GALANO, CLEMENTE. – Theatine missionary. Born in Sorrento, he professed religious vows in the convent of the Holy Apostles in Naples on 25 February 1628. Having completed his studies, in 1636 he was assigned, together with Fr. Francesco Maggio, to whom the first Georgian grammar is owed, to the missions of Georgia, and arrived at Gori, the seat of the Theatine mission, in March 1637. From Georgia he went to Colchis, where he worked for three years. Although he knew Turkish, Georgian, and Colchian, he nevertheless devoted himself to the care of the Armenians, whose language and liturgy he knew exceedingly well, converting not a few of them.
In order to carry out this mission more effectively, in 1640 G. was sent by his superiors to Constantinople, where he opened a college for Armenians, composing for them the first Armenian grammar and a Lagica. Patriarch Cyril of Erivan, an admirer of G.’s learning and zeal, negotiated with him for the union of the Armenians with the Roman Church, and would have brought it to completion had death not prevented him. Owing to the intrigues and persecutions of the usurper of the patriarchate, David, and his followers, at the beginning of 1644 G. left Constantinople for Rome, accompanied by a considerable number of disciples and by several dignitaries of the Greek and Armenian Churches, among them the Greek Cyril, archbishop of Trebizond, who had converted to the faith and union with the Catholic Church. Urban VIII received G. and his companions with demonstrations of paternal benevolence. Having withdrawn to the convent of S. Silvestro al Quirinale, G. held the office of master of novices and, from the S. Congregation of Propaganda Fide, that of professor of Armenian at the new Collegio Urbano. In 1661 the same Congregation of Propaganda sent him, together with Fr. Luigi Pidon (1657–1717), his pupil, to Poland to negotiate as well the union of the Armenians of that kingdom with Rome. Having arrived there in May 1664, he immediately founded an Armenian college in Lviv; but on 14 May 1666 death brought his fervent activity to an end. The college continued under Pidon’s auspices, and he resumed and successfully completed there the work of union.