Settimio Ferrazzetta Explained

Type:Bishop
Honorific-Prefix:The Right Reverend
Settimio Ferrazzetta
Bishop of Bissau
Church:Roman Catholic Church
See:Bissau
Term:21 March 1977 – 26 January 1999
Successor:José Câmnate na Bissign
Ordination:1 July 1955
Consecration:19 June 1977
Birth Date:8 December 1924
Birth Place:Selva di Progno, Verona, Italy
Death Place:Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Settimio Arturo Ferrazzetta O.F.M. (8 December 1924 in Selva di Progno, Verona – 26 January 1999 in Bissau) was an Italian-born Guinea-Bissauan Roman Catholic bishop.

He was ordained a priest at the Order of Friars Minor on 1 July 1951. In 1955 he went to Portuguese Guinea as a missionary, where he dedicated himself to health and educational activities. He first started a leprosery in Cumura.

After the independence of Guinea-Bissau, he was appointed the first bishop of the new Roman Catholic Diocese of Bissau, on 21 March 1977, being ordained on 19 June 1977. He continued his missionary activity, working for the promotion at the human, social and religious levels of the Guinea-Bissauans. Ferrazzetta achieved the respect and admiration of the population in general, not only the small Roman Catholic community, but also the Muslim and animist communities.

In 1998, during the armed tension between President João Bernardo Vieira and general Ansumane Mane, he worked as the mediator. He died soon afterwards, before the end of the hostilities, on 26 January 1999, aged 74 years old. His death was mourned as a great national loss. He was buried in the Bissau Cathedral.[1]

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.alem-mar.org/cgi-bin/quickregister/scripts/redirect.cgi?redirect=EEFyVuAVFpgyfWoiCn Guiné-Bissau - A consciência de um país à deriva, Article by Jorge Neto, June 2005, Além-Mar Magazine (Portuguese)