Ignaci Siluvai (or ''Ignatius Siluvai'', also ''Siluvai Ignaci'') is an Indian priest and educator who established the Father Sebastian Educational and Charitable Trust and founded the

Pastor Lenssen Polytechnic College Ignaci Siluvai (or ''Ignatius Siluvai'', also ''Siluvai Ignaci'') is an Indian priest and educator who established the Father Sebastian Educational and Charitable Trust and founded the Pastor Lenssen Polytechnic College (PLPC). Early life and ...

(PLPC).

Early life and background

Ignaci Siluvai was born in

Kuthenkully Kuthenkuzhi ( ta, கூத்தன்குழி, ''Kūttaṉkuḻi'') is a village in Tamil Nadu, India. It is in the Radhapuram taluk of Tirunelveli district. It gets its name from the Tamil word for Nataraja, ( ''Kūttaṉ''). After the ...

of the diocese of Tuticorin, in the civil district of Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India on 5 June 1947. He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Tuticorin on 22 July 1973. He obtained licentiate in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

from the Faculty of Philosophy, bachelor in theology from the Faculty of Theology and diploma in biblical philology from the Faculty of Letters of

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univ ...

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

, Belgium (1966–1973) and obtained a licentiate in Sacred Scripture and a doctorate from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, Italy (1975–1981).

Ministry and achievements

He has served as assistant parish priest and parish priest in various parishes in the diocese of Tuticorin, as secretary to bishop and assistant parish priest at the Cathedral (1973–1975), assistant director of St. Joseph's charity institute, Adaikalapuram and rector in-charge Christ Hall seminary, Karumathur (1982–1983), director of St. Ignatius Boys Home, Inigo Press, and St. Ignatius Industrial School, Tuticorin (1983–1987/1989?), parish priest of St. Ignatius Parish, Innaciarpuram (1984–1989) as well as a parish priest of St. Joseph's Church in Kuttapuly (1990/1991?–1995), a small fishing village, where in 1991 he helped to build stone houses for the poor and in 1991/1992 built a larger school. Supported by

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

pastors

Ferdinand Lenßen Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

and Bernhard Kreutz, Siluvai moved to Germany in 1995, and worked as parish administrator in , and (1995–1996) as well as a pastor at in ( Heinsberg) (June 1996 – 2000) of the diocese Aachen before he moved back to India on 27/28 February 2000. For a long time Siluvai had a dream to uplift the rural youth in India knowing that education would be the only way to achieve the development of the youth personally at micro level and socially at a macro level. Aiming at this vision, he established the Father Sebastian Educational and Charitable Trust in 1997. Under this trust, he founded the

on 31 January 1997. It is named after Ferdinand Lenßen, a former pastor of from Aachen as well as a friend and major supporter of the project, who had died a little bit earlier on 6 April 1996. It was partially opened in July 1999 and completed to suit 700 pupils on the 29 August 2001. He entrusted the administration to the Salesians of Don Bosco. On 2 August 2006 it was expanded to occupy up to 1000 pupils. At the end of December 1999 he was appointed as the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (MISSIO) in India and continued as the director until 2011. He was conferred with Monsignor title (capellano del Santo Padre) on 16 November 2002. Later he worked in ,

Röthlein Röthlein is a municipality in the district of Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, a ...

, in the

diocese of Würzburg In 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 provinces were administratively associate ...

(2011–2012) as well as a parish administrator in Bergheim,

Bürmoos Bürmoos is a municipality in the district of Salzburg-Umgebung in the state of Salzburg in Austria. History Bürmoos was founded in 1967, making it the most recently created municipality in the state, by combining the outskirts of the neighbouri ...

(2012–August 2013). He was appointed as a priest in the parish of St. Martin in ( Salzburg) (September 2013 – 2015) of the archdiocese of Salzburg in Austria. At present he serves as the parish priest of

Schwarzach in Pongau Schwarzach im Pongau is a market town in the St. Johann im Pongau District in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography It is located in the valley of the Salzach river, between the Hohe Tauern mountain range (Goldberg and Ankogel groups) in the ...

, Austria and as spiritual director in the Kardinal Schwarzenberg Hospital in Schwarzach im Pongau.

Early life and background

Ministry and achievements

See also

Notes

References

Further reading