Ghebre-Michael

Deeply troubled by the theological divisions and spiritual decadence he observed within the monasteries of his country, Ghebre-Michael undertook, between 1814 and 1825, a long study pilgrimage throughout Ethiopia and Eritrea. He studied tirelessly the Scriptures, the writings of the Church Fathers, and the decrees of the first ecumenical councils, seeking to rediscover the truth of the original Christian faith. In 1841, he was part of an official delegation sent to Cairo to the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria, accompanied by Father Justin de Jacobis, a Lazarist missionary. Ghebre-Michael insisted on visiting Rome to greet Pope Gregory XVI in 1842. Deeply moved by the holiness of Justin de Jacobis, he abjured the schism in 1844 and was received into the full communion of the Catholic Church. He collaborated actively in the missionary work, translated a catechism and a treatise on moral theology into Amharic, and taught at the seminaries of Guala and Alitena. On January 1, 1851, he was ordained a priest in secret by Justin de Jacobis and was admitted as a postulant among the Lazarists.

In 1854, the accession of Emperor Tewodros II triggered a violent persecution against Catholics. Refusing to flee, Ghebre-Michael was arrested in July 1854. For thirteen months, he endured horrific torture in prison (flogging, extreme deprivation, heavy chains) to force him to renounce Catholicism and the Council of Chalcedon, but he remained steadfast. Brought before a public tribunal presided over by the Emperor in the presence of the British consul Walter Plowden, he refused to abjure. Sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment thanks to the consul's intervention, but he was kept in irons and forced to follow the imperial army's forced marches on foot.

Exhausted by mistreatment, hunger, thirst, and stricken by illness, Ghebre-Michael died a martyr on August 28, 1855, in Liguama, in the province of Wollo. His companions buried him respectfully by the side of the road under a tree, but his grave remained anonymous. The reputation of his holiness spread rapidly. The informative process for his cause of beatification opened in Ethiopia in 1904 and in Eritrea in 1909. Pope Pius XI solemnly proclaimed his beatification on October 31, 1926, in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Blessed Ghebre-Michael is considered a model of passionate search for theological truth and unwavering attachment to the unity of the Church. His spirituality is marked by a rigorous study of the Scriptures and absolute fidelity to the Roman Magisterium. Although he was only a postulant with the Lazarists at the time of his arrest, Saint Justin de Jacobis always considered him a true member of the Congregation of the Mission. He is today venerated as the patron of diocesan priests in Ethiopia, and his testimony remains a source of inspiration for ecumenical dialogue.