FR TARCISIO AGOSTONI MCCJ HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE COMBONI MISSIONARIES - OUTLINES - (Draft) ROME COMBONI MISSIONARIES OF THE HEART OF JESUS 1996 "Go to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the ages" (Mt 28:18-20). “I have only one life to consecrate to the salvation of Africans. I wish I had a thousand to spend all to such a purpose” (Blessed Daniel Comboni) 2 OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE COMBONI MISSIONARIES OF THE HEART OF JESUS by Fr Tarcisio Agostoni MCCJ Comboni Missionaries GENERAL SECRETARIATE FOR FORMATION ROME - 1996 3 4 FOREWORD Namugongo, 17th March 1996 Beatification of Daniel Comboni Dear Confreres, the peace and joy of the pierced Heart of Jesus be always with you. I am happy to offer these Outlines to all of you who are interested in knowing the main events in the life of Comboni and in the life of our Institute. I chose the term Outlines (Italian: “Traccia”) because I am not a historian, so I cannot claim to write a book of real History. This would demand much more research work, that I cannot do in Uganda. Moreover I do not intend to be full-time on research work, like some of our confreres. I know I will not satisfy the good wishes of all the provinces and all confreres. I have been following these papers when teaching our history to the Novices in Namugongo Noviciate, and they were usually satisfied. 1. The main purposes of this work are two: First, to offer a text to our houses of formation according to the "Ratio Studiorum” No. 275 and 276. In particular I tried to comply with No. 276 that asks for "an historical perspective of the more important events in the history of the Institute". These outlines are mainly responding to this demand. The same Number of the "Ratio" also asks that our candidates be presented with missionary figures, both priests and brothers, who stand out in the history of the Institute and of the missions. This subject is also very appealing to me, but there are already many biographies of our missionaries and also good obituaries. Many biographies are out of print and also forgotten, like that of Msgr A. Roveggio, Fr F. Vianello and Msgr A. Vignato and so on. Other biographies are still available, like the many of Fr Lorenzo Gaiga who wrote biographies of Comboni Missionaries, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers. I hope someone else may make a deeper research. A second purpose is to give a frame of events to allow other writings to be placed in their historical context, like biographies of our missionaries, monographic publications dealing with linguistics, ethnology, histories of provinces, of missions and so on. 2. Another issue that appeals to me is the spiritual journey of the Institute. I can anticipate, however, that besides the insistence on the practice on the vows, three points were stressed: charity, spirit of faith and spirit of sacrifice as it appears from the Circular Letters of the Superiors General, mainly those of Fr F. Vianello. In a special way, charity was the common theme, so much so that a special chapter was dedicated to it in our Directory. The Sacred Heart was not only an object of devotion and prayers, but a model and an inspiration to charity, to spirituality, to a style of life. When I was Superior General a number of priests who had visited some of our communities in the missions were impressed by our practice of charity. I think that if the spirituality of the Sacred Heart as a symbol of divine and human love had been retained as a “spirituality”, many crises in the emotional sphere would have been avoided. Human love and other human values were stressed by the Vatican Council, in the great attention this Council paid to all anthropological aspects. This new accent was misinterpreted by many, to the point of becoming prevalent. In this way the supernatural slowly faded from attention. People then missed the point of the divine life present in us, which is the source of our new humanity, that is nothing less than the humanity of Jesus. 3. A book of history can follow different methods: writing by subjects and persons or by periods. In the first and second part I followed mainly by subjects and persons. In the third part, proper of the Institute, I mainly went by periods, though sometimes here, too, I went by subjects. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. In the case of our Institute, I proceeded by periods in order to show its development through our General Chapters. It is true 5 that the first Chapters were rather short and much was left to the General Council; even the minutes of the Chapters were seconded in the book of the "Consulta". When the official Bulletin started much material and many decisions were published in the Bulletin. The 1947 Chapter in a certain sense was held in the modern way, with the setting up of preparatory Commissions. The "Revolutionary Chapter” was that of 1969 and nobody may ignore its deep impact on the life of the Institute. Dealing with Chapters mainly up to 1953, I have not recorded all the decisions, but only those significant for the progress of the life of the Institute and its continuity in the history of the Church and of the missions. 4. Life of Comboni: It was not my intention to write a biography of Comboni, but only to supplement the biography with the highlights of his life. It is clear that our candidates must have in their hands a complete biography of Comboni. All the other books written about him, including the letters should be available. Moreover the formators are expected to know Comboni much more than the candidates. I wish that the book of Fr Fidel González, “Comboni en el corazón de la misión africana” were translated into some other languages. 5. Among the issues that need more research are our historical relations with different colonial and independent Governments, with other missionary Institutes, other denominations and religions, our followers including intellectuals, politicians, social workers, local bishops and the Holy See. Such a research will be of the greatest help in identifying ourselves. This task may be easy for one country, but extremely difficult for all the countries where we are, unless in each country somebody takes the responsibility for such a work . 6. I said on the front page that these “Outlines” appear now in Draft form. I am convinced of the limitations and shortcomings of this work. I am ready to accept suggestions and recommendations: all the work is computerised and it is easy to take away, to change and to add. However, I'd prefer that suggestions, additions, recommendations are accompanied by the relevant text. If some issues, events, and problems are not dealt with, please do not attribute it to bad will or negligence. Such omissions are mainly due to the desire of being brief, or to the little relevance of the issue or the event to the Institute as a whole. 7. I have added "Historical Introductions" whenever I found it necessary. Our young people, especially non-Europeans may know little of some major events of world history and after some decades they may know even less. As you can see from the Outlines themselves, many religious and political events have greatly affected our Institute, its missions and missionaries. So it is necessary to set such events against the proper historical and geographical background so that young people will find it easy to locate the events of our Institute in their memory. 8. Particularly from 1969 my appraisal of our history is a personal analysis, though I have tried to be as objective as possible. Very probably I have not stressed my shortcomings. However, as you may note from the short lives of previous Superiors General, I did the same for them, except for one remark about Fr P. Meroni regarding the separation of 1923. It is an unconscious attitude of mine. I may underline shortcomings of groups but not of particular individuals, especially those in posts of high responsibility. This does not mean that I am uncritical when talking in private. Before leaving this life it is good for me to share what I have with all those who are going to read these Outlines. I thank Fr M. Marchetti, Fr M. Devenish, Fr Patrick Stevenson and the Secretariat of CCL (Communion and Liberation) especially Fr Edo Mörlin for their precious help. May the Lord reward them. In the Heart of Christ. Fr Tarcisio Agostoni 6 INDEX FOREWORD 5 INDEX 7 PART ONE: TAKING THE GOSPEL TO THE NILE VALLEY Chapter 1 - CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA 13 I. Early years 13 II. The muslim era 13 III. Evangelisation: 15th and 16th centuries 13 IV. The modern period of evangelisation 15 V. New stage 15 VI. Present situation in Africa (1991) 16 Chapter 2 - CHRISTIANITY IN THE NILE VALLEY 17 I. The first one thousand years 17 II. The european explorers’ search for the Mountains of the Moon 17 III. The Vicariate of Central Africa 18 Chapter 3 - COMMENTS ON THE PERIOD 1847 - 1862 24 The first 15 years in retrospect 24 Chapter 4 - INSTITUTES FOR THE EVANGELISATION OF AFRICA 28 I. Pioneers of missionary work in Africa 28 II.