The Archives of the Consolata Mission and the Formation of the Italian Empire, 1913-1943
The Institute of the Consolata for Foreign Missions was founded in Turin, Italy in 1901 by the General Superior, Giuseppe Allamano (1851-1926). The primary purpose of the mission is to evangelize and educate non-Christian peoples. Allamano believed in the benefit of religion and education when he stated that the people “will love religion because of the promise of a better life after death, but education will make them happy because it will provide a better life while on earth.” The Consolata distinguishes itself for stressing the moral and secular education and its enthusiasm for missionary work. To encourage young people to become missionaries, Allamano convinced Pius X to institute a world-wide mission day in 1912. Allamano's original plan was for his mission to work among the “Galla” (Oromo) people of Ethiopia and continue the mission which Cardinal Massaia had begun in 1846 in southwestern Ethiopia. While waiting for the right moment, the Consolata missionaries ministered among the Kikuyu people of Kenya. In 1913 the Propaganda Fides authorized the Consolata Mission to begin work in Kaffa, Ethiopia. In 1919 it entered Tanzania and, accepting a government invitation in 1924, the Consolata installed itself in Italian Somalia and in 1925 in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. Before the World War I the mission also expanded in Brazil, in 1937, and after 1937 its missionaries went to Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Canada, the United States, Zaire, Uganda, South Africa, and South Korea.