Luis Fernando Castillo Méndez (December 4, 1922 - October 29, 2009) was a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Independent Catholic Independent Catholicism is an independent sacramental movement of clergy and laity who self-identify as Catholic (most often as Old Catholic or as Independent Catholic) and form "micro-churches claiming apostolic succession and valid sacrament ...

priest who rose to the leadership of the

Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church , image =Emblema da Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira.png , imagewidth = , caption =Emblem of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church , main_classification = Western Christian , orientation =Independent Catholic , polity = Episcopa ...

(ICAB). Castillo Méndez was arguably the second or third '

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

' of ICAB and its 48

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

s, though none of his predecessors used that title. He was also the nominal head of the ''Iglesias Catolicas Apostolicas Nacionales'' (ICAN) and the

Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic National Churches The Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic Churches (WCCAC; es, Comunión de Iglesias Católicas Apostólicas Mundiales, CICAM) was a communion of independent Catholic churches connected to the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (ICAB). The ...

(WCCAC), which were attempts to form an international association of

churches. Although he had little formal education, Castillo Méndez contrived to be ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

on August 10, 1944, though he was immediately censured and was at no point recognized as a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Jarvis, Edward, ''God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB,'' Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, pp 98-103 On March 8, 1947, Castillo Méndez became the founder of the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church The Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church (ICAV - ''Iglesia Católica Apostólica Venezolana'') was a short-lived politically inspired independent Catholic church in Venezuela. It was revived in the twenty-first century after a hiatus of over fift ...

'' (ICAV - ''Iglesia Católica Apostólica Venezolana''). Castillo Méndez was subsequently

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

by 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 ...

. On May 3, 1948 he was consecrated a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and Patriarch for the

by the bishop

Carlos Duarte Costa Carlos Duarte Costa (July 21, 1888 – March 26, 1961) was a Brazilian Catholic bishop who became the founder of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, an independent Catholic church, and its international communion, which long after his ...

(excommunicated former Roman Catholic bishop of Botucatu, Brazil) in the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...

. Castillo Méndez later succeeded Duarte Costa and became the President of the Episcopal Council of ICAB in 1982. He died on October 29, 2009. He was the first and last Patriarch of ICAN.

Biography

Early life and ministry

Luis Fernando Castillo Méndez was born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

on December 4, 1922 and baptized on December 22 in the Parish of Saint John the Baptist. His parents were Castillo Lopéz and Carmen Méndez and had five siblings: Ramón, Domingo, Cecilia, José de Jesús and Antonio Obdulio. He was twice expelled from

seminaries, each after only one term, was subsequently jailed in 1938 for impersonating a priest, and was suspected of having a pathological fixation with the priesthood. He later made his way to Spain, where he presented fabricated documents apparently entitling him to be ordained priest, and on August 10, 1944, Bishop Valentín Comellas y Santamaría of Solsona

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

him to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Santa Maria. The

authorities immediately rejected his claim to the priesthood, and after being detained by the police he agreed to leave the country. Upon returning to Venezuela, at a time of massive upheaval in the country, Castillo Méndez claimed to have been involved in a movement called the ''Curas Criollos'' ("Native Priests" or literally " Creole Priests"). Having learned through periodicals about the church reform movement led by the left-wing government critic and Vatican critic Dom

(former Roman Catholic bishop of Botucatu) in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and the founder of the ''Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church'' (separated from the

and the Roman Catholic Church) in 1945, Castillo Méndez entered into correspondence with Duarte Costa. Meanwhile, as the

Roman Catholic Church 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 ...

sought to affirm its place in society with the foundation of a new Christian Social political party, anticlerical forces from the Democratic Action and

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

parties saw it as in their interests to encourage the young 'rebel' priest, in order to discredit and disrupt the Catholic Church's plans.

Foundation of the Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church

Consequently, in 1947 Castillo Méndez and three other clergy formally established the "Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic Church". Like the Brazilian Catholic church led by its first Bishop, Dom Carlos Duarte Costa, the Venezuelan church was to be independent of the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

, would use

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

instead of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

in the liturgy, and would permit its clergy to marry. Castillo Méndez officially registered the new church with the Interior Ministry in early 1947, with signed affidavits from 250 fellow priests who had unanimously elected him Bishop of Caracas. The Minister of Interior immediately ordered the federal police to ensure that Castillo Méndez did not wear the

vestments Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this w ...

or insignia of the office of a bishop."Venezuelan Schism Hit: Archbishop Declares Excommunication of 4 Priests in Move", The New York Times, March 9, 1947, p. 5 The new church did receive public approval from the Democratic Action and

parties.Donis, Manuel. "Yépez Castillo: un historiador didáctico", ''El Ucabista'', December 1998, p. 36
On March 8, 1947 Castillo Méndez and the other three founders of the Venezuelan independent church were formally

from the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic archbishop, Lucas Guillermo Castillo, stated in the excommunication directive that the four priests had ''"violated fundamental dogma of the Roman Catholic Church and held concepts blasphemous, as well as several which are offensive to the person and authority of the Roman Pope Pius XII."'' The notice further stated that any Catholics who supported this new church would also be excommunicated.

Entry into the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church

In 1947 Castillo Méndez was serving as pastor of St. Teresa's (National Catholic, not Roman Catholic) parish in Caracas. Having been elected leader by his fellow priests in the nascent national church, he sought to go to Brazil to receive

episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

consecration Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

from Duarte Costa. However, the Venezuelan government did not consent to this trip, nor would it allow Duarte Costa to enter Venezuela. In the end, Castillo Méndez and Carlos Duarte Costa made arrangements to meet in the

, a territory under the jurisdiction of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, which did not have formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican at that time. On May 3, 1948, Costa consecrated Castillo Méndez as a bishop, with the title of Bishop of Caracas and

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

of Venezuela. With an abrupt change of government, Castillo Méndez fled to Brazil on June 21, 1950, where he was installed by Duarte Costa as parish vicar and diocesan bishop of Uberlandia in the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

. In 1957 he was moved to Rio de Janeiro where he served as auxiliary bishop. He was reassigned to Brasília in 1960 where he served as diocesan bishop of the state of Goias. It is worth noting that the erection of the Diocese of Brasília predated that of the Roman Catholic archdiocese by five years, as a result of which the Roman Catholic hierarchy were forced to recognize, and never able to challenge, the title of Bishop of Brasília."Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez" in ''Encyclopedia Tiosam''
/ref> In 1961 he acquired Brazilian citizenship.

Primacy

Upon Bishop Duarte Costa's death in 1961, leadership of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church was apparently in a flux for several years, with several individuals leading or claiming to lead the church, often for very brief periods of time. Antidio Jose Vargas initially took over as General Supervisor, followed by Pedro dos Santos Silva as first President of the Episcopal Council, and

Luigi Mascolo Luigi Mascolo (born January 7, 1927), was an Italian former Catholic priest who converted to and became a bishop of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (ICAB), an independent Catholic Church in Brazil. Biography Mascolo was born in Irsina, It ...

in the 1970's. By 1982 Castillo Mendez was undisputed leader, elected that year as president of the Episcopal Council of ICAB. In 1988 he was officially designated as the "Patriarch of ICAB", and in 1990 he was given the title of "Patriarch of ICAN (union of National Catholic Apostolic Churches)", which then became the WCCAC, the church's international communion, a position which he held until his death in 2009. It is sometimes said that Castillo Mendez used the Tridentine

Pontifical A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...

in the vernacular for all episcopal consecrations, but this is disputed: under Castillo Mendez's leadership, and previously, ICAB's rites were often amended or reformed; furthermore, the Tridentine rite in an unauthorised vernacular form could no longer be considered the Tridentine rite. Like the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

and other Christian churches, he denied

papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks ''ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the aposto ...

and did not support obligatory

priestly celibacy Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because thes ...

. Castillo Mendez acquired a

Papal blessing The apostolic blessing or papal blessing is a blessing imparted by the pope, either directly or by delegation through others. Bishops are empowered to grant it three times a year and any priest can do so for the dying. The apostolic blessing is not ...

by Pope John Paul II, such as may be requested by any individual for a donation.

Personal life

Despite the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church allowing priests and the clergy to marry, Castillo Méndez never married. He was said to recite the

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

several times every day; a practice that was abolished by the Church under Duarte Costa. Castillo Méndez wore the Church's gray cassock with red piping but after his designation as, Patriarch of ICAB, he began wearing an off-white cassock and

zucchetto The zucchetto (, also ,"zucchetto"
(US) and ,

Death

On the morning of October 29, 2009, Castillo Mendez suffered a severe

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

. He was rushed to the hospital and lost consciousness; he was declared dead at approximately 9:00 am, at the age of 86, in Brasilia,

. He was the last living bishop consecrated by Carlos Duarte Costa. His

Funeral Mass A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

took place at the ''Cathedral of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal'' in Brasilia, where his body was laid to rest; attending were the Presiding Bishop of ICAB Josivaldo Perreira de Oliveira and bishops of the Episcopal Council and a large gathering of clergy and families.

Note on his name

As a native of Venezuela, Castillo Méndez's family name (patronym) is "Castillo", with "Méndez" being his mother's family name. In Spanish-speaking countries, people normally have two

surnames In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...

. One is inherited from the father, the other from the mother. The father's surname is written before the mother's surname and, when addressing a person formally, one usually uses the father's surname (e.g. "Señor Castillo"). ''(See article

Spanish naming customs Spanish names are the traditional way of identifying, and the official way of registering, a person in Spain. They comprise a given name (simple or composite) and two surnames (the first surname of each parent). Traditionally, the first surname ...

)'' However, as an immigrant to Brazil, where the

custom Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to: Traditions, laws, and religion * Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom * Norm (social), a r ...

is to place the father's surname in the final position, Castillo Méndez was normally addressed as "Méndez", even though this is technically his mother's surname. Another Brazilian custom is to address bishops and high-ranking church officials with the honorific title of "Dom" followed by the individual's first name. Thus Castillo Méndez was often addressed as "Dom Luis".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Luis 1922 births 2009 deaths People from Caracas Brazilian people of Venezuelan descent Venezuelan Christians Venezuelan Roman Catholic priests People excommunicated by the Catholic Church Primates of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church Independent Catholic patriarchs People with acquired Brazilian citizenship Naturalized citizens of Brazil 20th-century Roman Catholic priests