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As servants of the most high God, we no longer belong to ourselves….
I no longer belong to myself, even for a moment today, I belong to the Church and to France. I must serve them to the best of my ability until the end, in return for what they have done for me. It is not without great weariness and bitterness at times, but to have fulfilled my duty makes up for everything through witnessing to my conscience and in the hope of eternal benefits.

The epitaph of Charles Lavigerie
My epitaph to be placed on my tomb, which is to be made between the village of St Cyprian and that of Ste Monique (1881): ‘Here rests, in the hope of mercy, Charles Martial Lavigerie, former auditor of Rote, former bishop of Nancy, archbishop of Algiers, now ashes, who, having loved the Arabs, loved them to the end, and wished after his death to be buried among the sons whom during his life he had begotten to the Lord Jesus.’

What are the current problems that the Missionaries of Africa face today?
The problems we need to overcome to achieve this result are of two types. The first comes from the Government of Algeria, which, as I already stated, would not dare to do anything openly against us, but which still harbours an unspoken but very real hostility towards us. It tries to discredit our mission centres, which erodes trust and slows the upsurge of charity.

As Missionaries of Africa, the learning of the local language remains an essential tool for evangelisation.
Translation and publishing of a Catechism and the Gospels in Berber. At the same time as preparing the personnel for the mission, we also had to give them the means of connecting with the people they were to evangelise. Therefore, all the missionaries set themselves to learning Arabic and Berber. This was the first time it had happened.

Annual report to the Cardinal of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide (1st December 1869) For this, Algeria provided me with all the required conditions. The climate is healthy, the lands are fertile and abundant and although its desire is perhaps not lacking, its Government no longer dares to openly oppose my plans.