FASOLI, MICHELE PIO. - Missionary and martyr, born at Zerbo (Pavia) on 3 May 1676, martyred at Gondar (Ethiopia) on 3 March 1716. Having entered the Franciscan Order and been ordained priest, by 1704 he was already in Egypt, and at the beginning of the following year he set out for Nubia.
As companion of Fr. Liberato Weiss, appointed apostolic prefect, he left for Ethiopia in 1711 and in 1712 arrived at Gondar under the emperor Justos, who was favourable to Rome and protector of these missionaries, but was opposed by the Coptic clergy. Upon his deposition (1716), his successor David III, at the instigation of the Coptic monks, immediately had them sought out and, after a summary trial, they were condemned to death and stoned about two miles from the city of Gondar, on Mount Abo, in the vicinity of which their tombs are still shown today.