VISITARINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. – Missionary, born at Lodi on 16 Sept. 1814, died at Negombo on 19 March 1895. He was ordained priest in 1840. In the early years of his priesthood he served as domestic chaplain in the Fatebenefratelli hospitals at Lodi, Milan, and Venice.
During his novitiate to enter the Order, stricken by a mortal illness, he made a vow to consecrate himself to the Foreign Missions. Recovered, he placed himself at the disposal of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and was sent in May 1846 to Ceylon as an apostolic missionary. Having arrived at Galle on 7 Dec. 1846, he went to the region of Jaffna under the provincial, Msgr. Orazio Bettacchini. Until 1857 he worked in various places and served as chaplain to the prisons at Negombo; then from 1857 to 1895 he was in charge of the parish of St Mary in Grand Street, Negombo. During a cholera epidemic he took charge of the ministry to the sick, despite being lame and greatly fatigued by walking. In gratitude the people called him Sammanasu swami = angel priest =. He died in a reputation for holiness.