Yesterday afternoon, His Excellency Mons. Carmelo Cassati, Emeritus Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie, after a long illness, at the age of 93, passed away to the Father’s House. In the morning his condition worsened so that he went into a coma. At this news Mons. Giovan Battista Pichierri sent a message to the whole Archdiocese inviting it to join in prayer. Subsequently, Mons. Pichierri, after learning the news of Mons. Carmelo Cassati’s death, invited everyone to keep alive “the memory of the Pastor who went back to the Father through his example, his teaching and in prayer.”
Tomorrow at 9.00 am, the body will be placed in the burial chamber of the Hospice of Tricase where he stayed. The funeral will take place on Monday, February 6, at 16:00, in the Mother Church of Tricase. It will be attended by a large delegation of the diocese (priests, deacons, women and men religious, lay people) led by Archbishop Mons. Giovan Battista Pichierri.
Mons. Carmelo Cassati was born in Tricase, in the Diocese of Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca, on April 6, 1924. On December 17, 1949 he was ordained a priest in the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
In 1950 and 1951 he came as a missionary to Brazil. At the end of 1951 he moved to Peru as Secretary of the Apostolic Nuncio of Peru, Mons. Giovanni Panico. Cassati followed him to Lima, Ottawa, Lisbon. After Mons. Panico became a Cardinal, Father Cassati moved to Italy.
After the sudden death of Cardinal.Panic, he became executor of the prelate, and carried out the construction of a hospital in Tricase.
In 1967 he returned to Brazil. In 1970 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Nova Germania. On June 28, 1970 he was ordained Bishop in Tricase
On 26 August 1975 he succeeded His Excellency Mons. Alfonso Ungarelli, in the government of the Prelature of Pinheiro (Brazil) that then became a Diocese on February 12, 1979; for health reasons, he was transferred to Tricase
On December 7, 1985 he was transferred to Lucera and San Severo. So, in the revision of the dioceses, on September 30, 1986, he opted for San Severo.
He moved to the Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie on December 15, 1990, and began his episcopal service on February 23, 1991. Since November 13, 1999 he was Archbishop Emeritus of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie. He was succeeded by His Excellency Mons. Giovan Battista Pichierri.
He settled in Tricase and, since then, some priests and lay people of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie often came to visit him. On the occasion of his 90th birthday, in March 2014, there was a choral participation of the Diocese
Arcidiocesi di Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie
