Ragheed Aziz Ganni, Syriac: ܪܓܝܕ ܥܙܝܙ ܓܢܝ (January 20, 1972 – 3 June 2007) was an Iraqi Chaldean Catholic priest. On 3 June 2007,

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: th ...

, the Sunday after Pentecost, he was killed along with three subdeacons including his cousin Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in front of

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

's Holy Spirit Chaldean Church, where he was a parish priest.

Biography

Ragheed Aziz Ganni was born on 20 January 1972 in the predominantly Sunni city of

, Iraq. After completing a degree in Civil Engineering at Mosul University in 1996 and fulfilling obligatory military service under the

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

regime Ganni entered the seminary in Iraq. In 1996 Ganni's bishop sent him to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

for further study at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas ''Angelicum'' where he completed a licentiate in ecumenical theology in 2003. He was ordained a priest in

on 13 October 2001 at the

Pontifical Urbaniana University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian,; it, Pontificia Università Urbaniana. is a pontifical university under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People ...

. During his study in Rome he resided at the Pontifical Irish College where he played soccer for the College. The annual showcase 5-a-side tournament played in May among the Scots, English, Beda and Irish Colleges has been named the "Ragheed Cup" in his memory. Ganni celebrated his first Mass in the Chapel at the Irish College. Today Ganni is one of the nine figures represented in the apse of that chapel where the relics of Saint

Oliver Plunkett Oliver Plunkett (or Oliver Plunket) ( ga, Oilibhéar Pluincéid), (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland who was the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 an ...

rest in the altar wrapped in the priestly stole of Ganni. Ganni regularly offered Mass for the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas which was at the time housed on the grounds of the Irish College. Fluent in Aramaic, Arabic, Italian, French, and English, Ganni served as a correspondent for the international agency ''Asia News'' of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. Ganni was finishing his degree in

when the

Iraq war {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

broke out. Ganni had received permission from his bishop to return to the ''Angelicum'' in Rome to work on a doctorate in ecumenism. In a prewar interview he expressed his opposition to the invasion of Iraqi fearing that Iraqi Christians would be targeted and persecuted. He looked forward to returning to his native land to serve the Church and people there. He did so after

was ousted from power in 2003.

Death

On June 3, 2007, Ganni had just finished celebrating the Sunday evening Holy Qurbana and three deacons had recently decided to accompany Ganni because of threats against his life. After the liturgy, he was walking away from the church with Daud as Isho, Bidawed, and Isho's wife followed by car; the group was stopped by unknown armed men. One of the gunmen shouted at Ganni that he had warned him to close the church and demanded to know why he didn't do it. Ganni replied asking "How can I close the house of God?" The gunmen ordered the woman to flee. Then after the gunmen demanded that the four men convert to Islam and they refused, the four were shot down. The car was then set with explosives to deter interference and so that the bodies would remain abandoned. Several hours passed until a police bomb-squad defused the devices, allowing corpses to be recovered. Thousands of people attended the funeral of the four men in Karemlash, Iraq on 4 June 2007. Ganni was secretary to

Paulos Faraj Rahho Paulos Faraj Rahho (also known as Paul Faraj Rahho and Paulos Faradsch Raho; ar, بولس فرج رحو, '; syr, ܦܘܠܘܣ ܦ̮ܪܔ ܪܚܘ, '; 20 November 1942 – February or March 2008) was a Chaldean Catholic prelate who served as the Arc ...

, the Archbishop of Mosul of the Chaldean Church, Iraq's largest Christian community. Rahho was murdered only nine months after Ganni's death, in the same city of Mosul.

Legacy

The

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

Secretary of State

Tarcisio Bertone Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone (born 2 December 1934) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a Vatican diplomat. A cardinal, he served as Archbishop of Vercelli from 1991 to 1995, as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine o ...

telegrammed Ragheed's bishop on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI saying that "Ragheed's sacrifice will inspire in the hearts of all men and women of good will a renewed resolve to reject the ways of hatred and violence, to conquer evil with good and to cooperate in hastening the dawn of reconciliation, justice and peace in Iraq." The

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...

has opened Ganni's cause for sainthood, and declared him a Servant of God.

Notes

References

FIDES Catholic News Service

External links