Salomão Barbosa Ferraz

Salomão Barbosa Ferraz (18 February 1880 – 11 May 1969) was a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and Bishop whose career took him through membership of several Christian denominations from the Presbyterian Church to the Roman Catholic Church.

Biography

Ferraz was born in Jaú, Brazil on February 18, 1880. Originally a Presbyterian Minister, Barbosa Ferraz was ordained an Anglican Priest in 1917. He founded an ecumenical society, the "Order of Saint Andrew", in 1928, and was instrumental in organising a 'Free Catholic Congress' in 1936. At the close of this event he established a " Free Catholic Church" and was elected as the church's first Bishop. The Second World War halted his plans to be consecrated Bishop by European Old Catholics, but Salomão Barbosa Ferraz was eventually consecrated Bishop by Carlos Duarte Costa following this Bishop's excommunication by the Vatican in 1945. Barbosa Ferraz was also a member of Freemasonry

Salomão Barbosa Ferraz in turn consecrated Manoel Ceia Laranjeira for the Free Catholic Church of Brazil in 1951, but sought reception into the Roman Catholic Church, which he achieved under Pope John XXIII, leaving Manoel Ceia Laranjeira at the head of the Free Catholic Church, then renamed the Independent Catholic Apostolic Church in Brazil.

In 1959, Ferraz was received into the Roman Catholic Church. His reception met with some resistance and confusion in Rome, where it had been assumed that he was widowed or chaste. He was eventually named Titular Bishop of Eleutherna in 1963 and took part in the Second Vatican Council. Bishop Ferraz died in 1969, leaving a wife and seven children.

Ferraz was a rare example of a legally accepted married bishop in the modern Roman Catholic history.FERRAZ, Hermes. ''Dom Salomão Ferraz e o Ecumenismo''. São Paulo, João Scortecci Editora, 1995. pp 78ff

References

External links

* http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bferraz.html, http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bduco.html
* http://www.tboyle.net/Catholicism/Costa_Consecrations.html
* http://www.igrejacatolicaindependente.com.br
* http://www.igrejacatolicasalomoniana.blogspot.com
* http://www.icai-ts.org.br
* http://www.igrejabrasileira.com.br/

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferraz, Salomao Barbosa
1880 births
1969 deaths
20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Brazil
Participants in the Second Vatican Council
20th-century Presbyterian ministers
Converts from Presbyterianism
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Catholic Independent denominations
Bishops of the Free Catholic Church
Married Roman Catholic bishops
People from Jaú