Cornelius Wilson

{{Short description|Costa Rican bishop}}

{{Infobox Christian leader

| type = archbishop

| honorific_prefix = The Right Reverend

| name = Cornelius Wilson

| honorific_suffix =

| title = Archbishop of Central America
Bishop of Costa Rica

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| church = Anglican Church in Central America
Episcopal Church (before 1977)

| diocese = Costa Rica

| term = 1978–2002

| predecessor = Jose Antonio Ramos

| successor = Hector Monterroso

| other_post =

| ordination = 1965 (diaconate)
1967 (priesthood)

| ordained_by = David E. Richards

| consecration = September 15, 1978

| consecrated_by =

| birth_name = Cornelius Joshua Wilson

| birth_date = November 2, 1932

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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|08|12|1932|11|02}}

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| nationality = Costa Rican

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Cornelius Joshua Wilson (November 2, 1932 – August 12, 2002{{cite news |title=Installation of Bishop Martin Barahona |url=https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2002/08/installation-of-bishop-martin-barahona.aspx |agency=Anglican Communion News Service |date=August 21, 2002}}) served as Anglican Bishop of Costa Rica from 1978 to 2001.{{Cite web | title = New Bishop of Costa Rica Elected on First Ballot | author = | work = Episcopal News Service | date = 13 July 1978 | accessdate = 2016-04-29 | url = http://episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSpress_release.pl?pr_number=78192 | quote = |issue=78192 }}

Born in Siquirres, Limón, on November 2, 1932, the fourth of eight children born to parents Eliazar Mclean and Teresa Wilson of Afro-Caribbean origin. He started primary school in Escuela Justo Facio of Siquirres and concluded it in the Escuela General Tomas Guardia School of Limon. His high school studies were in the Colegio de Limón.

Wilson married Eulalia Cole on April 19, 1952; they had five children. He studied for ordination and was ordained a deacon in 1965 and then a priest in 1967 in the Episcopal Church. He later received an M.Div. from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

In 1978, Wilson was elected as the third bishop―and the first native Costa Rican bishop—of the newly autonomous Diocese of Costa Rica. He was consecrated on September 15, 1978. Two decades later, in 1998, he was elected and installed as the first primate of the Anglican Church in Central America after its recognition as an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion.{{cite news |title=Central America: New Province Formed |url=https://www.anglicannews.org/news/1998/05/central-america-new-province-formed.aspx |access-date=6 May 2024 |agency=Anglican Communion News Service}}