Leo Peter Kierkels (1882–1957) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

Biography

Kierkels was born in

Baexem Baexem ( li, Boaksum/Boakse) is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is a part of the municipality of Leudal, and lies about 9 kilometres northwest of Roermond. History The village was first mentioned in 1244 as Baxen, and means "sett ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 12 December 1882. He was ordained a priest of the

Congregation of the Passion The Passionists, officially named Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (), abbreviated CP, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720 with a special emphasis on and de ...

on 22 December 1906. He was appointed Apostolic Delegate to India and

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Salamis on 23 March 1931. On 26 April 1931, he was ordained a bishop by

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Willem Marinus van Rossum Willem Marinus van Rossum, C.Ss.R. (3 September 1854 – 30 August 1932) was a Dutch prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a cardinal in 1911, led the Apostolic Penitentiary from 1915 to 1918, and served as Prefect of the Congr ...

, while the co-consecrators were Archbishop

Pietro Pisani Pietro Pisani (1871–1960) was a Catholic archbishop and diplomat of the Holy See. Biography Pisani was born in Vercelli in Italy on 15 July 1871. He was appointed Apostolic Delegate to India and Titular Archbishop of Constantia in Scythia on 1 ...

, who had himself been the Apostolic Delegate to India from 1919 to 1924, and Bishop Giovanni Battista Peruzzo. On 1 July 1948, he was elevated to the Apostolic Internunciature to India. He resigned as Apostolic Internuncio on 29 June 1952, having served as the papal representative to India for 21 years. Kierkerls died on 7 November 1957.

External links

catholic-hierarchy.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kierkels, Leo Peter Apostolic Nuncios to India 1882 births 1957 deaths