**GRANZOTTO, Claudio.** - Francesco, sculptor, b. at S. Lucia di Piave on 23 Aug. 1900, d. at Padua in a reputation for holiness on 15 Aug. 1947. A simple bricklayer until 1918, he showed his inclination for sculpture while in the army, and on his return enrolled at the Academy of Venice, where in 1930 he obtained his diploma, immediately receiving numerous commissions from Italy and abroad.
But on 7 Dec. 1933 he donned the Franciscan habit on the island of the Desert in Venice, continuing thereafter even in religious life—especially in the convents of Vittorio Veneto and Chiampo—to cultivate his art, in which he produced true masterpieces. His most notable works include the sculptures executed for the church of his native town, among them the holy-water stoup with the shell carried by the devil, the Grotta di Lourdes in the Serafico College at Chiampo, and the Dead Christ in the Franciscan church at Vittorio Veneto, etc.