The Birth of the Mission of Central Bengal   

By Fr. James Fannan, PIME

The Apostolic Visitation of 1861

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. 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 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 and 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.