MANZELLA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. - Missionary of St. Vincent, apostle of Sardinia, born at Soncino (Cremona) on 21 Jan. 1855, died at Sassari on 23 Oct. 1937. Having entered the Congregation of the Mission at Chieri in 1887, he was ordained priest on 25 Feb. 1893.
Sent to Sardinia in 1900, he laboured there untiringly until his death, devoting himself to every work of charity: the training and assistance of the clergy, through the spiritual direction of the Seminary of Sassari and spiritual exercises for seminarians and priests; the preaching of popular missions, extending even to the “stazzi” of Nurra and Gallura, to the mines and construction sites of hydroelectric basins, to prisons, colonies, and penal settlements, while at the same time promoting charitable associations. A bold undertaking of M. was the foundation of the Catholic weekly of Sassari La liberté (13 March 1910). Among his foundations may be recalled: at Sassari, the Institute of the Child Jesus, of Abandoned Chronically Ill Persons, and of the Blind; the girls’ orphanage at Tempio, besides the numerous poorhouses and nurseries established throughout the island at his initiative.
Assisted by Angela Marongiu (1854-1936), he founded (1927) the Institute of the Sisters of Gethsemane, known as the Manzellian Sisters, for the purpose of preparing young women for family life and of instructing children in places most lacking in religious assistance.
In 1941 diocesan informative proceedings were begun for the introduction of the cause of beatification.