History

St. Daniel Comboni died in Khartoum, Sudan on October 10th 1881 before he could consolidate his missionary Institutions of women and men that he had conceived of on an international scale. There was some dismay among the cardinals and Bishops who took an interest in his mission. His missionaries however, both in Europe and in Africa, faced the tragic moment with fierce determination. During the first years they found themselves really in turmoil, suddenly immersed in a great trial. In 1882, Sudanese troops led by Mohammed Ahmed, who proclaimed himself Al Mahdi, or descendant of the Prophet, plundered the missions, took all the missionaries prisoner, and made them march barefoot across the burning sand for weeks on end. St. Comboni’s first successor, Bishop Francesco Sogaro made constant efforts to obtain their release (the process was not completed until 1898).

Bishop Sogaro in 1885 petitioned and received from the Holy See permission to transform the Institute into a religious congregation with the name “Sons of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Filii Sacri Cordis Jesu or FSCJ)”. The government of the Society was  entrusted to a few priests of the Society of Jesus, who helped strengthen the form of consecrated life, with the three evangelical vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. The first professions of these vows occurred in 1887. The Society was officially approved by a “Decretum laudis” on  June 7th 1895. The first General Chapter  (meeting of the leadership and delegates) of the Society was held in 1899.

On February 19th 1910 the Constitutions, which declared that the purpose of the Society was the conversion of the peoples of Central Africa and “of other peoples that might be entrusted to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith”, were definitively approved. According to St.Comboni’s wish the members of the Institute came from various countries, but there were primarily from one of two large groups: the Italians and the Austro-Germans. Problems relating to that particular moment in history led the General Chapter, of 1919 to decide on a certain autonomy for the two groups and on July 27th 1923, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith reluctantly decided to divide the Society into two Congregations. The predominantly Italian side keeping the original name (FSCJ) and the predominantly German side taking the name, “Missionaries, Sons of the Sacred Heart (MFSC).”

Both Societies developed on their own separate lines although the international thrust was weakened. Still, the missionary purpose and vocation remained basically unchanged. New fields of work were opened in Latin America in obedience to the Spirit, who indicated that the time had come for that continent, and to the Holy See which had requested that the whole missionary Church be involved.

Under the stimulus of the Second Vatican Council, the growing awareness of the Founder’s living presence and the desire for reunion, which had never died out, were given fresh strength. On September 2nd 1975 the two General Chapters, gathered in joint session at Ellwangan, Germany and decided to feunite the two Congregations into one single Institute, on the basis of a special juridical ordinance. In a referendum this decision was ratified by an overwhelming majority of the members of both Societies.

On June 22nd 1979, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, the opening day of the 12th Special General Chapter, the reunion of the two Congregations of St. Comboni was officially sanctioned by a decree of the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The new name of the reunited Institute would be: Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ).

In reading their own history, the Comboni Missionaries acknowledge the action of the Spirit from whom their Society has its origin through the Founder and who has led them to a greater understanding and realization of the original inspiration. This history continues to be written by the humble sacrifice of the confreres who have dedicated their entire lives to the Gospel.