José Antonio Dammert Bellido

José Antonio Dammert Bellido ( born August 20, 1917 in Lima, Peru, † September 10, 2008 ibid ) was bishop of the Diocese of Peru's Cajamarca. He was regarded as the first " Indiokatechet " in the world.

Life

José Antonio Dammert Bellido, whose grandfather had emigrated from Germany, studied in Pavia and Rome law and canon law. At the University of Pavia he received his doctorate in civil law. In 1934 he visited Germany for the first time. In 1938 he became Secretary General at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima and Professor of Roman Law, and later still of canon law and church history. He was also president of the " Catholic Youth " of the Archdiocese of Lima. In parallel, he studied from 1941 to 1946 theology at the Seminary of Santo Toribio de Lima and was ordained priest on December 21, 1946. From 1952 to 1958 he was Vice- Rector of the University.

Pope Pius XII. 1958 appointed him titular bishop of Amathus in Palestine and appointed him auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Lima. He received his episcopal consecration on May 15, 1958, the Archbishop of Lima and later cardinal, Juan Landázuri Ricketts, OFM; Co-consecrators were Carlos Alberto Arce Masías, Bishop of Piura in Peru, and Fidel Mario Tubino Mongilardi, Auxiliary Bishop of Lima. From 1957 to 1962 he was the first Secretary General of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference.

John XXIII. appointed him in 1962 to the bishop of Cajamarca. At the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965 he participated in all four sessions.

His age-related resignation was accepted in 1992 by John Paul II.

Work

" Don Pepe ," was decisive milestone for the church awakening in Latin America after the Second Vatican Council, especially with its essential involvement in the CELAM. From 1990 to 1992 he was president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference.

Run by his diocese Cajamarca had an international reputation and was a guide for the local churches. Dammert Bellido has been put on a par with Hélder Câmara and Leonidas Proaño in working with the poor in the slums of Cajamarca, a place with the largest gold deposits in America and the most profitable in the world. He refused insignia of episcopal power and of Arms and felt the spirit of Charles de Foucauld committed. With Pope Paul VI. became friendly with Bishop Dammert.

His mother was the founder of the Acción Católica for women in Peru.