{{short description|Indian missionary}} {{Use Indian English|date=October 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}} '''Dom Thomas de Castro''' (c.1621-1684) was a native of Divar in Goa, Portuguese India.<ref>Indian Prelates by Jno Godinho, Bombay 1924</ref> The Holy See appointed him Vicar Apostolic of Canara on 30 August 1675.<ref>[http://themangalore.com/historical-places/rosario-cathedral.html Rosario Cathedral, Mangalore]</ref> He later founded the famous Milagres Church in Mangalore, South Canara, Karnataka. He was the nephew of Dom Matheus de Castro (c.1594−1677), the first Indian Bishop of The Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite book |title=Biographical dictionary of Christian missions|author=Gerald H. Anderson|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year=1999|isbn=0-8028-4680-7 |page=121 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC&q=Thomas+de+Castro+Goa&pg=PA121 }}</ref>
==Biography== While in his teens he was taken to Rome by his uncle Matheus de Castro Bishop of Chrysopolis. there he joined the congregation of ''Divina Providencia'' or the Theatine order. It is recorded that in Rome he was appointed professor of Philosophy and Theology and Prefect of the aspirants for various sacerdotal degrees. He was consecrated Bishop of Fulsivelem by the Vatican in 1671.<ref name=hist>{{cite book |title=A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707|author=Stephen Neill|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2004|isbn=0-521-54885-3 |page=340 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RH4VPgB__GQC&q=Thomas+de+Castro+Goa&pg=PA340 }}</ref>
In 1674, he arrived in India to begin his missionary work. On 30 August 1675, the Holy See appointed him the Vicar Apostolic for the kingdoms of Cochin, Tamor, Madurai, Mysore, Cranganore, Cannanore and the Coast of Canara. He also remained the Vicar Apostolic of the Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Verapoly (1675–1689), in present-day Varappuzha in Kerala.<ref name=hist/>
He was gifted land by the rulers of Canara, on which he built the Milagres Church, Mangalore, Karnataka. Completed in 1680, this church is a prominent place of worship for Mangalorean Catholics. Bishop de Castro died in Mangalore on 16 July 1684 at the age of 68 years, his grave in the Milagres Church cemetery can be identified by a bronze slab next to the St. Monica Chapel.
==See also== * History of Mangalorean Catholics
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * ''The Christian impact in South Kanara'', by Kranti K. Farias. Church History Association of India, 1999. * {{cite book |title=A History Of The Expansion Of Christianity three centuries of advance|author= Kenneth Scott Latourette|date= 29 January 2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn= 9780521548854|page=340 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RH4VPgB__GQC&q=Thomas+de+Castro+Goa&pg=PA340 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Thomas de}} Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in India Category:History of Mangalore Category:1684 deaths Category:Scholars from Goa Category:Apostolic vicars Category:17th-century Indian Roman Catholic priests Category:Theatines Category:17th-century Portuguese Roman Catholic priests Category:Christianity in Goa Category:Christian clergy from Mangalore Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:Theatine bishops Category:Indian Roman Catholic missionaries Category:Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries