By C. M. Paul
KOLKATA, May 29, 2026: A pioneering priest-psychologist who became the first Indian-born principal of Salesian College Sonada and later advanced psychological training for clergy and laity died May 28 in Kolkata at age 101. His final act of service was donating his body to medical science.
Salesian Father Peter Lourdes’ career spanned more than seven decades, marked by groundbreaking leadership in Catholic education and psychology.
As the first Indian-born principal of Salesian College Sonada in Darjeeling, he reshaped the institution’s academic and pastoral mission, and later pioneered psychological training for clergy and laity at the National Vocation Service Centre in Pune.
His work consistently challenged convention, blending faith and science in ways that left a lasting imprint on both the church and society.
A solemn requiem Mass was celebrated at Nitika Chapel, where he had lived since 1989, with Father Sunil Kerketta, Provincial of the Salesian Calcutta Province presiding.
Church leaders and colleagues said his final act of donating his body to medical science reflected a lifetime of breaking conventional boundaries to serve the community.
Father Lourdes had drafted a will declaring that his body be used for academic study. Immediately after the chapel service, his remains were handed over to Calcutta National Medical College, fulfilling his last wish of selfless service.
As the first Indian-born principal of Salesian College Sonada, Darjeeling (1967–1970), Father Lourdes strengthened its academic and pastoral mission while rooting it more deeply in the Indian context.
Father Lourdes later served as program director and head of psychology at the National Vocation Service Centre in Pune, pioneering psychological training for clergy and laity. His influential works include The Human Face of Clergy (1989), The Hem of His Garment (1996), Wow Jesus (2014), and The Clash (2016).
A COVID-19 survivor at age 94, he became a symbol of resilience when he hoisted the Indian flag on Independence Day, Aug. 15, 2020, shortly after recovery.
Born March 19, 1926, Father Lourdes was among the first batch of Don Bosco School, Liluah, in 1937. He later earned advanced degrees in psychology from Salesian University in Rome.
He did his PhD in Clinical Psychology at Loyola Chicago and Master’s in Somatic Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies at San Francisco.
Father Lourdes completed 82 years as a Salesian and 72 years as a priest.