, helped by a lay Brother. In 1868, Rev. Fr Dismas Stadelmeyr from Innsbruck came to his aid, with the lay Brother Gerardo Keller. In December 1869, Rev. Fr Ilario Schlatter, a Reformed Friar Minor from the Tyrol moved there from Cairo. He was bound for Khartoum to help Fr Dismas, elected superior of the house after Fr Fabiano Pfeifer’s return to Europe.
[2170]
After what I have explained to you in this short Report, the questions to be answered are:
1. What results were achieved and what good was done in the Vicariate of Central Africa after its foundation, from 1846 to 1867?
2.Why did the great Order of the venerable Sons of St Francis not obtain the results expected from its Catholic activity?
3. What is the most appropriate system and the most effective plan with which to successfully undertake the apostolate of Central Africa?

[2171]
I reply saying:
First of all it must be admitted that the start-up of a Catholic Apostolate in the heart of a foreign people usually has results, the importance of which can rarely be correctly appreciated. Evangelical conquests are achieved very differently from political conquests. The apostle does not toil for himself, but for eternity; in no way does he seek his own happiness, but that of his fellow humans, he knows that his work will not die with him, that his tomb is the cradle of new apostles: he does not therefore always keep pace with his wishes, but always with the necessary prudence in order to guarantee the success of the redemptive undertaking. The results of a first apostolate are enormous, but they also remain secret: time reserves the right to reveal some of them; but most of them are known to God alone. If this is true in general for them all, it is even more so for that of Central Africa. Once those first heroes of apostolic charity had been launched by God’s will into the equatorial regions of Africa, described by the ancient proverb as the Mother who devours her children, they found themselves too literally alone in the midst of terrifying newness.

[2172]
Where the famous conquerors of antiquity never dared to enter with their seasoned armies, they found themselves few and defenceless, ignorant of the countries and languages, strangers to the peoples and their customs, exposed to the violence of an implacable climate with thousands of needs they could not satisfy, dismayed at not being able to find around them – I will not say the habit and the chief elements of social living – even the most obvious likeness of human nature, since they wondered whether they were dealing with less than human beings. If from this first encounter they managed only to gain knowledge of the country and to trace a route for those entering it, to identify the human nature of the indigenous peoples and their moral and political stance, to find the most suitable means with which to achieve their target of the Africans’ regeneration and to recognise the main difficulties the apostolate would encounter, then they certainly achieved an enormous amount, and spent their lives only too well.
[2173]
But in fact the Mission of Central Africa achieved a great deal more. It succeeded in travelling through and getting to know, as far as 15° towards the Equator, a good part of that immense region, which until recent years was marked on geographical maps by the name of UNKNOWN REGIONS; it was able to approach and to establish stations among those tribes which the tradition of many centuries before had described as cannibals; it penetrated the heart of the families of those nomads, and there discovered their superstitions, discovered their hopes, sought their history, studied their customs; it became their benefactor there, and started to teach them to distinguish the apostle from the brigand, and for this reason gained their esteem and benevolence, and I almost said their sympathy and their affection; and it even managed to master their main languages, which it consigned to painfully compiled volumes, thus preparing the main and most essential elements for the effective activity of a future apostolate and awakening in Europe the first glimmer of hope for the regeneration of the unfortunate Africa.
[2174]
That this hope was unfortunately a cruel illusion in the second period of the Mission when it was entrusted to the illustrious Seraphic Order, happened for many reasons independent of the will of the Gospel workers; and it was one of those painful episodes which God sometimes allows so as to test his servants and train them, so that his work might succeed, not for the moment, but for eternity and in the true interest of the peoples being regenerated. The Seraphic Order was also new to Central Africa. And it was predictable that at the beginning it also should have to make its own experiences and perhaps at the cost of many victims. But if it had been free in choosing the members it was to send, it would certainly not have been as green as it was, in the language, or customs, or peoples, or climate of Central Africa. In Palestine and Egypt it had old and distinguished Missionaries, who, experienced and inured to a climate hotter than Germany’s, would have guided its steps more prudently, and spared much of the harm that befell it.
[2175]
But there had been the wish to impose, and some of the Societies that were its benefactors demanded that preference be given to the missionaries of their nation, and in this way at a critical moment, when the charitable contributions of the pious faithful were drastically diminished because of political events as well as because of the serious needs of Religion that had become threatened in Europe, the Seraphic Order found itself obliged to venture to give the direction of the Mission to a staff indeed equipped with the best intentions in the world, and with a generous and excellent apostolic spirit, but unskilled and inexperienced in such enterprises and too unsuited to the harsh location of Africa. Is there any wonder that it was obliged to withdraw?
[2176]
To tell the truth, too much importance was given to this failure, because it was willingly argued that the Mission was absolutely impossible, when perhaps it would have been better to criticise the way it had been carried out. The famous Seraphic Order certainly has no need of my supporting arguments: the history of six centuries of a glorious apostolate among hundreds of infidel nations in both hemispheres is an immortal monument to its power and conquests: thus may I be permitted to express my firmest hopes in its most effective return to the undertaking, with a plan of action which past events and the history of the Mission indicate as the most appropriate and prudent with which to succeed in the regeneration of Central Africa.
[2177]
May I here be granted humbly to express my opinion on the subject, summarising the idea explained in my Plan for the Regeneration of Africa, already in print since 1864, which had the honour to meet with the approval of the most distinguished persons and main directors of various Missions surrounding the African interior. I set myself this target in 1857, and I wished to study it among these same African tribes alongside those first generous apostles of this difficult mission. It therefore seems to me that the lives of European Missionaries should no longer be uselessly exposed to the enormous difference of the equatorial climate, and to the isolated deprivation of all the comforts that preserve life: apart from the enormous expense of these apostolic migrations, the fate of the Mission depends on the fate of the Missionary. In addition the staff of this redemptive Work will always be few and insufficient for the serious and urgent needs of unfortunate Africa; and who knows what age will be able to pick the fruit of its regeneration.
[2178]
Thus it is my opinion that it would be more useful to call on the action of European Missionaries for the education of young Africans of both sexes in various male and female Institutes to be established on the borders of Africa in healthy locations and in a climate halfway between the European and the equatorial. Their education should set itself the target of preparing the pupils to be the future apostles of Africa, to which they will return to one day in the form of evangelising colonies, teachers for their fellow Africans in the most necessary crafts and branches of learning, and even more of Gospel faith and morality, under the immediate direction of their teachers, already largely acclimatised to the African heat. These teachers and European Missionaries must replace one another in the direct guidance of the Missions in the interior more or less frequently according to how they stand up to the apostolic efforts and climate of those regions.
[2179]
With this system it will be possible to perpetuate and to increase the regenerating apostolate of Africa more effectively and with fewer deaths; to hasten civilisation with craft work and the main branches of knowledge, by developing the necessary trade, and by introducing more gentle and social customs; to lessen the needs of the mission and to assure its advance and progress by establishing colonies; and lastly, to make it easier for Africa to regenerate herself. What for other Catholic missions is one of the sweetest fruits of the efforts of the apostolate, for Central Africa is to my mind the most necessary and prudent of means with which to carry out the apostolate itself. Nor can it be said that it would be just the same to educate Africans for this purpose in Europe, because experience has shown that this is a futile task; the climate and comforts of Europe are no less fatal to the African than the climate and deprivations of Central Africa are to the Missionary.
[2180]
The plan of action explained above was considered by some as a magic ideal (pie in the sky); but for more than two years that I have begun to achieve it in my small Institutes for Africans in Egypt, and the experience of this period has confirmed my opinion that the plan I outlined for the regeneration of Africa is most appropriate and effective, as perhaps in time I shall be able to demonstrate. I also have the comfort of knowing that having been adopted in other places for the same purpose, it has generated the same convictions of a successful outcome in other missionaries. Unforeseen favourable circumstances which have arisen seem to be assuring us that Providence has determined that the hour of salvation has struck for poor Africa.
[2181]
Thus it only remains to set our hand to the task with more courage, because God is with us. You young Priests, whose sublime vocation, zeal for souls and spirit of sacrifice decide to make you with Christ the regenerators of your unfortunate brothers and sisters, here you have one hundred million Africans, abandoned Africans, who are clamouring for your work. May the Religious Orders and Congregations which are the Church’s chosen militia also hasten to gain laurels on this vast field where Satan has ranked all his powers. And you, the obligations of whose state keep you in your homeland, do not deny us your daily prayers, nor the offering of your charity.
[2182]
Let us all toil with no other aim than to gain more souls for Christ: let us join hands together. Let the vow, the objective and the commitment of all who love Jesus Christ be one: to win unhappy Africa for him.
Laus Deo, Deiparae, et Divo Paulo Ap.lo.

Given in Cairo in Egypt on 15th February 1870.


Fr Daniel Comboni
Apostolic Missionary in Central Africa


(1) Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, T. 20, n. 121, p. 5935
(2) Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society V.X.N. 1, p. 6 etc. The Albert N’yanza Great Basin of the Nile and Explanations of the Nile Sources by Samuel Baker, M.A.F.R.G. etc. London, 1867.
(3) Dr Ignace Knoblecher… Eine Lebenskizze von Dr J.C. Mitterrutzner.
(4) Zweiter Jahresbericht de Marienvereins. Vienna.
(5) The chiefs and the Africans never leave their huts without their lance and poisoned arrows.
(6) Dr Ignace Knoblecher Apostolicher Provicar der Katholischen Mission in Central-Afrika Eine Lebensskizze von Dr J.C. Mitterrutzner.


Translation from French.

[2183]
So as not to send two separate letters, I send you the enclosed addressed to Monsignor the Delegate, which I ask you to read and then to send to S. Bartolomeo all’Isola. It is the last section of my report written in French on the Central African Missions from 1847 to 1867. This Respondeo dicendum is the conclusion of the 21 pages I have already sent to Rome and the answer to three questions:
1. What were the results of the mission?
2. Why did the Franciscans not succeed in this?
3. What would the best system be to ensure success?
I will make another report on the two years of our Mission, that is until today. All that will be for you and Lyons.

[2184]
I hope to leave Alexandria on 1st March and to be in Rome on the 8th. Since the discussion is now about Matters of the Oriental Rite and thus concerns the Catholic Missions, would this not be the right moment for you to agree with Cardinal Barnabò and the Delegate to speak out in the Council on behalf of Central Africa, of the 100 million Africans who lie buried in the shadows of death? Would it not be a matter of great importance to make proposals about, and to discuss the method of winning for the Church the tenth part of Humanity, which all the efforts of eighteen centuries have been unable to win for the Church? Would this not be the moment to organise a coup d’état, to call on the great lights of the Church and the support of all Catholics in the world, represented by the Bishops of the Council, quickly to obtain time, men and money to lay siege to Africa? Yes indeed, Monsignor, my Father, it does seem to me that this is a subject worthy of the Council!
[2185]
Let Your Excellency stand up in the Council and say to Pius IX: “Emitte, Beatissime Pater, vocem tuam, et renovabitur facies Africae”. One word from the Holy Father in the Council, the support of the Bishops, yes, this would make every Catholic in the world sit up and take notice and give generously to Africa, and there would be Apostles for Africa. Please give these ideas, Monsignor, your careful reflection and have the courage to insist with the Bishops, to beg and thoroughly pester the Most Reverend Fathers and above all our Cardinal Prefect: and don’t let them go until you have got what you want. The Holy Family, I hope, will grant this grace to me, my colleagues and to our Institutes, where prayers are said daily for this intention.
[2186]
The fact is that Protestant and Muslim missionaries are now following the Englishman Baker (who arrived in Khartoum with 2,600 men), and are going around preaching where we have preached before on the White Nile. The government of Egypt is building a road from Gondokoro (4th degree) to the Nyamza, where there will be a steamer: and from Suakim to Berber a railway is being built, so that communication with the heart of Africa is being made easier. The non-Catholics are going forward and will we stay here lazily wasting time over details? We are praying to the God of mercies that the Council will concern itself with Africa. A thousand respects to Monsignor the Delegate,

Your humble and most afflicted son

Fr Daniel Comboni

[2187]
Full of gratitude for the sentiments and wishes Your Eminence deigned to express in your respected letter of 11th January last, for the benevolent recommendation you made on my behalf to this Apostolic Work, I take the liberty of informing you that Mr Baker has reached Khartoum, where he is organising a major expedition to conquer on behalf of the Viceroy of Egypt the whole length of the White Nile to the sources of the Nile beyond the Equator. From quasi official sources I have been able to find out Baker’s own plan of action (I am somewhat diffident of the Khedive’s humanitarian intentions). From Khartoum to the Bari, over a span of 11 degrees, he is setting up Stations, where he leaves one Captain with a certain number of well-trained and armed soldiers who take possession of the town and control the slave trade. From these Stations they gradually spread to occupy the villages of the interior. Every group of slaves found by the soldiers is placed under the captain’s custody; and he punishes the criminals and distributes plots of farmland to the slaves. The soldiers then protect the inhabitants of the Provinces they establish and defend them from the enemies who might disturb them.
[2188]
The towns chosen are the most important ones on the White Nile, therefore including the Hassanieh, Mokhada el Kelb, Hella-el Kaka, the Sobat, the mouth of the Bahar el Ghazal, to the Nuer, the Kish, the Eliab and Gondokoro. From Gondokoro to N’Yamza Albert a proper road will easily be built; and to the N’Yanza Albert (2° L.S.), Baker will transport a small river steamer, the parts of which were shipped from Cairo under the Khedive’s very eyes. The expedition includes mechanical engineers, craftsmen, settlers, doctors and everything. In addition there are Protestant missionaries, and Muftis to turn the natives into Muslims. Indeed Baker wants to teach the Bari a lesson because they killed two Protestant missionaries last year.
[2189]
It is also said that a railway will soon be operating between Suakim on the Red Sea and Berber on the Nile. If this were to happen, the time would come when one would go by steamer from Alexandria to Suakim, by train from Suakim to Berber and by river-boat from Berber to Gondokoro (4° 40’ L.N.), and by coach from the Bari to the sources of the Nile. I submit these notions to Your Eminence’s wisdom. What will come of all this?… Perhaps Providence will draw some good from it, easing the way for Catholic missionaries to bring the faith…But if Baker’s people turn violent with the Africans, there could be a repetition of the case of West Africa, where Spain and other powers violently abducted slaves to ship them to the mines of America. May God protect the poor Africans!
[2190]
As for me, I simply have one thought. Now that the Matters of the Oriental Rites and the Missions are being discussed, would it not be appropriate to address the cause of unfortunate Africa, and propose that the Fathers of the Council might study the way to win for the Church one hundred million Africans who lie buried in the shadows of death? Could this not be the moment to invoke the lights of the Church and the support of all the Catholics of the world represented by their Bishops attending the Council to call back to life one tenth of Humanity?… If from the Pontiff’s mouth a word of encouragement for such a crucial enterprise were spoken, if the voice of the Bishops of the World resounded in favour of Africa during the Council, would apostles, financial resources and organised initiatives not emerge to achieve an objective of such great importance?
[2191]
Forgive me, O Eminent Prince, if in my littleness I dare to submit such a thought to you, and to implore you to give some consideration to such a concept, in the certainty that this issue is worthy of the venerable Assembly, which publicum rei Christianae bonum vere respicit (Bull Multiplices, II). From 8th December last, I ordered special prayers to be said, and they are being said in my Institutes, for the Holy Father and the Bishops of the Council to concern themselves with Africa, for some good must come of this. I would like a few Bishops, after invoking the Holy Spirit: Adsumus Domine etc., to tell our glorious Holy Father Pius IX: “Emitte, Beatissime Pater, vocem tuam; et renovabitur
facies Africae"

[2192]
My small Institutes are progressing very well: the small infirmary for abandoned African girls has sent two souls to heaven just this week; one was a 16 year-old I had baptised ten hours before. When the Nuns’ Spiritual Exercises are finished, in accordance with what the Bishop of Verona wrote to me, in agreement with Your Eminence and I believe with the Most Venerable Apostolic Delegate, and when I have put my affairs in good order, I will come to Rome. May Your Eminence deign to accept the respects of my dear companions and of my Sisters. It seems to me that the Mother General Emilie has granted me a truly good and able Mother Superior. I have the honour of kissing the sacred purple and declaring myself in all respect,

Your Most Reverend Eminence’s most humble, obedient and unworthy son

Fr Daniel Comboni

[2193]
This morning the Spiritual Exercises for the Nuns ended with the solemn Te Deum and general Communion preceded by the closing ceremony. In fact our Fr Girelli gave 68 sermons including meditations and Instructions within the Exercises for the African girls and the Nuns, and none of the sermons lasted less than one hour and some lasted two. My cousin Faustina Stampais did both the courses and would be happy to live forever in silence and spiritual exercises. It would seem that Fr Girelli (who is exacting) was happy with the Sisters and the African girls. As I told you in the letter which I sent on the French steamer, I have taken the advice of our venerated Pro-Vicar Apostolic, Fr Elias, and have thought it prudent to wait for the formal permission of the Cardinal to go to Rome. So please be patient, Monsignor, go quickly to the Cardinal and get him to write a few lines that I can present to the Most Reverend Pro-Vicar, and I will come to Rome as quickly as I can. I would like this to be done immediately because if we wait until Easter time, it will be more difficult to get business done.
[2194]
Please push this matter in the Council: speak about Africa and of how to win one hundred million African souls for Christ. Say that in the Church there is never a lack of workers for the Gospel who long for martyrdom as the dearest and sweetest reward for their most arduous toils; and all four of us are prepared to suffer steadfastly the most atrocious martyrdom to save even a single African soul. For us the baking heat of Africa is like a cool Italian breeze for a good parish priest in Verona. If only the Holy Father or the Council would speak up in favour of Africa and call upon Catholics, etc… we would be overwhelmed with consolation… I should also write to Monsignor the Delegate, but if I do not send this right away, not even this will go. A thousand respects from all of us men and women and from Fr Pietro da Taggia and Fr Girelli and we all together kiss you hand as well as Fr Vincenzo, Fr Giovanni and his theologians.

Your obedient son

Fr Daniel Comboni

[2195]
I limit myself to sending you a letter from Fr Bernardino, which I forgot to send from Egypt. When I have a little peace I will write to you at length. In the meantime please accept my filial respects and most affectionate greetings. Fr Stanislao is my representative in Egypt in all respects and I left him with an ample proxy. I have seen and spoken at length with Fr Guardi and with Tezza. They were most kind. The facts will show what we will manage to do. Stanislao and Franceschini are two apostles of Africa, they have character, constancy and true zeal. Cardinal Barnabò was most kind, but I only believe in facts: we are working for Jesus alone. Our way would be made easier if our supreme Superiors helped us with their influence. The Bishop of Verona is a true angel for Africa: I really trust his zeal. He protects your two sons as they deserve. Let no one touch them! Barnabò made a remark to me about the younger one: I jumped at his eyes like an ibis! He was very pleased to hear fine things about him. I have only one thing no one can steal from me: my conscience. Rome knows that I speak in conscience.
[2196]
I agreed with Fr Stanislao that I would write to you to ask you to tell me confidentially and clearly about the affair of the Houses redeemed from the Paradise, etc. St. Giuliano. You may count on God’s help, my silence, prudence, etc. We have the hearts of Jesus and St Camillus to guide us, and St Joseph. I have not seen Fr Zanoni and am not trying to see him: I only pray for him. There is no hope at the moment that Fr Bernardino Girelli will return. He is more Franciscan than the Franciscans. He was very happy with us and stayed more than 20 days.
I kiss your hands: when I go to the Holy Father I will ask for a special blessing for Fr Tomelleri. A thousand respects to Fr C. Bresciani.

All yours in Jesus

Fr Daniel Comboni