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

Roman Catholic Diocese of Karwar The Roman Catholic Diocese of Karwar () is a diocese located in the city of Karwar in the ecclesiastical province of Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 Novem ...

, India. Born in

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

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

Bishop of Karwar

On 24 January 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 (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

. His episcopal consecration took place only on 29 April 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 (20 February 1921 – 22 May 2003) was an Indian prelate and bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religi ...

and Bishop

Ignatius P. Lobo Ignatius P. Lobo (27 April 1919 – 17 February 2010) was an Indian prelate of the Catholic Church. As of 2009, he was one of oldest Roman Catholic Bishops from India. Lobo was born in Siolim Siolim () is a village in Bardez taluka, and a ...

. 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 Law, ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the sec ...

and in February 2007,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

accepted his resignation and appointed Derek Fernandes as his successor. In retirement, he lived at the 'Sandhya Vandan'. D'Mello died 19 July 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