Settimio Arturo Ferrazzetta O.F.M. (Selva di Progno,

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, 8 December 1924- Bissau, 26 January 1999) was an Italian-born Guinea-Bissauan Roman Catholic bishop. He was ordained a priest at the

Order of Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...

on 1 July 1951. In 1955 he went to

Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea ( pt, Guiné), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Gu ...

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 Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

, he was appointed the first bishop of the new

Roman Catholic Diocese of Bissau The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bissau ( la, Bissagen(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Bissau in Guinea-Bissau. History Pope Pius XII created a Mission “sui iuris” comprising the then overseas colony of Portuguese Guinea on September 4 ...

, 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 João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira (; 27 April 1939 – 2 March 2009) was a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the President of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1999, except for a three-day period in May 1984, and from 2005 to 2009. After seizing power ...

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.Guiné-Bissau - A consciência de um país à deriva, Article by Jorge Neto, June 2005, Além-Mar Magazine (Portuguese)
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Bishop Settimio Ferrazzetta Brief Biography (Italian)
1934 births 1999 deaths Italian Roman Catholic bishops in Africa Bissau-Guinean Roman Catholic bishops 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Guinea-Bissau Roman Catholic missionaries in Guinea-Bissau Italian Roman Catholic missionaries Italian expatriates in Guinea-Bissau Franciscan bishops Franciscan missionaries Italian Franciscans Roman Catholic bishops of Bissau {{Africa-RC-bishop-stub