St. Daniel Comboni

St. Daniel Comboni (15 March 1831 – 10 October 1881) was born at Limone sul Garda in northern Italy and, feeling an early call to the African missions, was ordained a priest and set out for central Africa in 1857. Confronted with the crushing hardships of the mission — disease, heat, and the death of many companions — he was not deterred but conceived a bold new strategy, expressed in his famous "Plan for the Regeneration of Africa," summed up in the motto "Save Africa through Africa," trusting in the formation of native clergy and lay leaders.

A tireless advocate who traveled Europe to raise support and who fiercely opposed the slave trade, he founded missionary institutes for men and for women — the congregations later known as the Comboni Missionaries — to carry on the work. In 1877 he was consecrated bishop and made vicar apostolic of Central Africa, based in Sudan, where he labored among the peoples until his death at Khartoum at only fifty. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2003, honored as a great apostle of Africa.