GUZZETTA, GIORGIO. – Priest, born in Piana dei Greci (Palermo) on 23 April 1682, died there on 22 November 1756 in a reputation for holiness. After his ordination, he entered the Congregation of the Oratory in Palermo. He was revered by all for his spirit of humility, purity, and mortification.
Having no possessions, in 1716 he founded in Piana dei Greci 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 Charles III of Bourbon, 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 a Greek bishopric in Sicily, and took particular care to preserve and supply the Catholic Greek rite among the Siculo-Albanians.
In a petition to Benedict XIV in 1742, with a prophetic insight into the apostolic needs of the Church, he proposed the great opportunity that the Jesuits form a branch of the Greek rite to be employed for the benefit of the East—a project then considered mad and reckless, but now realized.
G. was the apostle of the Albanians of Sicily and a fervent precursor of the apostolate for the Christian East.