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History
Though a small diocese, Varanasi Diocese is in a significant
way a picture of Mother India. The very name of this Holy City
conjures up the apex of the spirit's endeavour in Hinduism.
Sarnath reminds of Dharm Chakr Parivartan of the Buddha. To
the West and to the East, Jaunpur and Ghazipur, evoke to mind
a pair of twin and refined kingdoms of the Muslim era. To the
Catholic eyes, this Diocese appears as the latest outcome of
the Capuchin missionary endeavour to Tibet in the 1700's, an
epic in the history of the Church.
Following the suppression of the Jesuits, Rome added (1784)
the Mission of North Western India to the Prefecture of Golconda
in-formally called Tibet Hindustan. The amalgamation put the
Capuchins in charge of a territory extending from Sikkim to
the Indus river and from Himalayas to the Narmada river, some
three million square kilometers. The French Revolution and its
25 years of turmoil had dried up its very source, the flow of
men and means; from 1817 to 1822, only three hapless priests
manned half the sub-continent. British India monopolized the
missionaries as military and railway chaplains, leaving but
few for the direct apostolate. The wonder is that the work went
ahead; in 1820 the Prefecture became a Vicariate Apostolic,
with its see at Agra.
1845 marks the beginning of the long process of divisions and
sub-divisions which, out of the Tibet Hindustan immensity, was
to carve not less that thirty ecclesiastical units of Northern
India. In this year, Rome effected the first partition: Vicariate
Apostolic of Agra and the Vicariate Apostolic of Patna. The
titular of the late, Bishop Hartmann, ofm, cap., a saintly individual,
revealed himself an exceptional prelate. On the establishment
of the Hierarchy in India (1886), Patna Vicariate became Diocese,
with its centre shifted to Allahabad. It is the latest dismemberment
of this Allahabad Diocese which heralded the coming of the Varanasi
Diocese.
Prefecture Apostolic of Gorakhpur:
On
July 11, 1946 Rome removed from the jurisdiction of Allahabad
its Eastern Districts and erected them into the Prefecture Apostolic
of Gorakhpur entrusted to the French Canadian Capuchins. The Rt.
Rev. Msgr. Jerome Malenfant, ofm cap, assumed his duties as Prefect
on August 6, 1947.
Actually, the work 'ad paganos' in this area had been launched
by bold and zealous diocesan priests of Allahabad, the mother
Church of this region, in the 1930's. Fr Pascal Sinha, from Azamgarh,
opened Shahganj (1934); Fr Francis Pillai, from Gorakhpur, initiated
the centre of Rasra (1936); Fr Charles Mascarenhas, from Ghazipur,
started Hartmannpur Mission (1938).
Two Religious Congregations supported and extended this missionary
apostolate. The Franciscan Brothers of Mount-Poinsur were the
pioneers in most of its Stations. Such was their single mindedness
that they had barred any of their members from the priesthood,
with the specific purpose of keeping off the chaplaincies' snare,
in order to plunge soul and body into evangelization. The Sisters
of the Queen of the Apostles specialised in a single idea; doing
everything anywhere, which can be called 'missionary'. During
23 years of this stage , they remained the only Sisters in the
villages, the main-stay of the feminine apostolate, the only queenly
touch in an otherwise rugged life.
As for the Canadian Capuchins, once they joined the ministry they
set their hearts at deepening the furrows, intensifying the sowing,
with a signature all their own, a marked stress on adaption Fr
Edmond, one of the rare Catholic doctors in Hindusthani Music
stands out as a typical illustration : his 'summer school of Hindusthani
Music' prepared successfully clergy and laity from over 15 Indian
dioceses , and some from Bangladesh and SriLanka, for the degrees
of Prayag Sangeet Samiti. May not this have something to do with
an obvious fact?. The Church of the North happened to be ready,
at the close of Vatican Council, to apply the guidelines of inculturation,
at once and without ado.
Diocese of Varanasi:
A
few dates may complete this sketch. 1958 brought about a whiff
of change: The Prefect took residence in this Holy City and the
Prefecture accordingly got its name changed into "Banares-Gorakhpur".
1967 remains the year of the true relay. Five main stations passed
into the hands of the diocesan clergy. Everything had been brought
up to a logical readiness: the organizational development, 10,000
Catholics in 13 residential Stations, 20 diocesan priests already
ordained. The dressers of the Lord's vineyard felt possessed by
a swelling expectation.
The final change of the pioneering Prefecture occured in the middle
of 1970 : on June 5, Rome raised the Prefecture in to a Diocese
(Diocese of Varanasi), committed to the care of the diocesan clergy.
As its first Bishop, Rome selected Fr. Patrick D'Souza, a priest
of the diocese of Ajmer-Jaipur and Deputy Secretary General of
the C.B.C.I. As for the Prefect, he lived hes 'Nunc Dimittis'
in Varanasi, fondly watching the blossoming of the mustard seed
he had showed till the lord enthroned him (1976) at His eternal
Banquet.
The fulness of status of this local Church has brought in it a
burst of life. The priest number 130, among them 86 diocesan ones;
Religious Congregations are gone up to 26; seven of men and nineteen
of women. The 13 parishes and mission stations with residential
priests of 1970, have become 35 in 2001.
In October 1984, three districts above the Ghagra i.e. Deoria,
Gorakhpur and Basti were separated and erected into the Diocese
of Gorakhpur.
Bp
RAPHY MANJALY
Born: Feb. 07, 1958
Priestly Ordn.: May. 11, 1983
Appointed Bishop of Varanasi.: Feb. 24, 2007
Episcopal Ordn.: Apr. 30, 2007
Address:
Bishop's House
45-Varanasi Cantt.
Varanasi - 221 002 (U.P.)
Tel: (0542) 25 04 235, 25 02 761 (O),
25 00 043 (P)
Fax: (0542) 25 02 767
Mobile: 09 41 52 25 582
E-mail: dovns@sify.com
Area: 21,395 sq. kms.
Total population: 1,72,42,300
Catholics: 14,304
Languages spoken: Hindi, Bhojpuri, and Urdu.
Revenue districts: Varanasi, Azamgarh, Ballia, Bhadohi, Chandauli, Ghazipur,
Jaunpur, Mau.
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