Unforgettable Carmelite Missionaries on
Asian Soil
Fr. Paul D’Souza, OCD
Karnataka-Goa Province of Discalced
Carmelites
It is impossible to recall in a brief space
of time the scores of Carmelite missionaries
who spent and extinguished the candles of
their lives for the sake of enlightening the
peoples of Asia. We can, however, gain some
inspiration from the very attempt to turn
our thoughts on the gestures and
achievements of the few who have been
selected for mention on this occasion.
1.
Fr. John Thaddaeus Roldan of St. Eliseus
(1574-1633)
Fr. Juan Roldán, born in the life-time of
Mother Teresa deserves to be remembered
along with the whole group of missionaries
despatached by Pope Clement VIII to Persia
in 1604. They made a vow to shed their blood
for the faith if needed. After a journey
filled with incredible hardships during
three and a half years, they finally reached
Isfahan the then capital of Persia, to find
there was no accommodation ready for them.
Fr. Roldan, moreover is the first bishop not
only of Isfahan, but also of the Teresian
reform. Consecrated bishop in 1632, he
passed away the following year, before
reaching Isfahan on his return journey.
2.
Fr. Prosper of the Holy Spirit
(1583-1657)
Fr. Próspero (Riojano) from Calahorra, Spain,
was born in 1583 and seems to have been a
priest before joining the Roman novitiate of
La Scala in 1607. We find him in
charge of the Persian mission as superior at
Isfahan in 1621, the year in which a cruel
persecution erupted against the Christians,
five of whom were martyred.
The Fathers too would have been killed had
they not been in the embassy of the Holy See.
Fathers Prospero of the Holy Spirit and
Basil of St. Francis – a Portuguese of the
Roman province, founded a mission in Basra,
about 80 kms. from the Persian Gulf which
was practically independent of Persia in
those days.
When Fr. Prosper had first proposed
foundations at Aleppo and Mt. Carmel, the
superiors of the Order had contacted the
Propaganda Congregation for the approval
of the project. The Propaganda had
contacted the French diplomats and other
influential persons in the region to help
negotiate the acquisition of the ancient
sites associated with the Carmelites. One
unforeseen event was the attitude of the
general superior, Fr. Ferdinand of St. Mary,
who is said to have advised Fr. Prospero to
think of first climbing the ascent of the
spiritual Mt. Carmel of St. John of the
Cross. But the whole situation changed when
Fr. Paul Simon (Rivarola), the erstwhile
leader of the Persian mission came to take
charge at the general headquarters.
The Aleppo mission was founded in 1627.
On 29 November 1631, Fr. Prosper succeeded
in signing the documents which entitled the
sons of St. Teresa to take possession of the
sites that had witnessed the birth of the
order in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries.
After a life of hectic activity, ceaseless
journeys, and voluminous correspondence, his
last words were: May the adorable will of
God be accomplished.
3
Fr. Leander (1580-1630)
Father Leander is a great missionary who was
born in the life-time of St. Teresa. We
cannot forget Fr. Vincent of St. Francis
(Gambart), from Valencia, born six years
before Fr. Leander of the Annunciation,
a native of Burgos. Both were full of zeal
for the missions. Both joined the Italian
congregation, not together, but one after
the other; and one after the other they were
sent to the Persian mission. Fr. Vincent,
after making his profession in Rome in 1599,
was included in the very first batch
despatched to Persia. He had made a
foundation in the Portuguese colony at Ormuz
between 1609 and 1612, before coming to Goa
in 1620 as general visitator.
Fr. Leander of the Annunciation had reached
Goa the previous year, and had already
commenced vigorous preparations for the
foundation. He was able to make a foundation
around 1620 with the permission of D.
Cristobal de Sa Lisboa, the archbishop, a
Hieronymite (1610-1622) – who had a deep
devotion to Blessed Teresa of Jesus. The
Viceroy, Fernando de Albuquerque, also
permitted the foundation.
On the occasion of a solemn celebration,
when the archbishop wanted the statues of
the saints to be carried in procession, Fr.
Leander managed to include a statue of
Teresa, who had been beatified in 1614. They
presented the statue, first, for the
blessing of the archbishop. While blessing
the statue, the archbishop noticed a
petition in the hand of the statue; it was a
request for permission to make a Carmelite
foundation in Goa. The archbishop was moved
to grant permission for a small oratory and
restricted ministry, but could not permit a
foundation against the explicit orders of
the king.
He wrote two letters on behalf of the
Carmelites, one to Philip III of Spain and
Portugal, the other to the Pope.
Archbishop and viceroy contributed to the
construction of the magnificent church which
was inaugurated on 25 April 1620 and
completed in 1621. It was dedicated to O.
Lady of Mt. Carmel and canonically
established through the approval by the
general definitory on 23 June 1623. The
following year the visitor of the Persian
mission was asked to consider also the
situation in Goa, Fr. Leander being at that
time, vicar provincial of the Carmelites in
Persia and India. At Diu, there was a
residence founded by the same Fr. Leander in
1628. It was dedicated to St. Joseph.
The actual founder of the mission before the
Carmelites took over, was a zealous
Portuguese priest who had been murdered
because he had moved the authorities to
destroy a pagan temple.
Fr. Leander himself, founder of the Goa
house, visited the court of the shah in
Bijapur, being sent there by the Portuguese
viceroy. While there, unexpectedly, he was
called to his eternal reward in April 1630.
4 - 5 Blessed Dionysius
and Redemptus (d. 1638)
Peter Berthelot
was one of ten children born in Normandy to
deeply Christian parents and baptized on 12
December 1600. At the age of nineteen, with
the blessings of his parents, he took to the
sea. Within a short time, he learned to
brave the inclemencies of the weather
including the heat of the tropical sun.
After rounding the Cape of Good Hope with
his companions he reached as far as the East
Indies.
Toughened by all these hardships and perils
he grew into such an expert and daring
navigator that he was appointed chief pilot
of the little squadron. On more than one
occasion he had to suffer not only for being
a Frenchman, from the Dutch, but also for
being a Catholic, from the Calvinists. After
spending three years on an island under the
control of the Dutch, where he found it so
difficult to practice his Christian faith,
he obtained leave to go to Malacca, which
was in the hands of the Portuguese. From
there he secured a passage to Goa. The fame
of Peter Berthelot’s maritime knowledge and
naval skills had preceded him, and to the
astonishment of all, this relatively young
Frenchman was given charge of the 28
Portuguese galleys that set out for the East
Indies in September 1629. The result of the
expedition was a glorious victory for the
Portuguese who showered honours on the
French naval officer and appointed him royal
cosmographer – an office he would hold in
perpetuity.
Meanwhile Peter had begun to feel with
progressively greater conviction that God
wanted him all for Himself. According to
some accounts he used to withdraw secretly
from his companions for several hours each
night and go off somewhere by himself. A few
of his colleagues became curious to know
where he went; and they quietly followed him
one night, suspecting possibly that he might
be frequenting some red-light area in the
city. What was their amazement to learn that
he used to go to the premises of the
Carmelite Church, and there spend some time
in prayer and severe self flagellation.
After coming to know that the superior of
the Carmelite monastery at the time was a
Frenchman like himself, he could approach
him with trust and confidently discuss what
he considered to be God’s plans for him.
When he revealed to the Portuguese
administration, that he wished to abandon
his career in the navy, and join the
Carmelite monastic life, the Portuguese were
disappointed. The viceroy, Linares, had no
intention of dispensing with his services so
easily. But when the viceroy’s term of
office was over in 1635, he invited Peter to
go with him to Portugal in order to
introduce Peter to the celebrities there. If
the Carmelites had not received him, Peter
would readily have gone in the hope of
entering the religious life in Europe. Fr.
Philip, however, was unwilling to let go so
precious a catch. On his recommendation,
Peter was unanimously admitted to the
novitiate in 1635. The Portuguese
authorities in Goa were greatly dismayed
when they heard that Peter had been admitted
to the monastic community, and they
protested to the Carmelites for their lack
of concern for the good of the state.
But Fr. Philip appeased them, explaining
that Peter was not a Portuguese subject; and
moreover that he would have left for Europe
with the previous viceroy had he not been
admitted to the religious life. An agreement
was made that in case the government
urgently needed his services, the Carmelites
would allow Fr. Dionysius to leave the
monastery. On the occasion of an emergency
due to the presence of Dutch ships in the
Arabian sea, the government requested the
services of Fr. Dionysius
XE “Dionysius”
.
In accordance with the Carmelite custom,
Peter changed his name when he put on the
religious habit: he would henceforth be
known as Br. Dionysius
XE “Dionysius” of the Nativity. He was
admitted into the novitiate on Christmas eve
1635. A year later, in 1636 he made his
religious profession. He received priestly
ordination on 24 Aug. 1638.
Thomas Rodrigo da Cunha,
born in the diocese of Braga in 1598,
accompanied the viceroy, Joao Coutinho,
Count of Redondo, to India. He joined the
army and proved his worth so convincingly as
to be promoted to a captaincy in the
Portuguese garrison at Mylapore. He became
acquainted with the Carmelites in Tatta and
later evinced a desire to join them as a
non-cleric. Providence led him also to the
Order of Mary to whom he was deeply devoted.
But he opted for the religious brotherhood.
When the ambassador, Francis D’Souza was to
leave for the East Indies – as we have seen
above - being requested by the government,
his superiors allowed Fr. Dionysius
XE “Dionysius” to go along with the delegation sent by the
viceroy to the sultan of Acheh in the East
Indies. The erstwhile cosmographer was
accompanied by Redemptus of the Cross.
Fr. Dionysius requested that Br. Redemptus
be given him as companion on this last
journey. Both shared the martyrs’ crown
after being painfully tortured on 29
November 1638 and were beatified by Leo XIII
in 1900. The region where they were martyred
has recently been devastated by a tsunami
that has swept away thousands of people.
Several descriptions of the eastern seas
drafted by the cosmographer are still
extant. The British museum has a chart of
the seas near Africa and Madagascar,
ascribed to him.
Following in the foot-steps of Bl. Dionysius
and Redemptus, missionaries of the Manjummel
province under the leadership of Fr. John
Britto OCD and Fr. Thomas Kalloor OCD
arrived in Indonesia on 19 August 1982. They
were given a red-carpet welcome by Mgr.
Donatus Djagom SVD, archbishop of Ende and
the faithful. In 1984 on 29 January, they
took charge officially of a parish, and soon
built up strong relations with their flock.
Soon they were able to get 25 young men who
aspired to join the Carmelite way of life.
Many of these young men were admitted to the
aspirancy. And on 14 November 1992, they
made their first profession.
On 28 December 1995, Fr. John Britto, due to
his health reason had to return to India. On
17 October 2001 he bade farewell to this
world.
On 3 September 1999, St. Joseph’s Delegation
was raised to the status of regional
vicariate by Rev. Fr. General on the
occasion of his visit to Indonesia to attend
the first Carmelite ordinations of nine
priests.
6. Msgr. Sebastiani (1623-1689)
Born at Caprarola, Jerome Sebastiani entered
the Order in 1641, and proceeded for his
studies to Graz in Austria, where he was
ordained priest. For a while he taught
theology. But he was requested as assistant
by Fr. Hyacinth of St. Vincent,
who had been selected in 1656 as leader of
the mission to Malabar.
By that time, the Portuguese having taken
Cochin, the territory had already been set
up as a diocese in 1558, a suffragan of Goa.
As usual in Portuguese conquests,
Franciscan, Dominicans, Augustinians and
Jesuits soon arrived for the purpose of
evangelization.
Some Christians in the region, however, were
deeply attached to their Syrian pastors.
Because of this and several other reasons,
they disagreed with the Portuguese,
especially the Jesuits, particularly, with
archbishops Roz and Garcia. Their leaders,
especially the archdeacon Thomas had written
to Rome, expressing appreciation for the
Carmelites. Hence, the Holy See took up the
issue, after the ‘Coonen Cross’ oath of
1653, and dispatched Carmelites to the
region then known as Malabar. Two parties of
Carmelite missionaries were sent by
Propaganda: Fr. Joseph of St. Mary
(Sebastiani), of the Roman province came via
Mt. Carmel, Tripoli, Aleppo, and Iraq, while
Fr. Hyacinth of St. Vincent and his
companions came via Lisbon and Goa.
Fr. Sebastiani, with his colleagues, Fathers
Vincent of St. Catherine, a Lombard, and
others left in February 1656, and arrived in
1657. Their approach
was full of charity and immense patience in
the face of great animosity instigated
especially by the archdeacon Thomas.
He managed to reconcile several of the
dissident churches with Rome. To the
pleasant surprise of Fr. Vincent Mary of
St. Catherine, who accompanied Fr.
Sebastiani, there was a Scapular
Confraternity at Kuraulengad in Kottayam
district, which had 5,000 members. This
information is said to be included in his
famous account of his journey by land and
sea.
His writing shows that he was a highly
gifted person. He became vicar general of
the Order in the general chapter of 1677.
Fr. Sebastiani returned to Italy in January
1658, leaving one Fr. Mathew of St.
Joseph as delegate. The party of Fr.
Hyacinth would arrive about two months
later. Within these two months, archdeacon
Thomas managed to get himself declared
“patriarch” – through a letter that people
were made to believe was not only official,
but allegedly papal.
Sebastiani, ordained bishop of Aleppo,
returned on 14 May 1661 to Cochin, as the
first vicar apostolic of Malabar.
This is what makes him memorable. He
represents a long series of Carmelite vicars
apostolic who built up the church in Kerala,
which today plays such an important role in
the Indian Church.
In January 1663, the Dutch stormed and
captured Cochin and asked Msgr. Sebastiani
to leave the place. So Sebastiani ordained
Alexander Ocampo (Chandy) vicar apostolic
and returned to Italy via Goa, where we find
him in 1664. Msgr. Sebastiani was later
appointed Bishop, first of Bisignano in
Calabria, and then of Citta del Castello
in Umbria, where he died in 1689.
7. Fr. Mathew of St. Joseph
(b. 1612)
Born in 1612, he was a qualified medical
doctor before professing as a Carmelite in
the Neapolitan province. He had been sent to
Persia in 1644, was at Tatta in Sind in
1651, before he went to Goa, and then to
Cochin, where his knowledge of botany and
medicine won the admiration even of the
Dutch though they were anti-Catholic.
It happened at that time that the Dutch
Governor of Cochin, a man called Van Rheede,
was also passionately interested in botany.
And the two became great friends. In fact,
they collaborated in writing a celebrated
botanical text: Hortus Malabaricus
(the garden of Malabar). In it are
descriptions and illustrations of the plants
and fruits of Malabar, indicating also their
therapeutic properties; it is a storehouse
of knowledge of the botany of the region.
This work was re-published in Kerala in 2003
– being attributed to Van Rheede alone,
apparently without mention of Fr. Mathew.
Fr. Matthew was also the sole author of
another similar work: Viridarium
Orientale.
Through this providential circumstance of
botanical friendship, the Carmelite
missionaries were able to continue their
mission in Malabar, and were able to found
two monasteries: Chathiath (1673) and
Verapoly (1674). Verapoly in 1682 saw the
first emergence of a Carmelite staffed
seminary. It was ephemeral, but that work of
seminary training was destined to continue,
culminating in the seminary at Alwaye in
1932.
8.
Bishop Peter Paul of St. Francis
(1643-1701)
Fernando Palma Pignatelli, Neapolitan, a
nephew of the then reigning pontiff,
Innocent XII, renouncing a dukedom became a
Carmelite in 1672 and after studying at the
mission seminary of St. Pancrazio, was
destined for the Malabar Mission. He visited
Madura district and is said to have received
about three hundred non-Christians into the
Catholic fold.
In Verapoly, it was he who started a
seminary for the Syrian Christians, and
worked for the reunion of the non-Catholic
Christians.
He served also as prior of Goa, and vicar
provincial for the missionaries in Persia
and India.
He attended the general chapter of the Order
in 1689. He was appointed first apostolic
vicar of the Great Mogul in 1696
after which he made a tour of several parts
of Europe, and reached Surat in 1700
with Fr. John of St. Mary. The following
year he was called to his reward, at the age
of fifty-eight. His huge new
vicariate comprised 3,000,000 sq. kms with a
population of more than 100,000,000. After
Fr. Peter Paul, twelve more Carmelites would
be entrusted with this colossal vicariate
--- many of them from the Milan province.
9.
Fr. John Baptist Mary of St. Teresa
(1678-1750)
This Genoese was one of the most outstanding
prelates of Verapoly. Born in Liguria, he
entered the Genoese province and reached Goa
at the age of 31, in the year precisely when
the community was undergoing a deep crisis.
He became the leader of the community just
when the Portuguese were threatening to
arrest all the Carmelites and confiscate
their property unless they promised
obedience to the Viceroy and the archbishop
of Goa.
Under the leadership of Fr. John Baptist,
the Carmelites refused point blank to make
any oaths of allegiance to archbishop or
viceroy.
Being warned by friends, they escaped from
Goa in order to avoid being arrested and
deported to Portugal, and fled to Sunkery.
Expelled in 1709 from Portuguese territory,
the Carmelites made their way to Sunkery,
which in those days was closer to the sea
than it is today. This was to be the new
mission of the Carmelites.
Among the vicars apostolic of the Great
Mogul, there are two Peter Alcantaras in
the eighteenth century, and one, in the
nineteenth. The first of these was Bishop P.
Alcantara of St. Teresa (1663-1707), who was
sent to Syria, and then worked in Basra and
Isfahan in Persia, before being appointed
vicar apostolic of the Great Mogul to
succeed Bishop Peter Paul of St. Francis. He
made Surat in Gujarat, his
headquarters.
From April 1709 to 1717, Fr. John Baptist
Mary, vicar provincial of the Carmelites in
India, was in charge of the new Sunkery
mission. He and his brethren managed to make
ends meet in their initially most
uncomfortable environment. The English were
sufficiently polite in this case. They were
hospitable, too. They gave the Carmelites
land for a church and residence, and even
provided communication facilities with Rome
and Bombay through their naval services.
Yet the Carmelites here led a precarious and
very insecure existence, though these
factories of the East India Company were
usually small fortresses. The English
themselves were scarcely secure.
Fr. John Baptist was ordained bishop in 1717
and appointed vicar apostolic of Verapoly
which he governed for more than 30 years
with prudence and zeal, and great profit for
the faithful.
10. Fr.
Paulinus of St. Bartholomew (1748-1806)
One of the Carmelites who is known to have
first visited Tamilnadu, was Fr. Paulinus of
St. Bartholomew, an Austrian. Missionary and
orientalist, born at Hoff in Lower
Austria, 25 April, 1748. Having entered
the
Carmelite Order, he was sent as
missionary to
India (Malabar) and there was appointed
vicar general for some time. In 1776, he
reached Verapoly and worked and studied
assiduously for thirteen years in South
India. He is one of the Carmelites who is
known to have first visited Tamilnad. In
1780, while residing at Padmanabhapuram he
is said to have pleaded with the maharaja of
Travancore, on behalf of persecuted
Christians.
Recalled in 1789 to
Rome to give an account of the state of
that mission, he was charged with the
edition of books for the use of
missionaries. In 1790 he presented an
account of the Indian missions to the
Propaganda and then remained at the
Carmelite mission seminary in Rome as
professor of oriental languages.
On account of political troubles he stayed
from 1798 to 1800 at
Vienna. He returned to
Rome as prefect of studies at the
Propaganda. Paulinus is the author of
many learned books on the East, which were
highly valued in their day and have
contributed much to the study and
knowledge of Indian literature and
Indian life. He was later appointed
librarian of the public library at Padua,
where his services to oriental studies –
through his many publications—was
acknowledged.
We are indebted to him for the first printed
Sanskrit grammar. The following are some of
his more important works:
(1) "Systema brahmanicum liturgicum,
mythologicum, civile, ex monumentis indicis
musei Borgiani Velitris dissertationibus
historico-criticis illustratum" (Rome,
1791), translated into
German (Gotha, 1797); (2) "Examen
historico-criticum codicum indicorum
bibliothecae S. C. de Propaganda" (Rome,
1792); (3) "Musei Borgiani Velitris codices
manuscripti avences, Peguani, Siamici,
Malabarici, Indostani . . . illustrati"
(Rome, 1793); (4) "Viaggio alle Indie
orientali" (Rome, 1796), translated into
German by Forster (Berlin, 1798); (5)
"Sidharubam, seu Grammatica sanscridamica,
cui accedit dissert. hiss. crit. in linguam
sanscridamicam vulgo Samscret dictam" (Rome,
1799), another edition of which appeared
under the title "Vyacaranam" (Rome, 1804);
(6) "India orientalis christiana" (Rome,
1794), an important work for the history of
missions in
India. Other works bear on linguistics
and
church history.
He departed this life in
Rome on 7 January 1806.
11. Bishop
Maurilio Stabellini (1777-1853)
Born in 1777 in Ferrara, Maurilio joined the
Calced Carmelites when the armies of
Napoleon were causing turmoil all over
Europe. For some time he taught theology in
Padua. Sent to Bombay in 1804 he arrived
there in 1806. In 1809 he is in Karwar; and
the following year, in Coorg, from where he
is expelled and returns to Bombay. In 1816,
he is back in Italy, only to be sent again
to India in 1821. Three years later, he is
consecrated coadjutor of the vicar apostolic
of the Great Mogul.For long, he had
cherished a desire to join the Discalced;
and this he finally did in Verapoly in 1827.
He became interim vicar apostolic of
Verapoly (1828-1831).
Bishop Maurilio's name is rendered memorable
in the annals of the CMI Fathers who are
indebted to him for his encouragement. Fr.
Porukara, a co-founder of the CMI’s being
his secretary. The bishop "…was almost
divinely inspired to suggest to the Fathers
that they should think of starting a
religious institute for priests which would
inspire the whole church of Kerala to follow
in their footsteps."
Bishop Maurilio himself was present on 11
May 1831 when the foundation stone was laid
for the monastery at Mannanam, towards which
the bishop generously contributed. The
founding fathers were later joined by Fr.
Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), who
became well known for his apostolate of the
press. His efforts built up the congregation
of Servants of Mary Immaculate
who later came to be known as Carmelites
of Mary Immaculate (CMI), a congregation
that is flourishing today. Fr. Kuriakose has
been raised to the honours of the altar by
Pope John Paul II, his feast being
celebrated on 3 January. Bishop Maurilio’s
name remains forever associated with the CMI
congregation.
Bishop Maurilio resigned from the office of
vicar apostolic over the dispute concerning
the admission o fishermen's sons into the
seminary. He returned to Italy via Karwar
and Goa, and departed this life in his
native Ferrara.
12. Bp. Francis Xavier of St. Anne
(1771-1844)
Hailing from the province of Genoa, he
studied at our mission seminary of St.
Pancrazio during the Napoleonic wars. The
seminary itself was ransacked at that time.
Pope Pius VI was taken captive. During his
voyage to India, the ship itself in which he
was journeying, was confiscated by the
French navy, but Fr. Francis managed to
reach the foot of Mt. Carmel in a Turkish
fishing boat. He followed the land route to
Baghdad and then to Basra where an English
sea-captain volunteered to take him to
Bombay where he reached on 22 August 1799.
He was 28 years old.
His name deserves to be recorded in the
Guinness Book of World records. Deputed to
the Karwar mission, he managed to find his
way alone, without much help even from the
archbishop of Goa, Manuel de S. Caterina
(1784-1812) who happened to
be a Discalced Carmelite of the Portuguese
congregation. Mr. Read, the English agent,
obtained for Fr. Francis a monthly pension
of Rs. 35/- (which meant much more at that
time, than it means today) from the Madras
government.
By 1803 Fr. Francis had put up a new church
as well as residence. He planted many
coconut plants and fruit-trees and settled
some families in the area to see to the
property.
Meanwhile he kept in mind also the spiritual
needs of his flock, whose spirit was broken
by the persecution of Tippu Sultan. He
witnessed the return of some of the captives
from Srirangapatnam and did what he could to
rehabilitate them. In 1805, he was deputed
to settle some discords in Coorg, where the
raja was favourable to him, and supported
the Christians.
With great solemnity and many participants,
the centenary of the mission was celebrated
in 1809. In 1821 there was a military
rebellion in Goa against the viceroy. The
archbishop of Goa, Galdino, did what the
Carmelites from Goa had done a hundred and
twelve years earlier: he fled to Sunkery.
The Carmelites, of course, gave him shelter
for the two years that he remained there.
Fr. Francis was selected for being ordained
bishop and vicar apostolic of that diocese.
He humbly rejected the appointment; and
requested, instead, to be allowed to return
to Italy. When he received permission to
return to Italy, he was too ill and weak to
undertake the long and tedious journey.
Meanwhile he wrote the history of the
mission.
He acquired such fluency in Konkani that
there is said to have been no difference
between his accent and that of the natives.
Moreover he published a Portuguese-Konkani
dictionary that was re-printed in 1859 and
again in 1868.
The re-builder of the Sunkery mission was
later ordered under precept of obedience to
receive episcopal ordination and take on the
office of vicar apostolic of Verapoly. He
was the fourteenth vicar apostolic of
Verapoly (1831-1844). In the see of
Verapoly, he succeeded Bishop Maurilio
Stabellini
Bishop Francis Xavier took charge as rector
of the seminary, and made every effort to
solve the dispute concerning the admission
of the sons of fishermen into the seminary,
seeing also to the stability of its economy.
He provided valuable information to
Propaganda concerning the state of the
Church in India, and advised the Holy See
regarding measures to be taken for the
solution of the padroado problem.
A man of great prudence, with no respect for
persons, yet courteous towards all, he made
no distinction between Europeans and
Indians, or the different classes of
Indians. There is evidence that his memory
lives on among the people of Karwar, if not
among those of Kerala. The historian Agur
calls him a prince among the prelates of
Travancore and the glory of the mission of
Verapoly.
13.
Bishop Leonard Mellano of St. Louis
(1826-1897)
Fr. Leonard reached Verapoly at the age of
25, and was, for some time, rector of the
Verapoly seminary. He was appointed vicar
apostolic in 1868. His name will ever be
remembered, along with that of Fr. Leopold
Beccaro, in the annals of the CTCs and the
CMCs. The CSSTs will also remember Bishop
Leonardo Mellano, who invited their Mother
Foundress, Teresa of St. Rose of Lima to
Ernakulam.
Especially in the chronicles of the
Manjummel province, will Bishop Mellano be
gratefully remembered. He re-vitalized the
movement initiated by Fr. Kuruppassery (who
had aspired to participate in the Teresian
charism) in the 1850s, constructed and, in
1874, inaugurated the Manjummel monastery by
installing there, the Third Order of
Discalced Carmelites (TOCD). Today,
these form the now thriving Manjummel
Province of St. Pius X.
In 1886, on the constitution of the Indian
hierarchy by Leo XIII, Msgr. Leonard became
the first archbishop of Verapoly.
14. Bishop Marie Ephrem (1827-1873)
The third Vicar Apostolic of Mangalore was
Msgr. Marie Ephrem. Born in France in 1827,
and professed in the province of France, he
came out from Bordeaux in 1859 to Mahe where
he studied English and Malayalam. He worked
in Calicut, Mangalore, Cannanore and then in
Quilon. In 1861 Fr. Marie Ephrem met Sister
Veronica.
Born, Sophie Leeves in 1823 to Anglican
parents, she had been converted to
Catholicism in 1850 and then entered the
religious congregation of St. Joseph of the
Apparition, which sent her to make a new
foundation in India. Humanly speaking, it
was a strange conspiracy of circumstances
that led to her meeting with Fr. Marie
Ephrem who became her spiritual director. In
Veronica’s view he was the instrument of
Providence in helping her to realize her
vocation to the Teresian Carmel.
She entered the Pau Carmel along with
Miriam Baouardy. Miriam, an Arab girl
had lost her parents when she was around
three years old in 1849, and adopted by a
paternal uncle, she moved to Alexandria. Her
refusal to marry earned her ill-treatment
from her adoptive parents. Her refusal to
convert to Islam was the cause of a murder
attempt by an old Muslim. She survived
miraculously. She worked as a servant in
several families before reaching Marseilles
in May 1863 as the cook of an Assyrian
family. Experiencing the attraction of the
religious life, Miriam was admitted among
the postulants of St. Joseph of the
Apparitions in May 1865. Some strange
phenomena that were noticed in her,
particularly the stigmata, were given as
reason for her not being admitted to the
novitiate. She accompanied M. Veronica to
the cloistered Carmel of Pau in June 1867.
Sr. Veronica, having completed an abridged
novitiate, left Pau at the end of 1867 and
spent about six months in a fruitless search
for a residence and for candidates, till in
mid-1868 she was able to found a little
Carmel in the diocese of Bayonne.
The Cloistered Carmel
Fr. Marie Ephrem received in July 1868 the
appointment of pro-vicar of Travancore.
He was consecrated bishop at Thangassery by
Bishop Michael Anthony with the prelates of
Bangalore, Madura, and Coimbatore as
assistants. But when he went to Europe for
the first Vatican Council, he was
transferred to Mangalore. By that time,
Miriam, the Arab, was doing her novitiate as
Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified.
Bishop Marie Ephrem, before embarking for
India after the Council, made arrangements
for the foundation of a cloistered Carmel in
Mangalore. Six nuns from the Carmel of Pau
were to leave for India, along with three
tertiaries trained by Mother Veronica, who
had entered Carmel precisely with the
intention of starting such a tertiary
congregation with the approval of Bishop
Marie Ephrem and the superior general of the
Discalced.
Accordingly in August 1870, three of these
tertiaries accompanied the six nuns to
Marseilles where they boarded the ship that
would take them to Pondicherry from where
they would proceed to Mangalore. Along with
them went Fathers Lazar of the Holy
Cross and Gratian of St. Ann.
On 19th November, only three out
of the six cloistered nuns reached
Mangalore, the other three having succumbed
to the hardships of the journey. Among the
survivors was the Arab lay Sister,
Mary of Jesus Crucified. The
community had by then been reinforced by new
arrivals from Pau and also from Bayonne.
Though Mother Veronica’s venture of forming
active apostolic Carmelites had been
approved by Bishop Marie Ephrem and even by
the superior general of the Discalced
Carmelites – the great Fr. Dominic of St.
Joseph -- her project at Bayonne had to be
closed down in 1869 for lack of support.
Mother Veronica then applied again for
admission into the Pau Carmel and eventually
became a cloistered Carmelite.
In 1871 Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified, while
in Mangalore, made her first profession of
the religious vows. Soon after that strange
phenomena began to take place. These, she
discussed only with her spiritual director,
Fr. Lazar, till he was transferred from
Mangalore in 1872. After his departure, Sr.
Mary experienced such severe
misunderstandings with the community that
the Bishop agreed to send her back to Pau.
But she soon set about preparing a new
foundation in Bethlehem. Accompanied by
several nuns, including Mother Veronica, she
set out for the Holy Land in 1875. After
setting the Bethlehem Carmel on a
sufficiently firm foundation, Sr. Mary went
on to make another foundation at Nazareth,
directing the labourers, and working along
with them, till, spent and exhausted Sr.
Mary breathed her last after intense
suffering on 26 August 1878. Mother Veronica
returned in 1887 to Pau, where she wrote her
autobiography as well as the biography of
Blessed Mary, the ‘little Arab’ before her
own demise in 1906. Blessed Mary, beatified
in 1983, deserves to be remembered as a
great Carmelite individual, and also as
representative of the hundreds of Teresian
nuns from Europe who sacrificed themselves
on Asian soil for the evangelization of
Asia.
As for Mother Veronica, at the time it
appeared that all her sacrifice, all her
work had come to nothing. The few sisters,
however, whom she trained and sent to India
managed to weather many a storm, to take
firm roots in Indian soil, and eventually to
grow into two mighty branches of the
Teresian family in India. When the Jesuits
took over the administration of the diocese,
some of these tertiaries opted to continue
in the diocese; but another group proceeded
to the south to work with the Carmelites in
Kerala. Thus the daughters of Mother
Veronica branched out into two religious
congregations --- the Apostolic Carmel
(AC), and the Congregation of
Carmelite Religious – one more
flourishing than the other. And so Sister
Veronica became doubly a Mother Foundress.
15. Bishop
Benziger (1864-1942)
Among the most illustrious of the bishops of
Quilon was Bishop Benziger. Born into a rich
Swiss family in 1864, the young Adelrich
Benziger gave up all worldly ambitions and
entered Carmel in the Belgian province
taking the religious name of Aloysius of
Holy Mary. He was ordained priest in 1888.
Two years later he reached Verapoly in 1890.
After serving for a time as professor in the
Puthenpally seminary, he was chosen in 1892
by Bishop Zaleski, the papal delegate to
India, as personal secretary. This gave him
opportunities to see India, and how other
religious congregations were faring, and
especially how Indians were faring in
European religious congregations. He would
later use this knowledge to promote
vigorously the admission of Indians to the
first Order of Carmel.
He wrote vigorous letters to the definitory
general; his ideas reached his Belgian
superiors; they were reinforced by
suggestions from Msgr. Zaleski; and finally
the chapter of the Flanders province decided
to take the necessary action. On 19 March
1902, the first house of regular observance
of the ‘first order’ was blessed at Cotton
Hill in Trivandrum. Cotton Hill was re-named
Carmel Hill. Around the same time, the
Carmelites of the Navarra province, who had
taken over the archdiocese of Verapoly,
opened a house of observance in Ernakulam.
He soon realized that the many
misunderstandings between different groups
of Christians in India, and
misunderstandings even between the Carmelite
missionaries themselves, were the work of
the devil.
He was appointed
coadjutor bishop of Quilon in 1900.
On 12 September 1902, Bishop Benziger, along
with Archbishop Bernard of Verapoly had
boarded the train from Madras to Bombay, in
order to proceed to Europe. In the same
express there were also two Italian
missionaries, and the Mother Foundress of
the CSST Sisters, Sr. Teresa of St. Rose of
Lima with her sister Sr. Josephine. Around
midnight there occurred one of the greatest
tragedies in the early railway history of
India. The train crashed into a river, the
bridge having collapsed because of heavy
rains. The two Sisters along with many
people were swept away by the current. The
two prelates and the two priests, by the
special Providence of God, managed to
survive. The bishop attributed his
miraculous survival to the intercession of
Our Lady of Einsiedeln (Switzerland), whose
feast is celebrated on 13 September.
In 1911, the bishop of Quilon (a diocese
entrusted to the Carmelites) found himself
in need for priests to staff the seminary in
his diocese; so he requested three priests
from Verapoly. Among these, the most
prominent was Fr. Lucas of the Infant
Jesus from Burgos, who staffed the
seminary till 1928, when he was appointed
novice master in Trivandrum, the first
Indian novitiate for the first Order in
India. After retirement as bishop, Msgr.
Benziger also came to stay and spend his
last years in this novitiate.
In 1919 Bishop Benziger recommended the
establishment of the Latin diocese of
Trivandrum. But this was realized only after
his retirement. In those years many
Jacobites were returning to the Catholic
Church, and Bishop Benziger was delegated by
the Holy See to receive their profession of
Faith. In 1930 he received into the Catholic
communion, Archbishop Mar Ivanios, Mar
Theophilos and others. That same year, the
southernmost part of the diocese was sliced
off and constituted into the Kottar diocese.
Msgr. Benziger, may be considered an apostle
of Kottar because of his yeoman service to
the people of this region, even before the
diocese of Kottar was created.
The bishop continued to work for the spread
of Carmel in India. To young missionaries
coming from Belgium, Bishop Benziger gave
the advice: Never pass any judgment about
any of the things in India before you have
spent ten years in India.
Of Bp. Benziger, we read in the Catholic
Directory:
“ The second phase of the missionary
enterprise in the diocese
(Quilon) begins with the dawn of the
present century. The Archbishop Benziger,
who became coadjutor bishop of Quilon in
1900 and bishop in 1905 was the apostle who
propagated Christianity in the Diocese
through the fragrance of his saintly life,
wise leadership and unceasing assistance to
the missionary priests. When he retired to
the Carmel Hill monastery in 1931, there
were Christian communities established in
almost all places of the interior region.”
Encouraged by Fr. Constantine, vicar
provincial of the Carmelites in Malabar, in
February 1938, the aged bishop visited Goa,
in the company of Fathers Lucas and Mary
Joseph. He had wished since 1928 that a
foundation be made. This year 1938 was the
third centenary of the martyrdom of Blessed
Dionysius and Redemptus.
16.
Father Aurelian of the Blessed Sacrament
(1887-1963)
This was
another great luminary of Alwaye Seminary
and one of the most illustrious sons of the
Navarra province. He came out to India as a
missionary at the age of 25 in 1912 and was
assigned to the formation of seminarians.
His ardent devotion to the Holy Eucharist
inspired him to compose and publish several
works on this Sacrament of Love, and to
promote perpetual adoration. He was a key
figure in the organization of the National
Eucharistic Congress in 1937 at Chennai,
where his abilities for organization became
evident.
Appointed rector of the Alwaye seminary in
1944, he continued in that office till 1956.
After Indian independence, he opted for
Indian citizenship. He participated in the
formation of about 1,500 priests, besides
being director of the Priests’ Eucharistic
League (1928-1945); for many years, editor
of the periodical Eucharist and Priest
and secretary for the 5th
National Eucharistic Congress held at Goa in
1931. He departed this life in 1963, and was
declared Venerablein 1999.
Among his many publications, there are
courses in ascetical and mystical theology
as well as handbooks of priestly
spirituality, as also devotional literature.
17. Father Zacharias (1887-1957 )
Father Zacharias, yet another shining
star in the firmament of the Church in
Kerala, and particularly of the Alwaye
Seminary was Fr. Zachary of St. Teresa who
arrived in India in 1912, the year of his
priestly ordination. He worked indefatigably
in the ministry, in studying and teaching.
From 1913 till his death in 1957, he was on
the staff of the major seminary -- most of
the time as spiritual director. In 1951, he
was appointed commissary for the Manjummel
Carmelite tertiaries.
He was known for his tact in effecting
reconciliation between conflicting parties.
It is said that on one occasion he even went
down on his knees to beg a young priest not
to continue disobeying his bishop. Fr.
Zacharias was a prolific writer on a variety
of topics but Indian philosophy was one of
his main interests.
18. Fr.
Hilary Castellan (1912-1978)
Born in Argentina of Italian parents,
Hillary came to Italy and joined the
Venetian province, passing through the
stages of formation at Treviso, Brescia and
Venice. After a short spell as professor in
Treviso, he became army chaplain during
World War II, and experienced pain and
hardship. In 1947 he became superior of a
missionary group destined for China. When
political changes in China compelled the
missionaries to leave, Fr. Hilary and some
of his companions passed over to Japan. One
of these, Fr. Rodrigo Bonaldo, worked in
Japan till he departed this life, in 1995.
Another great missionary on Japanese soil
who had accompanied Fr. Castellan, was Fr.
Ermanno Cognin, who remained in Japan till
his demise in 1994 – more than 40 years
after his arrival in the land of the rising
sun.
A man of intense prayer and interior life,
Fr. Castellan seemed to be obsessed with the
shortness of time for the immense project of
converting all China and Japan to faith in
Jesus. As chaplain assisting in the catholic
hospital in Kanazawa, he used to interest
himself in the welfare of every patient as
well as the Sisters who staffed the
hospital. He had the joy of baptizing a good
number of non-Christians, and proclaiming
the Good News to many more.
Not only by word of mouth did he proclaim
the Good News but also through constant
letter-writing and the publication of
numerous articles.
In his personal diary for 1 Jan. 1978, he
had written:
I will to say my 'Amen' to all that the
Good God has planned for me, of me, in me.
And let this 'Amen' repeated every moment
from my soul express thanksgiving love, and
also faith and hope…
During his months of suffering, his
colleagues could witness the spiritual
grandeur of his personality. He had been a
man who loved adventure and was ready to
make himself all things to all men, taking
even risks for the sake of others.
19.
Fr. Joaquim Guizzo (1918-1991)
Joaquim, early in life, joined
the Venetian province, and by the age of 28,
he was ready to leave Italy for major
seminary studies on Mt. Carmel, just before
World War II broke out. After the war, the
Venetian province was thinking of missions
in China, and that is where Fr. Joaquim
found himself at the beginning of 1948. But
Mao and his Red Army were over-running the
country, and hard times came especially on
the foreign missionaries. Fr. Joaquim was
imprisoned; and later, being released by the
"will of the people", he was officially
expelled from main-land China, and had to
proceed via Hong-Kong to Macao, where the
cloistered Sisters took good care of him. By
1951 he was struggling to meet the needs of
his new environment in Japan, which was far
poorer economically in those days than it is
today. He worked especially in Nagoyo and
Kanazawa.
On his return to Italy in 1955, his
enthusiasm for the Japanese mission was
infectious. In 1974, he was requested by
superiors to pass over to South Korea and
contribute to the planting of Carmel in that
country.
Fathers Castellan and Guizzo were two among
other great pioneers of the East Asian
missions. The nuns had already reached Japan
in 1933, but the Fathers arrived only after
the second World War – around 1951.
20. Fr. Jo. Mary Chin
Fr. John,
born in Sabah of Chinese stock, spent his
formative years in the Malabar province and
was ordained in 1946. He too was expelled
from China. Later on, in the early 1980s, he
introduced the Carmelite way of life into
Taiwan.
21. Bishop. Patrick Shanley
Born in Ireland in 1896,
Patrick Shanley was ordained in 1930 in his
native Ireland. Shortly after his
ordination, he joined the American
Washington Province. In 1942 he became
chaplain in the US army. By mid 1945, he was
on active duty in the Far East steering
towards the Philippines Islands. He was
assigned as chaplain to the 248th
Military General Hospital in Makati, Manila.
Although his chaplaincy duties were often
burdensome, he used his off-duty time and
natural ingenuity well, to collect food,
clothing, rations and any available relief
goods to be distributed among the patients
at the Leper Colony in Tala, Manila. This
was his favorite personal and missionary
"project".
Wishing to do all he could to help alleviate
the devastation in the country caused by the
carpet bombing during the liberation of
Manila, Father Patrick visited the Nuncio,
Msgr. Egidio Vagnozzi and the Archbishop of
Manila, Michael O'Doherty. The Nuncio's
immediate concern was the dire need for
priests on the national and local levels.
For the most part, seminaries were closed
during the war. There was practically one
priest for every 50,000 Catholics! Father
Patrick also made the acquaintance of the
widow of the first President of the
Philippine Commonwealth, Dona Aurora Quezon.
This noble lady told him about the
deplorable conditions in the rural areas
specially as far as sacramental needs were
concerned. One day in February 1947, Father
Patrick accompanied by Dona Aurora Quezon
and Mr. Eusebio Gutierrez OCDS visited the
Bishop of Lipa Diocese, Msgr. Alfredo
Verzosa. Lipa at that time was considered
one of the poorest dioceses in the country.
Father Patrick told the good bishop:
"subject to the will of my superiors, I
would like to work in the most forsaken
parish in your territory." The bishop
immediately took out a huge map and circled
an area along the eastern coast of Luzon
island. The area was due east northeast of
Manila comprising the towns of
Baler-Casiguran in the north and
Infanta-Polillo due east of Manila. The
bishop was most willing to assign the area
to the Carmelite Friars should they get
permission to come. Immediately, Father
Patrick wrote to his superior, Fr Thomas
Kilduff explaining in more detail the actual
religious situation in the Philippines.
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