William Leonard D'Mello (24 March 1931 – 19 July 2011) was the first

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 of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Karwar The Roman Catholic Diocese of Karwar ( la, Karvaren(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Karwar in the Ecclesiastical province of Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital ci ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Born in

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

and ordained to the priesthood in 1957, D'Mello was named bishop of the Karwar Diocese in 1976 and retired in 2007.

Early life

D'Mello was born on March 24, 1931, at Cascia, the third of six children born to Joseph and Santana D'Mello.

Bishop of Karwar

On January 24, 1976, at 44 years of age, D'Mello was appointed Bishop of the newly-erected Diocese of Karwar by Pope

Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

. His episcopal consecration took place only on April 29, 1977. Archbishop

Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy (5 February 1924 – 2 June 2014) was an Indian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Curia and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1985. His ...

served as Consecrator, assisted by Archbishop

Packiam Arokiaswamy Archbishop Packiam Arokiaswamy (born 1921 in Kombeikadu) was an Indian prelate and bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bish ...

and Bishop Ignatius P. Lobo. One of D'Mello's key initiatives was promoting vocations to the priesthood and the religious life in his diocese. He encouraged young men to enter the seminary, and sought to bring more congregations of religious sisters into his new diocese.

Retirement

D'Mello submitted his resignation upon reaching the age of 75 as required by the

1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the second and current comp ...

and in February 2007,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

accepted his resignation and appointed

Derek Fernandes Derek Fernandes is the 6th current serving Roman Catholic Diocese of Belgaum. Life He was born in Sirsi on 14 May 1954 Priesthood He was ordained a priest on 5 May 1979. Episcopate On 24 February 2007, Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedi ...

as his successor. In retirement, he lived at the 'Sandhya Vandan'. D'Mello died July 19, 2011, aged 80 and was buried in the Diocese of Karwar's Cathedral of the Assumption.

References

Christian clergy from Mangalore 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in India 1931 births 2011 deaths 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in India {{india-RC-bishop-stub