Thomas Fernando was an Indian

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 ...

bishop.

Early life

Fernando was born on 9 May 1913 in Idinthakarai, a coastal village Tirunelveli district and a Catholic parish of the Diocese of Tuticorin.

Career

He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Tuticorin on 18 March 1939. After his higher studies in theology, Indian philosophy and canon law in Rome, he was appointed coadjutor bishop of Tuticorin on 25 June 1950 and ordained bishop on 1 October 1950. He succeeded Bishop

Francis Tiburtius Roche Francis Tiburtius Roche was the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tuticorin. Early life Bishop Francis Tiburtius Roche was born in Punnaikayal on 14 April 1879. He joined the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest on 2 October 1 ...

on 26 June 1953, as the second bishop of the diocese of Tuticorin. After twenty years of episcopal ministry in the diocese of Tuticorin, on 23 November 1970, he was transferred as bishop to the diocese of Tiruchirapalli.

Achievements

He participated in all four sessions of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

. Inspired by the spirit of the council, he became the forerunner in implementing its teachings in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, by reforming liturgical and para-liturgical celebrations. He translated Latin liturgical texts into

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

. He promoted

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

evangelization In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are i ...

, liturgy, social communication,

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

, culture and inter-religious dialogue. As bishop he founded Kalai Kaveri college for music to promote Catholic faith through

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

. He established the congregation of the Sacred Heart Sisters, initially to take care of St Joseph Charity Home in Adaikalapuram, a diocesan rite congregation on 19 December 1954 to undertake mission work in the Tuticorin diocese. As bishop Tirichirapalli, he felt the need of the female missionary collaboraters, He founded a congregation of St Thomas Catechetical Sisters in Tirichirapalli. He is hailed for helping Tamil poet

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

write ''Yesu Kaviyam''. After 56 years as a bishop, he died on 4 July 2006.

References

1913 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in India {{India-RC-bishop-stub