SEMERIA, STEFANO. - Missionary, b. 17 Feb. 1813 at La Colla (Ventimiglia), d. at Marseille on 23 Jan. 1868. In 1829 he entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate; having become a priest in 1856, he was first placed in charge of the ministry among the Italians of Marseille, then went as a missionary to Corsica.

In 1847 he was superior of the first mission of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Ceylon, in 1856 titular bishop of Olympia and coadjutor of the apostolic vicar of Jaffna, in 1857 apostolic vicar of Jaffna. In that capacity he attended to the renewal of the Christian communities by means of popular missions. He founded schools, congregations of indigenous sisters and brothers, and prepared the native clergy, thus laying the foundations for the rebirth of Christian life in his vicariate.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: J. Rommerskirchen, Die Oblatenmissionen auf der Insel Ceylon im 19. Jahrh., Hünfeld 1931, pp. 15-98; N. Kowalsky, Mgr. S. O.M.I. zur Frage des einheimischen Klerus, in Neue Zeitschr. für Missionswissens., 7 (1951), pp. 273-81; Notis. nérologiques des membres de la Congrég. des Mission. Oblats de Marie Imm., I, Paris s. a., pp. 469-96.

Giovanni Rommerskirchen

@incollection{ec11_semeria_stefano, author = {Rommerskirchen, Giovanni}, title = {Semeria, stefano}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {277--278}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/semeria-stefano} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Semeria, Stefano

About this entry