Saint Daniel Comboni

Life story

Daniel Comboni was born on 15 March 1831 in Limone sul Garda, in northern Italy, into a poor farming family. He was sent to Verona to study at the institute run by Father Nicola Mazza, where he pursued his studies and grew eager to become a missionary. He was ordained a priest in 1854, and in 1857 he left for Africa with a small group of companions. Their journey took them to Khartoum, in present-day Sudan.

Conditions there were extremely harsh. Malaria and the heat killed many of the missionaries in the group, and Comboni himself fell gravely ill more than once. Back in Italy, in 1864 he drafted a mission plan he described as regenerating Africa through Africa itself: training local people as catechists, teachers and nurses so that they could carry the work forward on their own. He also set about winning personnel and funds from many European countries, writing, travelling and appealing in many church circles.

In 1867 he founded at Verona an institute of missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, and in 1872 a women's branch, the Missionary Sisters known as the Pie Madri della Nigrizia, today usually called the Comboni Sisters. He also served as a theological adviser to an Italian bishop at the First Vatican Council. In 1877 he was appointed bishop and vicar apostolic of Central Africa. The years that followed brought famine and epidemics, and he stayed on with the people. He died in Khartoum on 10 October 1881 at the age of fifty. The Church canonised him in 2003.

Works and witness

• Ordained in 1854 and sailed for Sudan in 1857 with a group of missionaries
• Drew up a plan in 1864 for evangelising Africa through African people
• Founded a men's missionary institute in 1867 and a women's one in 1872
• Served as vicar apostolic and bishop of Central Africa from 1877

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Daniel Comboni, Scritti (letters and writings)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.