REV DR PIUS FIDELIS PINTO
On 30th April 2011, Rev Dr Pius Fidelis Pinto completes 25 years of his Priesthood.
Born on April 24, 1960 to a devout couple, Mr Fredrick Pinto and Mrs Stella Pinto at Cowdoor in Gurpur, little Pius had the basic education in local school. His desire to become a Priest of Christ and serve the Lord and humanity materialized when he joined the St. Joseph’s Seminary Mangalore in 1975 and was ordained Priest in 1986. Dr. Pius Fidelis Pinto served in various Parishes and in the Institutions of the Mangalore Diocese. He worked as Assistant Parish Priest in Puttur and Kulur Churches. Later, he served St Antony’s Charitable Institutions after which, he served as Parish Priest of Nidpalli Church. Subsequently he served St Joseph’s Industrial Workshops as Director. He was also a faculty member of the Institute of Social Development and Founder & Managing Trustee of St. Joseph’s Engineering Education Trust. He founded Samanvaya NGO in the year 1998 of which he is the Managing Trustee. He is also the Managing Trustee of Matha Kripa Trust.
Rev. Dr Pius Fidelis Pinto besides is a well-known historian and noted for his research work and publications on the history of the Konkani Christians in Coastal Karnataka. He is a dedicated scholar, tracing the origin of the Konkani Christians in Dakshina Kannada. After doing M.A. in History from Karnataka University, he engaged himself in research and was awarded a Ph.D in History for his Research on the “Christianity in Vijayanagara and the Nayaks of Keladi” by the Mysore University. Being a dedicated scholar, he has already published nine Volumes and more than 35 Research papers in English, Kannada and Konkani based on his historical research. He has a PG Diploma Human Resource Management awarded by Indira Gandhi National Open University and PG Diploma in Peace and Value Education awarded by Madurai Kamaraj University to his credit. His theological studies have won him the B.Th. Degree.
Dr Pius has done vast research both in India and abroad. He was awarded research scholarships by Fundacao Oriente for research in Portugal, Charles Wallace Trust for research in the United Kingdom and University of Basel for research in Switzerland which enabled him to study records and documents pertaining to his research at various archives at Lisbon in Portugal, Cambridge, Oxford, British Library in the United Kingdom, Basel in Switzerland and Rome in Italy. He is also a Research Fellow in Emmy Noether-Research Group at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University, Germany. Presently he is the visiting Research Scholar at the South Asian Study Centre of Cambridge University. He has presented historical research papers at International, National and Regional Conferences and has made use of the various archives in Europe in his research work.
Dr Pius is a versatile author. The 8 books published by him in Kannada, Konkani and English bear ample testimony to it. He has written 44 research papers which have been presented at various symposia both in India and abroad. Some of his valuable publications in are : “Canaranthle Konknni Catholic” in Konkani; “Keladi Veerashaiva Nayakaru mattu Kraistaru” in Kannada; “Dirvyam Zar” in Konkani; “Desantar Thaun Bandhadek – Karavali Karnatakantle Konkani Kristanv” in Konkani; “Anglo-Mysore Sambandhadalli Konkani Kraistaru 1761-1799 A.D.” in Kannada, “Konkani Christians of Coastal Karnataka in Anglo-Mysore Relations 1761-1799 A.D.; Karavali Karnatakadalli Kraistara Ithihasa 1500-1763 A.D.” in Kannada and “History of Christians in Coastal Karnataka 1500-1763”. He has co-authored a book in Konkani language with Victor Rodrigues, Angelore titled “Nanthoor Kursa Patli Charitra”, a short history of the Nanthoor Cross, in Mangalore. All these books are published by Samanvaya Prakashana, Mangalore.
Dr Pius has won prestigious awards mainly for his research publications. They are Jnana Nidhi Puraskar 2000 by Kerala State Konkani Catholic Prathistana for his research on Konkani Christians of Coastal Karnataka, the Danti Memorial Award 2000 for Karavali Karnatakada Kraisthara Ithihasa and Dr TMA Pai Award 200l for Desantar Thaun Bandhedek. He has also been conferred the title Konkani World Super Star and the title Konkan Star by www.konkaniworld.com website and www.konkanifriends.com respectively. Despite his responsibilities as the Chief Functionary of ‘Samanvaya’ and Matha Kripa, Dr Pius Pinto still manages to find time to continue his research.
On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of his Ordination, we join all his well-wishers and fans
in wishing Rev Dr Pius Fidelis Pinto a successful and eventful religious life.
May the shining silver years turn into glittering gold.