Fra' Orazio from Pennabilli

The man the Tibetans called "Lama White Head"

Francesco Orazio Olivieri was born in Pennabilli (in the province of Pesaro Urbino, Italy) in 1680 from a noble family. At the age of 20 he embraced the Franciscan rule and entered the monastery of the Capuchin fathers in Pietrarubbia.

In 1712 he leaves as a missionary for Tibet with five Capuchin friars. He gets there in 1716 after an extremely hard journey crossing oceans and climbing the highest mountains of the planet. He was one of the first Europeans who entered the realm of snow, closed and unknown to the rest of the world.

He studies the language and the ancient Tibetan religion, guided by a Lama, that is a cultivated monk.
He translates many holy books from Tibetan and writes an Italian-Tibetan and Tibetan-Italian dictionary of more than thirty thousand words, the first one in an occidental language. He and his Capuchin friars help the Tibetans using occidental medicine, discuss with the most cultivated monks and explain them their faith.

The VII Dalai Lama, as a sign of great appreciation, gives the Capuchins the authorization firstly to buy a piece of land and to build a monastery in Lhasa and then to preach Christianity and to make proselytes. The Tibetan people considers Fra Orazio a saint man, calls him ‘Lama’ and recognizes him for his demeanour and for his white hair: in the streets of Lhasa and in the official documents he is called ‘Lama White Head’.

Fra Orazio remains in Tibet to 1732, when, to meet the needs of the mission he personally comes back to Rome to ask for support to the Holy Congregation of Propaganda Fide.

He leaves again to Tibet with men and means and arrives in Lhasa in January 1741. He has brought with him some Tibetan types to start and publish the Bible and other Christian works.

Soon a little Tibetan Christian community is formed, but the Capuchin proselytism becomes a concern for the Tibetan monks who fear to lose their influence on the people, necessary to assure the stability of the Tibetan society.

Thus, when the members of the new Christian community refuse their corvée to the Tibetan monasteries, work to which they were due according to their ancient tradition, they are strictly punished. Fra Orazio, that had a strong influence on the religious and civil authorities tries to re-establish a dialogue, but when he realizes that the mission has no future, he decides to leave the monastery, and in 1745 Lhasa is abandoned.

Fra Orazio, already weak, gets to Nepal almost dying. At first he seems to recover, but when he is told about the destruction of the monastery in Lhasa, the project of his life, he gives up: he dies in Nepal at the age of 65, 33 of them spent for the Tibetan mission.

HOMEPAGE