Born in Cologna Veneta (Verona) on November 23, 1858.
Died in Omdurman (Sudan) on May 2, 1902.
After completing his studies in the seminary of Vicenza, he was ordained a priest on 29 March 1884. He entered the Comboni missionaries the following December, in 1886 he made his religious profession and left as a missionary in Africa. Until 1889 he was spiritual director of the missionaries in Cairo, then superior of the same mission. On 8 February 1895 he was appointed titular bishop of Amastri and apostolic vicar of central Africa or Sudan. Between 1895 and 1896 he erected a church, residence and school in Aswan. With the donations collected during his trip to Europe in 1899, he was able to purchase a steamboat, the Redemptor, with which to enter the African continent. He died of a violent fever while crossing the desert by rail on his way to Cairo.
Monsignor Roveggio visited the *Casa Divina Provvidenza in Como on 9 May 1899 before returning to Sudan, «a few steps from the equatorial line, to rescue those miserable inhabitants from the ferocity and greed of the Arab slave traders». In his special speech, the Comboni bishop asked Don Guanella for his collaboration in finding material and spiritual help and in bringing together those who felt called to the mission: clerics, nuns, students, artisans.
Sources
- Hierarchia catholica medii et modernioris aevi, vol. VIII: 1846-1903, edited by Remigium Ritzler and Pirminum Sefrin, Padua, Editrice «Il Messaggero di S. Antonio», 1878, p. 93.
- Archbishop AM Roveggio, in «Pro Familia», 1902, vol. I, p. 319.
Guanellian sources
- Visit of Msgr. Antonio M. Roveggio to our house, in «The Divine Providence», 1899, pp. 41-43.
Photography
«Pro Familia», 1902, I, p. 319.
AM Dieguez
Guanellian Encyclopaedia
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