Catholic Mission in Aurangabad diocese (Maharashtra) - 1892 onwards"
By Camil Parkhe
Published by: SFS Publications,
PB No 5639
Rajajinagar, 1st Block,
Bangalore, 560 010
ISBN 81-85376-78-6
First edition 2009
Copyright : SFS Publications
29) Formation of Aurangabad diocese
(Christianity in Aurangabad diocese from 1892 onwards)
Fr Gurien Jacquier arrived in the four-year-old Ghogargaon mission centre in November 1896 and breathed his last in the same village five decades later. From October 1915 to January 1922, he had been on deputation to Rahata in neighbouring Ahmednagar district. During his 50 years vocation as a missionary, Jacquirbaba took rest and visited his motherland only once - from 1926 to 1928 - when he was forced to slow down his work on health grounds.
Jacquierbaba worked tirelessly for 40 long years in Ghogargaon and Borsar mission centres. It was during this period that Christianity took deep roots in Aurangabad district. It is significant to note that the MSFS priests had been working in Amravati, Chikhaldhara, Akola, Kapustalani and other parts of the Vidarbha region during this period. However, due to various social, religious, political and economic factors, the work of these Catholic missionaries in most of the areas was almost wiped out by the time India gained Independence.
Fr Azarias D’Mello had taken charge of Ghogargaon in 1944. In January 1951, Fr John D’Souza was sent to be his assistant. In May 1951, Bro Ambrose came to help him. In May 1952, Fr Azarias D’Mello was transferred to Achalpur. Fr Olivet Vas took charge of Ghogargaon with Fr Edwin Alvares as assistant.
In 1948, the political situation in Nizam’s Hyderabad princely state became tense. India had gained independence from the British rulers on August 15,1947. But the Nizam government in Hyderabad in Central India refused to join the Indian Union. Efforts for a peaceful settlement failed. Economic sanctions were imposed by the Indian government. According to the notes written by Fr Monteiro, the blockade paralysed the mission activities. As a result, catechists and masters were discharged and the children’s boardings were closed. At night fall, no one went outdoors. The missionaries also could not go out.
On September 14, 1948 began the Police Action against the Nizam state. Action was taken against the Razakars, the special army of the Nizam. By September 18, the Hyderabad princely state was taken over by the Indian Government and peace was restored. The Police Action was planned by the then Union Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
In the meantime, many of the discharged catechists had secured jobs in sugar factories and were not prepared to return to their work and their small pays. The Scheduled Castes Federation was very active and won many adherents form the converts, wrote Fr Joseph Monteiro.
MSFS historian Fr Moget has dealt in details on the missionary activities and the number of baptisms given to local people in the Vidarbha region. However a glance at the statistics of the Catholic population in the present Nagpur, Amravati and Aurangabad dioceses reveals that some of the people converted to Christianity in the early 20th century have embraced Buddhism along with other followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in the 1950s and 1960s.
The factors responsible for the spread of Christianity in Aurangabad district. its stunted growth or subsequent disappearance in some parts of the Marathwada and also in the neighbouring Vidarbha region can be well illustrated with the parable on the seed of the Word of God narrated by Jesus Christ. The parable goes like this:
“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock: and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and chocked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” 1
Even today, the number of Catholics in Gangapur and Vaijapur talukas of Aurangabad district – the area where Fr Jacquier sowed the seeds of the Word of God – is far more conspicuous as compared to the rest parts of the Marathwada and for that matter, even the whole Vidarbha region. It would be incorrect to solely credit Jacquierbaba for this. But the fact remains this was the missionary who toiled for 40 years for the most downtrodden, the untouchable folks of these two talukas and preached the gospel to them. He was also the first social reformer in this rural area to spread literacy among local population of mixed castes and religions. He had opened so many schools in villages under his Ghogargaon mission centre. He also tried to various social evil practices like untouchability, child marriages and bigamy.
It is difficult to believe that a great soul existed in this small village which remains obscure to this date. He tried his best to transform the lives of the whole population in this region. The large number of tales associated with this Mahatma, as told by people even today with much reverence to this missionary, are testimony of the great works carried out by Jacquierbaba in this region.
Jacquirbaba traveled on horseback, in bullock cart or horse cart to various villages which now come under the jurisdiction of the present Ghogargaon, Borsar, Kannad, Vaijapur, Gangapur, Wahegaon parishes.
Fr Stephen Almeida is the present parish priest at the Christ the King in Ghogargaon, a post held for four decades by Jacquierbaba. Ironically Ghogargaon village to this date remains inaccessible to the world in the absence of asphalted, motorable road. The church parish runs a primary, middle and higher secondary school in the village, attended by hundreds of Christian and non-Christian children from neighbouring villages. The Holy Cross sisters who run a dispensary in the village offer medical facilities to the rural populace here.
When Fr Jacquier arrived from France to work in India, the then Nagpur province was entrusted to his MSFS religious congregation. The Catholic Church has in the latter years bifurcated this giant province into the present Nagpur, Amravati, Chanda and Aurangabad (all in Maharashtra) Jabalpur, Khandwa, Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh). Each of this diocese are headed by an archbishop or bishop.
During the past 100 years, the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales (MSFS) of which Jacquirbaba was a member preached Christianity in the then Central Province, Berar, and Marathwada. The MSFS congregation priests purchased land, built on them schools, churches, dispensaries and hostels for the girls and boys. Later the Catholic Church established new dioceses in these areas and the secular or the diocesan priests under the new bishops started working in this villages. In keeping with the Catholic Church tradition, subsequently the MSFS congregation took a back seat and handed over the huge real estates, schools, churches, hostels and other establishments to the bishops, the heads of the newly created dioceses in the respective areas.
Similar transfer also took place in the neighbouring Ahmednagar district after the Nashik diocese was carved out of the Pune diocese in 1987. There, the Jesuits – members of the religious congregation Society of Jesus - handed over the land and institutions to the new diocese and shifted their attention to work in the area where no one had trodden.
This novel tradition of handing over ownership of real estate and reputed institutions to others exists only in the Catholic Church and there cannot be any other parallel to this custom.
The diocese of Aurangabad was erected by the Decree 'Qui Arcano' (No. 1139/78) dated December 1997. It comprises of eight revenue districts. Of these, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani and Nanded were taken from the diocese of Amravati while Latur, Beed and Osmanabad were detached from the archdiocese of Hyderabad. This entire region under the Aurangabad diocese constitutes a political unit named Marathwada in Maharashtra. Fr Dominic Abreo, a diocesan priest from Vasai in Thane district who had presided over the seventh Marathi Christian Sahitya Sammelan (literary meet) held in 1973 was appointed the first bishop of Aurangabad diocese. 2 Bishop Edwin Colaco who was appointed as bishop of Amravati in 1995 has been bishop of Aurangabad diocese since 2007.
As per the statistics provided by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), there are 16,000 Catholics in Aurangabad diocese. As far as the Christian (Catholic and Protestants) population and the number of Church establishments are concerned, Aurangabad diocese is one of the most important dioceses in Maharashtra, next only to Mumbai, Pune and Nashik dioceses.
Aurangabad Catholic diocese has 22 parishes. There are 15 high schools, one higher secondary schools, 15 upper primary schools, 12 hospitals, nine hostels and five orphanages. 3
References:
1) Gospel according to St Mathew, 4:1-9,
2) The other former bishops of Aurangabad diocese are Bishop Ignatius D'Cunha (1989-98) and Bishop Sylvester Monteiro (1999-2005)
3) Directory of Aurangabad Catholic Diocese, published by Bishop’s House, Aurangabad (2003)
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