Francesco Degli Angeli (or Angelis) (
Sorrento
Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...
, 1567 –
Colela, Ethiopia, 21 October 1628) was an Italian
Jesuit
missionary to Ethiopia.
Life
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1583. After two years (1602–04) spent in the mission of the Indies, he travelled to Ethiopia, where they called him "the man who was always cheerful".
Angeli stood high in the favour of two successive Kings of Ethiopia. He made converts, among them the brother of the King and lords of the court, but did not succeed bringing about the reunion of the
Abyssinian Church with the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, because of opposition from Ethiopian monks.
For five years Angeli preached the Gospel among the
Agazi where he founded a church and school.
Works
He translated many religious works into the language of the Agazi. The most important of them was the commentary of
Maldonatus
Juan Maldonado (Maldonatus, Maldonation) (1533 in Casas de Reina, Llerena, Extremadura – 5 January 1583 in Rome) was a Spanish Jesuit theologian and exegete.
Life
At the age of fourteen or fifteen he went to the University of Salamanca, ...
on the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke.
References
;Attribution
* The entry cites:
**CORDARA, Hist. Soc. Jes., par. VIa, lib. IV, no. 106, 164; lib IV, no. 126, 207, lib. VII, no. 165, 390;
**SANTAGATA, Istor. della Provincia di Napoli, III, 66, 190, 216, 477; IV, 95, 277;
**
Nathanael Southwell, Bibl., 212;
**
Sommervogel
Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclop ...
, I, 386.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Angeli, Francesco degli
1567 births
1628 deaths
16th-century Italian Jesuits
Italian Roman Catholic missionaries
Roman Catholic missionaries in Ethiopia
Italian expatriates in Ethiopia
Jesuit missionaries