Early life and ministry Carlos Duarte Costa was born in
Rio de Janeiro on July 21, 1888, at the residence of his uncle Eduardo Duarte de Silva. His father was João Matta Francisco Costa and his mother was Maria Carlota Duarte da Silva Costa, who came from a family heavily involved in politics and public service. He completed his primary studies at the Salesian College Santa Rosa, in Niterói, and at age nine, he received his
first communion in the
cathedral of
Uberaba from the hands of his uncle, Dom Eduardo Duarte da Silva (now a bishop), on July 24, 1897. That same year he was taken by his uncle to
Rome to study at the
Pontifical Latin American College, a
Jesuit minor seminary. In 1905 he returned to Brazil for health reasons and entered an
Augustinian seminary in Uberaba, where he continued his philosophical and theological studies. He only narrowly managed to complete his studies and qualify for ordination, however, and his uncle intervened to vouch for his nephew. After
ordination as a
deacon, Duarte Costa served in the cathedral church of Uberaba under his uncle, Dom Eduardo Duarte da Silva, who, on April 1, 1911, ordained Duarte Costa to the priesthood. In 1936, Duarte Costa made his second
ad limina visit to Rome, meeting with Pope Pius XI. It is widely believed that he presented the pope with a list of radical reform proposals for the
Catholic Church in Brazil, though no record of this survives. During this period he did become friends with another outspoken priest who would go on to achieve world fame,
Helder Camara.
Bishop of Maura In September 1937, Duarte Costa resigned from his episcopal post and was appointed
titular bishop of Maura. As long as he enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Dom Sebastiao Leme da Silveira Cintra, Duarte Costa's political activism proceeded without much trouble. However, soon after the cardinal's death, Duarte Costa was formally accused by
the Brazilian government of being a communist sympathizer. He was arrested on June 6, 1944, and imprisoned in
Belo Horizonte.
Excommunication After his release from prison Carlos Duarte Costa soon found himself in trouble again. In May 1945, Duarte Costa gave newspaper interviews accusing Brazil's papal nuncio of Nazi-Fascist spying, and accused Rome of having aided and abetted
Adolf 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), personal confessions and the praying of
rosaries would be abolished and bishops would be elected by popular vote. In response to Duarte Costa's continued insubordination, the Vatican finally laid against him the penalty of
excommunication on July 2, 1945. Upon being informed of his excommunication, Duarte Costa responded by saying, "I consider today one of the happiest days of my life." He immediately titled himself "Archbishop 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. The ICAB attracted the attention of scholars of Brazilian religions such as
Roger Bastide, who described it as "having both a religious and a political program, the latter [having] much in common with the Communist Party". Unlike the official Catholic Church in Brazil, the ICAB developed friendly relations with
Spiritism and
Freemasonry. Duarte Costa "began giving talks in Spiritist centers to publicize the new church" and "ICAB would go on to attract many members" of Freemasonry. Duarte Costa also "openly encouraged cooperation with
Umbanda,
Macumba and
Candomblé communities" when these are considered wholly incompatible with Roman Catholicism. In the years immediately after founding the church, Duarte Costa consecrated four bishops,
Salomão Barbosa Ferraz (August 15, 1945), Jorge Alves de Souza and Antidio Jose Vargas (both in 1946) and
Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez (May 3, 1948). These bishops had intended to establish similar autonomous Catholic national churches in several other Latin American countries. Relations between the bishops were not always good, and Duarte Costa fought bitterly with Ferraz from the earliest days of the ICAB. His most fractious and quarrelsome relationship was with Castillo Mendez, whom he repeatedly denounced as a fraud and a charlatan. Duarte Costa consecrated eleven ICAB bishops in total. ==References==