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)
/ref>
References
External links
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