SUTTER, FEDELE

SUTTER, FEDELE. - Archbishop, born at Ferrara on 16 March 1796, died there on 30 Aug. 1883. He entered the Capuchin Order on 4 Oct. 1816; he was lector and then provincial minister; in 1843 he was appointed apostolic vicar of Tunisia and in 1844 was elected titular bishop.

Mons. Sutter established the residence of the vicariate, built churches, institutions, hospices for the poor, and hospitals for the sick; he founded schools, bringing in sisters to staff them. He was loved by natives and foreigners, Catholics and Protestants, Turks and Jews; he was awarded honorary titles by the three beys who succeeded one another during S.'s tenure.

When France entered the Tunisian regency, he wished the superior of the mission also to be a Frenchman; therefore S. returned to Rome in Sept. 1881, and Leo XIII, in reward for so many merits, appointed him titular archbishop.

BIBL.: F. Benda-Ricci, In morte di mons. F. S., Ferrara 1883; anon., Onoranze solenni a mons. F. S., ibid. 1883; Clemente da Terzorio, Manuale Hist. Missionum Capuccinarum, Isola Liri 1926, pp. 233-35; id., Le Missioni dei Cappuccini, X. Rome 1938, pp. 612-22; various authors, Lex. Capucc., Rome 1951, col. 1656. Callisto Lopinot
Cite this article

“SUTTER, FEDELE.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI (1953), p. 966. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/sutter-fedele.