Fidelis Fernando
|
Rt Rev. Fidelis Fernando |
|
|---|---|
| Bishop of Mannar | |
| Native name | பிடெலிசு பெர்னாண்ட |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Archdiocese | Colombo |
| Diocese | Mannar |
| Installed | 22 November 2017 |
| Predecessor | Rayappu Joseph |
| Other posts | Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo (2012-2017) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 6 January 1973 by Pope Paul VI |
| Consecration | 11 February 2012 by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 20, 1948 Jaffna, Dominion of Ceylon |
| Education |
Pontifical Urban University St. Benedict's College, Colombo |
| Alma mater | Catholic University of America |
Right Reverend Dr. Fidelis Lionel Emmanuel Fernando (Tamil: பிடெலிசு பெர்னாண்டோ, Sinhalese: ෆිදේලිස් ප්රනාන්දු; born 20 May 1948) is a Sri Lankan priest and current Roman Catholic Bishop of Mannar. He is the first Bishop appointed from among the Bharatha community of Sri Lanka.
Fernando was born in 1948 to Xavier Bastian Fernando- an engineer- and Gnanasourubi Fernando in Jaffna. The family were devout Catholics, and part of the Sri Lankan Bharatha community descended from immigrants from Vembar, Tamil Nadu. The family moved to Grandpass in 1951 and then to Kotahena in 1955, where Fidelis was already enrolled at St. Benedict's College along with his brothers Joe and John. He became part of the St. John Berchman's Society of Altar Servers at St. Lucia's Cathedral, and joined the St. Aloysius Seminary after completing his Ordinary Level exams, where he was a contemporary of Malcolm Ranjith. He then moved to the St. Eymard's Minor Seminary at Haputale for a brief period, and then to the National Seminary at Ampitiya in 1966. In August 1969, he was sent to the Pontifical Urban University by Cardinal Thomas Cooray; he graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor of Theology, and was ordained a priest on 6 January 1973 in Rome by Pope Paul VI alongside 38 others from 19 nations on the 350th Anniversary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He obtained his Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 1974 and returned to Sri Lanka the same year, consecutively holding the position of assistant parish priest in three parishes, including duties at Kochchikade.
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