CALDEIRA, BONIFACIO

BONIFACIO CALDEIRA (also known as Bonifacio Indiano) was a Franciscan friar. Born in Meliapore in 1586, he died in Como on 1 March 1661. He was of royal lineage, and after his parents converted, he received baptism. At an appropriate age, he joined the ranks of the cathedral clergy. He was ordained a priest in 1610. Soon after, he renounced all rights and duties that pertained to him as head of the family and came to Rome, where he spent long hours in the church of St. Anthony in Piazza Barberini. He took the religious habit in the adjoining convent of the Reformed Conventuals. He was appointed superior of various convents on several occasions, and in 1625, of the one in Rome. When the Reform was suppressed in 1626, to which he belonged, he joined the Observant Reformed Roman province. He requested and obtained never to be promoted to honorific positions and to be sent to the most solitary convents. He was assigned to the convent of Greccio. His constant meditation on the Passion of Christ stirred in him the desire to visit the Holy Places. Having embarked in 1639 from Venice and arrived in Syria, he was appointed chaplain to the Venetian merchants of Alexandretta. After two years of service, he began his visit to the sanctuaries of Palestine. Later, he also visited St. James of Compostela and all the famous sanctuaries of Spain, France, and Italy. Upon returning to his province, he joined the so-called "Riformella" with a more austere way of life. He was transferred by the general visitor, Fr. Bernardino d'Artò, to the convent of St. Francis in Riga. The vicar general, Daniele da Dongo, placed him in the convent of his native town. He died in the convent of the Most Holy Cross in Como. Among his confreres and the people, his memory remained alive.

Pancrazio Maarschalkerweerd