Dom Matheus de Castro ( 1594–1679) was a native of

Divar The island of Divar (formerly ''Piedade'') ( knn, Divaddi, pronounced ) (derived from the word ''Dipavati'' or 'small Island' in Konkani) lies in the Mandovi river in the Indian state of Goa. It is one of the of 6 major islands within the M ...

, Goa,

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

. He was the first Indian Bishop of the Catholic Church. Consecrated Bishop of Chrysopolis in Rome by 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 ...

and appointed Vicar Apostolic to the Kingdoms of

Bijapur Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...

Golconda Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparu ...

Abyssinia The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...

and

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

Biography

In 1625, Matheus de Castro ventured to Rome in the company of some

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

priests he had befriended and was introduced to

Francesco Ingoli Francesco Ingoli (21 November 1578 – 24 April 1649) was an Italian Catholic priest, lawyer and professor of civil and canon law. Early life Born in Ravenna Italy, Ingoli learned a number of languages, including Arabic, and graduated from t ...

, the dynamic secretary of the newly established

Propaganda Fide Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

. On interviewing Castro, Ingoli recommended his admission to the

Collegio Urbano The Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide () was established in 1627 for the purpose of training missionaries to spread Catholicism around the world (the Latin term "''de propaganda fide''" means “for the propagation of the faith”). ...

in Rome to study for the priesthood. After being ordained a priest in 1630, Castro pursued studies for a doctorate in theology, impressing his superiors with his abilities. He was appointed

Protonotary Apostolic In the Roman Catholic Church, protonotary apostolic (PA; Latin: ''protonotarius apostolicus'') is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia or, outside Rome, an honorary prelate on whom the pop ...

in 1633 and Bishop in 1635. Bishop de Castro was held in great esteem at the courts of the Moghul Emperor

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

and other rulers of India, including those of

ruled by the

Qutb Shahi dynasty The Qutb Shahi dynasty also called as Golconda Sultanate (Persian: ''Qutb Shāhiyān'' or ''Sultanat-e Golkonde'') was a Persianate Shia Islam dynasty of Turkoman origin that ruled the sultanate of Golkonda in southern India. After the coll ...

and the Kingdom of

which belonged to the

Adil Shahi dynasty The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi, was a Shia,Salma Ahmed Farooqui, ''A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century'', (Dorling Kindersley Pvt Ltd., 2011), 174. and later Sunni Muslim,Muhammad Qasim Firishta's ...

, which ruled Goa prior to the Portuguese.Storia de Mogor by Niccolao Munucci

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Matheus De 1594 births 1677 deaths Portuguese people of Goan descent 17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in India Goan Catholics