FASOLI, MICHELE PIO. - Missionary and martyr, b. at Zerbo (Pavia) on 3 May 1676, martyred at Gondar (Ethiopia) on 3 March 1716. Having entered the Franciscan Order and been ordained a priest, by 1704 he was already in Egypt, and at the beginning of the following year he set out for Nubia.

As a companion of Fr. Liberato Weiss, appointed apostolic prefect, in 1711 he set out for Ethiopia, and in 1712 he arrived at Gondar under the emperor Justos, who was favorable to Rome and a protector of these missionaries but opposed by the Coptic clergy. Upon the latter's deposition (1716), his successor David III, at the instigation of the Coptic monks, had them sought out at once, and after a summary trial they were condemned to death and stoned about two miles from the city of Gondar, on Mount Abo, in whose vicinity their burial places are still shown today.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: C. Othmar, Der Portugeseische Bericht über das Marterium des F. Liberatus Weiss (with a letter of Fr. M. P. P.), in Arch. Franc. hist., 21 (1928), pp. 531-45; C. Bergna, Alle tombe dei martiri francescani di Gondar, in Frata Francesco, 15 (1928), pp. 141-48.

@incollection{ec5_fasoli_michele_pio, author = {Ghinato, Alberto}, title = {Fasoli, michele pio}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1053}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/fasoli-michele-pio} }

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Fasoli, Michele Pio

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