“God can kiss us with a healing because God is wounded by our pain.”
Daniel was born in 1831 in Italy and died in 1881 in Sudan, Africa.
His family were cultivators, employed by one of the rich local proprietors. His parents were very attached to Daniel as he was the only one to survive into adulthood out of his 7 siblings. They formed a very close unit, rich in faith and values, but poor in worldly materials.
Daniel went away to school in Verona where he discovered his calling to the priesthood and was entranced by the mission to Central Africa. After 4 months of travel, he was immediately made aware of multiple difficulties of the region, but the poverty and dereliction of the population drove him forward with even more ambition.
He returned to Italy to work on a new missionary strategy and drafted his “Plan for the Rebirth of Africa” or as he would say, ‘Save Africa through Africa’. He toured Europe begging for spiritual and material aid from Kings and Queens, Bishops and nobles, and even the poor. His faith and trust allowed him to establish two missionary institutes for men and women.
Daniel took part in the First Vatican Council and was able to get 70 Bishops to sign a petition for the evangelization of Central Africa. He was ordained Bishop in 1877 which was seen as confirmation and recognition of his effective means for the proclamation of the Gospel and the liberation of the African continent.
He traveled his final mission in 1880, to stand alongside his missionaries in their struggle against the Slave Trade and spreading the Good Word. After a year of arduous labor, he was overwhelmed, fell ill and died. His was last word to his missionaries, “I am dying but my work will not die.”
“We will have to labor hard, to sweat, to die; but the thought that one sweats and dies for the Love of Jesus Christ and the salvation of the most abandoned souls in the world, is far too sweet for us to desist from this great enterprise”.
He is the patron saint of aid workers and missionaries.
His feast day is October 10.
For God’s Glory.
