Ignaci Siluvai (or ''Ignatius Siluvai'', also ''Siluvai Ignaci'') is an Indian priest and educator who established the Father Sebastian Educational and Charitable Trust and founded the Pastor Lenssen Polytechnic College (PLPC).

Early life and background

Ignaci Siluvai was born in

Kuthenkully Kuthenkuzhi ( ta, கூத்தன்குழி, ''Kūttaṉkuḻi'') is a village in Tamil Nadu, India. It is in the Radhapuram taluk of Tirunelveli district. It gets its name from the Tamil word for Nataraja, ( ''Kūttaṉ''). After the ...

of the diocese of Tuticorin, in the civil district of

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tam ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

, India on 5 June 1947. He was ordained a priest for the diocese of

Tuticorin Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital a ...

on 22 July 1973. He obtained licentiate in philosophy from the Faculty of Philosophy, bachelor in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

from the Faculty of Theology and diploma in biblical

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

from the Faculty of Letters of

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical un ...

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...

, Belgium (1966–1973) and obtained a licentiate in Sacred Scripture and a doctorate from the

Pontifical Biblical Institute The Pontifical Biblical Institute (also known as Biblicum) is a research and postgraduate teaching institution specialised in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies. It is an institution of the Holy See entrusted to the Society of Jesus. Hi ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy (1975–1981).

Ministry and achievements

He has served as assistant parish priest and parish priest in various parishes in the diocese of Tuticorin, as secretary to bishop and assistant parish priest at the Cathedral (1973–1975), assistant director of St. Joseph's charity institute, Adaikalapuram and rector in-charge Christ Hall seminary, Karumathur (1982–1983), director of St. Ignatius Boys Home, Inigo Press, and St. Ignatius Industrial School, Tuticorin (1983–1987/1989?), parish priest of St. Ignatius Parish, Innaciarpuram (1984–1989) as well as a parish priest of St. Joseph's Church in Kuttapuly (1990/1991?–1995), a small

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

, where in 1991 he helped to build stone houses for the poor and in 1991/1992 built a larger school. Supported by Aachen pastors

Ferdinand Lenßen Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

and Bernhard Kreutz, Siluvai moved to Germany in 1995, and worked as parish administrator in , and (1995–1996) as well as a pastor at in (

Heinsberg Heinsberg (; li, Hinsberg ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the district Heinsberg. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx. 20 km north-east of Sittard and 30 km ...

) (June 1996 – 2000) of the diocese Aachen before he moved back to India on 27/28 February 2000. For a long time Siluvai had a dream to uplift the rural youth in India knowing that education would be the only way to achieve the development of the youth personally at micro level and socially at a macro level. Aiming at this vision, he established the Father Sebastian Educational and Charitable Trust in 1997. Under this trust, he founded the Pastor Lenssen Polytechnic College on 31 January 1997. It is named after Ferdinand Lenßen, a former pastor of from Aachen as well as a friend and major supporter of the project, who had died a little bit earlier on 6 April 1996. It was partially opened in July 1999 and completed to suit 700 pupils on the 29 August 2001. He entrusted the administration to the

Salesians of Don Bosco , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turi ...

. On 2 August 2006 it was expanded to occupy up to 1000 pupils. At the end of December 1999 he was appointed as the national director of the

Pontifical Mission Societies The Pontifical Mission Societies, known in some countries as Missio, is the name of a group of Catholic missionary societies that are under the jurisdiction of the Pope. These organizations include the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, t ...

(MISSIO) in India and continued as the director until 2011. He was conferred with Monsignor title (capellano del Santo Padre) on 16 November 2002. Later he worked in ,

Röthlein Röthlein is a municipality in the district of Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, a ...

, in the

diocese of Würzburg In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

(2011–2012) as well as a parish administrator in Bergheim,

Bürmoos Bürmoos is a municipality in the district of Salzburg-Umgebung in the state of Salzburg in Austria. History Bürmoos was founded in 1967, making it the most recently created municipality in the state, by combining the outskirts of the neighbo ...

(2012–August 2013). He was appointed as a priest in the parish of St. Martin in (

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

) (September 2013 – 2015) of the

archdiocese of Salzburg The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese o ...

in Austria. At present he serves as the parish priest of

Schwarzach in Pongau Schwarzach im Pongau is a market town in the St. Johann im Pongau District in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography It is located in the valley of the Salzach river, between the Hohe Tauern mountain range (Goldberg and Ankogel groups) in the ...

, Austria and as spiritual director in the Kardinal Schwarzenberg Hospital in Schwarzach im Pongau.

Early life and background

Ministry and achievements

See also

Notes

References

Further reading