Carlos Duarte Costa
Carlos Duarte Costa | |
|---|---|
| Founder of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church | |
 Duarte Costa (left) withLuis Fernando Castillo Mendez(right) during the episcopal consecration inPanama | |
| Church | Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church |
| Diocese | Rio de Janeiro |
| See | Rio de Janeiro |
| Installed | 5 July 1945 |
| Term ended | 26 March 1961 |
| Predecessor | Position created |
| Successor | Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 4 May 1911 byJoaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti |
| Consecration | 8 December 1924 bySebastião da Silveira Cintra |
| Rank | Considered asPatriarch(title not used during his lifetime) (Brazilian Catholic Apostolic) /Bishop- (Catholic) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Carlos Duarte Costa July 21, 1888 |
| Died | March 26, 1961(aged 72) Rio de Janeiro,Brazil |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Denomination | Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church(formerlyRoman Catholic) |
| Previous post(s) |
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| Motto | O Senhor é a Minha Luz ( "The Lord is my Light" ) Charitas Christi Urget Nos ( "The Love of Christ Compels Us" ) |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Sainthood | |
| Title as Saint | São Carlos do Brasil |
| Canonized | byBrazilian Catholic Apostolic Church |
| Styles of Carlos Duarte Costa | |
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| Religious style | Bishop |
| Posthumous style | Saint |
Ordination history of Carlos Duarte Costa | |||||||||||||||||||
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Carlos Duarte Costa(July 21, 1888 – March 26, 1961) was aBrazilian Catholicbishopwho became the founder of theBrazilian Catholic Apostolic Church,[1][2]anIndependent Catholicchurch, and its international communion, which long after his death became the short-livedWorldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic Churches.
The formerCatholic Bishop of Botucatu,[3]he wasexcommunicatedbyPope Pius XII,ultimately forschism,but in culmination of severaldoctrinalandcanonicalissues (such as his views onclerical celibacy). Duarte Costa has beencanonizedas "St. Carlos of Brazil" by the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church.[4]
Biography[edit]
Early life and ministry[edit]
Carlos Duarte Costa was born inRio de Janeiroon July 21, 1888, at the residence of his uncle Eduardo Duarte de Silva. His father was João Matta Francisco Costa and his mother was Maria Carlota Duarte da Silva Costa, who came from a family heavily involved in politics and public service.[5]He completed his primary studies at the Salesian College Santa Rosa, in Niterói, and at age nine, he received hisfirst communionin thecathedralofUberabafrom the hands of his uncle, Dom Eduardo Duarte da Silva (now a bishop), on July 24, 1897. That same year he was taken by his uncle toRometo study at thePontifical Latin American College,aJesuitminor seminary.In 1905 he returned to Brazil for health reasons and entered anAugustinianseminary in Uberaba, where he continued his philosophical and theological studies. He only narrowly managed to complete his studies and qualify for ordination, however, and his uncle intervened to vouch for his nephew.[6]
Afterordinationas adeacon,Duarte Costa served in the cathedral church of Uberaba under his uncle, Dom Eduardo Duarte da Silva, who, on April 1, 1911, ordained Duarte Costa to the priesthood.[2][6]
On July 4, 1924,Pope Pius XInominated Duarte Costa asBishop of Botucatu.[2]
Attempts at church and societal reform[edit]
In 1932, Duarte Costa played an active role in theConstitutionalist Revolution,a failed attempt to restore constitutional government to Brazil. Duarte Costa formed a "Battalion of the Bishop" to fight on the side of the Constitutionalist troops and helped finance the battalion by selling off diocesan assets along with his own personal possessions. Duarte Costa's battalion never fought, however, which was a source of disappointment to him.[7]
In 1936, Duarte Costa made his secondad liminavisit to Rome, meeting with Pope Pius XI. It is widely believed that he presented the pope with a list of radical reform proposals for theCatholic Church in Brazil,though no record of this survives. During this period he did become friends with another outspoken priest who would go on to achieve world fame,Helder Camara.[8]
Bishop of Maura[edit]
In September 1937, Duarte Costa resigned from his episcopal post and was appointedtitular bishopof Maura.[2]
In 1944 he gained further notoriety by writing a glowing preface to the Brazilian translation ofThe Soviet Powerby the Very ReverendHewlett Johnson,theAnglicanDeanofCanterburyknown as "The Red Dean" for his uncompromising support of theSoviet Union.Duarte Costa consistently maintained his left-wing allegiance, calling for the establishment of a "Christian communism"in contrast to" Roman [Catholic] Church Fascism ".[9]
As long as he enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Dom Sebastiao Leme da Silveira Cintra, Duarte Costa's political activism proceeded without much trouble. However, soon after the cardinal's death, Duarte Costa was formally accused bythe Brazilian governmentof being a communist sympathizer. He was arrested on June 6, 1944, and imprisoned inBelo Horizonte.[10]
Excommunication[edit]
After his release from prison Carlos Duarte Costa soon found himself in trouble again. In May 1945, Duarte Costa gave newspaper interviews accusing Brazil's papal nuncio of Nazi-Fascist spying, and accused Rome of having aided and abettedAdolf Hitler.In addition, he announced plans to set up his own Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, in which priests would be permitted to marry (and hold regular jobs in the lay world), personal confessions and the praying ofrosarieswould be abolished and bishops would be elected by popular vote.[11]
In response to Duarte Costa's continued insubordination, the Vatican finally laid against him the penalty ofexcommunicationon July 2, 1945. Upon being informed of his excommunication, Duarte Costa responded by saying, "I consider today one of the happiest days of my life." He immediately titled himself "Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro" and told the press that he hoped soon to ordain ten married lawyers and professional men as priests in his new church.[11]
Founding of the ICAB[edit]
After establishing theIgreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira(ICAB), Duarte Costa continued to use the same vestments, insignia, and rites as he had in the Roman Catholic Church. This provoked the cardinals of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to appeal to the Minister of Justice and thePresidenthimself for an injunction against both him and the ICAB. On September 27, 1948, the ICAB churches were closed by the courts, on the grounds that they were deceiving the public into thinking they were Catholic churches and clergy. Duarte Costa quickly filed an appeal, and in 1949 theBrazilian Supreme Courtruled that the ICAB could reopen its doors on condition that the church use a modified liturgy and its clergy wear gray cassocks to minimize the potential for confusion with the black-colored Roman Catholic clergy.[12]The ICAB attracted the attention of scholars of Brazilian religions such asRoger Bastide,who described it as "having both a religious and a political program, the latter [having] much in common with the Communist Party".[13]
Unlike the official Catholic Church in Brazil, the ICAB developed friendly relations withSpiritismandFreemasonry.Duarte Costa "began giving talks in Spiritist centers to publicize the new church" and "ICAB would go on to attract many members" of Freemasonry.[14]Duarte Costa also "openly encouraged cooperation withUmbanda,MacumbaandCandomblécommunities "when these are considered wholly incompatible with Roman Catholicism.[15]
In the years immediately after founding the church, Duarte Costa consecrated four bishops,Salomão Barbosa Ferraz(August 15, 1945), Jorge Alves de Souza and Antidio Jose Vargas (both in 1946) andLuis Fernando Castillo Mendez(May 3, 1948).[16]These bishops had intended to establish similar autonomous Catholic national churches in several other Latin American countries. Relations between the bishops were not always good, and Duarte Costa fought bitterly with Ferraz from the earliest days of the ICAB.[17]His most fractious and quarrelsome relationship was withLuis Fernando Castillo Mendezhowever, whom he repeatedly denounced as a fraud and a charlatan.[18]Duarte Costa consecrated eleven ICAB bishops in total.[19]
References[edit]
- ^"Ex-Priest's 'Sainthood' Irks Catholics in Brazil".The New York Times.1973-08-03.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2021-03-01.
- ^abcd"Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira IICAB)",Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements,(Peter Clarke, ed.), Routledge, 2004ISBN9781134499700
- ^"Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa".Catholic-Hierarchy.org.David M. Cheney.Retrieved21 January2015.
- ^"História da Igreja".Igreja Brasileira(in Portuguese).Retrieved2021-03-01.
- ^Jarvis, Edward,Carlos Duarte Costa: Testament of a Socialist Bishop,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2019, pp. 30-31
- ^abJarvis, Edward,God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, p. 42
- ^Jarvis, Edward,God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, pp. 46-47.
- ^Jarvis, Edward,God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, p. 49
- ^Jarvis, Edward,God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, p 16
- ^Byrne, Julie.The Other Catholics,Columbia University Press, 2016ISBN9780231541701
- ^ab"Religion: Rebel in Rio".Time.July 23, 1945. Archived fromthe originalon March 7, 2021.RetrievedMarch 7,2021.
- ^""Freedom of Religious Worship"".Archived fromthe originalon 2005-03-12.Retrieved2007-07-06.from the Brazilian Supreme Court historical website
- ^Roger Bastide,The African Religions of Brazil: Towards a Sociology of the Interpenetration of Civilizations,English translation of the 1960 French edition, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007, p. 233.
- ^Jarvis, Edward,Carlos Duarte Costa: Testament of a Socialist Bishop,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2019, pp. 77–78
- ^Jarvis, Edward,Carlos Duarte Costa: Testament of a Socialist Bishop,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2019, p. 59
- ^Jarvis, Edward,God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, pp 77-109
- ^Jarvis, Edward,God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, pp. 78-79
- ^Jarvis, Edward,God, Land & Freedom: The True Story of ICAB,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, pp. 111-115
- ^Jarvis, Edward,Carlos Duarte Costa: Testament of a Socialist Bishop,Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2019, pp. 197-206
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