Luis Fernando Castillo Méndez
Luis Fernando Castillo Méndez (born December 4, 1922 in Caracas , † October 29, 2009 in Brasília ) was the Brazilian Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil ( ICAB - Igreja Católica Abostólica Brasileira ).
According to its own information, this church consists of 48 dioceses and is the mother church of the Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic National Churches (ICAN - Igrejas Católicas Apostólicas Nacionais) . According to its own information, the ICAN consists of churches in 14 countries with around 2 to 3 million church members.
Life
Castillo Méndez was born in Caracas. After studying at a Roman Catholic seminary in Caracas, he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest on August 10, 1944 by Bishop Comellas y Santamaría in Solsona , Catalonia , Spain .
After his return from Spain to Venezuela, he became involved in the Curas Criollos movement as a priest in his country . He heard about the Brazilian church reform movement led by Carlos Duarte Costa . Duarte Costa founded the independent Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil in 1945. Castillo Méndez entered into correspondence with Duarte Costa.
In 1947 Castillo Méndez founded the Venezuelan Apostolic Church in Venezuela together with three other Roman Catholic clergy . Like the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil, this church was independent from the Vatican . In this church, Spanish was used in the liturgy instead of Latin , and the clergy of the church were allowed to marry.
In this church schism, the Venezuelan interior minister sided with the Roman Catholic bishop in Caracas and forbade Méndez to appear in the country with the insignia of the Roman Catholic Church. Castillo Méndez and his supporters of the newly founded church, however, received support in the country in 1947 from the social democratic party Acción Democrática and communist parties. On March 8, 1947, Méndez was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church along with three other clergy .
On May 3, 1948, Castillo Méndez met Carlos Duarte Costa in the Panama Canal Zone . Duarte Costa ordained Castillo Méndez as Bishop of Caracas and Primate of Venezuela. The ordination of Castillo Méndez led the Venezuelan government to ban Castillo Méndez from entering Venezuela. Castillo Méndez traveled to Brazil, where he lived in the 1950s. He became a bishop in the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil in the state of Minas Gerais . In 1957 he moved to Rio de Janeiro , where he served as auxiliary bishop . He then became bishop in the state of Goiás . In 1961 he obtained the Brazilian citizenship. When Duarte Costa died in 1961, Castillo Méndez became the next patriarch after several years of internal church crisis at the head. Castillo Méndez died on October 29, 2009, probably in Brasilia.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tiosam: Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez
- ↑ Venezuelan Schism Hit: Archbishop Declares Excommunication of 4 Priests in Move , In: The New York Times , March 9, 1947, page 5 ( archive version with subscription access; online ).
- ↑ El Ucabista, 1998, page 36: "Donis, Manuel." Yépez Castillo: un historiador didáctico " , accessed on May 8, 2016
- ↑ "Patriarch Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez" on the CANC-UK website ( Memento from May 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Peter Anson: Bishops At Large . Faber & Faber, London 1964, pp. 534-535.
- ↑ Dom Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez (1922-2009) , accessed May 8, 2016
- ↑ Most Illustrious & Most Reverend Dom Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez. 4th December 1922 - 29th October 2009 ( memento of June 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 8, 2016
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Castillo Méndez, Luis Fernando |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Brazilian clergyman, Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th December 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Caracas |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 29, 2009 |
| Place of death | Brasília |