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7 June 2021

Death of Father Domingo (Angel) Fernandez de Mendiola, OCD, 1924-2021.

Last Saturday, May 15, we received the news of the death of Father Domingo (Angel) Fernandez de Mendiola, OCD, at the age of 96, in the monastery of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain). He joined the Carmelite novitiate in Larrea (Spain) in 1939. Doctor of Dogmatics and History of the Church, author of a dozen works, director of the Institutum Historicum Teresianum (Rome), professor and rector of the Teresianum (Rome), several times Provincial of the Province of Navarre, he marked the Order and the Church particularly with his 25 missionary years in India: Professor and last European Rector of the Pontifical Seminary of St. Joseph in Mangalapuzha (Alwaye), the largest seminary to date, one of the promoters of the creation of the Pontifical Institute of Theology and Philosophy in 1972, the first president of the Pastoral Orientation Center (POC) in Kochi, which will become the seat of the Catholic Episcopal Conference of Kerala.

Cardinal George Alencherry expressed his condolences to our Father General and thanked him for all Fr Dominigo had given to the Church in India: “It is with sorrowful heart that I learned early this morning of the death of Fr. Domingo Fernandez OCD in Spain at the age of 96. Father Domingo led and presided over the formation of seminarians for about 25 years with the zeal of a great missionary, creating a community of priests deeply devoted to Jesus and committed to their faith. (…) The Discalced Carmelites contributed immensely to the formation of priests in Kerala. Erudite, kind and affectionate, Fr. Domingo was appreciated by all his students and teachers. He was humble, unperturbed, extremely courteous to all those who came into contact with him. The Church in India is deeply grateful to him.”

Let us thank God for this gift of our brother’s life to God.