BORN 4th December 1922 and DIED 29th October 2009.
BEATIFIED AS SAINT DOM LUIS I ON THE 4TH JUNE 2017
Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez was a native Venezuelan citizen. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Spain. (This has been denied by the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. However newspaper reports from the Roman Catholic Church in Venezuela confirm that Fr Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez was indeed ordained a Roman Catholic priest). He was elected in 1947 by 250 priests to be a bishop. Upon notification of this Archbishop Carlos Duarte Costa by decree approved the election. After examining Fr Castillo Mendez ordination papers carefully, he consecrated Fr Castillo Mendez to the sacred office of Diocesan Bishop. He travelled in a private aeroplane and smuggled Fr Castillo Mendez out of Venezuela for his safety were Bishop Castillo Mendez took up Brazilian Citizenship and was appointed as Diocesan Bishop of Brasilia DF.
Note: A bishop receives upon episcopal consecration all the lower orders as well as the higher orders required.
Using the pre-Vatican II episcopal consecration rite and rubrics during the solemn celebration of the mass. Archbishop Carlos Duarte Costa enthrones on to a Cathedra new Diocesan Bishop Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez on the 3rd May 1948.
Diocesan Bishop Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez at the high altar of the pre Vatican II episcopal consecration Rite with his principal consecrator Archbishop Carlos Duarte Costa on the 3rd may 1948.
Archbishop Carlos Duarte Costa with Bishop Salomao Ferraz and Bishop Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez and fellow bishops after high mass in the Cathedral in Rio de Janerio.
Cardinal Carlos Carmelo de Vasconcellos Motta. Archbishop of Aparecida, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Talking with Bishop Salomao Ferraz one of Bishop Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez co-consecrators.
His Holiness the Patriarch of Brazil. Most Rev'd Dom. Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez entering the Cathedral with fellow bishops in rank of order of hierarchy within the church.
Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez was in secret talks for years with each other with insight of both Catholic Churches working together as one. The above picture is the Papal blessing sent to Archbishop Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez from the Pope. Pp John Paul II died before talks could be reached.
DOM is the title given to all Brazilian Catholic Bishops.
National and International newspapers report of the death of Archbishop Carlos Duarte Costa. Archbishop Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez on looks at the open coffin on his friend and Principal Consecrator.
His Holiness, Most Rev'd Dom. Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez sat in front of his altar in his Cathedral in Brasilia Distro Federal. Brazil.
He stated to Pope John Paul II the following statement;
"Well, we are not of this new religion. We do not accept this new religion. We are of the religion of all time; we are of the Catholic religion. We are not of this 'new universal religion' as they call it today-this is not the Catholic religion any more. We are not of this Liberal, Modernist religion which has its own worship, its own priests, its own faith, its own catechisms, its own Bible, the 'ecumenical Bible -these things we do not accept."
The list below is taken directly from the autobiography of the late Most Rev'd Dom. Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez. Patriarch of Brazil written in 2005.
On the 4th June 2017 in Malta the Catholic Church of England & Wales beatified His Holiness the Patriarch of Brazil. Most Rev'd Dom. Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez as Saint Dom Luis I.
He was the direct founder and Patriarch of the Church.
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It was most joyous day with the college of bishops from Australia, England, Wales and Malta present including bishops from France.
It was the decision to make His Holiness Patriarch Dom Luis Fernando Castillo as a Saint for the suffering that he had undergone as a young bishop at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church and the great leadership that he had shown throughout the religious world.
