VISTARINI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. - Missionary, born at Lodi on 16 Sept. 1814, died at Negombo on 19 March 1895. He was ordained priest in 1840. During the first years of his priesthood he was domestic chaplain in the hospitals of the Fatebenefratelli at Lodi, Milan, and Venice.
During his novitiate for entry into the Order, stricken by a mortal illness, he vowed to devote himself to the Foreign Missions. Having recovered, he placed himself at the disposal of Propaganda and was sent in May 1846 to Ceylon as an apostolic missionary. Landing at Galle on 7 Dec. 1846, he went to the region of Jaffna under the pro-vicar Msgr. Orazio Bettacchini. Until 1857 he worked in various places and was prison chaplain at Negombo; then, from 1857 to 1895, he served in the parish of S. Maria, on Grand Street in Negombo. During an epidemic of cholera he undertook the ministry to the sick, although he was lame and walking greatly fatigued him. In their gratitude, the people called him Sammanasu swami—“angel priest.” He died with a reputation for sanctity.