CAVAZZI, GIOVANNI ANTONIO, of MONTECUCOLLI. — Born on 13 Oct. 1621, he entered the Capuchin Friars Minor of the ancient province of Bologna in 1639. He was one of the most enterprising and indefatigable missionaries in the Congo (1654–67); broken by fatigue, he returned to his homeland, but Propaganda urged him to resume his work as prefect of the mission (1670). Reduced to his last strength, he disembarked at Genoa, where he died on 21 Jan. 1680.
At the care of Fr. Fortunato Alamandini of Bologna, his extensive *Historical Description of the Three Kingdoms of Congo, Matamba and Angola...* was published in that city in 1687, a work of prime importance for the history, geography, and ethnography of those regions (2nd ed., Milan 1690; 3rd ed., Tivoli 1931). In the public library of Evora (Portugal), ms. 116, 2–1, there is preserved an unpublished work: *Lives of Capuchin Friars Minor who died in the missions of Ethiopia (Western Africa, Congo) from the year 1645 to the year 1677*.