CALCUTTA - KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL

THE CALCUTTA MISSION

OR

MISSION OF WESTERN BENGAL

WAS ORIGINALLY ENTRUSTED TO THE BELGIAN JESUITS, FIRST ASSISTED BUT NOW REPLACED BY INDIAN JESUITS.

LATER ON THE CALCUTTA ARCHDIOCESE WAS GRADUALLY  ALSO BEING TAKEN OVER  BY A DIOCESAN CLERGY WHEN NUMEROUS INDIAN CANDIDATES JOINED THE RANKS OF THE EXISTING CLERICS.

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Avec un recul de 25 à 50 ans depuis 1948, je voudrais présenter les images souvenirs de ces différentes missions et ministères qui m'ont occupé pendant 28 ans dans la vigne du Seigneur au Bengale.

Black and white pictures are no doubt dated but they all the same succeed in suggesting the particular atmosphere of that period of time just after Independence (August 15, 1947). How times have changed since then!

Les photos en noir et blanc sont évidemment datées mais elles parviennent quand même à communiquer l'ambiance particulière de l'époque, juste après l'Indépendance (15 août 1947). Comme les temps ont changé depuis!

Jean De Ridder sj

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M A P S  O F  I N D I A

 

INDIA's NATIONAL FLAG

 

 

 

The flag is a horizontal tricolour in equal proportion of deep saffron (kesari) on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. The ratio of the width to the length of the flag is two to three. In the centre of the white band, is a wheel in navy blue to indicate the Dharma Chakra, the wheel of law in the Sarnath Lion Capital. Its diameter approximates the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; the white, for purity and truth; the green for faith and fertility.

lcutta Province Assembly

May 25, 2008

Dhyan Ashram, Konchowki

24 Parganas

A city of Joy and Love, Grandeur and Glory... Kolkata alias Calcutta is full of life and bustle, verging on the chaotic as traditional occupations rub shoulders with ultra modern industries.

1. Sister Lucy Shang with co-sisters.

2. Mother Teresa, Sister Lucy and her mother.

China Town in Calcutta counts a modest R:C. community of Chinese settlers. In the course of time, they have slowly built their own chapel in Chinese style in a converted house. Sunday mass is regularly celebrated for this Chinese congregation by a priest from St Xavier's College. A vocation to religious life was much appreciated and encouraged by these fervent Christians from far-away China. Lucy Shang joined Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.

1 Sister Lucy Shang, MC & John De Ridder with the Shang family.

2. Lucy and her two younger brothers.

 

 

 

La Mère Teresa de Calcutta et les Jésuites

Albert Huart S.J.

Déjà en tant que religieuse de la congrégation de Loreto, la Mère Teresa s'était imprégnée de l'esprit de St Ignace de Loyola. D'ailleurs, Mary Ward, la fondatrice, était une vraie disciple de Saint Ignace. Des jésuites assumaient le ministère de la réconciliation et des retraites spirituelles chez les Soeurs.

Un remarquable trio de prêtres de la Compagnie ont aidé et encouragé Teresa à progresser dans sa nouvelle Congrégation, quand elle eut quitté celle de Loreto.

Le Père Céleste Van Exem, originaire d'Elverdinge près d'Ypres, y contribua de manière vitale. C'était un homme de poids dans les conseils de la Compagnie et de l'Archidiocèse. Traçons-en un bref portrait: un intellectuel, pas une tête chaude progressiste, à l'aise dans le Droit Canon, en contact avec des experts en Inde, en Belgique et à Rome, et entièrement subjugué par le rêve de cette petite soeur albano-indienne.

En douceur; il parvint à convaincre l'Archevêque de Calcutta, Mgr Périer, Anversois, jésuite, prélat de style traditionnel qui donnait sa préférence à des religieuses foulant les sentiers battus. L'Archeveque ne tarda pas à consentir à ce que naisse une nouvelle congrégation. Il s'appliqua même à obtenir les autorisations romaines nécessaires. Jusqu'à sa mort, en 1993, le Père Van Exem fut un ami très proche et un conseiller spirituel de la Mère. Son Claude la Colombière, ce fut Céleste.

Citons aussi le Père Julien Henry: barbe de Saint Joseph, regards rieurs d'un enfant, coeur d'un Missionnaire de la Charité, grand ami des pauvres de la paroisse Sainte Thérèse. A la fois mystique et bourré de projets pratiques, les uns un peu brouillons, d'autres d'avant-garde. Jusqu'à sa mort survenue en 1979, la Mère Teresa put le compter parmi ses amis et inspirateurs. Il joua un role important dans la formation des jeunes soeurs.

Dès les débuts, le Père Edouard Le Joly, bon pied bon oeil aujourd'hui, âgé de 88 ans, fut impliqué dans la grande oeuvre de charité. Il instruisit les religieuses et entra souvent en dialogue spirituel avec la Mère. Ayant écrit plusieurs livres sur la spiritualité et les travaux des Missionnaires de la Charité, il est considéré par les médias comme un bon connaisseur de leur esprit et de leur engagement. C'est à la demande de la Mère Teresa, désireuse de pourvoir ses Soeurs d'un bon guide de prière, qu'il a écrit l'un de ses plus beaux livres spirituels, ses "Médiations sur l'Evangile selon Saint Jean".

Des liens nombreux ont toujours existé entre les Missionnaires de la Charité et les jésuites de Calcutta. Teresa était une fille très proche du coeur du Cardinal L.T. Picachy, jésuite. Pendant bien des années, le Père Camille Bouché, Luxembourgeois, a contribué à la formation des religieuses, pendant et après leur noviciat.

Les différents centres des missionnaires de Charité de Calcutta d'ailleurs accueillirent de nombreux autres pères jésuites comme confesseurs ou prédicateurs d'instruction spirituelles et de retraites. On ne peut pas les énumérer tous. Ce sont des membres de la communauté du Collège St Xavier qui disent tous les jours la messe à la Maison Mère et à la Maison du Troisième An de Park street.

Le P.Provincial a écrit dans son message de condoléances à Soeur Nirmala: "La Province de Calcutta est heureuse et fière que de nombreux jésuites de Calcutta aient pu apporter leur assistance, leur concours et leurs encouragements à la chère Mère Teresa, depuis les tout premiers débuts de son oeuvre".

The city named Barrackpur got its name from the term barracks. A pretty little church has been added to the residential quarters for the benefit of Irish soldiers in the contingent. After Independence, the church building was handed over to the Calcutta archdiocese and a presbytery was built by André Dontaine. On the opposite bank of the Hoogly, the parish of Serampore had regular church services held across the river.

1. Inside the church John De Ridder pp and the mass servers team.

2. André Dontaine bids farewell to his beloved Barrackpur and is replaced by John De Ridder.

3. In Serampur, in the former church bulding, now a home for disabled patients, the local community gathers for the pastoral visit.

sitting: Home Matron, John De Ridder pp, Archbishop Albert De Souza, Denzil De Souza, lady volunteer.

 St Xavier's Community, 30 Park Street, Calcutta - 700 016
is home to professors, teachers, members of various Jesuit pastoral works in the city.

front row:: Frans Goreux, Paul Turmes, Jacques de Bonhome rector, André Bruylants vice-provincial, Ruy Cordeiro, Michael Buttigieg, Paul Joris.
2d row: Raymond Pilette, John-Baptist D'Silva, Vernon Desbrulais, Joseph Fenech, Camille Bouché,  Peter Gomes, Henry Schepers, Janes Erhlich, Thomas Carlo.
3d row: Achille Vertraeten, Cecil K. Leeming, Leon Hous, xxx, Joyonto Sen, Albert Huart.
back row: Thomas Vetticad, Fernand Mairlot, Jean De Ridder, Gérard Beckers, Joseph Remedios.

At the end of the first year, the prize distribution was presided over by the Town administrator and Mrs. McCracken, the GEO's wife. The pupils performed a program of graceful dances and songs for the greatest delight of parents and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

Since the residential area of Burnpur town had become too congested, an extension was being planned on the northern side of the Steel plant in the paddy fields. Included in the designed infrastructure was a large two-storied school building where both a Hindi and a Bengali section were to be developped. The demand for an English section being also taken in consideration, the unoccupied (for the time being) second floor was offered to the parish by the town administrator, to start an English primary section, pending ulterior relocation.

2. pupils with their teacher and John De Ridder, headmaster.

3. IISCO GEO's wife cuts the cake while visiting the school.

  

 The church of Bom Jesus, "Good" or "Infant" Jesus, is known principally for the tomb of St. Francis Xavier.

 In 1946, it became the first church of India to be elevated to the status of Minor Basilica. One of the richest churches in Goa, it is covered with marble and inlaid with precious stones and paintings depicting the life of St. Francis Xavier. This basilica, where the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier are kept, is the best specimen of baroque architecture in India. St. Francis's body was brought to Goa almost 150 years after his death. It was a gift from Medici, Cosimo III, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. It now lies in an airtight glass coffin, placed inside a silver casket fashioned by a 17th century Florentine jeweller. The chapel attracts large numbers of visitors every year. 

1. Being ferried across the harbour.

2. Goa new town viewed from the sky (Indian Airlines Dakota).

3. Praying around the relic of Saint Francis Xavier

4. Pilgrims in attendance.

1. Old Goa Bom Jesus Church - St Francis Xavier altar. 

2. St Francis Xavier's body reliquary.

3. John De Ridder and Justin Maloney on the esplanade next to Goa Se Cathedral Church. On the pedestal: Luis de Camoes statue.

4. Devotees hurrying to the church.

Solemn Eucharist of Paul VI, on the elevated ground for better vision by the assembly.

 

 

 

 

2. Crossing the harbour

3. Holy Mass on the railway platform during the Calcutta - Bombay train journey

4. Chelidanga families in the Asansol party 

The young Group-Captain Leonard Cheshire RAF had been Winston Churchill's representative on the Allied team making the last preparations for launching the atom bomb. The U.S. B-29 bomber with the name Enola Gay painted on its nose, dropped the atom bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima at 9.15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945. Afterwards, L. Cheshire was deeply affected by the dramatic sequels of the atomic blast on the Japanese civilian population.

When he retired from the RAF, Gr.-Cpt. Leonard Cheshire (later Lord Leonard Cheshire, V.C.) decided to open rehabilitation homes for disabled patients, in Great Britain and other countries of the world. He had worked in India and loved the country. He was invited by Mr. John McCracken, the IISCO British managing director, to open a home in Burnpur. He came himself to lay the foundation stone for the O'Leary Cheshire Home. The building was later on achieved by the Steel Plant engineers.  Homes would years later be opened by the Cheshire Homes Society in Serampore and Bangalore.

present: Gr-Cpt. L. Cheshire; Mrs. wife of  IISCO Managing-Director; Mr..., IISCO Town Administrator; John De Ridder, priest-in-charge.

Laying of foundation stone ceremony:

Burnpur O'Leary Cheshire Home completed:

At long last, after so many years, a priest's residence and office is available next to St Antony's Church.

1. St Antony's church and presbytery

  

2. Burnpur bungalow

 

 

3. John De Ridder busy at his desk on the bungalow first floor.

4. JDR and Koka, the keeper's half-breed watchdog 

Later transformations of

St Antony's Church & Presbytery

photos submitted by Br Frank Gale ICB Asansol (August 2009)

On pastoral visit to Asansol parish, archbishop De Souza pays a visit to St Patrick's Senior Cambridge School and meets the I.C.Brothers' staff & parish clergy.

sitting, front row: archb. De Souza, pp. C. Van Exem (bearded) , School Principal I.C.Br. X, back row: second from right: John De Ridder - others: I.C.Brs & 2 diocesan priests.

1. John De Ridder and JHS top class.

2. JDR ready to bestride his bike.

North of the Asansol railway quarters, the village of Chelidanga harbours an important Hindi-speaking community of labourers, natives of Ranchi and Bettiah.

They have secured lucrative jobs in the several local industrial plants: the Railway Maintenance machine tools Sheds, the Burnpur IISCO Steel Plant and the Waggons Factory, and further north of Asansol, even the Chittaranjan Locomotive Factory. Two schools which would in time become full-fledged High Schools with Hindi as medium of instruction, were slowly developed through the years by Robert Drugman, to provide excellent teaching to the avid children of this community: for the girls, the St Maria Goretti HS, entrusted to the Daughters of St Ann, the diocesan congregation, and for the boys, the St Joseph's HS entrusted to layteachers with R. Drugman as headmaster. These schools have enjoyed a remarkable reputation of efficiency and achieved splendid academic results.

1. Sister of St Ann teaching an open air class. JDR in the background.

2. Girls enjoy looking after the convent calf.

Asansol is an important railway link on the Calcutta-Delhi line. In the early days, the railway staff of drivers and maintenance officers belonged mainly to the English speaking Anglo-Indian community which counted many Catholics.

Catholic schools were therefore founded to cater to their children's educational needs. Thanks to the easy journeying facilities afforded by the railways, youngsters from all-over North India, Nepal and neighbouring Burma, eagerly joined one of these two boarding-schools for boys, the St Patrick's Senior Cambridge School (250) and the St Vincent's Training School (200), both entrusted to the Irish Christian Brothers.

 

 

 

Burn & Co promoted The Indian Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. in 1918. G.H.Fairhurst is credited with having founded the plant at Burnpur (then better known as Hirapur). Sir Rajendranath Mookerjee and T.Leslie Martin were also associated with it. Sir Biren Mookerjee joined a little later and played a major role in the development of the plant. Iron production started at Burnpur in 1922. Kulti Works of Bengal Iron was merged with IISCO in 1936. Steel Corporation of Bengal (SCOB) set up the steelmaking facilities at Burnpur in 1939. SCOB was merged with IISCO in 1952 and Martin Burn was then the managing agent of the company. Indian Standard Wagon (ISW) (later renamed Burn Standard) set up its wagon factory at Burnpur.

 

 

 Iron and steel technology advanced in leaps and bounds since the Second World War, along with massive growth in production globally. The technological leap forward left the plant at Burnpur in shambles. Rising cost of production made the once profit making organisation a loss-making unit. Coupled with militant labour trouble in the sixties, IISCO faced a situation of near collapse in the early seventies. The management of IISCO was taken over by the government on 14th July 1972. Subsequently IISCO was nationalised and made a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd.). At the time of government-take over IISCO was the third largest private sector company (after TISCO and Telco) in India.

Two plants are located here: the IISCO (Indian Iron and Steel Company) plant, one of the first steel-works opened in British India; and the Indian Standard Wagon (ISW) Factory, a plant manufacturing railway carriages for coal and iron ore transportation. As a friendly gesture, IISCO handed over the ownership rights to the landed property for a church building to be used by the Indian and Foreign Catholic township residents. The St Antony's Church was designed and built by Charles-Victor Poncelet sj with financial aid from Belgium.

1. St Antony's Church, view from the opposite maidan (esplanade).

 

Archbishop Dyer'visit

 

 

 

2. The church keeper's lodge.

 

 3. Sikander & John Barla chatting in the church compound.

 

 

4. John De Ridder relaxing on the Barakar River bank.

At Asansol, an important railway township for engine drivers and maintenance staff, this pretty church building was erected by the then British railway company running the Calcutta-Delhi line. British bricks were conveniently imported from Great Britain...

After Independence, the British company was incorporated into the Indian Ministry of Railways and the church building handed over to the Calcutta Archdiocese, with attached owner's rights and maintenance obligations. When the Burdwan diocese was erected, the Asansol Sacred Heart Church became its cathedral and the Asansol presbytery became Bishop's House.

John De Ridder celebrating Holy Mass in a simplified version of the Indian rite at the Apostolic Carmel Sisters' convent.