Saint Daniel Comboni

Daniel Comboni was born on March 15, 1831, in Limone sul Garda, Italy, the only one of eight children of a poor gardener's family to survive to adulthood. He studied at a missionary institute in Verona, was ordained in 1854 and first left for Central Africa in 1857. Illness and the death of companions forced him back, but he never let go of Africa.

In 1864, praying at Saint Peter's tomb, he conceived his Plan for the Regeneration of Africa, summed up as "Save Africa through Africa," trusting Africans themselves to evangelize their continent. He founded the Comboni Missionaries in 1867 and the Comboni Missionary Sisters in 1872, fought the slave trade and in 1877 became the first Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa. Worn out by work and fever, he died in Khartoum on October 10, 1881. Saint John Paul II canonized him in 2003.

The Comboni Missionaries and Sisters, present in Africa and throughout Latin America, especially Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador, celebrate his feast with Masses and mission festivals.

In Limone sul Garda and Verona pilgrims visit his birthplace and the mother house of his missionaries.