BISHOP CARLOS DUARTE COSTA

1888-1961

Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa was the founder and first patriarch of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic
Church and its international extension, the Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic National
Churches. A former Roman Catholic bishop, he was excommunicated by Pope Pius XII for
doctrinal and canonical issues (such as clerical celibacy). Duarte Costa has been canonized as “St.
Carlos of Brazil” by the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church.

Early Life and Ministry

Carlos Duarte Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro on July 21, 1888, at the residence of his uncle
(later Bishop) Eduardo Duarte de Silva. The son of Joao Matta Francisco Costa and Maria Carlota
Duarte da Silva Costa, he received a devout Catholic upbringing. At age nine he received his first
communion in the Cathedral of Uberaba, from the hands of his uncle (now Bishop) Dom Eduardo
Duarte da Silva. That same year he was taken by his uncle to Rome to study at the Pontificio
Collegio Pio Latino Americano, a Jesuit-run minor seminary. In 1905 he returned to Brazil for
health reasons, and entered an Augustinian seminary in Uberaba, where he completed his
philosophical and theological studies.
After ordination as a deacon, Costa served under his uncle, Dom Eduardo, in the Cathedral Church
of Uberaba. On May 4, 1911 Costa was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral. He then
returned to Rome to further his education, and obtained a Doctorate in Theology from the
Pontifical Gregorian University. After returning to Brazil, he worked once again with his uncle
Dom Eduardo in Uberaba, as secretary of the diocese. Costa was awarded the title Monsignor for
his publication of a catechism for children, and later was named Protonotary Apostolic and
General Secretary of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, serving in this capacity until 1923.
On July 4, 1924, Pope Pius XI nominated Costa as Bishop of Botucatu. His episcopal consecration
occurred on December 8 that year at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro, presided over
by Sebastian Cardinal Leme da Silveira Cintra.

Attempts for Church Reform

In the 1930s Costa became deeply involved in the social and political changes taking place in
Brazil. Brazil’s economy had collapsed in 1929 as a result of the Great Depression, and a populist
military regime had taken over the government in 1930. Led by Getulio Vargas, the new
government had an erratic policy record in its early years, sometimes anti-clerical and anti-
aristocratic, sometimes swinging the opposite direction. In 1932 Costa became a leading
spokesman for the Catholic Electoral League, which was organized by the Church to lobby for
Christian principles in the laws and acts of the Government.
In 1932 Costa played an active role in the Constitutionalist Revolution, a failed attempt to restore
constitutional government to Brazil. Costa formed a “Battalion of the Bishop” to fight on the side
of the Constitutionalist troops, and helped finance the rebellion by selling off most of the
diocese’s assets, along with his own personal possessions. Costa’s support for the
Constitutionalist Revolution earned him the animosity of President Vargas, signaling the
beginning of a long period of rocky relations between Costa and the Brazilian government.
In 1936 Dom Carlos made his second ad limina visit to Rome, meeting with Pope Pius XI in the
Vatican. He presented the Pope with a list of quite radical (for the time) requests for the clergy
and people of his diocese, including:

 celebration of the Mass and administration of the sacraments in the vernacular language;
 mission for clergy to marry;
 the abolition of auricular confession, replacing it with general or communal confession
and absolution;
 distribution of Holy Communion to the laity under both kinds (i.e., bread and wine);
 institution of the permanent diaconate for married persons;
 celebration of the Mass “versus populi” (facing the people) with the priest behind the
altar;
 creation of a Council of Advice, composed of bishops who would govern the Church
together with the Pope;
 participation of laypersons in the administration of the Word, of the Eucharist, and in
evangelization.
These requests were not accepted by the Pope at that time, although twenty-five years later
many were implemented by the Second Vatican Council.
In early 1937 President Vargas, fed up with Dom Carlos for his continued public denunciation of
the government, petitioned the Holy See for his removal from the Diocese of Botucatu. The
Vatican was unwilling to do so directly, so the Apostolic Nuncio in Brazil entered into an
agreement with the Secretary of the Diocese of Botucatu to obtain the resignation of Dom Carlos
as diocesan bishop. In an act of deception, a resignation letter was placed into a stack of
documents which Dom Carlos had to sign in short order. He signed the letter, but upon realizing
what had happened, he informed the Holy See that he had signed the document mistakenly
without reading it. The Holy See renounced claims that it was a forgery based on statements from
the secretary of the diocese, and the resignation was accepted by Pope Pius XI on October 6,
1937.[citation needed]
After the acceptance of his resignation, Dom Carlos was appointed titular bishop of Maura, an
extinct diocese in Africa.

Bishop of Maura
After his “forced resignation”, Dom Carlos left the diocesan quarters but remained in Rio de
Janeiro as Bishop Emeritus of Botucatu and titular Bishop of Maura. He obtained the support of
a protector, Cardinal Dom Sebastiao Leme da Silveira Cintra, who granted permission for him to
keep a private chapel, as well as faculties to preside over marriage, celebrate masses, and
administer the sacrament of Confirmation in parishes where he was invited by the respective
priests. At this time he established the magazine Nossos (“Ours”) as a vehicle to spread devotion
to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Soon, however, Dom Carlos resumed his vocal criticism of the government and the national
church administration, which he saw as an accessory to the mistreatment of the poor in Brazil.
He openly criticized certain papal periodicals and encyclicals, including Rerum Novarum (Leo XIII),
Quadragesimo Anno (Pius XI), and Divini Redemptoris (Pius XI).
In 1942 several priests and nuns of German and Italian ethnicity were arrested in Brazil for
operating clandestine radio transmitters, presumably passing information to the German and
Italian governments. Costa publicly opined that these individuals were just the tip of the iceberg,
and claimed that most German and Italian clergy in Brazil were agents of the German Nazi and
Italian Fascist regimes. In light of their allegedly mixed loyalties, Costa called on all German and
Italian clergy to resign.
In 1944 he gained further notoriety by writing a glowing preface to the Brazilian translation “The
Soviet Power by the Rev. Hewlett Johnson, the Anglican Dean of Canterbury known as ‘The Red
Dean’ for his uncompromising support of the Soviet Union.
As long as he enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Dom Sebastiao Leme da Silveira Cintra, Dom
Carlos’ political activism proceeded without much trouble. However, soon after the cardinal’s
death, Dom Carlos was formally accused by the Brazilian government of being a communist
sympathizer. He was arrested on June 6, 1944 and imprisoned in Belo Horizonte. The following
month the Ecclesiastical Chamber forbade him from preaching or hearing confessions, as
punishment for his undisciplined outspokenness. He remained imprisoned until September 6,
1944, when he was released in response to pressure from the embassies of Mexico and the
United States on his behalf.
Excommunication
After his release from prison Costa soon found himself in trouble again. This time it was a result
of his unsupported accusations that the Vatican Secretariat of State had issued Vatican passports
to some high ranking German Nazis, a practice referred to as the Ratlines.
In May 1945 Dom Carlos gave newspaper interviews accusing Brazil’s papal nunciate of Nazi-
Fascist spying, and accused Rome of having aided and abetted Hitler. In addition, he announced
plans to set up his own Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, in which priests would be permitted
to marry (and hold regular jobs in the lay world), confessions and rosaries would be abolished,
and bishops would be elected by popular vote.
In response to Costa’s continued insubordination, the Vatican finally laid against him the penalty
of excommunication on July 2, 1945. Upon being informed of his excommunication, Costa
responded by saying, “I consider today one of the happiest days of my life.” He immediately titled
himself “Bishop of Rio de Janeiro” and told the press that he hoped soon to ordain ten married
lawyers and professional men as priests in his new church.
Founding of ICAB
A few days after learning of his excommunication, Dom Carlos established the Brazilian Catholic
Apostolic Church (ICAB). Its articles of incorporation were published in the federal register on July
25, and the church was legally registered as a civil society. On August 18, 1945 Dom Carlos
published a “Manifesto to the Nation”, in which he again criticized the Roman Catholic Church
and promoted his new national Church. Although he had already been excommunicated, on July
24, 1946 he was declared “excommunicado vitando”, that is, excommunicated to the severest
degree that exists. This was the final decree and was intended to prevent Catholics from having
anything to do with him whatsoever.
After establishing the ICAB, Costa continued to use the same vestments, insignia, and rites as he
had in the Catholic Church. This provoked the cardinals of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to appeal
to the Minister of Justice and the President himself for an injunction against both him and the
ICAB. On September 27, 1948, the ICAB churches were closed by the courts, on the grounds that
they were deceiving the public into thinking they were Catholic churches and clergy. Dom Carlos
quickly filed an appeal, and in 1949 the Supreme Court ruled that the ICAB could reopen its doors,
on condition that the church use a modified liturgy and its clergy wear gray cassocks, to minimize
the potential for confusion with Roman Catholics.
With the formation of ICAB, Dom Carlos implemented a number of reforms of what he saw as
problems in the Roman Catholic Church. Clerical celibacy was abolished. Rules for the
reconciliation of divorced persons were implemented. The liturgy was translated into the
vernacular, and in emulation of a short-lived experiment in France, clergy were expected to live
and work amongst the people, and support themselves and their ministries, by holding secular
employment. Within a short time ICAB began to be identified as “The Church of the Poor”.
Shortly after founding the church Dom Carlos consecrated two more bishops, Salomão Barbosa
Ferraz (August 15, 1945), and Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez (May 3, 1948). These three bishops
went on to establish similar autonomous Catholic Apostolic National Churches in several other
Latin American countries. Dom Carlos served as consecrator or co-consecrator of eleven
additional bishops, each of whom took a leadership role in either the Brazilian church or one of
the other national churches
Dom Carlos served as leader of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church and its international
affiliates for sixteen years until his death in 1961, by which time the church in Brazil is said to
have grown to 60,000 members.
Death and Legacy
Dom Carlos Duarte Costa died on March 26, 1961 (Palm Sunday) in Rio de Janeiro at 73 years of
age. At that time, the ICAB had 50 priests and 37 bishops, with many of the congregations
meeting in private homes.
The bishops consecrated by Costa went on to consecrate dozens of additional bishops, many of
whom had only tenuous relationships with the Brazilian church. Bishops tracing their apostolic
succession back to Costa have formed numerous other independent catholic denominations in
the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, most of which have no formal ties to the Brazilian church.
On July 4, 1970 the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church acknowledged Dom Carlos’ work for the
poor and the church by granting him the title “Saint Carlos of Brazil”.
Source: Wikipedia