Cesare Bonizzi

{{Short description|Italian Capuchin friar and musical artist (1946–2024)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| honorific_prefix = The Reverend

| name = Cesare Bonizzi

| honorific_suffix = OFM Cap.

| image = Frate Cesare Bonizzi MEI 2008 (3x4 cropped).jpg

| caption = Bonizzi in 2008

| birth_name =

| alias = Frate Cesare
Fratello Metallo

| birth_date = {{birth date|1946|03|15|df=y}}

| birth_place = Offanengo, Cremona, Italy

| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|11|19|1946|03|15|df=y}}

| death_place =

| genre = Heavy metal, hard rock, Christian metal

| occupation = Friar and religious priest, musician, singer-songwriter

| instrument = Vocals

| years_active = 1990–2009

| label =

| associated_acts = Metalluminium, Fratello Metallo

| website = [http://www.fratecesare.com FrateCesare.com]

}}

Cesare Bonizzi, OFM Cap. (15 March 1946 – 19 November 2024), also known as "Frate Cesare" and colloquially as "Fratello Metallo" ("Brother Metal"),{{efn|"Fratello Metallo" is the name that Frate Cesare gave to heavy metal, not to himself, but he came to be referred to by that name.}} was an Italian Capuchin friar and heavy metal singer.

Biography

Bonizzi was born in Offanengo, in the Province of Cremona, Italy. He entered the Capuchin Order in 1975, and subsequently carried out missionary work in the Ivory Coast. After returning to Italy he was ordained a priest in 1983.{{cite web | url = http://iber-press.com/photo.php?parole=worker&nfoto=1 | title = Padre Cesare, The Capuchin Missionary Who Plays Metal Music | work = IberPress | date = 18 June 2008 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080813164450/http://iber-press.com/photo.php?parole=worker&nfoto=1 | archivedate = 13 August 2008}} From 1990 on he was interested in using music as a means of contemplation and spiritual devotion, and he released numerous albums in various styles from new age to rock. After seeing Metallica in concert, however, he became passionate about heavy metal as a musical vehicle. According to him, "Metal is the most energetic, vital, deep and true musical language that I know."{{cite web | url = http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/emilia-romagna/friar-open-heavy-metal-concert | title = Friar to open heavy metal concert | publisher = ItalyMag.co.uk | date = 26 June 2008 | access-date = 17 July 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090524045835/http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/emilia-romagna/friar-open-heavy-metal-concert | archive-date = 24 May 2009 | url-status = dead }} At the time of his death in 2024 he lived in the convent of Frati Minori di Bergamo. In late 2009, he announced that he would no longer perform, because "The devil has separated me from my managers, risked making me break up with my band colleagues and also risked making me break up with my fellow monks. He lifted me up to the point where I become a celebrity and now I want to kill him."{{cite news | url = http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/13/2742733.htm | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120630025645/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/13/2742733.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 30 June 2012 | title = Heavy metal monk hangs up his mic | agency = Reuters | work = ABC Online | date = 13 November 2009}}

Bonizzi died on 19 November 2024, at the age of 78.{{cite news |title=E’ morto Frate Metallo, il religioso con la passione del Metal |url=https://cremonasera.it/cronaca/e-morto-frate-metallo-il-religioso-con-la-passione-del-metal |access-date=19 November 2024 |publisher=Cremona Sera |date=19 November 2024}}

Music

Although Bonizzi's full transformation to heavy metal is only found on Fratello Metallo's 2008 release Misteri, Bonizzi recorded numerous albums in various musical genres. With his new style of music, which he termed "Metrock" as a combination of metal and rock, he was the opening act at 2008's Gods of Metal, Italy's largest heavy metal festival. Bonizzi performed in full Franciscan habit.{{cn|date=November 2020}}