ChevalierPeter Bertram Cypriano Castellino de NoronhaKSGCE (19 April 1897 – 24 July 1970) was a businessman and civil servant of Kanpur, India. He was knighted by Pope Paul VI in 1965 for his work for the Christian community in India.
His team of engineers also invented a system of reinforced brickwork and flat roof system in the 1920 in Bihar. He resigned in 1926 to set up a new company P. Stanwill & Co. along with his brothers Willam and Stanley.[citation needed]
During World War II he served in the city's civil defence and later served in bridging the Hindu and Muslim communities during the Hindu-Muslim riots in the 1940s.
During the great Kanpur floods in 1950, he was instrumental helping save the lives of many trapped people and offering medical aid to the injured. For this he was awarded a certificate of merit by the District Magistrate of Kanpur.
He later donated an X-ray plant at the local Ursula Hospital for the poor and needy.
He was married twice, the first wife Linda, was the daughter of a prominent socialist from Jabalpur associated with Subhas Chandra Bose. They had two children before she died. He remarried again to a woman named Florence, with whom he had four children (including twins); their last child born when he was fifty-four.
Noronha wrote many books. Among them was The Pageant of Life (1964) in which a collection of this thoughts were penned.
A devout Roman Catholic, his major contribution was through the Legion of Mary and became the first Indian to become a Legion envoy in the late 1930s. It was due to his efforts that the Legion spread over North India across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In 1962 he resigned from the Legion due to declining health. He singlehandedly ran the Catholic Information Centre and spread the Gospel.
His funeral was attended by six hundred city residents despite being during working hours and he was buried in the Lal Kurti Cemetery in Kanpur Cantonment. He is survived by his son Allan de Noronha who is a popular social worker in Kanpur.
