Saint Daniel Comboni: His Parents and Siblings in Limone

The marriage of Luigi Comboni and Domenica Pace, the Saint’s parents

Saint Daniel Comboni‘s parents, Luigi Comboni and Domenica Pace, were married in the parish church of San Benedetto in Limone on 21 July 1826. This is the record entered in the register:

On the twenty-first day of July 1826. Luigi Comboni, son of the living Bortolo of Bogliaco and of the late Marianna née Bertagnoli, and Domenica Pace, daughter of the living Antonio and of Marianna née Morelli, both unmarried and of this Parish, having confessed and received communion this morning in this parish Church, the three banns having been published on three feast days without any impediment being found, contracted the Sacrament of marriage per verba de praesenti according to the rite of the Holy Roman Church, in the presence of me, Parish Priest Carlantonio Gazetti, and of Luigi Sommacampagna of Verona, resident here, and Francesco Pernis of Limone, witnesses requested and known.

The witnesses at the wedding

The marriage record names two witnesses, Luigi Sommacampagna and Francesco Pernis. Who were they?

Luigi Sommacampagna, a native of Verona, was the municipal secretary of Limone. He married Caterina Pomaroli on 5 August 1821. The 1845 parish census, the “Stato d’anime della Parrocchia di S. Benedetto in Limone”, lists him as living in Contrada Piazza. This is the obituary written by the parish priest, Roncetti:

13 August 1855
Sommacampagna Luigi, son of the late Antonio and of Angeloni, aged 53, passed today into eternity from gastroenteritis, fortified by all the sacraments and comforts of religion. For many years he served this Municipality as its Secretary; an upright, loyal and generous man, yet always unfortunate, he rightly enjoyed universal esteem.
And if his life as a Christian left something to be desired in the way of good example, his death was an atonement for his faults, for he met it with complete resignation and sincere repentance for his sins, having first, of his own will, called the priest and made a general confession over several sittings. After the customary funeral rites he was buried in the cemetery.

Francesco Pernis was born in Limone on 13 February 1777. A merchant, he married Francesca Lucchini in Limone on 17 November 1816 and died there on 25 November 1829.

The children of Luigi and Domenica

The parish baptismal registers record these children of Luigi and Domenica:

The parish church of San Benedetto in Limone sul Garda, where Luigi Comboni and Domenica Pace were married

1 April 1827
Vigilio Bortolo, son of Luigi Comboni, son of the living Bortolo, and of Domenica Pace, daughter of the living Antonio, was born today; he was baptised by me, Carlo Antonio Gazetti, on the 3rd of the said month. He was held at the sacred font by Count Giacomo Ferrari the elder.

22 April 1828
Danielle, son of Luigi Comboni and of Domenica née Pace, the father being of Bogliaco and now resident in Limone, was born today at ten in the morning and was baptised the following day by me, Luigi Patuzzi, parish curate. He was held at the sacred font by Antonio Martinelli of Limone.

13 June 1829
A newborn girl, daughter of Luigi Comboni and of Catterina née Pace, was born today at 11 in the morning and was baptised at home by the midwife because of imminent danger.

16 March 1831
Antonio Daniele, son of Luigi Comboni and of Catterina Pace, was born yesterday at 8 in the evening and was baptised today by me, parish priest Roncetti, Pietro Martinelli and Agata Bertella, both of Limone, having held him at the sacred font.

19 September 1832
Marianna, daughter of Luigi Comboni and of Domenica née Pace, came into the world today at 3 in the morning and was baptised at home by the doctor for well-founded fear that she might die as soon as she was born. All danger of death having passed, she was brought to the parish church, where the solemn ceremonies prescribed by Holy Church were performed today by me, parish priest Pietro Roncetti. Godfather: Signor Gio. Pietro Girardi of this Parish.

15 November 1833
An infant girl, daughter of Luigi Comboni and of Domenica Pace, born yesterday at 11 at night, was baptised at once at home, out of urgent necessity, by the midwife Andreoli.

Six, seven or eight children?

The parish registers record six children born to Luigi and Domenica. Other accounts speak of seven, and even eight. Daniele Comboni himself wrote of seven. His mother died in Limone on 14 July 1858 of “slow bronchial consumption”, and when the news reached him he wrote to his father on 20 November 1858, during his first journey to Africa:

Ah! So my mother is no more?… So inexorable death has cut the thread of my good mother’s days?… So you are left all alone, after once seeing around you the happy band of seven children, cherished and loved by her whom God chose to be the inseparable companion of your days?…

Handwritten entry in the Limone parish register recording the baptism of Daniele Comboni on 16 March 1831

And later in the same letter:

Yes, my dearest father; she has finished weeping on this earth, and now at last she is in possession of the glory of heaven, sharing with her six children the joy of a Paradise that will never end.

Michelangelo Grancelli, one of Daniele Comboni’s earliest biographers, wrote:

Those who gathered the information speak not of six but of eight children; for, according to a cousin of Monsignor Comboni, twins were born who could not be baptised and were therefore not registered (letter from the archpriest, 1 November 1920).

This last hypothesis is taken up in the Positio super virtutibus, which mentions “twins stillborn on a date that cannot be determined”.

So what is the truth? Did Luigi and Domenica have six, seven or eight children? Given Daniele’s letter, which is surely the most reliable source, we accept seven.

Daniele’s godfather and godmother

Daniele’s baptismal record names Pietro Martinelli as godfather and Agata Bertella as godmother. Here is what we know about them.

Pietro Martinelli, son of Carlo (son of Antonio) of Limone and of Cattarina Morelli of Lomaso, was born in Limone on 15 May 1804. On 4 May 1832 he married Angela Truzzi in Bogliaco, and they had two daughters:
– Catterina Lucia, born in Limone on 6 April 1833;
– Vincenza Edvige, born in Limone on 16 January 1836.
After he was widowed, Pietro, a fisherman by trade, married Teresa Moro (Limone, 10 October 1814 – Limone, 12 March 1868) in Limone on 5 August 1839. He died in Limone on 1 February 1880.

Agata Bertella, daughter of Giacomo of Costa di Gargnano and of Domenica Perinelli (1781-1836), was born in Limone on 19 October 1813. She worked in a paper mill, and when Daniele was baptised she signed the record with a cross, “being illiterate”. On 23 December 1838 she married Pietro Girardi in Limone. She died in Limone on 13 March 1878. (To be continued)

Article by Domenico Fava for GN Magazine (November 2026).