MAZZUCCONI, GIOVANNI. - Missionary in Melanesia and Micronesia, b. at Rancio (Lecco) in 1826, killed by savages on the island of Woodlark in 1855. A priest in 1850, he was one of the very first pupils of the nascent Institute of Foreign Missions of Milan, for which, together with his colleagues, he drafted the first outline of rules and composed the first prayers.

Having set out for Oceania in March 1852, he carried on his missionary activity on the island of Rook, off New Guinea, for three years. Having fallen ill and being forced to seek treatment in Sydney, during the long voyage he studied a good number of the islands of the archipelago, filling a notebook with notes, which, unfortunately, was lost with him on the return voyage to his island. When the schooner on which he was traveling was dashed onto a coral bank at the island of Woodlark, it was attacked by savages, who massacred the entire crew, beginning with the missionary. A candid and delicate soul, he was regarded as a martyr no less than the bl. Chanel, to whom he was likened by the Marist fathers, witnesses of his virtues.

Bibliography

BIBL.: G. Scurati, Cenni del sac. G. M., missionario apostolico nella Malesia, morto per la fede il sett. 1855, Milano 1857, p. 295.

Giovanni B. Tragella

@incollection{ec8_mazzucconi_giovanni, author = {Tragella, Giovanni Battista}, title = {Mazzucconi, giovanni}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {540}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/mazzucconi-giovanni} }

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Mazzucconi, Giovanni

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