Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - “The missionary should consider the country where he is sent as his own, love it as his homeland, and do everything he can for it.” This is one of the passages found in the “Historical Memoirs of the Apostolic Vicariate of Galla.” Until recently, these writings had remained unknown except to their author, Cardinal Guglielmo Massaja (1809-1889) who wrote them between 1880 and 1886 in a monumental work of 3,908 pages handwritten, conserved in the Vatican's Secret Archive.
It was Pope Leo XIII who asked the Capuchin missionary, the first Apostolic Vicar of Ethiopia, to write a book telling of his many trips and stories of his apostolate among the people of Galla. ““I miei trentacinque anni di missione nell'alta Etiopia” (“My 35 years of missions in Ethiopia”) was a twelve-volume work published between 1885 and 1895 by Propaganda Fide that was a best-seller for missionary literature on an international level, with French translations done in 1887, Spanish from 1943-1959, and a second Italian edition between 1921 and 1930. However, there was still a lot left to be published.
In addition to the “grammar lessons” on the Galla language, published in Paris in 1867, there were only 134 letters and the manuscript itself had been completely revised in style and content. After 25 years of research in hundreds of archives and libraries, in 1978, Father Antonino Rosso, OFM Cap. was able to publish 5 volumes of “Letters and minor writings,” containing 1,239 documents in a total of 2,185 pages. The edition showed an ordered chronology and a more detailed testimony than that of the “I miei trentacinque anni...” The scholar discovered letters addressed to Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII, Emperors Napoleon III and Joannes IV, King Vittorio Emanuele II and Menelik II, explorers Orazio Antinori and Antonio d'Abbadie, and Apostolic Vicars Giustino De Jacobis and Daniele Comboni.
In 1984, Father Rosso oversaw the complete publication of 5 volumes, until then conserved in the “Missions” part of the Vatican's Secret Archive. In the end, they were 6 large volumes, 2,317 pages, entitled: “Historical Memoirs of the Apostolic Vicariate of Galla (1854-1880).” The passages that have been brought into the light have shown the missiological nature of the text, the interest in inculturation, the liturgy, missionary pedagogy, and the local clergy. To reflect more deeply on these themes, the National Committee for the Bicentenary Celebration of the Birth of Cardinal Guglielmo Massaja has organized a Study Convention at the Collegio Francescano Internazionale S. Lorenzo da Brindisi in Rome, June 9-10, 2009. (AM) (Agenzia Fides 27/5/2009)
