The life and mission spirituality of Daniel Comboni 

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Chapter Three The life and mission spirituality of Daniel Comboni

 Introduction

In this chapter, I focus on Daniel Comboni, the founder of the Comboni Missionary Sisters. He led a very full and eventful life, but for the purpose of this research, I focus only on those aspects that are relevant – the historical and religious background, in which he grew up; events that influenced his vocation to the priesthood and to Africa; his missionary life; and finally his mission spirituality in its various dimensions.
My purpose is to examine the influences that shaped and formed his approach to mission, and then to analyse if, and to what extent, he exhibited the dimensions of my mission spirituality spiral.
My main sources for the research about Comboni’s life and spirituality are his writings41 and the Positio super virtutibus ex officio Concinnata.42 The Positio is that body of research resulting from the stringent examination, conducted by the Catholic Church, to establish whether a person is eligible for canonisation. This process is overseen by the Congregation of the Causes of Saints of the Roman Curia in the Vatican. It involves a thorough examination of the way of life of the candidate, the heroic virtues he displayed and miracles attributed to his intercession.
41 They constitute a corpus of great proportions. This corpus includes letters from Comboni dated from December 1850 until 4 October 1881; reports to main mission associations in Europe, and to Propaganda Fide (The Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith, which was founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV for the transmission and dissemination of the faith throughout the world. Today it is called The Congregation for the Evangelisation of peoples). It also includes pastoral letters, lectures, contracts for leases of houses, agreements with companies, financial reports, and copies of his will (Chiocchetta 1982:11).
42 The Positio consists of two volumes (I and II). Hereafter, quotations from this work will be indicated as Positio I, or Positio II, followed by the page number.
My choice of the Positio as the main source is due to the fact that it supplies a vast body of literature, providing copies of various documents, declarations and letters to or about Comboni, and also because a good part of the recent Combonian literature draws upon it.

Comboni’s background

Historical context

Daniel Comboni was born in Northern Italy at Limone sul Garda, a small village at Garda Lake in 1831. Since the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, the village was part of the Lombardo-Veneto kingdom and belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was a time of libertarian ferment(Risorgimento) that through independence wars led to the annexation of Limone and the whole of Lombardy to the Kingdom of Italy in 1815. Verona and Veneto were annexed at a later stage (Positio I:6).
About the middle of the nineteenth century a series of circumstances drew the attention of Europe to the southern part of the Mediterranean. These included: the political activism of Egypt that turned the balance in the Mediterranean upside down; the political and economic revolution that would have occurred through the opening of the Suez Canal. Moreover, new ways were discovered to sail the Nile; the reports given by the explorers; the richness of resources that would be found in Africa and the possibility of connecting the Upper Nile with the Red Sea (Romanato 1998:109).
After 1788, when the British African Association (known as the African Association) was founded in London, Africa had become the object of exploration. However, at that time, since access to the interior was very difficult owing to the geographical conditions, the whole area from the Sahara desert right down to the Cape was still terra incognita. Owing to a deadly climate, dangers and sicknesses, for which immunisation had not yet been developed, a great number of explorers lost their lives (Romanato 1998:52-55; González Fernández 2003:18). So too, a great number of missionaries lost their lives owing to the lethal climate (Schmid 1987: 292-293; Comboni to Cardinal Alessandro Franchi 2.6.1874, in Writings:3602; Comboni to Msgr. Joseph Girardin 3.5.1877, in Writings:4580).

 Ecclesial context

The period from the end of the eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century, was a difficult time in the history of the Catholic Church in Europe. With increasing secularisation, the Church was left without a hierarchical organisation and had to reorganise herself. Now made poor, she had only her spiritual and moral forces to count on. As a consequence, Catholicism experienced a renaissance (Schmid 1987: 33-35). This renaissance was also experienced in mission activities, which, during the eighteenth century had suffered a great setback owing to both internal and external causes. Among the external causes, we find the growing English and Dutch imperialism, the expulsion of missionaries and the shutting down of missions in India, Louisiana and Ceylon by England. To this, we can add, the “Regalist politic of the Bourbons and the obstructionism of Portuguese patronage in India and in the East” (González Fernández 2003:39, my translation).
As far as the Church is concerned, González Fernández (2003:40) mentions the following internal factors: the issues concerning the Chinese and Malabar rites, which were only to be solved in 1939, and the resultant disputes among missionaries due to these issues, and the European religious crisis that caused a decrease in religious vocations and the decay of various religious congregations. We also need to add the rationalist mentality of the Enlightenment under the name of Modernity that affected the ecclesial environment, the expulsion of the Jesuits from Portuguese, French, and Spanish territories and the subsequent suppression of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1773.

 Mission Renaissance

In such an environment, however, the apostolic spirit of the Church was not extinguished. After the French revolution, the Church experienced a mission awakening, and due also to the Romantic literature that aroused religious feelings, a strong sense of restoration arose, with an interest in archaeology and ancient history. The romantic longing for unknown distant lands, the activities of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith (Propaganda Fide), and geographical discoveries, as well as the colonial expansion of most of the European countries, greatly contributed to the mission renaissance of the nineteenth century (Chiocchetta & Gilli 1977:19-20). The desire for the conversion of non-Catholics was mixed with the desire to explore new lands and get to know new peoples.
As a consequence of this mission renaissance in Europe, the societies for mission animation mushroomed. They represent one of the phenomena of the Catholic renaissance. These societies were inspired by and modelled on the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which was founded in Lyon, France in 1822. Arens (1922:8) states that in the period from 1818 until 1921, at least 246 such societies were founded. In general these can be divided into three groups according to their aims. These are: the financial and spiritual support of the mission activities; the awakening of mission awareness and zeal; and the promotion of vocations in Europe (Arens 1922:7).
Comboni was in contact with these societies, particularly the Marienverein43 in Vienna, Austria and the Society of Cologne,44 in Germany. He also visited them, and used to send regular reports to them (To the Committee of the Marienverein 2.9.1873, in Writings:3406-3410 is one example).
The Marienverein was responsible for the administrative and religious mission in Sudan. The members of these societies of mission animation committed themselves to daily prayer and a monthly contribution for the work of the society. This guaranteed that the work of the missionaries was able to continue (Romanato 1998:112-113). From 1862 the Marienverein experienced a crisis owing to “misadventures and poor results in Africa [that] cooled down the interest and the generosity of the benefactors” (Schmid 1987:174, my translation). Comboni, to whom the society was entrusted in 1872, succeeded in reviving it, but regrettably, just for a short time. In 1892 it had to undergo a process of total reorganisation, and it came to an end around 1920-1921 (Schmid 1987:174-175).
During this period, the production of missionary literature also increased enormously. For example, the Lettres édifiantes,45 with their mission stories had a great influence on the people in Europe. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century, over 300 mission magazines were published in Europe (Schmid 1987:38). These magazines contributed enormously to spreading information about mission activities and increasing mission interest and awareness in Europe.

The mission struggle against slavery in Africa

The struggle against slavery had started one century earlier in pietistic, Anglican, and in philanthropic circles. The movement for the abolition of slavery triumphed in 1807 with the abolition of slave trade in the English colonies and, in 1834, with slavery finally being declared illegal. These events were to have consequences for mission activities. Missionaries were concerned about black slaves as they were not considered and treated as persons. They were moved by the motto the love of God urges us towards the poorest and most abandoned (González Fernández 2003:71). The various missionary institutes that ransomed slaves – like those of Fr. Nicola Mazza and Ludovico Casoria, and the activities of Daniel Comboni – have their roots in the struggle against slavery (González Fernández 2003:45-46, 71; Schmid 1987:39).
It is important to draw attention to the fact that the protagonists of the mission movement operated in an environment, in Europe and the USA, that was hostile towards black Africans – and this exacerbated the practice of slavery. Actually, the mission movement was born as a reaction to the drama of slavery and to the racist mentality widespread in Europe and the USA (González Fernández 2003:23). Some even looked for a biblical foundation to justify the slave trade of black Africans. They referred to a distorted interpretation of the biblical text46 claiming that the curse of Noah would be passed from Ham to Black peoples (:24-25, 56). Lécuyer (1988: 595-608) shows how this idea was common in the nineteenth century. This prejudice degraded Africans who were considered “beyond help, beyond redemption, depriving them not only of their good name but even of the right of having one” (Chiocchetta 1982:113).
Comboni, too, – a son of his time – knew the theme of the curse of Ham and often referred to it (To Dr. Benedetto Patuzzi 15.3.1858, in Writings:386).47 Nevertheless, he considered it as a common stereotype. It would seem that it was that curse, which Comboni cites over thirty times in letters and reports that was the reason for discovering “the universal paternity of God, the inconsistence of any racial discrimination, and therefore, the equality between blacks and whites, both redeemed by the cross of Christ” (Chiocchetta & Gilli 1977:81, my translation). In the Postulatum (24.6.1870, in Writings:2314) – the petition presented to the First Vatican Council – Comboni insists that “since it has been decreed that the solemn blessing of the New Covenant was to cancel all the curses of the Old, it would be a most noble glory for the Vatican Ecumenical Council to have hastened the fulfilment of this promise.” Besides the motivations produced in the Circular to the Council Fathers (4.6.1870, in Writings:2298-2300) and in the Postulatum (24.6.1870, in Writings:2310-2314), a few
examples may suffice to show that Comboni sees this curse but also how this curse is overcome. “God in his greatness will cancel once and for all the terrible curse which has borne down for so many centuries on the miserable children of Ham, and his blessing of peace will spread over the great family of the Africans, there to remain forever” (The Plan 18.9.1864, in Writings:844). “The God of all mercies will erase the mark of malediction which has for so many centuries burdened the sons of Ham” (To Fr. Nicola Mazza 31.10.1864, in Writings:935). In the report to the President of the Society of Cologne (27.12.1867, in Writings:1551), Comboni recounts the encounter of the Pope with nine black girls who had their education at Mazza Institute and writes: “Pius IX recognises the plight of many tribes and great peoples who are still moaning under barbarous slavery and among the shadows of death and on which still weighs the tremendous curse of Canaan” and continues talking about how “their expression shows signs of intelligence, spirit and dedication; their conduct, respectful, modest and thoughtful” (:1552). In the Consecration of Africa [in Italian Nigrizia] to Our Lady of La Salette [Notre Dame de La Salette] (26.7.1868, in Writings:1638-1639), Comboni wants to obtain the patronage of the Virgin Mary for “the Catholic apostolate, the mission to the cursed race of Canaan, to the poor blacks who live in those vast regions, as yet unexplored, of Central Africa … I have devoted myself … to the conversion of Africans who are still unbelieving despite the efforts of the Church, even if the Blood of Jesus Christ has redeemed them and … [Mary has] also adopted them as [her] children on Mount Calvary.”
In the fourth edition of the Plan (1871, in Writings:2742), Comboni is more cautious about the curse. The Catholic, driven by a divine power “would enclose in his arms in an embrace of peace and of love those unfortunate brothers [sic] of his [the Africans], upon whom it seemed that the fearful curse of Canaan still bore down.” The curse here seemed still to bear down upon them, and this is reflected especially in the situation of slavery. In a letter to Fr. Bartolomeo Rolleri (12.5.1878, in Writings:5153), that appeals for the famine that hit Central Africa, Comboni cites again the anathema of Canaan that still weighs on those peoples. Yet, “[t]he hour has struck for the redemption of Africa.”
Indeed, the truth of the biblical curse might have been confirmed for Comboni by the conditions of the African continent with its inclement climate, and especially by the deplorable condition inflicted on the Africans by the shameful practice of slavery. They “are brutalised by the horrors of the most inhuman slavery, and … are reduced to the condition of beasts by … the boundless cruelty of their enemies and oppressors” (Rules of the Institute for the Missions of Africa 1871, in Writings:2700). Slavery “debases and degrades humanity and reduces to the ignoble condition of brutes human beings endowed, like us, with the light of intelligence – itself a reflection of God and a likeness of the Most August Trinity” (To Fr. Francesco Bricolo 2.1.1861, in Writings:500).
With this deep belief, Comboni courageously denounced the slave trade. In a letter to an Austrian nobleman, Comboni writes Your lordship will have read … that the slave trade was completely suppressed and that the roads are open from Gondokoro to the Equator and from the Equator to Zanzibar. All this is false: the mission in Central Africa is forced to witness the horrible agonies the vile merchants of human flesh inflict on the most unfortunate Africans (18.8.1873, in Writings:3363).
[He continues:] The abolition of the slave trade in Central Africa is a dead letter … What will really abolish the slave trade will be the preaching of the Gospel and the establishment of the Catholic Church in these unfortunate lands (:3367, italics in original).48
The above account of the historical and ecclesial context is intended to give an idea of the time and the situation in which Comboni lived.

Comboni’s life

 Early life

As mentioned earlier, Daniel Comboni was born at Limone sul Garda on 15 March 1831. He was the son of Luigi Comboni, a gardener at the olive grove and lemonary, and Domenica Pace (Grancelli 1923:2).49 His was a poor family. Daniel Comboni was the fourth child of eight. A set of twins was stillborn and the others passed away after birth or whilst still very young. Only Daniel survived. His family was poor and marked by suffering due to the frequent mourning (Positio I:12-14).
At that time, Limone was a village where everything smacked of religion. Signs of faithful religious observance were in evidence – the sound of the church bells, the schedule of Masses and religious functions and devotions. Comboni lived in this environment for the first ten years of his life (Romanato 1998:190; Positio I:9-10). Signs that were yet to flourish of Comboni’s vocation to the priesthood can be traced back to his childhood. He was a good altar server, he wanted to know everything about religion and religious celebrations. He was assiduous at catechesis. At home he built a small chapel where he imitated songs and prayer of the Church (Capovilla in Positio I:26).

 Vocation

 Vocation to priesthood develops at Mazza Institute
It was poverty that forced the young Daniel to enter the Mazza Institute in Verona in February 1843. However, this was providential as the founder of the Institute, Fr. Mazza – a priest from Verona – was to exert a powerful influence on his life, and it was there that his vocation to Africa and to the priesthood was nurtured. He was ordained a priest on 31 December 1853 (Romanato 1998:191-192).
Fr. Mazza founded two Institutes (one for girls and one for boys), to assist young people, who had the potential, but owing to financial constraints, could not afford a good education. In order to be admitted to the Institute, the young boys had to possess these three qualities: they had to be “highly intelligent, [with] good manners, and sound judgement” (Grancelli 1923: 5; Positio I:78-79, my translation). The Institute would guarantee a sound education right up to the degree level. Those boys who chose the priesthood would receive a stricter training. Comboni chose to become a priest.
The pedagogical method employed at the Institute was based on persuasion rather than on imposition. Self-education, discipline with a good balance between freedom and constraint, a deep appreciation for the opportunity they had been given and the desire to give back, and a strong sense of duty, were the pillars of the education at Mazza Institute. These principles characterised Comboni’s entire life (Romanato 1998:194).
Powerful influences received at the Institute, enabled Comboni to develop a solid spirituality based on a deep sense of God and a genuine desire to seek and do God’s will. He also developed an extraordinary trust in Divine Providence, a spiritual strength in time of trials, and a faith that was translated into living charity (Positio I:85-86). All these assumed characteristics gave him courage and strength necessary to face the challenges of his missionary life.

Chapter One Mission and spirituality: Introducing the question 
1.1 Introduction and identification of fundamental questions
1.2 Theoretical framework
1.3 Teleology
1.4 Ontology
1.5 Epistemology
1.6 The Research design
1.7 Research methodology
1.8 Ethical considerations
1.9 Literature review
1.10 Special terminology
1.11 Overview of the following chapters
Chapter Two Developing a framework to discern a relevant mission spirituality 
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Approaching mission
2.3 Approaching spirituality
2.4 Mission spirituality
2.5 Concluding comments
Chapter Three The life and mission spirituality of Daniel Comboni 
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Comboni’s background
3.3 Comboni’s life
3.4 Comboni’s mission spirituality
3.5 Comboni and the mission spirituality spiral
3.6 Concluding comments
Chapter Four Women for mission in Central Africa: The mission spirituality of the Comboni Missionary Sisters
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The relevance of the Catholic woman
4.3 Comboni’s option for missionary Sisters for Africa
4.4 The Pie Madri della Nigrizia (Devout Mothers of Nigrizia – Comboni Missionary Sisters)
4.5 The Comboni Missionary Sisters and the mission spirituality spiral
4.6 Concluding comments
Chapter Five In dialogue with the Comboni Missionary Sisters 
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Encounter with
5.3 Analysing the context
5.4 Encounter leads to personal transformation
5.5 Challenges
5.6 Encounter with Comboni’s spirituality and other spiritual sources
5.7 Mission and spirituality in relationship
5.8 Ministeriality
5.9 The need for reflection on mission and spirituality
5.10 New ways of being in mission
5.11 Concluding comments
Chapter 6 Toward a transformative mission spirituality 
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Emerging issues for the Comboni Missionary Sisters
6.3 Using the mission spirituality spiral as a mobilising tool
6.4 The way forward for the Comboni Missionary Sisters 271
Chapter Seven Discerning a spirituality for transformative mission: Conclusion 
7.1 Identification of areas for further studies
7.2 Personal learning, transformation and way forward
7.3 Conclusion
Bibliography
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