Media Release

Puttur, Jan 2: Dr A P Monteiro has been appointed principal of prestigious St Philomena College, Puttur. Fr Dr Antony Prakash Monteiro has succeeded Prof Leo Noronha as the ninth principal of the prestigious St Philomena College, Puttur.

Prof Noronha handed over the charge to Fr A P Monteiro during a brief ceremony held in the principal's office. During the occasion, correspondent of the college, Fr Jerome Lawrence Mascarenhas; campus director of the college, Fr Stany Pinto; principal of St Philomena PU College, Fr Vijay Lobo; Hostel warden Fr Ashok Rayan Crasta; Management Governing council members, Mauris Mascharenhas, Dr Norbert Mascarenhas, Prof Paul Herald Mascarenhas, John D'Souza, Everest Rodrigues, J P Rodrigues, Valerian J Fernandes, Prof Xavier D'Souza, John Cutinho; office bearers of alumni association A J Rai, Jayakumar Rai; IQAC coordinator Dr A P Radhakrishna and other teaching and non-teaching staff members graced the occasion. Staff secretary of the college, Prof Ganesh Bhat K conducted the programme.

St Philomena College, Puttur is affiliated to Mangalore University and is managed by the Catholic Board of Education, Mangaluru which is the top management. Dr Peter Paul Saldanha, bishop of Mangalore diocese is the president of the CBE and Fr Antony Shera is serving as the secretary of the CBE. The local management committee is headed by the joint secretary, Fr Jerome Lawrence Mascarenhas, parish priest, Mai De Deus Church, Puttur as correspondent.

Until the 1950s, Puttur was an unheralded place in the coastal Karnataka region. The college was founded by founder Msgr Antony Patrao in 1958 with the express objective of educationally empowering the people of Puttur. He tended the Institution with motherly care and his example was emulated by his successors. Fr Francis P Serrao was the founding Principal and in these 63 years of glorious history of the college, Fr Henry Castelino, Fr J B D’Souza, Fr Lawrence Mendonca, Fr Frederick Mascarenhas, Dr John Clarence Miranda, Fr Francis Xavier Gomes and Prof Leo Noronha served the institution as principals. Prof Noronha served the institution as a principal for more than a decade, with his transfer to Sacred College Madanthyar, he left behind an illustrious track record during its tenure in St Philomena College, Puttur.

Fr Antony Prakash Monteiro hails from Shirva of Udupi district and he obtained his masters in Physics from Mangalore University after completing BSc at St Philomena College, Puttur. As a student with par excellence, he was fifth rank holder in BSc and a first rank holder along with Gold Medal in MSc from Mangalore University. Later in the year 2007 he joined for PhD in Theoretical Particle Physics (Phenomenology) at Mangalore University under Prof K B Vijaya Kumar. He obtained his PhD in the year 2011. At his professional forefront as a teacher, he joined as assistant professor in the department of Physics at St Philomena College, Puttur in June 2011. Along with his duty as campus director of St Philomena College, Puttur, he also served as the chairman of Center for PG Studies and Research of the college. He was instrumental in establishing the post graduate departments of Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Economics at the center. As per now he has 15 years of rich teaching experience in various topics of Physics for under-graduate and post-graduate courses.

He has also been an active researcher, over the years he has produced 20 research papers in national/international journals of repute and presented over 80 research papers at national/international conferences. His research explored the properties of mesons, ranging from light mesons to heavy mesons including heavy-light sector including various decays of these mesons namely leptonic, radiative, two-gluon and two-photon decays. Recent works deal with heavy meson spectroscopy along with decays. He established ‘Theoretical Physics Research Laboratory’ in the year 2014 at the College and lab was funded by BRNS (Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences). He was also a recipient of ‘VGST Award for Research Publications (ARP) 2017-18’ for his outstanding research publications by the Vision Group on Science and Technology (VGST), Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Karnataka government, which is constituted under the chairmanship of distinguished scientist Bharat Ratna Prof C N R Rao. The VGST also rewarded him a grant of worth Rs 20 lac to establish the ‘Center for Theoretical Nuclear and Particle Physics for Advanced Studies’ in PG Center of St Philomena College, Puttur under the programme ‘K-FIST L-1 2018-19’.

Fr A P Monteiro obtained Ordination as a priest on April 25, 2006. Before joining as campus director of St Philomena group of institutions, Puttur on June 2011, he has served as assistant parish priest at St Francis Xavier Church, Bejai from June 2006 to May 2007; parish priest at Assumption of Our Lady Church, Maria Ashram, Talapady from June 2007 to May 2008 and as parochial administrator, Sacred Heart Church, Maril from July 2011 to Aug 2011. At present, he is also a member of Catholic Board of Education, Mangaluru. He has authored various books in Kannada, Konkani and English Languages related to religious and educational fields. He has two books in Physics published by international publications.

Fr A P Monteiro is popularly known as ‘Quiz Priest’ among the Christians of Mangalore diocese. Till now he has authored five Bible quiz books in three languages (Konkani, Kannada and English). There are five other books in Kannada and English on different subjects that he has authored. Some of his quiz books have seen the light of five editions. All through the year 2009 he conducted ‘Mega Raknno Bible Quiz’ through Raknno Konkani weekly which inspired and persuaded thousands of readers to open every book of the Bible. Bible study, Physics and especially Quantum Physics are the major interests of Fr A P Monteiro. He is also known for his inspiring talks during seminars, camps and recollections.