Venerable Ghébrē Michele

Ghébrē-Michael, CM (1791 - 30 July 1855) was a priest of the Ethiopian Catholic Church and postulant from the Congregation of the Mission. Born in 1791, he became a monk in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in 1813 and later met Giustino de Jacobis on a pilgrimage. Jacobis would later receive Ghébrē-Michael into the Catholic Church and ordained him as a priest. After the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria appointed a new Miaphysite Abuna (bishop) for the whole Ethiopian Orthodox Church - the new Abuna took an intense disliking of Ghébrē-Michael and set out to eliminate both him and his patron de Jacobis. After the accession of Tewodros II as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1855, Ghébrē-Michael was imprisoned, tortured for refusing to renounce Catholicism or the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon, and later died in prison due to ill treatment. Ghébrē-Michael was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1926. Ghébrē-Michael was born in Ethiopia in Dibo in 1791. He was part of one of the three Ethiopian religious sects called the Kevats. He was educated in Dibo then aged twelve began his high school studies in one of the monastic schools where he was known for his shrewd manner of learning. In his childhood he lost one eye in an accident that in his culture would have rendered him unfit for most forms of work. He received an education and then began his studies in one of the monasteries where he became a gifted student. He became professed as a monk in 1813. He had not prepared for ordination in the Coptic Orthodox Church and since monks did not become priests but he became fascinated instead with declining standards in monasteries and set out to find out what the causes were. His superiors helped facilitate his research and he was also allowed to travel across the nation visiting these monasteries and doing further research in their libraries. He also decided that these matters required further research and so decided to go to Jerusalem for additional studies.