Guglielmo Massaia

The Vatican record

• 1 December 2016 — Heroic virtue declared — title Venerable (decree list, 2016)

Who they were

Lorenzo Massaia became a Capuchin at sixteen, taking the name Guglielmo, taught theology and was confessor to the future King Victor Emmanuel. He refused bishoprics, wishing to go to the missions.

In 1846 he was made first Vicar Apostolic for the Galla peoples of Abyssinia, where he ordained native priests and worked for many years amid great opposition. Later made a cardinal, he died at Cremona on 6 August 1889.

The miracles

The Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe his cause.

Why that counted as sanctity

A Capuchin missionary bishop of Ethiopia.