CAMOZZI, CARLO FRANCESCO. - Franciscan Orientalist, born at Breno on 17 Sept. 1672; on 16 Dec. 1690 he took religious vows in the Order of Minors; died on 28 Jan. 1745 in the convent of S. Francesco a Ripa in Rome. On 24 Nov. 1704 he was appointed lecturer in controversies at the missionary College of S. Pietro in Montorio. In 1709 he left this post because of an ear ailment.
He then devoted himself to writing for missionaries the Manuale Missionariorum Orientalium (2 folio vols., Venice 1727). An abridgment of this work was published: Epitome Manualis Missionariorum Orientalium, Rome 1736.
These two works are of great value and are perhaps the first written for missionaries in the East. They teach the method of the said mission, especially with regard to Muslims. They deal with dogmatic and moral questions concerning Eastern Christians, precisely the subject matter taught at the College of S. Pietro in Montorio under the title of “Controversies.” Of particular importance for missionary method is the “single” treatise added to the second volume: De instructione Missionariorum Apostolicorum. Moreover, Fr. C. also composed a Directorium mysticum secundum mentem divi Bonaventurae, a work left incomplete and unpublished.