Guglielmo Massaia
Encyclopedia
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, Capuchin
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
and Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
. His baptismal name was Lorenzo; he took Guglielmo as religious name.
Life
He was first educated at the Collegio Reale at AstiAsti
Asti is a city and comune of about 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River...
under the care of his elder brother Guglielmo, a canon and precentor of Asti Cathedral. On the death of his brother he passed as a student to the diocesan seminary; but at the age of sixteen entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order, receiving the habit on 25 September 1825.
Immediately after his ordination to the priesthood, he was appointed lector of theology; but even whilst teaching he acquired some fame as a preacher and was chosen confessor to Prince Victor Emmanuel
Victor Emmanuel
Victor Emmanuel may refer to:*Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia *Victor Emmanuel II of Italy *Victor Emmanuel III of Italy *Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples...
, afterwards King of Italy, and Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa
Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa
Ferdinand of Savoy was the founder of the Genoa branch of the House of Savoy.-Biography:...
. The royal family of Piedmont would have nominated him on several occasions to an episcopal see, but he wanted to join the foreign missions of his order.
He obtained his wish in 1846. That year the Congregation of Propaganda, at the instance of the traveller Antoine d'Abbadie, determined to establish the Vicariate Apostolic of Galla, for the Oromo
Oromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. The mission was confided to the Capuchins, and Massaia was appointed first vicar-apostolic, and was consecrated in Rome on 24 May of that year.
On his arrival in Ethiopia he found the country in a state of religious agitation. The titular head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abuna Qerellos III
Abuna Qerellos III
Qerellos III was an Abuna, or head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church . In the words of Richard Pankhurst, "A controversial figure, he is reputed to have been fanatical and rapacious."...
, had been dead for about 20 years and there was a movement amongst the native Christians towards union with Rome. Massaia, who had received plenary faculties from the pope, ordained a number of native priests for the Coptic Rite; he also obtained the appointment by the Holy See of a vicar-apostolic for the Copts, and himself consecrated the missionary Justin de Jacobis
Justin de Jacobis
Saint Justin de Jacobis was an Italian Lazarist missionary who became Vicar Apostolic of Abyssinia and titular Bishop of Nilopolis.-Biography:He was born at San Fele, Province of Potenza in southern Italy...
to this office. But this act aroused the enmity of the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria, who sent a bishop of his own, Abuna Salama III
Abuna Salama III
Salama III was Abuna, or head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church . Originally brought to Ethiopia by Dejazmach Wube Haile Maryam, he afterwards attached himself to the party of Emperor Tewodros II for his help to settle the theological disputes and to gain control over the fractured church...
, to Ethiopia.
As a result of the ensuing political agitation, Massaia was banished from the country and had to flee under an assumed name. In 1850 he visited Europe to gain a fresh band of missionaries and means to develop his work: he had interviews with the French Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)
Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs ), is France's foreign affairs ministry, with the headquarters located on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris close to the National Assembly of France. The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of France is the cabinet minister responsible for...
in Paris, and with Lord Palmerston in London. On his return to the Oromos he founded a large number of missions; he also established a school at Marseilles for the education of Oromo boys freed from slavery; besides this he composed a grammar of the Oromo language
Oromo language
Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...
which was published at Marseilles in 1867.
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
raised him to the titular Archbishopric of Stauropolis, and on 10 November 1884, to cardinal of Saint Vitalis.
At the command of the pope he wrote an account of his missionary labours, under the title, I miei trentacinque anni di missione nell' alta Etiopia, the first volume of which was published simultaneously at Rome and Milan in 1883, and the last in 1895. In this work he deals not only with the progress of the mission, but with the political and economic conditions of Ethiopia as he knew them.
He is buried in the Capuccini's friary in Frascati
Frascati
Frascati is a town and comune in the province of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, being the location of several international scientific...
were lived the last ten years.
Piovà Massaia
Piovà Massaia is a comune in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 30 km east of Turin and about 20 km northwest of Asti....
in his honour. The Italy state bring out a memory stamp in 1952. Many streets and buildings in Italy are named of Guglielmo Massaia, for example the Via Cardinale Guglielmo Massaia in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
or the Museo Etiopico Guglielmo Massaia in Frascati
Frascati
Frascati is a town and comune in the province of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, being the location of several international scientific...
(Rome).