Francesco Degli Angeli (or Angelis) (

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

, 1567 – Colela, Ethiopia, 21 October 1628) was an Italian

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary to Ethiopia.

Life

He entered the Society of Jesus in 1583. After two years (1602–04) spent in the mission of the Indies, he travelled to Ethiopia, where they called him "the man who was always cheerful". Angeli stood high in the favour of two successive Kings of Ethiopia. He made converts, among them the brother of the King and lords of the court, but did not succeed bringing about the reunion of the Abyssinian Church with the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, because of opposition from Ethiopian monks. For five years Angeli preached the Gospel among the Agazi where he founded a church and school.

Works

He translated many religious works into the language of the Agazi. The most important of them was the commentary of Maldonatus on the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

and

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

References

;Attribution The entry cites: *

Giulio Cesare Cordara Giulio Cesare Cordara, born on 16 December 1704 and dead on 6 March 1785, was an Italian Jesuit priest, historian and littérateur. Biography and works He was born at Calamandrana in Piedmont, the scion of an illustrious and ancient family tha ...

, ''History of the Society of Jesus'', par. VIa, lib. IV, no. 106, 164; lib IV, no. 126, 207, lib. VII, no. 165, 390; *Saverio Santagata, Istor. della Provincia di Napoli, III, 66, 190, 216, 477; IV, 95, 277; *

Nathanael Southwell Nathaniel Bacon (14 August 15982 December 1676), better known under the assumed name of Southwell (Sotwel, or Sotvellus in Latin), which he took in honor of the Jesuit poet-martyr, Robert Southwell, was an English Jesuit who served in Rome fro ...

, Bibl., 212; *

Sommervogel Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclo ...

, I, 386. {{DEFAULTSORT:Angeli, Francesco degli 1567 births 1628 deaths 16th-century Italian Jesuits Italian Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Ethiopia Italian expatriates in Ethiopia Jesuit missionaries