Our Mission Today

The characteristics of mission today, viewed through the filter of the Comboni charism are as follows:

Proclamation of the Kingdom of God 

The proclamation and witnessing of the Kingdom of God expressed especially through the following values: life as gift and presence of God, truth, justice, peace, reconciliation, integrity of creation, freedom and integral liberation from all forms of enslavement; the primacy of persons over things and institutions, of man over work, of work over capital, of the universal destiny of goods over private property, of ethics over technology, of mercy over justice. For Comboni the absolute priority of the Gospel was clear in so far as the missionary must consider himself as sent to serve only the Kingdom of God. The Good News is the mystery of Christ, the mystery of death and resurrection that must be mediated in the present time through gestures and attitudes which manifest the love of God.

Mission as Dialogue

This dialogue is to be cultivated and promoted in all its expressions: religious, intercultural, social, political, the promotion of multi-ethnic fraternity in all nations and in the various continents facilitating the birth of local Churches that are ethnically diversified, through the inculturation of the faith

Mission and Collaboration

Collaboration with the local Church and with other missionary agents.

Inculturation

Inculturation understood as presenting the Christian experience of a local Church in the culture of its people, expressed and communicated with the elements of this same culture while also becoming a force animating, orienting and facilitating the growth of the said culture, thus contributing to its renewal and enriching the life of the Universal Church

Option for the Poor

The option for the poor is an evangelical choice giving credibility to the work of evangelisation, proving its authenticity when it allows the poor to be Church and helps the Church to be more evangelical, poor and of the poor – a Church that is the pilgrim people of God, a community that is alive and at the service of the Kingdom according to the vision of the Second Vatican Council. Such an option includes denouncing the economic and cultural dependence of many peoples who have become victims of exploitation.

Promotion of Life

“Mission is about life which always develops ….” (CA ’09, Introduction); “We feel called to denounce injustice and to proclaim the Word that liberates and promotes life in fullness” (cf. RL 61)” (CA ’09, 5.4b); “We are called to share the dream of God who wants a life that is full and happy for all” (CA ’09, 23); “In order to live our spirituality we feel the importance of being nourished by God and of loving life” (CA ’09, 27)

Discipleship

This is the call of the Father to follow Jesus and to continue his mission with the strength of the Spirit aware that we are not the owners or the protagonists of mission, but simple collaborators, servants of a project that belongs to the Father, that grows in the measure that we become disciples of the Son, putting our trust in the presence of the Spirit in history, in local cultures, in the Church and in men and women of good will

Bishop Daniel Comboni (1831-1881) was canonised at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on October 5^th 2003 by the late Pope Saint John Paul II in recognition of his decisive role in bringing the Gospel to sub-Saharan Africa in the second half of the Nineteenth Century.

Today almost four thousand Comboni Missionary priests, brothers, sisters and lay people of forty-four nationalities follow in the footsteps of St. Daniel Comboni by continuing to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ‘poorest and most abandoned’ in Africa, the Americas and Asia.

Visiting the following websites you will meet some of these men and women who dedicate their lives to everything from providing education and healthcare in the midst of a civil war in South Sudan or the Central African Republic, to working in the slums around Nairobi or Kinshasa, to pastoral ministry among people of African descent or the indigenous peoples in Brazil, Ecuador or Peru, to advocacy work for ‘Justice and Peace’ at the United Nations in New York. All very different apostolates but with one common purpose: to assist our more unfortunate sisters and brothers in the South of the world lead lives worthy of their human dignity as persons made in the image and likeness of God.

Brazil: https://www.combonianos.org.br

Colombia: https://www.combonianos.org.co

Egypt: https://www.comboniegy-sud.org

Germany: https://www.comboni.de

Italy: https://www.comboniani.org

Kenya: http://www.combonikenya.or.ke

México: https://www.esquilamisional.org

Perú and Chile: https://lmcperuchile.blogspot.co.uk

Philippines: https://worldmissionmagazine.com

Poland: https://www.kombonianie.pl

Portugal: https://www.combonianos.pt

South Africa: https://www.comboni.org.za

South Sudan: https://www.combonisouthsudan.org

Spain: https://www.combonianos.com

Uganda: https://www.leadershipmagazine.org

United Kingdom: https://www.comboni.org.uk   and   https://www.comboniyouth.org

United States: https://www.combonimissionaries.org

The Comboni Missionaries (Verona Fathers) are an international religious and missionary Order founded by Bishop Daniel Comboni in Verona (Italy) in 1867, specifically to serve the missionary endeavour of the Roman Catholic Church.

Our Members live in Community and practice the Religious Vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. Our activities consist of visiting Catholic Parishes to appeal for funds to support some of the most unfortunate and disadvantaged.

Worldwide, we are a group of more than 4,000 priests, brothers, sisters and lay people from forty-four nationalities who have dedicated our lives to following Christ’s example and St. Daniel Comboni’s missionary ideal of evangelisation.

The aims of the Comboni Missionaries are:

• To proclaim the Gospel to those who have not heard it
• To foster – according to Gospel values – peace, justice and the integrity of the creation worldwide
• To collect and distribute funds for the relief of famine and dire poverty
• To promote the missionary spirit of the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda

St. Daniel devised a Plan not just to bring the Gospel to people who never heard it but also to prepare Africans to evangelize their own people — a revolutionary idea for his time. His motto, “Save Africa with Africa,” captures the essence of the trust he had in the African peoples.

Named the first Bishop of Central Africa in 1877, St. Daniel continued his faithful ministry until, at the age of 50, worn out and plagued by fever, he died, but not before founding the Comboni Missionaries and Missionary Sisters who today carry out their founder’s charism across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. St. Daniel Comboni was canonized in 2003 and remains an inspiration to all who have a heart for the mission. We celebrate his feast day every October 10.

St. Daniel’s Timeline

1831 — Daniel Comboni is born March 15th at Limone on Lake Garda in Italy 
1849 — Consecrates his life to Africa
1854 — Ordained a priest by Blessed John N. Tschiderer, Bishop of Trento on December 31st
1857 — Makes his first trip to Africa but returns to Italy because of extreme challenges from climate and disease
1864 — Launches a project designed to “Save Africa through Africa,” with full confidence that Africans will become the leading agents of their own evangelization
1867 — Founds the Comboni Missionary Institute
1870 — Approaches the First Vatican Council to petition the Bishops that every local Church be involved in the conversion of Africa  
1872 — Founds the Comboni Missionary Sisters and has no qualms about bringing them to Africa to work shoulder-to-shoulder and heart-to-heart with him
1877 — Is consecrated bishop and named Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa
1881 — Dies in Khartoum (Sudan, Africa) in the late hours of October 10th, worn out from sickness and never-ending ministry 
1995 — Is recognized for the miraculous cure of an Afro-Brazilian girl, Maria José de Oliveira Paixão that came about through his intercession
1996 — Beatified by John Paul II in St. Peter’s on March 17th
2003 — Is recognized for the cure of a Muslim mother from Sudan, Lubna Abdel Aziz, a miracle worked through his intercession. 
2003 — Is canonized by John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica on October 5th

Daniel Comboni, born in Limone, Italy, in 1831, knew at an early age that he would be a priest and missionary. His love was Africa, and in 1854, when God called him there, Daniel answered with all his heart and soul.

St. Daniel devised a Plan not just to bring the Gospel to people who never heard it but also to prepare Africans to evangelize their own people — a revolutionary idea for his time. His motto, “Save Africa with Africa,” captures the essence of the trust he had in the African peoples.

Named the first Bishop of Central Africa in 1877, St. Daniel continued his faithful ministry until, at the age of 50, worn out and plagued by fever, he died, but not before founding the Comboni Missionaries and Missionary Sisters who today carry out their founder’s charism across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. St. Daniel Comboni was canonized in 2003 and remains an inspiration to all who have a heart for the mission. We celebrate his feast day every October 10.

St. Daniel’s Timeline

• 1831 — Daniel Comboni is born March 15th at Limone on Lake Garda in Italy 
• 1849 — Consecrates his life to Africa
• 1854 — Ordained a priest by Blessed John N. Tschiderer, Bishop of Trento on December 31st
• 1857 — Makes his first trip to Africa but returns to Italy because of extreme challenges from climate and disease
• 1864 — Launches a project designed to “Save Africa through Africa,” with full confidence that Africans will become the leading agents of their own evangelization
• 1867 — Founds the Comboni Missionary Institute
• 1870 — Approaches the First Vatican Council to petition the Bishops that every local Church be involved in the conversion of Africa  
• 1872 — Founds the Comboni Missionary Sisters and has no qualms about bringing them to Africa to work shoulder-to-shoulder and heart-to-heart with him
• 1877 — Is consecrated bishop and named Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa
• 1881 — Dies in Khartoum (Sudan, Africa) in the late hours of October 10th, worn out from sickness and never-ending ministry 
• 1995 — Is recognized for the miraculous cure of an Afro-Brazilian girl, Maria José de Oliveira Paixão that came about through his intercession
• 1996 — Beatified by John Paul II in St. Peter’s on March 17th
• 2003 — Is recognized for the cure of a Muslim mother from Sudan, Lubna Abdel Aziz, a miracle worked through his intercession. 
• 2003 — Is canonized by John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica on October 5th

First Missions in Africa

• September 1857: Leaving Italy, he journeys to Africa for the first time.
• February 14, 1858: Comboni reaches the Holy Cross mission station on the White Nile in South Sudan. He eventually has to return home to Italy due to severe malaria and to recover from the exhaustion of the harsh environment.
• September 15, 1864: While praying at the Tomb of Saint Peter in Rome, he conceives his revolutionary “Plan for the Regeneration of Africa”.

Founding the Institutes

• June 1, 1867: Comboni founds the Institute for African Missions in Verona (later known as the Comboni Missionaries).
• January 1, 1872: He establishes the Institute of the Comboni Missionary Sisters to dedicate themselves to the education and healthcare of African women and children.

Episcopal Ministry & Final Years

• 1870: He attends the First Vatican Council, passionately appealing to the global bishops to unite in the evangelization of Africa.
• 1872: Comboni is consecrated as the Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa.
• 1877: He is officially appointed as the first Bishop of Central Africa and serves as the Bishop of Khartoum, Sudan. Throughout his time in Sudan, he relentlessly fought against the destructive slave trade.
• October 10, 1881: Exhausted by his labors and the loss of many of his missionaries, he dies of illness in Khartoum at the age of 50.

Canonization

• October 5, 2003: Pope John Paul II formally canonizes him, making him Saint Daniel Comboni. His feast day is celebrated annually on October 10

The Missionary must be prepared for everything: for joy and sadness, for life and death, for embrace and abandonment, and I am ready for it all. — St. Daniel Comboni