Archbishop Ambrose Madtha’s funeral to be held in Belthangady

Mangalore, 12 December 2012 (TNN): The funeral of Indian Archbishop Ambrose Madtha, the papal envoy to Ivory Coast, who was killed in a road accident in Abidjan of Ivory Coast, will be held in Belthangady in Dakshina Kannada district soon. 

Most Holy Redeemer Church parish priest Rev Fr James D’Souza said, "We will get a correct picture on Wednesday as to when his body will arrive. Most probably the body will arrive by Friday." Regarding on whose request the funeral was being conducted here, Fr D’Souza said his family might have requested it. "His place of burial has not been decided yet,’’ the priest said. Incidentally, the archbishop had inaugurated the new Most Redeemer Church on May 3 this year. "He had got a bell for the church from Italy," the parish priest remembered. 

 

The archbishop, a polyglot, was travelling back from the north-western town of Odienne to an ordination ceremony in the country’s west when his car collided with another vehicle. Madtha was born in Belthangady near Mangalore in 1955 to the late May and Joseph Madtha. Madtha, who did his MA (economics) from Nagpur University, completed his BEd from Lucknow University. He studied Philosophy and Theology at St Charles Seminary, Nagpur and obtained doctorate in canon law from Urban University in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1982. He became the doyen of the Ivorian diplomatic corps after arriving in 2008.