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Monday, December 9, 2019


Living bishops from the pontificates of Pope Pius XII & Pope St. John XXIII

As of 9 December 2019, there is one living bishop from the pontificate of Pope Pius XII and 5 living bishops from the pontificate of Pope St. John XXIII. They are:

Pontificate of Pope Pius XII

Archbishop Bernardino Piñera Carvallo, Archbishop emeritus of La Serena, Chile

Pontificate of Pope Saint John XXIII

Bishop Eloy Tato Losada, I.E.M.E., Bishop emeritus of Magangué, Colombia

Bishop William John McNaughton, M.M., Bishop emeritus of Incheon, South Korea

Bishop José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra, Bishop emeritus of Ciudad Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico

Bishop Rémi Joseph De Roo, Bishop emeritus of Victoria, Canada

Bishop Yves-Georges-René Ramousse, M.E.P., Titular Bishop of Pisita, former Vicar Apostolic of Phnom-Penh, Cambodia

Friday, November 29, 2019

Roman-rite bishops belonging to the Maronite line

There have been two changes among those Roman-rite bishops who belong to the Maronite line.

Bishop Robert Anthony Llanos was named Bishop of Saint John’s-Basseterre on 18 December 2018.

Bishop Ernest Mesmin Lucien Cabo, Bishop emeritus of Basse-Terre, died on 28 November 2019 at Basse-Terre. With his death, there are now twelve living Roman-rite bishops who belong to the Maronite line.

Here is the list of the twelve bishops:

*Kelvin Edward Felix, Cardinal and Archbishop emeritus of Castries
*Edward Joseph Gilbert, C.Ss.R., Archbishop emeritus of Port of Spain
*Patrick Christopher Punder, Archbishop of Nassau
*Joseph Everard Harris, C.S.Sp., Archbishop emeritus of Port of Spain
*Charles Jason Gordon, Archbishop of Port of Spain
*Gabriel Malzaire, Bishop of Roseau
*Francis Dean Alleyne, O.S.B., Bishop of Georgetown
*Robert Anthony Llanos, Bishop of Saint John’s-Basseterre
*Gerard Maximin County, C.S.Sp., Bishop of Kingstown
*Joseph Effiong Ekuwem, Archbishop of Calabar
*Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, Bishop of Umuahia
*Donatus Edet Akpan, Bishop of Ogoja

Another death in the d’Estouteville line

Bishop Joseph Antony Irudayaraj, S.D.B., Bishop emeritus of Dharmapuri, died on 29 November 2019 at Chennai. May he rest in peace.

The death of Bishop Irudayaraj reduces the number of living members of the d’Estouteville line to 47.

An updated list of the living members of the d’Estouteville line will be posted in due course.

Thursday, November 28, 2019


Death of a former Roman Catholic bishop

Mario Renato Cornejo Radavero, former titular bishop of Sanavus and former auxiliary bishop of Lima, died at Rouen, France, on 22 November 2015.

Bishop Cornejo left the Roman Catholic Church in 1969 and married. He eventually moved to France and settled in Mont Saint-Aignan, near Rouen, with a traditionalist community, l’Eglise Sainte-Marie, founded by a former Benedictine monk, Father Maurice Cantor. On 7 June 1970 he conferred episcopal ordination on Father Cantor and on 11 October 1987 he conferred episcopal ordination on two priests of the same community, Father Roland Fleury and Father Claude Ducrocq, whom he had previously ordained priests. The above-mentioned episcopal ordinations were conferred without papal mandates.

Several others have claimed to have been ordained bishops by Bishop Cornejo, but I have not seen documentation of those ordinations.

Bishop Cornejo was one of a handful of living council fathers of the Second Vatican Council.

Information concerning Bishop Cornejo has been virtually non-existent for more than a decade and it was during a Google search on 21 November that I found a publication from Mont Saint-Aignan which mentioned his death.

In the January 2016 issue of Le Mag, on page 13, in the list of recent deaths, is the briefest notice of his death: “22/11 Mario CORNEJO, 88 ans.” May he rest in peace.


Tuesday, October 15, 2019


One less living member of the d’Estouteville line

Bishop Antony Devotta, Bishop emeritus of Tiruchirapalli, died on 15 October 2019 in St. Augustine Minor Seminary in Tiruchirapalli. According to a press release by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), he has donated his body for medical research education to St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore. May he rest in peace.

His death reduces the living members of the d’Estouteville line to 48. Here is the updated list of the living members of the d’Estouteville line.

Malayappan Chinnappa, S.D.B., Archbishop emeritus of Madras and Mylapore
Francis Kallarakal, Archbishop emeritus of Verapoly
Maria Callist Soosa Packiam, Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Latins
Antony Ananadarayar, Archbishop of Pondicherry and Cuddalore
Vincent Louis Marie Landel, S.C.J. de Beth., Archbishop emeritus of Rabat
Pierre Antoine Jean Bach, M.E.P., Titular Bishop of Tituli in Proconsulari and former 
 Vicar Apostolic of Savannakhet, Laos
Joseph Luechai Thatwisai, Bishop of Udon Thani, Thailand
Philip Banchong Chaiyara, C.Ss.R., Bishop of Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand
Sebastian Thekethecheril, Bishop of Vijayapuram
Selvister Ponnumuthan, Bishop of Punalur
Christudas Rajappan, Titular Bishop of Avitta Bibba, Auxiliary of Trivandrum of the Latins
Mathew Cheriannkunnel, P.I.M.E., Bishop emeritus of Kurnool
Innayya Chinna Addagatla, Bishop emeritus of Srikakulam
Paul Maipan, Bishop of Khammam
Singaroyan Sebastianappan, Bishop of Salem
Peter Remigius, Bishop emeritus of Kottar
Jerome Das Varuvel, S.D.B., Bishop of Kuzhithurai
Amalraj Arulappan, Bishop of Ootacamund
Soundaraj Periyanayagam, S.D.B., Bishop of Vellore
Antonysamy Francis, Bishop of Kumbakonam
Joseph Anthony Irudayaraj, S.D.B., Bishop emeritus of Dharamapuri
Devadoss Ambrose Mariadoss, Bishop of Tanjore
Nazarene Soosai, Bishop of Kottar

*Bernard Aubertin, O.Cist., Archbishop of Tours
*Armand Maillard, Archbishop of Bourges
*Guy Thomazeau, Archbishop emeritus of Montpellier
*Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Lille
*Hubert Barbier, Archbishop emeritus of Bourges
*Jean-Christophe Lagleize, Bishop of Metz
*Jean-Paul Vuillemin, Titular Bishop of Thérouanne and Auxiliary of Metz
*Jean-Marie Le Vert, Titular Bishop of Briançonnet and Auxiliary of Bordeaux,
*Gilbert Louis, Bishop emeritus of Châlons
*Michel Pansard, Bishop of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes
*Philippe Christory, Bishop of Chartres
*Alain Planet, Bishop of Carcassonne et Narbonne
*Yves Boivineau, Bishop of Annecy
*Bernard Housset, Bishop emeritus of La Rochelle
*François Jacolin, M.D.P., Bishop of Luçon
*Gérard Coliche, Titular Bishop of Alet and former Auxiliary of Lille
*Antoine Henry Pierre Marie Hérouard, Titular Bishop of Maillezais and Auxiliary of Lille
*Claude-Joseph Azéma, Titular Bishop of Murcona and former Auxiliary of Montpellier
*Jean-Charles Thomas, Bishop emeritus of Versailles
*François-Mathurin Gourvès, Bishop emeritus of Vannes
*Alphonse Georger, Bishop emeritus of Oran

**Raphaël Dabiré Kusiélé, Bishop of Diébougou
**Paul Eusebius Mea Kaiuea, M.S.C., Bishop of Tarawa
**Paul Zinghtung Grawng, Archbishop emeritus of Mandalay
**Jean Baptiste Kpiéle Somé, Bishop emeritus of Diébougou

The bishops with an * are the original d'Estouteville group plus additions to their number since the combination of other lineages.  The bishops with ** are those who were previously known as the Ravizza line.

Monday, February 4, 2019


The consecration of Tommaso Parentucelli – Pope Nicholas V

A couple of years ago, information was discovered which stated that Tommaso Cardinal Parentucelli, Bishop of Bologna, who was elected pope with the name of Nicholas V on 6 March 1447, had received episcopal ordination after his election. 

This past week I received a message from Mr. Tomasz Karlikowski in which he inquired about the possibility that Nicholas V received episcopal ordination as Bishop of Bologna rather than after his election as pope. He asked some interesting questions and provided some new insights on the College of Cardinals and papal elections in the first half of the second millennium.  I am grateful to him for his interesting and thought-provoking contribution.

Consulting some of the excellent digitized manuscripts on the website of the Vatican Library (https://digi.vatlib.it/ ) I found an account of the rites after the death of Pope Eugene IV and the conclave which elected Pope Nicholas V in the Capponi collection:  Cappon.29, 318v-320r.  This easily readable account made no mention of him being ordained bishop.

Therefore, the search for information concerning the episcopal ordination of Tommaso Cardinal Parentucelli, Bishop of Bologna and future Pope Nicholas V, continues.

Sunday, February 3, 2019



First change to the d’Estouteville Line in 2019

The d’Estouteville line has experienced its first change in 2019: the addition of a new bishop in France. 

On 3 February 2019, in the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Metz, Father Jean-Pierre Vuillemin was ordained Titular Bishop of Thérouanne and Auxiliary Bishop of Metz by Bishop Jean Christophe André Robert Lagleize of Metz, who was assisted by Bishop Didier Norman Raymond Berthet of Saint-Dié and Bishop Jean-Paul Mary Mathieu, Bishop emeritus of Saint-Dié.

With the episcopal ordination of Bishop Vuillemin, the d’Estouteville line now has 49 living members.

Here is the updated list of the living members of the d’Estouteville line:

Malayappan Chinnappa, S.D.B., Archbishop emeritus of Madras and Mylapore
Francis Kallarakal, Archbishop emeritus of Verapoly
Maria Callist Soosa Packiam, Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Latins
Antony Ananadarayar, Archbishop of Pondicherry and Cuddalore
Vincent Louis Marie Landel, S.C.J. de Beth., Archbishop emeritus of Rabat
Pierre Antoine Jean Bach, M.E.P., Titular Bishop of Tituli in Proconsulari and former 
 Vicar Apostolic of Savannakhet, Laos
Joseph Luechai Thatwisai, Bishop of Udon Thani, Thailand
Philip Banchong Chaiyara, C.Ss.R., Bishop of Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand
Sebastian Thekethecheril, Bishop of Vijayapuram
Selvister Ponnumuthan, Bishop of Punalur
Christudas Rajappan, Titular Bishop of Avitta Bibba, Auxiliary of Trivandrum of the Latins
Mathew Cheriannkunnel, P.I.M.E., Bishop emeritus of Kurnool
Innayya Chinna Addagatla, Bishop emeritus of Srikakulam
Paul Maipan, Bishop of Khammam
Singaroyan Sebastianappan, Bishop of Salem
Peter Remigius, Bishop emeritus of Kottar
Jerome Das Varuvel, S.D.B., Bishop of Kuzhithurai
Amalraj Arulappan, Bishop of Ootacamund
Soundaraj Periyanayagam, S.D.B., Bishop of Vellore
Antonysamy Francis, Bishop of Kumbakonam
Joseph Anthony Irudayaraj, S.D.B., Bishop emeritus of Dharamapuri
Devadoss Ambrose Mariadoss, Bishop of Tanjore
Antony Devotta, Bishop of Tiruchirapalli
Nazarene Soosai, Bishop of Kottar

*Bernard Aubertin, O.Cist., Archbishop of Tours
*Armand Maillard, Archbishop of Bourges
*Guy Thomazeau, Archbishop emeritus of Montpellier
*Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Lille
*Hubert Barbier, Archbishop emeritus of Bourges
*Jean-Christophe Lagleize, Bishop of Metz
*Jean-Paul Vuillemin, Titular Bishop of Thérouanne and Auxiliary of Metz
*Jean-Marie Le Vert, Titular Bishop of Briançonnet and Auxiliary of Bordeaux,
*Gilbert Louis, Bishop emeritus of Châlons
*Michel Pansard, Bishop of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes
*Philippe Christory, Bishop of Chartres
*Alain Planet, Bishop of Carcassonne et Narbonne
*Yves Boivineau, Bishop of Annecy
*Bernard Housset, Bishop emeritus of La Rochelle
*François Jacolin, M.D.P., Bishop of Luçon
*Gérard Coliche, Titular Bishop of Alet and former Auxiliary of Lille
*Antoine Henry Pierre Marie Hérouard, Titular Bishop of Maillezais and Auxiliary of Lille
*Claude-Joseph Azéma, Titular Bishop of Murcona and former Auxiliary of Montpellier
*Jean-Charles Thomas, Bishop emeritus of Versailles
*François-Mathurin Gourvès, Bishop emeritus of Vannes
*Alphonse Georger, Bishop emeritus of Oran

**Raphaël Dabiré Kusiélé, Bishop of Diébougou
**Paul Eusebius Mea Kaiuea, M.S.C., Bishop of Tarawa
**Paul Zinghtung Grawng, Archbishop emeritus of Mandalay
**Jean Baptiste Kpiéle Somé, Bishop emeritus of Diébougou

The bishops with an * are the original d'Estouteville group plus additions to their number since the combination of other lineages.  The bishops with ** are those who were previously known as the Ravizza line.