MANTEGAZZA, GAETANO MARIA. - Missionary, b. in Milan on 11 April 1745, d. at Amarapura (Burma) on 4 August 1794. He was given the name Cesare, which, having entered the Barnabites, he changed to that of G. M. Ordained priest (1768), for two years he taught philosophy at the College of S. Giovanni delle Vigne in Lodi; then, in 1771, he began the journey together with Fr. Marcello Cortenovis and landed at Rangoon on 18 October 1772.
In order to be better prepared for missionary work he made himself master of the Burmese language and of the religious language pati. In 1780 he was appointed bishop of Massimianopoli in partibus and coadjutor of Msgr. Gherardo Cortenovis, vicar apostolic of Ava and Pegu, whom he succeeded very soon, since the latter died before the M. had been consecrated. On 4 January 1784 he set out for Rome, both to be consecrated and to prevent the Barnabites from abandoning that difficult mission. Having been consecrated bishop and having seen to the printing of his Alphabetum Barmanorum seu regni Avenusis (1787), of the Catechismus pro Barmanis, written by Msgr. Percoto, and of a book of prayers, in January 1787 he set out again for Burma, where he arrived the following year and found the mission ruined by wars. He sought to reorganize it with the few missionaries available, but the hardships and labors brought him prematurely to death, which overtook him at Amarapura, where he is buried. He left an account that is called Relazione dei regni di Ava e Pegù or also Storia barmana, written in French during his journey back to Europe (1784). It treats of the history, language, usages, customs and riches of the kingdoms of Ava and Pegu and of their inhabitants, and it was published only in 1950. The other manuscript, still unpublished, consists of the Dinloghi tra un khieu selvaggio ed un siamese ex-talapoino, written in Rome in 1785 or 1786, as a complement to the chapter of the Relazione concerning the religion of the Burmese.
Bibliography2 works
Saverio Paventi