The
Birth of the Mission of Central Bengal
By
Fr. James M. Fannan, PIME
Introduction
The
year 2005 will mark an important anniversary of 150 years in the history of the
Catholic Church in Bangladesh. It marks a giant step in the planting of the
Church in the areas which make up the western side of Bangladesh as well as
neighboring areas in India. That giant step was the decision of the Congregation
for the Propagation of the Faith to assign the PIME missionaries to the area
which was at that time given the designation “Central Bengal.” It led to the
beginning of the work of the new missionaries in 1855.
Under
British rule, Bengal was much larger than we think of it today. At that time it
extended all the way to Patna in what is now Bihar. Thus, the term “Central
Bengal” was used for this new area, which includes modern western Bangladesh.
This decision to send missionaries to Central Bengal would ultimately lead to
the formation of ten dioceses in India and three in Bangladesh: Dinajpur, Khulna,
and Rajshahi; but all of this growth was a long time in the making.
Although
the Portuguese had established a Christian presence as early as 1522 in the
Chittigong area of what is now Bangladesh and later in the Hooghly area of what
is now West Bengal, the whole area that was later named “Central Bengal” was
still basically bereft of the presence of missionary activity among the local
indigenous population. The Catholics that were to be found in these areas were
few, and they were either soldiers or people who came there for business
purposes.
The
decline of Portuguese influence and the rise of British influence led to a
decline in the Catholic presence in Kolkata as well as in the surrounding areas.
Protestant influence became dominant, and in many places of Central Bengal, the
Protestants were the only known form of Christianity. The Baptists came to
Jessore in 1802, and other Protestants followed elsewhere. Given the inability
of the Portuguese to continue and expand on the foundations they had previously
established in Bengal, the SCPF (Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the
Faith) decided to set up a new
ecclesiastical jurisdiction throughout Bengal. Thus in 1834, they created
Vicariate of Bengal. At this time, due to the nature of British protestant rule,
the name diocese was not used, but for all practical purposes, that is what it
was. The first Bishop for this vast area was Robert St. Leger, S.J.
It
was his second successor, Bishop Patrick Carew who recognized that
with just twelve priests, he could not possibly care for this immense
area of Bengal with the resources at hand. In l853 he therefore divided the area
into three regions: the Vicariate
of West Bengal, the Vicariate of East Bengal, and the Prefecture of Assam. The
result of this decision led to the arrival of the Holy Cross community in East
Bengal. At first the Missionaries of Paris agreed to take Assam, but the cruel
murder of two of their missionaries made them decide to withdraw from the
mission entirely. Several other orders also refused to take over this new
mission. It was then that PIME was invited to take over an area that had been
extended southwards. This area that from then on would be known as Central
Bengal. Originally it consisted of the three districts north of the Ganges,
namely, Malda, Bogra, and Rajshahi, as well as four districts to the south:
Murshidabad, Krishnagar, Jessore, and Khulna.
The
year 2004 marks the anniversary of a letter dated June 3, 1854, in which the
PIME community was invited to come to Bengal. At that time they were called the
Institute of St. Calocero of Milan because their headquarters was in that parish.
The new area given to the PIME Missionaries was located approximately in what we
would now call western Bangladesh and West Bengal, excluding Kolkota and its
immediate surroundings (Krishnagar was about 100 kms. north of Kolkota.. The
northern boundary was later extended all the way to Bhutan.
On
March 14, 1855, Pope Pius IX received the missionaries who would open this new
mission. There were just three priests and one catechist brother because the
PIME missionaries were a new community and had very few people to send. The
priests were Fr. Albino Parietti, the superior, and Frs. Luigi
Limana and Antonio Marietti. The
catechist was Giovanni Sesana. Two months later, on May 17, 1855, the feast of
the Ascension, they had reached Kolkata. After two weeks they left for
Berhampore in what is now West Bengal. At that time, it was a British military
base, and hence a priest was needed to minister to the Catholic soldiers (especially
the Irish).
The
first months were devoted to language study, especially English and Hindi,
though they also studied Bengali. They were disappointed to find out that there
were less than 300 Catholics in this vast area that had been entrusted to them.
Moreover, the Catholics were not the Bengali speakers. They were outsiders. At
first, the only church and rectory was at Berhampore because from time to time a
priest used to come from Kolkata especially for the sake of the soldiers. This
fact turned out to be a precious help for the missionaries because the chaplain
received a salary. It was with this salary and the other meager funds that they
had, that the missionaries could survive.
All
who visited this mission were struck by the poverty of the missionaries who
seemed to spend all they had to take care of the needs of the mission. The
mission at the cantonment of Berhampore had already brought a Catholic presence
to the area before the arrival of the PIME priests. This work in the cantonment
finally led to the first church in neighboring Krishnagar. It was built by Fr.
Thomas Zuburu, O.C. in 1846.
After
a year had passed after their arrival, in July 1856, the three priests finally
decided they were ready to work independently. Their goal was an indigenous
church rather than simply a church of foreigners. Fr. Parietti stayed at
Berhampore to care for the flock there as well as for the few Catholics of
Murshidabad. Fr. Luigi Limana went to Krishnagar, and Fr. Antonio Marietti
rented a house in Jessore town.
In
all of these places, the Protestants were already well established. They had
friends both in the government and among the wealthy foreign business class. It
is to their credit that the British were tolerant and thus the Catholic Church
was permitted to come and take root. It is to the credit of the missionaries
that the Church flourished. Because the Catholic children were going to the
Protestant schools, one of the first steps of Parietti was to set up a Catholic
school in Berhampore. It was especially the Holy Childhood office in Paris and
the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in France which supported the work
of these pioneers in Bengal.
In
Krishnagar, the Protestants had arrived in 1804. It became the center of the
activity of the CMS (Church Mission Society). The Protestants had already had
some success and had set up a number of schools. By 1850 they claimed that they
had 4,417 Christians in and around Krishnagar. However, already in 1845 some
Protestants had already gone to Kolkata and asked for Catholic missionary to
come and instruct them.
In
April of 1845, Archbishop Carew sent a Portuguese priest, Fr. Thomas Zubiburu,
O.C., and by the end of the year, he had one hundred Catholics. Originally he
had worked in what is now Eastern Bangladesh around Noakhali. He set up a school,
rectory, and chapel, which was dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The first
stone was blessed on January 26, 1846. The present cathedral was later built on
this very same site. He was working on the publication of a book of prayers in
Bengali, but sadly he died before he could establish a strong Catholic presence.
The mission declined after his death, and by the time Fr. Limana arrived on July
6, 1856, the chapel was being used as a hospital. Thus, in fact, there was only
one church in use in the whole area entrusted to PIME, the one at Berhampore.
The only other news we have of any previous Catholic activity in the area was
again due to the cantonment at Berhampore. A priest who went to the cantonment,
Fr. Varalli, also paid a visit in 1851 to other areas: he blessed a marriage at
Krishnagar; in Khulna, he heard the confessions of two Europeans who were there
at the time.
Thus,
when Fr. Limana arrived in Krishnagar, it was almost like starting from zero.
After three months, Fr. Limana was able to get back the Catholic property and
gathered seven Catholic families together there. He believed that it was
necessary for them to live together to be strengthened in their Catholic faith.
Gradually the Catholic faith began to spread in neighboring areas. From the very
beginning, conversions were coming at the expense of the Protestant churches,
and this is quite remarkable when one considers how poor the Catholic Church was
and how much better financed the Protestants were at that time. The Protestants
already had a number of schools, and this pushed the Catholics to open their own
schools to promote and sustain Catholic beliefs. Fr. Limana opened his school on
December 8, 1856, just five months after his arrival
there. The school grew rapidly, and by September of 1857 it had 42
students.
By
the time Fr. Antonio Marietti arrived in Jessore in 1856, he also found that the
Baptists were already well established ever since 1802. Interestingly, it was a
Catholic trader, Joseph Barretto who protected the Protestants in the early days
of their presence there. It is worth noting that the Bengali historian Jadunath
Sankar states that much earlier the Jesuits were very much at home in the
Jessore area in the court of the Hindu King Pratapaditya, but whatever fruits
they may have gained were long forgotten under later Mughal and then British
rule. There were, however, some
Catholic Indigo planters of French origin who provided the nucleus of a small
Catholic community in Jessore. In fact, before their withdrawal from Assam, the
Missionaries of Paris had already contacted this group in 1851. Periodically a
missionary used to visit them from Kolkata. By the time Fr. Marietti arrived,
there was just a group of Indigo planters of French lineage who were left to
represent the Catholic Church. As soon as he could Fr. Marietti set up residence
in a thatched house and began to educate the young boys. Some of them he kept at
his own home; the others were sent to Krishnagar.
In
the midst of all this activity, there was the famous Sepoy rebellion in 1857
among the Indian soldiers. Although the first signs of the rebellion were
precisely at Berhampore, fortunately for the mission of Bengal, nothing of any
consequence occurred to really endanger the missionaries, but there were moments
of real fear as massacres of Europeans occurred in many other parts of northern
India. The missionaries all stayed at their post in spite of the danger. As it
turned out, nothing happened to them, but since the rebellions usually broke out
with no warning, no one could know at the time that no lives would be lost. It
is interesting that Fr. Parietti had the impression that this rebellion had no
popular support. Nevertheless, many times at night he carried the Blessed
Sacrament with him to stay in the comparative safety of the jungle just in case!
The
end of the rebellion was very important for the mission
of Bengal. In fact, there were four more missionaries who had been
temporarily stationed south of New Delhi in Agra. They were trapped during a
siege by the rebel soldiers. They, however, also survived this trial with their
lives intact, though the situation had been quite dangerous and difficult during
the siege at Agra. When the rebellion had ended, it was not much longer before
these missionaries were freed from other duties. So it happened that four more
missionaries arrived in Bengal in 1859.
There
were three priests and one catechist in this group. The priests were Frs. Luigi
De Conti, Angelo Curti, and Luigi Brioschi. The
catechist was Brother Beltramai (Paulo Mauri). Fr. Curti, however, almost
immediately decided to go to Kolkata to continue working as a military chaplain
rather than to take up the work of implanting the Church among the Bengali
people. Eventually he returned to Europe.
However,
another important change was to come to the mission. After beginning their work,
the first group of missionaries soon understood that what they really needed to
work effectively was the help of sisters.
They realized that the sisters could effectively reach out to the women and
children of the Bengali community. Already in a letter of November 5, 1857, Fr.
Marietti informed his superior in Italy that they needed to look for some
sisters. By the end of 1859, the Italian superior, Fr. Marinoni was able to
arrange for the arrival of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere (Capitanio Sisters
or Sisters of Maria Bambina). This idea was new at the time because the
conditions of the mission seemed impossibly hard for European women. Bishop
Ramazzotti, who became Patriarch of Venice, smoothed the way for bringing about
this decision. They were accompanied by another new PIME Father, Enrico Longa.
They were met by the Italian Consul in Kolkata on March 11, 1860. By March 17,
they were already at Krishnagar and took charge of the girls’ school.
Thereafter, they opened an orphanage as well. The arrival of the sisters
undoubtedly contributed to the growing esteem which the Catholic came to enjoy
in Bengal. Local Hindu leaders quickly made it known that they would like
sisters for all the schools for girls in Krishnagar. This growing esteem for the
work of the Catholic Church also contributed to numerous conversions from the
Protestant communities.
The
growth in numbers of the missionaries permitted new efforts to extend the
presence of the Church to totally new areas. Fr. Parietti received an invitation
from the Muslim Nawab of Murshidabad to visit him. The result of the visit was
the arrangement of a small chapel for the thirty-nine Catholics who worked for
the Nawab. Meanwhile, in Berhampore, Fr.
Parietti bought land to bring together the Catholics so as to deepen their
Catholic life. He also built an orphanage and a school. The arrival of the new
missionary, Fr. De Conti, gave Fr. Parietti the freedom to go farther afield.
Meanwhile,
in Jessore, Fr. Marietti received the help of Fr. Brioschi. He therefore went to
new areas in Jessore and Khulna. Fifty kilometers from Jessore, at Bodparia, a
village asked for a Catholic missionary. This resulted in a new chapel and a
school large enough for one hundred children. In several places Baptist
congregations, together with their catechists also joined the Catholic Church.
At Batenparia, it was the Anglican priest, Rev. Fox who entrusted his whole
congregation to the Catholic Church before returning to England. Some sources
state that he himself joined the Catholic Church thereafter. In 1861, Fr. Longa
took the place of Fr. Brioschi for a year, and then he in turn was replaced by
Fr. Conti till 1864. Then it was the turn of yet another new missionary, Fr.
Parode Bertoldi to come to the air of Fr. Marietti in the mission at Jessore.
A
group of Baptists from the village of Malgachi came all the way from the
Sundarbans to Fr. Parietti. The first Catholic baptisms there took place on May
17, 1860. The first evangelization by the Baptists was bringing an abundant
harvest for the Catholics. A man named Ramchand from Jagonondakati heard about a
Baptist missionary, Rev. Anderson. He came met Fr. Marietti while looking for
Rev. Angerson. As a result, Fr. Marietti agreed to return with him to his
village, and the first baptisms were in November of 1859. This led to friends
and relatives from Simulia and Beniali also joining the Catholic Church, and so
on Christmas day of 1861, Fr. Marietti baptized some of them. Back in Jessore,
Fr. Marietti was able to open a girls’ school under the care of the Capitanio
sisters in 1864. He had already opened a school for boys.
In
Krishnagar, Fr. Limana received the help of two missionaries: Fr. De Conti and
the lay catechist, brother Sesana. These two opened up a new mission near
Bhoborpara at Bollapur. This time again it was a case where 40 Protestant
families joined the Catholic Church. This is one of the characteristics of the
early days of this mission. Certainly it was not due to the wealth of the
Catholic Church. The opposite was true. The Catholic Church was poor, but
conversions among Protestants continued. Understandably, the Protestants were
very much against this development, but their efforts to stop it were quite
often unsuccessful. In the end, Fr.
De Conti decided to move the mission house and school to the nearby village of
Deripur. The first Catholic baptisms took place there on December 7, 1860.
Soon
after this, Fr. Brioschi took charge of the mission. Two miles south of
Bhoborpara, at Fulbary, an indigo planter decided to sell his house and land at
a bargain price. Fr. Brioschi seized the opportunity. Thus, in 1863, the center
was moved there. Meanwhile, conversions to Catholicism continued to take place
around Bhoborpara. The Catholic families of Deripur moved to the new center at
Fulbary, and the first baptisms there took place on August 15, 1863.
Then a new priest arrived, Fr. Remigio Pozzotti to help Fr. Brioschi with the
new converts. The traditional work of most of these people was selling fish.
Meanwhile, back in Krishnagar itself in December of 1859, Fr. Limana was able to
send the first graduates of his school to work as teachers and catechists to
further extend the outreach of the Church.
Sisters
of Maria Bambina
During
this period, the sisters of Maria Bambina continued to arrive to help the new
mission. On April 25, 1863, Sisters Agostina, Benedetta, and Nazarena arrived in
Krishnagar together with Sister Annunciata Comminati. Their final goal was
Jessore. One year later, they were able to open a girls’ boarding school at
Jessore. In 1865 two more sisters arrived. At this time, Sister Cecelia Uetz
came to replace Sister Angela Bagli, who was being sent back to Italy because
she was dying of tuberculosis.
After
some experiences with the schools and hospital work, the sisters were ready for
a new experiment – going to do catechetical work in the rural villages. The
first experiment was in Fulbary near Bhoborpara. Two sisters went there to
prepare the women for confirmation. This experiment was such a success that
thereafter the sisters went each year during the dry season, and the idea was
extended to the Jessore mission as well. With that, we can see that the missions
had reached the classic form that they were to follow for years to come.
During
all the period of their initial labors, the PIME missionaries enjoyed a
practical autonomy, however, strictly speaking, they were still under the
authority of the Archbishop of Kolkata. The original purpose for inviting them
to Bengal, however, was to set up a new ecclesiastical district of Central
Bengal called an “Apostolic Prefecture.” This is why Rome sent an Apostolic
Visitor with two other priests to see the work and report back their
recommendations. The Apostolic Visitor was the Vicar Apostolic of Mysore,
Stephan Louis Charbonneaux. He was accompanied by “assessors” who assisted
him in his examination of the situation. These two assessors, P. Depommier and
M. Laouenan visited the missions of Berhampore and Krishnagar in May of 1861.
They had a very favorable impression and praised the missionaries’ “love of
poverty.” Fr. Depommier wrote to Fr. Limana, “many make the vow of poverty,
but you practice it without making it. We have been very much edified by you.”
The
report raised a question that was to have an impact on the mission’s future.
They recommended that the territory entrusted to PIME in Central Bengal be
extended all the way north to Bhutan and that the problem of Assam be settled by
entrusting it to PIME as well. The report questioned the wisdom of the way the
problem of caste was handled in the new mission. The mission work in some other
parts of India retained the distinction of caste. This is something that the
report regarded as the wiser policy. The missionaries took this criticism
seriously, but they felt that it was already too late to change methods,
especially since the Protestants had already influenced the view that Hindus and
Christians had on this matter: to become a Christian basically meant leaving the
Hindu way of life as well as the Hindu religion.
Relations
with the Protestants
In
the early days of this Catholic mission to Bengal, the influence of Protestant
roots was very strong in the way the mission developed. At their London
Conference in 1888, one of the old CMS (Church Mission Society) Missionaries of
Bengal, Rev. H. Williams, blamed the Catholics for trying to win over
Protestants to their ranks. One Protestant historian actually said that the
greatest obstacle to the CMS was the Catholic missionaries. This is quite
extraordinary when one thinks of these poor Italian missionaries in an area
controlled by the wealthy, ruling, Protestant English establishment. However, it
is a fact that there was a steady movement of
Protestant Christians into the Catholic Church. By the end of their first
14 years of apostolate,
the PIME Fathers had
registered 1007 converts. 12% of these were former Protestants. One must ask how
was this accomplished! Government jobs and especially education was already
controlled by the English Protestants. Nevertheless, conversions continued to
favor the Catholics. It must be said to their credit that the British could have
made things much more difficult for the Catholics, but they did not.
It
is a fact, that in times of calamities, the Catholic missionaries turned to rich
planters and Government officials, who were often Protestants, for loans and
donations; and help was given to these poor Catholic priests who labored
unselfishly for the downtrodden poor. The wealthy and powerful clearly respected
these new missionaries and took concrete steps to help them. However, the
scandal of divided Christians influenced, of course, the work of evangelization
itself. During the famine of 1866, Frs. Longa and Brioschi, besides, looking for
donations, also ended up with large debts. This led to a controversy; the local
British authority, known as the “Collector” was a man named Mr. Bell. He was
so impressed by the missionaries that he wrote an official letter that praised
them highly. Concretely he arranged the debt for famine relief to be paid by the
government. This led to accusations by the Protestants that the Catholics were
really engaged in underhanded attempts at conversions. There was a debate in the
press all the way to England. Finally the Commissioner, Mr. Chapmen, intervened
on behalf of Mr. Bell and Fr. Longa; thus, the debate was brought to an end.
Within
13 years of beginning their mission, the missionaries had published five books
in Bengali. Fr. Limana wrote a catechism. Fr. Marietti was the author of four
other books. Already in 1860 he publshed a book “On the Seven Sacraments”
which gave clear answers to Protestant questions about Catholicism. He made use
of both the Bible and Tradition in this book. It was a big success and went
through several printings over the years. Fr. Marietti also published a Catholic
hymn book (Catholic Gitaboli) in 1862 and a book of meditations (Dhaner
Pustok) in 1863. He also published a book of the lives of saints (Shadhu
Chorit). These books were used by the catechists as well as the educated
public. Before he died, Fr. Marietti also published in the Bengali language a
history of the Catholic Church (including the Reformation) that was 732 pages
long. It included a valuable account of the early days of the mission of Central
Bengal.
The
Protestants had wisely divided themselves into various areas to avoid conflicts,
but clearly from the very beginning, there were some Catholics present in areas
where the Protestants had established congregations. Moreover, in some ways the
foreign, mostly Protestant establishment, also tended to put Christianity in
general in a bad light since their behavior often scandalized the local Hindu
and Muslim communities – even any consumption of alcohol would be frowned upon. In this respect, clearly the priests and sisters had a
distinct advantage: in most places there were no European Catholics. In any
event, the Apostolic Visitor suggested that the Catholic missionaries look for
areas where the view of Christianity was not already influenced by the behavior
of Protestants.
Death,
Disease, and Destruction
Beyond
the questions of confessional divisions, the greatest problem of the
missionaries was early death and frequent sicknesses. Bengal has been called the
“tomb of the Europeans,” but the truth is that before the introduction of
modern medicine there was a very high mortality rate in the population at large,
especially in the case of children. Nevertheless, this problem had a special
impact on the Church since the missionaries were hard to replace and were very
few already, and so even the loss of one was a severe blow.
Fr.
Parietti, the superior, died after just nine years in the mission on November
30, 1864. He had chronic dysentery for many years before he finally died. He
always refused the pleas of others to go home to Italy and get proper care.
Months later, on January 16, 1865, it was the catechist Paolo Mauri who died.
The next year on July 27, 1866, Luigi Brioschi died of cholera at Bhoborpara. He
was only 37. He had worked tirelessly, traveling around the villages. The
following year, it was the turn of the other lay catechist, Brother Giovnanni
Sesana. He died at Krishnagar of April 7, 1867. That same year, Fr. Limana left
for Italy in hope of a cure, he lingered on for three years more before dying of
tuberculosis. The killer diseases were many, but especially dysentery and
tuberculosis featured high on the list. Eventually, three other priests, Frs. De
Conti, Longa, and Marietti also had to return to Italy. Only Father Marietti
regained his health and could return.
Fr.
Pezzotti had survived to continue the work of Fr. Brioschi around Bhoborpara.
He was famous for understanding how to cure the sick children and was
much sought after. Even the rich non-Christians turned to him for help. Finally
he also had to return to Italy in the hopes of regaining his health. The arrival
of three new missionaries at this critical time helped to restore the depleted
numbers, at least for a time. They were Fr. Jacopo Broy, Fr. Giuseppe Bersani,
and the catechist Brother Angelo Galimberti. All three were to begin their work
in the Jessore area, but as things turned out, that was not to be. Within a
short time, Fr. Broy was transferred to Berhampore, and in October 1867, Bersani
was already going back home in Italy with his health completely broken. He was
already dead by December. These were what spiritual writers call the “follies
of love” or the “folly of the cross.” The sisters, too, were not spared.
At the young age of 26, the first superior, Sister Angela Baglio, died of
tuberculosis. The same disease also took the life of a lady catechist, Rosa
Albizzati.
Besides
the loss of these missionaries, the general Catholic population was also subject
to all the catastrophes that struck the population as a whole, bringing death
and loss of property to an already impoverished people. There were frequent
cyclones, floods, droughts, famines, and epidemics that compelled the
missionaries to come to their aid. Often mission structures, the fruit of
generous sacrifices, had to be rebuilt with yet more sacrifices. The cyclone of
October 5, 1864 did tremendous damage. The next year, there was a famine. It was
reported that three thousand starved to death in the area of Krishnagar alone.
There was another destructive cyclone on November 21, 1867, followed by floods
and then cholera. The very next year there was a terrible drought and another
epidemic of cholera. Besides turning to local donors, the missionaries relied on
the Holy Childhood’s help as well as the Pontifical works of the Propagation
of the Faith in France. Providentially,
Fr. Marietti came from a wealthy and influential family, so he had enough money
to provide for the needs of his own work. Nevertheless, in the light of all the
poverty that he saw, the assessor Laouenan appealed to the MEP (Paris
Missionaries) procurator to aid the missionaries in Central Bengal.
Caste
and Christianity
During
the Apostolic Visitation of 1861, the work of the missionaries was praised, with
one exception. The Catholic missionaries, following the pattern of the
Protestants, saw no benefit in preserving caste traditions in the Christian
community. In some other places in India, the Catholic Church had thrived while
leaving the caste traditions untouched. Fr. Parietti on the one hand had
described these caste traditions as the greatest obstacle for the missionary
apostolate. On the other hand, Fr. Enrico Longa, after a stay of one year in
India, had seen how other Catholic
missionaries succeeded in integrating the caste system into Christianity. He
wrote a study on this and approved the idea. In a meeting in June 1862, after
the Apostolic Visitation, the missionaries discussed this topic at length.
Before his death, therefore, Fr. Parietti did make a journey north of the Ganges
in search of an area free of Protestant influence where this new method would be
feasible. They felt it was too late to try in the places where Christianity
already had a certain identity. Illness prevented Parietti from reaching his
goal. Fr. Marietti too tried and failed.
After
Fr. Parietti’s death, the new superior, Fr. Limana wrote to Italy asking
permission to experiment in the Bogra area with the South Indian method. They
would follow the traditional Indian style of dress, food, and way of living. At
this time, the Protestants were not yet established in Bogra. Fr. Brioschi was
selected for this mission, but his death and the repatriation of Fr. Limana made
it impossible for the few missionaries still left alive to continue with this
experiment.
The
calamities that came frequently and the daily needs of the people gradually had
a greater impact on missionary work. After the first evangelization, the needs
of the Christians become greater and greater. In times of famine, besides
helping the general population, the priests came to the rescue of
Catholics in danger of starvation. Here, it was, that the sisters
continued to have an absolutely essential role. Besides the work of catechesis,
the sisters took care of the orphans who would otherwise be helpless. At
Krishnagar, Jessore, and Bhoborpara, in addition to the schools, there were also
orphanages which accommodated other Catholic children as well. During the great
famine of 1866, the sisters had baptized many dying children and taken others
into their orphanage. They also started a home where widows and other elderly
women could find a safe refuge. The training given to the girls in the orphanage
was practical in teaching them sewing skills. The government appreciated this
and began to subsidize their orphanage. The Commissioner in charge of public
health also asked them to make a daily visit to the public hospital in
Krishnagar, and soon it gained the reputation of being the best kept hospital in
Bengal. Thus, the foundation was laid for work that has continued right down
through the years till today.
The
Apostolic Prefecture of Central Bengal
Finally
in 1870, fifteen years after their arrival, the PIME Missionaries had the joy of
seeing their work rewarded with official recognition. On June 3, 1870, the
Cardinals met in council and approved the formal establishment of the Apostolic
Prefecture of Central Bengal. The formal decree was dated August 1, 1870 and was
approved by Pius IX. The first Apostolic Prefect was Fr. Antonio Marietti, the
only survivor of the first batch of missionaries. The prefecture included the
areas of Khulna, Jessore, Faridpur, Krishnagar, Murshidabad, Rajshahi, Malda,
Bogra, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Assam, and Bhutan.
The
vast, but humble, mission had grown from even humbler beginnings. In 1855, they
had found 240 mostly foreign Catholics in this area and two chapels. By 1869,
just 14 years later, the Catholics had increased to 1,800. This is truly
phenomenal growth. It is more than 700%. Obviously, Catholics were still a drop
in the ocean of non-Christians, but the power of God’s grace is undeniably
manifest. This is true in spite of the fact that due to deaths and illness, only
one of the original priests (Fr. Marietti) was still in the mission, helped
along by six other priests, seven sisters, and three lay catechists. With this
tiny band of apostles a new diocese was being formed. In a way, it is
reminiscent of how the original twelve apostles set out to convert the world,
meeting their deaths when the Church was still in a fragile infancy. These new
missionaries also found much to be pleased with, but so much that remained to be
done. Looking at their progress, we can say that in place of the two chapels
they had originally found, four brick churches were by that time already
constructed in the main centers of Berhampore, Krishnagar, Jessore, and Fulbary.
Besides these, another 12 chapels were built in these places (spelling of the
time): Moorshedabad, Calcapore, Baberia, Bobolpara, Paturi, Opara, Oili, Beniali,
Giorcondati, Malgagi, Ramporah, and Badgagi. The entire work which had begun
with so much sacrifice, love, and generosity was now bearing the fruit which the
Divine Vine Keeper had promised. Great work had been done, but even greater days
were to come with the expansion of the mission north of the Padma, a land still
untouched so far by their labors.
Selected
Bibliography
Gheddo,
Piero, PIME: 150 Anni di Missioni, Editrice Missionaria Italiana, Bologna, 2000.
Kattupalil,
George, SDB: History of the Catholic Missions in Central Bengal 1855-1886,
Vendrame Institute, Shillong, 1988.
Tragella,
Giovanni Battista, PIME : Le Missioni Estere di Milano, Vol. I, PIME, Milan,
1950.
Tragella,
Giovanni Battista, PIME : Le Missioni Estere di Milano, Vol. II, PIME, Milan,
1959.