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 CALCUTTA

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CALCUTTA

The British Jesuits being unable to undertake the work on account of their small number, the pope en- trusted the Bengal Mission to the Belgian Jesuits. Dr. Oliffe died at Naples in May, 1858. On 28 November, 1859, four Belgian and two English Jesuits, with a lay brother, landed in Calcutta and started at once, in the old St. John's College, the new College of St. Francis Xavier. In 1842 their predecessors esti- mated the Catholic population of Calcutta at 8000. Carew's estimate was 15,000, which seems much too high, for the Belgian Jesuits found only 6000 Catho- lics in Calcutta in 1859. A few hundreds were spread over Western Bengal. As the new mission was still in its experimental stage, no vicar Apostolic was ap- pointed till 9 September, 1864, when Father Augustus Van Heule. S. J., was nominated Vicar Apostolic of Western Bengal. Unfortunately he had been only four months in Calcutta when he died suddenly, 9 June, 1865.

On 11 January, 1867, the Very Rev. Walter Steins, S. J., Viear Apostolic of Bombay, was transferred to the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Bengal. He had accompanied in 1859 the first Belgian Jesuits to Cal- cutta to help them with his experience, and had been appointed in 1S61 Vicar Apostolic of Bombay. He left Calcutta in 1S77 for Australia, where he was ap- pointed Bishop of Auckland. He died there 1 Sep- tember, 1881. On 31 December, 1877, Father Paul Goethals, S. J., was nominated titular Archbishop of Hierapolis and Vicar Apostolic of Western Bengal. On 23 June, 1886, a new concordat was concluded be- tween Pope Leo XIII and the King of Portugal. A concordat had already been signed between Pope Pius IX and the King of Portugal in 1857, but the difficul- ties caused by the double jurisdiction had subsisted in Bengal, though in a lesser degree than elsewhere. The new concordat established a permanent peace. On 1 September, 1886, the Bull "Humanae Salutis Auctor" erected the Catholic hierarchy in India. Leo XIII sent to India Mgr. Agliardi as Apostolic Dele- gate, to carry out the dispositions of the Bull and set- tle the minor points connected with the padroado or Portuguese patronage. On 25 November, 1886, Dr. Goethals was appointed Archbishop of Calcutta, and the ecclesiastical province of Calcutta was constituted as above explained. In the archdiocese two churches remain under the Portuguese jurisdiction: the church of Boytakhana in Calcutta and the church of Bandel with its annexed chapel of Chinsurah. The Augus- tinians having given up Bengal in 1S67, these churches are attended by secular priests of the Diocese of Melia- pur. Their jurisdiction is personal over all those who were adhering to the Portuguese priests at the time of the Concordat of 1S57 and all those who go to Cal- cutta, Bandel, or Chinsurah from a territory belonging to the Diocese of Meliapur.

OnP January, 1894, the first council of the province of Calcutta opened. His Excellency Mgr. Ladislas Zaleski, titular Archbishop of Thebes and Delegate Apostolic, presided, and there were present, Arch- bishop Goethals of Calcutta; Bishop Francis Pozzi of Khrishnagur; Bishop Augustine Louage of Dacca, and the Very Rev. Angelus Muenzloher, S. D. S., Prefect Apostolic of Assam. The Constitutions of this council, revised at Rome, were promulgated 25 July, 1905. Archbishop Goethals's health had for some time been declining, and he died, July, 1901, at the age of sixty, lather I'.rice Meuleman, S. J., Superior of the Bengal Mission, was nominated Arch- bishop of Calcutta. 21 .March, 1902, and consecrated in the cathedral 25 June following.

The ana of the Archdiocese of Calcutta is about one hundred thousand square miles, inhabited by a population of about twenty-seven millions. Of these, according to the statistics of 1906, 126,529 were Cath- olics; 81,770 were baptized, and 44,759 were catechu- mens. The number lias increased during 1906-1907

by about 25,000 new catechumens. There are besides in Calcutta and Bandel about 1200 natives belonging to the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Meliapur.

One hundred and ninety-three Jesuits, most of them Belgians, of whom 107 are priests, are working in the mission. Besides there are two secular priests. In Calcutta there are about 13.000 Catholics under the jurisdiction of the archbishop. They are mostly of mixed blood, called Eurasians, and many are very poor. The town is divided into eight parishes at- tached to the following churches: the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosarv. St. John's. St. Xavier's. St. Thomas's, St. Theresa's, St. Patrick's (Fort-William). St. Joseph's (for the Madrassees), and the church of the Sacred Heart.

Educational and Charitable Work. — To give an exact idea of the Calcutta Mission it will be best to consider the educational and charitable work car- ried on exclusively by religious communities, the railway and military chaplains, and the native mis- sions. The Jesuits have built for the training of their junior members a house of theological studies (St. Mary's), in Kurseong, and a house of probation (Man- resa House), in Ranehi. They have opened two col- leges for boys, St. Xavier's in Calcutta with about 800 boys and St. Joseph's in Darjeeling with about 200 boarders. In 1847 Dr. Carew had begun in Cal- cutta a little congregation of Brothers, which Goethals succeeded in affiliating to the Irish Christian Brothers in 1890. In Calcutta they have charge of the Male Orphanage with 300 boys and St. Joseph's High School with S00; in Howrah, of St. Aloysius' School with 70; in Assansol, of St. Patrick's High School with 240; in Kurseong, of the Goethals Memorial Orphanage with 150. Thirty-five Brothers are working in the arch- diocese. The Loreto nuns from Rathfarnam, Ire- land, went to Calcutta in 1842. They have charge, in Calcutta, of the Chowringhee, Bowbazar, Dhurrum- tollah, and Sealdah schools and the Entally orphan- age, with about 1500 pupils; in Assansol, of a school with 140 girls; in Darjeeling, of a boarding school with 160, and in Morapai, of 160 native Bengali girls. There are ninety nuns of this order. The Daughters of the Cross of Liege, Belgium, located in Calcutta on 22 December, 1868. They have charge, in Calcutta, of St. Vincent's Home with 252 inmates; in Howrah, of a school with 120 girls; in Chaybassa, of a native school and orphanage with 70 girls; in Kurseong, of St. Helen's High School with 220 pupils. There are forty-five nuns. The Ursulines of Thildonek, Bel- gium, went to Bengal in January, 1903. They have twelve nuns in charge of the native girls' schools in the Chotanagpore Mission, and convents in Ranehi, Khunti, Tongo, Rengarih. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny have had charge since 1903 of the native girls' orphanage in Balasore, where five nuns take care of 80 inmates. The Daughters of St. Anne are a nat ive congregation begun five or six years ago. The Ben- gali branch is under the direction of the Loreto nuns in Morapai, the Chotanagpore branch under the di- rection of the Ursulines in Ranehi.

Railway and Military Chaplains. — For British Catholic soldiers in Bengal there are four military chaplains stationed at Darjeeling. Dumdum, Cal- cutta (Fort-William). They are paid by the Govern- ment. The priest at Serampore attends to the sol- diers stationed at Barrackpore. Railway employees are attended to by seven railway chaplains stationed at Sealdah, Assansol, Khargpur, Purneah, Kurseong. All these chaplains attend also to the Catholic popu- lation not belonging to the railway or the army.

Native Missions. — One of the great difficulties met with in the conversion of the natives is the thirty five languages spoken in the archdiocese. The Moham- medans seem to give no hope of conversion, the

Hindus little more. But the Catholic Faith lias made great progress among the aborigines during the last