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Brief History of the Catholic Missionaries in Manipur

Opinion | Articles | Irene Salam | 15-Nov-2020

The Tangkhul Nagas were the early Christians in Manipur since Rev. William Pettigrew first landed in Ukhrul after he was disallowed spaced in the valley. By 1946 however, there were confusions due to emergence of the Revival and the Seventh Day Adventist Churches. There were also confusions about Saturday and Sunday being observed as the Lord’s Day by different Churches. It was around this time that A.S. Shomi Dominic, who was studying in Shillong and had accepted the Catholic faith, returned to Ukhrul. Mr. Augustine Alung and few others went to him and explained the confusion about different Christian doctrines. After patiently listening to their stories, Mr. A.S. Shomi conveyed that since he had already accepted the Catholic faith, he would not be in a position to discuss Church matters and services, except for joining them for singing classes. His response was little disappointing for them because they expected some clear explanations on Christian faith from him. However, on the request of some elders, he explained how Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church and formed the Protestant church, and assured them that if they wish, he could arrange for a Catholic Priest who could explain this more elaborately.

On receiving an affirmative response from these curious early Christians, Shomi wrote to Bishop Ferrando of Shillong through Fr. M. Bianchi, the then Secretary to the Bishop. In response, Fr. Morachino from Kohima was sent to Ukhrul. He arrived in Hungdung on February 10, 1952, walking all the way from Litan, the last village vehicles could reach from Imphal. The following morning, he celebrated Mass in his hut, and thereafter met the elders at Awungtang  “Leigapha’. He explained the reason why he didn’t want to have the meeting in the Church, and also spoke about Catholicism, including a brief history of how Protestant Church broke away from it. After this meeting, 33 families with 350 members decided to accept Catholic faith on their own accord and formed the first Catholic community in Manipur. During this visit, Fr. Morachino also tried to locate the Chin Catholics, who had migrated from Burma to Manipur during the Japanese war, and finally succeeded in locating them in Sugnu area.

The same year, Fr. Ravalico made his first trip to Manipur and to the Tangkhul areas and visited number of villages close to Hungdung. In his memoir, Fr. Ravalico, wrote, “I made my first journey to Manipur, and to the clan of the Tangkhul Naga. The distance from Dibrugarh were I was stationed, is about 600 km which I covered in three days, by train, by bus and jeep, and the rest on foot. The trip was to attend a wedding of a past pupil of our Don Bosco School in Gauhati. It was these Naga past Pupils of our schools in Shillong and Gauhati who pushed us to Manipur”. During this visit, he baptized 36 children, and 120 adults. Fr. Ravlico had also heard about the Chin Catholics from Fr. Morachino, therefore, he undertook a strenuous journey to visit them in Singtam, walking all the way through the Letha Mountains, and baptized as many as 200 people. The following year (1953), Bishop Marengo of Dibrugarh visited the Tangkhul areas twice and that paved the way for Fr. Peter Bianchi to be stationed in Hungdung as the first Catholic missionary.

Soon after monsoon in1953, Fr. Ravalico revisited the Chin villages along with two young Catechists. The journey was again a strenuous one, with several hardships encountered on the way. The visit however was richly rewarded when a woman with swollen legs, crawled to the Chapel and wanted to be baptized with her husband and children. From there, Fr. Ravalico extended his visit to Burma border via Khuongtal, where people came forth asking the Toupa (Father) to bless their homes, and expressing their desire to become Catholics. It was the first stated wish of the Chin people to accept the Catholic faith. On February 26^th 1953, he and his party reached the last village of the Chin region via Thingkangphai by crossing the Chakpi River on a precariously suspended Bridge. At the end of 1953, Rev. Fr. Ravalico returned to Hungdung, to spend Christmas with his beloved neophytes, who embraced Catholicism the previous Easter. Bishop Marengo too reached Hungdung on 28^th December, and was warmly received. Both these missionaries visited number of villages, including many non-Catholic ones, and won the hearts of people in the area. In Ukhrul, he had the joy of blessing the Chapel built by the Tangkhul past pupils of the Catholic schools in Shillong.  At Hungdung, Bishop Marnego blessed a Middle school for 150 boys amidst strong resistance from the Baptist Churches in the area. From there, both Bishop Marengo and Fr. Ravalico went to Sugnu to visit the Zou community.

The longest tour the Bishop undertook in Manipur was in the company of Fr. P. Bianchi which lasted 35 days, during which they visited most of the communities on the Burma border and a few Anal Christian communities as well. They were delighted to see three to four years old community singing and praying together like seasoned Christians. The biggest village they visited during this tour was Chingjaroi, a Tangkhul village, located about 25 miles north of Ukhrul. This particular visit was significant, because it was in this village that staunch Baptist members tried to prevent young people from embracing the Catholic faith. This visit by a Bishop, therefore further strengthened the resolves of those newly baptized Catholics in this village.  Soon after this long tour in Manipur, both Fr. Bianchi and Fr. Ravalico managed to acquire Indian citizenship, but their visits were never without hindrances. Despite the impediments, more and more villages were requesting them to visit and preach to them, and also wanted them to tell stories on how the Church in Rome was maligned by the protestant movement. On one occasion, when the Bishop was asked to counter certain accusations or rumours, he referred them to the neophytes, and took great pleasure in seeing how convincingly they responded and clarified their doubts with great deal of clarity. To many people present, those responses were taken as the best sermons they had ever heard in their own lingo.

  Situation however improved when Mr. Mathew, a Syrian Christian from Kerala took over as the Chief Commissioner of Manipur, which is the highest authority in state administration. The Bishop called on him and explained the difficulties faced by Catholic priests operating from Dibrugarh. He however was pleasantly surprised when Mr. Mathew told him that Catholic Priest could stay in Manipur and work from here instead of traveling all the way from Dibrugarh. The Chief Commissioner also told the Bishop that Indian citizens, whether born in India or abroad enjoy the same privilege, therefore he should not worry. However, knowing the prejudices of the Meiteis against all missionaries, he suggested to the Bishop that their establishments may not be named as ‘Mission Centres'. Encouraged by this assurance, Bishop then started looking for a suitable place for the Fathers to stay in Imphal, and found a small house belonging to a Mao gentleman, Mr. Kathipri.   Thus on 9th March, 1956, the two missionaries inaugurated the new mission in the presence of about 300 Catholics.

  Between 1956 and 1958, Fr. Michael Balavoine had worked with Fr. Ravalico, the pioneer of Catholic faith in Manipur. For some time, Bishop Marengo had also stayed with the missionaries for the translation of a prayer book in the Meitei language. From time to time, the Fathers were invited by the people to visit them. So in May 1956, Fr. Ravalico and Fr. Bianchi visited Maram Khullen village, the biggest village in the Maram area, where a small Catholic community was formed. Again in November that year, Fr. Bianchi visited Punanamai Mao village on the invitation of the villagers. These visits immensely impacted on growth of Catholic community in these areas. Fr. Ravalico was also keen to commence missionary work in South-west Manipur, inhabited mainly by Mizo, Hmar and Paite tribes. At that point in time, the only Catholics in Churachandpur were Mrs. Nolly and her children.  But within a short time, Catholic mission was established and Fr. Ravalico took 42 boys and girls to Dibrugarh for education in various Catholic Schools.  

 Though Imphal was an important place for missionary works, the only place Catholics had was the small residence where the two priests were staying. However, as luck would have it, a Bengali gentleman, who was the SP of Imphal was retiring and wanted to go back to Bengal, so he was interested to sell his place. The Catholic Missionaries managed to buy that property which was right in the heart of Imphal town, paying him Rs. 58/- and named it as “Nirmalabas”. Though ideally suited for missionary work, the place could not cater to the crying need for starting an education institution in a large scale. So Fr. Ravalico and Bishop Marengo decided to buy a marshy low land in the northern suburb of Imphal known as Chingmeirong, a distant location from the city in those days. The land was raised with great difficulty and Don Bosco School was established for boys, which was named as ‘Don Bosco Youth Centre’ initially. After two years, another place in Sangaiprou was acquired, and Fr. Ravalico brought the FMA sisters to start the Little Flower School in 1958.

 By the turn of 1960, more Priests came in to assist Fr. Ravalico - Fr. Joseph Kanchiramattam, Fr. Mathew Planthottam, Fr. Mani, Fr. Wollaston, and Fr. Felix. In quick time Catholic community and institutes multiplied and took root in different parts of Manipur during the 1960s and 1970s, and there was no hill district of Manipur without a Catholic School or Church as the 1970s counted down to the eighties. With Imphal accorded an independent Diocese by the Holy Father in 1983, this journey received further fillip and the Catholic missionaries grew exponentially. Today, the Imphal Diocese has a Catholic population of over one lakh spread across 54 parishes. There are 76 Schools (Primary, Higher and Higher Secondary), 2 Colleges, 1 Hospital, 1 Training Institute for Health workers, 26 Dispensaries, 2 Technical Schools, 5 Charitable organisations, and 17 Commissions. The Archdiocese of Imphal has 141 Priests and 300 Nuns managing the above institutions. This truly is a mark achievement considering late arrival of the Catholic Missionaries in Manipur. Needless to elaborate, most Catholic Schools and colleges dominate the ranking positions in both high school and higher secondary school results in the state, so also in the graduate level examinations consistently. Thus, the Catholic missionary works in Manipur had immensely contributed towards grooming men and women who excelled in their respective fields.

 (The Author is a retired Professor of History, and the Article is excerpts of her Book – Catholic Education in Manipur. She could be reached on drsalamirene@rediffmail.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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