Born in Dongo (Como) on December 28, 1823.
Died in South Hu-pe (China) January 8, 1895.
He made his religious profession among the Reformed Minors of the convent of Dongo on 28 December 1847, was ordained a priest in 1850 and left for the Chinese missions in 1858. After an intense work of evangelization, carried out amidst considerable hardships and difficulties, on 25 January 1876 he was elected titular bishop of Tiberius and coadjutor to the apostolic vicar of Hu-nan by Pius IX. Consecrated on May 28, 1876 in Pescian in the church of St. Michael the Archangel built and blessed by himself, on August 12, 1879 he was nominated apostolic vicar of southern Hu-nan, divided on that occasion. He was also an expert draftsman, painter, architect and a tireless worker. In 1891 he resigned his apostolic vicariate and retired to the apostolic vicar of southern Hu-pe. He died consumed by typhoid fever.
After writing his biographical notes in 1883, Don Guanella personally met Msgr. Semprini in the spring of 1888, when the Franciscan bishop, after 32 years of ministry, returned to Dongo and visited the Guanellian houses of Pianello Lario and Como to collect donations for the Chinese missions. On that occasion he accompanied him from Como to Dongo, when the missionary triumphantly returned to his homeland, and from Dongo to Como, upon his return to China. After his resignation from the apostolic vicariate, on 5 February 1894 Msgr. Semprini replied to a letter from Don Guanella giving news of his activities and thanking him for sending the biography of * Caterina Guanella.
Sources
- Hierarchia catholica medii et modernioris aevi, vol. VIII: 1846-1903, edited by Remigium Ritzler and Pirminum Sefrin, Padua, Publisher «Il Messaggero di S. Antonio», 1878, p. 553 (with some incorrect dates).
- Theophanes Cesana, Monsignor Eusebio Semprini. On the Centenary of Episcopal Consecration 1876-1976, Como, Litho-typographic laboratory Casa Divina Provvidenza, [1976], pp. 5-7.
- Marcellino Ripamonti The friendship of Msgr. Eusebio M. Semprini with Blessed Luigi Guanella, in «Notebooks of the Library of the Franciscan Convent of Dongo», September 1995, pp. 18-23.
Guanellian sources
- Louis Guanella An illustrious son of the Christian people. Biographical notes on Br. Eusebio Maria da Dongo bishop in Hu-nan, Milan, Artistic Typography, 1883, in Historical and hagiographic writings. 2 - Hagiographic writings, edited by Bruno Capparoni and Fabrizio Fabrizi, Rome, Centro Studi Guanelliani - Nuove Frontiere Editrice, 1997, pp. 75-108.
- [Louis Guanella], Dear news, in "The Divine Providence", 1894, p. ninety two.
- [Louis Guanella], An illustrious martyr of charity from Dongo, in «The Divine Providence», 1895, pp. 244-245.
- [Louis Guanella], News bulletin, in "The Divine Providence", 1895, p. ninety two.
- Sacra Rituum Congregation, Comen. seu Mediolanen. Beatificationis et canonizationis servi Dei Aloysii Guanella [...]. Positio super virtutibus, Summary, Romae, Typis Guerra et Belli, 1950, p. 274 (witness Monsignor Aurelio Bacciarini).
Image
Provincial Archive of the Friars Minor of Milan (courtesy of Father Abele Calufetti, OFM).
AM Dieguez
Guanellian Encyclopaedia
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