Dominic Pozzoni Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Very Reverend
Dominic Pozzoni
Vicar Apostolic of Hong Kong
Diocese:Hong Kong
Enthroned:12 July 1905 (as Vicar Apostolic)
Ended:1924
Predecessor:Louis Piazzoli (as Vicar Apostolic)
Successor:Enrico Valtorta (as Vicar Apostolic)
Ordination:1 March 1885
Birth Date:22 December 1861
Birth Place:Italy
Death Place:Hong Kong
Buried:Crypt at Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong
Nationality:Italian
Religion:Catholic

Dominic Pozzoni, (22 December 1861 – 20 February 1924), was titular Bishop of Tavia and the third Apostolic Vicar of Hong Kong. He was a member of the Milan Foreign Missions (M.F.M.).

Life

Dominic Pozzoni was born in Paderno d'Adda, Italy 22 December 1861. In 1882 he entered the Lombardy Seminary for Foreign Missions in Milan. He was ordained a priest on 1 March 1885 and arrived in Hong Kong on 19 December 1885. Pozzoni was assigned to Sai Kung to assist Monsignor Luigi Piazzoli.[1]

Pozzoni was appointed vicar apostolic on 26 May, 1905,[2] and consecrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Hong Kong) in 1906.[3]

In 1921, Bishop Pozzoni requested the Maryknoll Fathers to take over staffing St. Louis School. Some of the boys were orphans while the rest were remanded by the Hong Kong government, the government giving a small monthly grant for each student. The Maryknoll Fathers renamed the school 'St Louis Industrial School' and equipped it with a print shop to teach the boys a trade.[4]

In 1923 Pozzoni suggested that Maryknoll Sisters staff the anticipated Kowloon Hospital. However, the government withdrew its offer in the face of objections by English residents who opposed the sisters both for their being American and Catholic.[5]

He died in the French Hospital in Hong Kong 20 February 1924.[6]

Sources

Notes and References

  1. A Dictionary of Asian Christianity, (Scott W. Sunquist, ed.) 2001, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan
  2. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07450a.htm Cordier, Henri. "Vicariate Apostolic of Hong-Kong." The Catholic Encyclopedia
  3. https://books.google.com/books?id=K8sYAAAAYAAJ&dq=Bishop+Dominic+Pozzoni&pg=PA388 The Catholic Who's who and Yearbook, (Francis Cowley Burnand, ed.) Burns & Oates., 1908, p. 388
  4. https://books.google.com/books?id=yGrOAAAAMAAJ&dq=Bishop+Dominic+Pozzoni&pg=RA1-PA273 The Field Afar, Volumes 15-16, Catholic Foreign Mission Bureau of Boston, 1921, p. 273
  5. https://books.google.com/books?id=YfzFAAAAQBAJ&dq=Bishop+Dominic+Pozzoni&pg=PA32 Chu, C. The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921-1969, Springer, 2004. p. 32
  6. https://books.google.com/books?id=nmvOAAAAMAAJ&dq=Bishop+Dominic+Pozzoni&pg=RA2-PA140 The Field Afar, Volumes 17-18, Catholic Foreign Mission Bureau of Boston, 1923, p. 140