02/03/2026
The 200th anniversary of the birth of Blessed John Mazzucconi. The first martyr of PIME Missionaries - March 1, 1826 - March 1, 2026
Mazzucconi was born on March 1, 1826 at Rancio di Lecco in the diocese of Milan, Italy. Ordained a priest in 1850, he was one of the first members of the Seminary for the Foreign Missions, which was established that same year and which was to become known as Pime, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. He left for Oceania (now called Papua New Guinea) with the first missionary expedition of the new Institute. Assigned to the mission of Rook (present Umboi in the Diocese of Alotao), he encountered strong opposition to the message of the Gospel, especially on the part of certain members of the population. He was killed for the faith on the island of Woodlark in September, 1855, and beatified by John Paul II on February 19, 1984.
From his letter before his last journey:
"Tomorrow I will embark and Saturday, the day after tomorrow, I will already be on the high seas on my way to Woodlark. This year, when I sailing to Sydney, on Wednesday of Holy Week, we were overtaken by a hurricane that ripped our sails and snapped our ropes and the top half of a mast. It then drove us hither and thither all over the sea without direction and with little hope, for four days, until the Easter sun shone again like some new thing above us, and we were truly like people raised from the dead.
Well, that God who saved me then will be with me again in this journey, and if I do not abandon him, He will be with me always, and while He is with me everything that can happen to me will always be a grace, a blessing for which I should thank Him. If in danger He wants to withdraw, or pretends to be asleep on the bow of the ship, like the Apostle, I will go to wake him and let him see my danger. And then if he does not want to listen, I will say: Lord, command me to come to you, and my soul will walk on the waters, it will go to his feet and be content forever.
I do not know what He is preparing for me in the journey I begin tomorrow. I know one thing only, if He is good and loves me immensely, everything else: calm or storm, danger or safety, life or death, are merely changeable and passing expressions of the beloved immutable, eternal Love. Yes, my beloved brethren, we have another country, another home, a kingdom where we must all meet, where there will no longer be separations or departures, where past sorrows and danger will merely serve to increase our consolation and glory."
Blessed John Mazzucconi,
Pray for us
