Fr. Edwin Celestine Pinto is the Director of Mount Rosary Charitable Institutions at Moodbidri, in Mangalore Diocese, and founder of The Congregation of Helpers of Mount Rosary.
Edwin was born on 2 nd May 1932 at Vittal. His parents were Boniface and Theresa Pinto of Vittal. Boniface Pinto was known as Bona Mestri(teacher)in Vittal. His early studies took place at St Rita’s Church School and Board School, Vittal. Soon after the education of Edwin in Vittal, he was admitted to St Aloysius College, Mangalore. After the school final, Bishop Victor R Fernandes of Mangalore admitted him to St Joseph's Seminary, Mangalore, to be a diocesan priest. Fr Edwin was ordained a priest by Bishop Basil Peris on 2 nd April 1957.
His first appointment as an assistant was to St Vincent Ferrer Church, Valencia, Mangalore. Next year, he was sent to Neleshwar parish. In the 4th year of his priesthood, he was sent to the Sacred Heart Parish in Basrikatte. At Basrikatte, he invited and brought the Bethany Sisters from Mangalore to start first, the first higher elementary school and then the high school. The people of Basrikatte arranged for him to go to Kuwait to preach a retreat for the Mangalore community over there, and they took him to the Holy Land for a pilgrimage. After his return from the Holy Land, for the next three years, he worked at St Anthony’s Church, Sasthan, and then at St John Baptist Church, Permude.
In the year 1970, Bishop Basil D Souza approached Fr Edwin and asked him to organize human development activities and projects for the whole of the Diocese of Mangalore and asked him to head Caritas Mangalore. Fr Edwin first studied how to organize social work at the India Social Institute, Bangalore, and then went to the Agriculture Institute at Allahabad, to study dry cultivation, and was also given a scholarship to study human development and co-operatives at the Coady Institute, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Canada. After his return from Canada, Fr Edwin, together with Bishop D Souza, founded CODP (Canara Organization for Development and Peace), an independent trust, for the development work of the diocese. After having worked for over 12 years in CODP, Fr Edwin was transferred as Manager at St Joseph Asylum workshops, Jeppu, Mangalore. After his work at Jeppu workshops, Bishop D'Souza appointed him as the Director of Mount Rosary Charitable Institutions at Moodbidri. For 5 years, he was also the Vicar General of the Mangalore Diocese. Soon after, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI made him a Monsignor, with the title, chaplain to the Holy Father.
It has been 45 years since Msgr. Edwin C. Pinto came to Mount Rosary as the Director. In the 1980s, he felt an inner urge to start an Association of young, committed sisters to continue the work already begun, not only in Mount Rosary but also in the local church. He prepared himself with prayer and discussions with the Bishop to establish a group of religious sisters at Mount Rosary. Accordingly, on 15th September 1990, he received the Decree from Bishop D’souza to start a Lay Pious Association of Helpers of Mount Rosary, and the Canonical erection was done on October 7, 1990.
In 2015, he felt an inner call to start another Lay Pious Association of women at Mount Rosary. This is for young widows, aged 30 to 45, who have no family acquaintances, who have a desire to serve the church, and also spinsters aged 30 to 45, to continue the works of Helpers of Mount Rosary. The name of the new Association is Rosarian Sisters. In 2018, he was inspired to rebuild Mount Rosary Hospital into 45 45-bed super-speciality hospital, and the new hospital was blessed and inaugurated on October 7, 2019.
* Collected from the public domain
* Updated on 05/05/2025
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