GUZZETTA, GIORGIO. - Priest, born at Piana dei Greci (Palermo) on 23 Apr. 1682, died there on 22 Nov. 1756 in the repute of sanctity. Ordained a priest, he entered the Congregation of the Oratory of Palermo. He was venerated by all for his spirit of humility, purity, and mortification.
Possessing nothing, he founded at Piana dei Greci in 1716 the Congregation of the Oratory for priests of the Greek rite, and in 1733, in collaboration with Fr. Antonino Brancato, the Collegio di Maria for the Christian education of youth; finally, in 1734, encouraged by Carlo III di Borbone, he established the Albanian Seminary of the Greek rite for the training of priests suited to missions in Albania and the Near East. He also worked for the establishment of the Greek bishopric in Sicily, and devoted particular care to the preservation and revival of the Greek Catholic rite among the Sicilian Albanians.
In a petition to Benedetto XIV in 1742, with prophetic insight into the apostolic needs of the Church, he proposed the great advantage of the Jesuits forming a branch of the Greek rite to be employed for the benefit of the East, a project then regarded as mad and rash, but now put into effect.
G. was the apostle of the Albanians of Sicily and a fervent precursor of the apostolate for the Christian East.