ARBANASICH, PIETRO

ARBANASICH, Pietro. — Apostate from Sardinia. During the height of the Italian Risorgimento, he abandoned Catholicism for Protestantism. He was first a pastor of the Italian Evangelical Church — that of A. Gavazzi — and then of the Baptist sect, a branch of the "Southern Baptist Convention," based in Richmond, Virginia (United States). For seventeen years he spread his errors in Sardinia, where, in 1886, he founded a Baptist community in Iglesias, sparking controversies and provoking persecutions. Yet, in his heart, he aspired to the unity of the divided members of his coreligionists. "Fra' Pietro" or "Bárba Piero" was his literary pseudonym. He died in Florence on 13 January 1906, and at his funeral a prayer was offered by Saverio Fera, his colleague and a prominent figure in Freemasonry.