When a family living in the Dumka diocese in India became Catholic, their neighbours did not allow them to draw water from the village well because they were deemed to have betrayed their ancestry.
The tremendous growth of the Santal mission, which has developed from nothing, is a miracle of grace
But the villagers, who believed in good and evil spirits, saw the family peacefully went to the neighbouring village for water.
They realised there must be something “valuable and beautiful” in the family’s new-found faith, Jesuit priest Fr John Scicluna recounted.
The Maltese Jesuits have been working since 1925 to spread their faith among the Santals, the largest aboriginal tribe in India.
This year they are marking the 50th anniversary from the day the Pope established the Santal mission as the new diocese of Dumka, a sign of the growing faith in the area.
As the new diocese grew, by 1998 Dumka was divided into three. Before the Maltese Jesuit fathers and brothers arrived, there were a few hundred Catholics that now number 350,000 in the three dioceses.
“The tremendous growth of the Santal mission, which has developed from nothing, is a miracle of grace. Without having the benefit of a regular sacramental life and without the possibility of going to Mass every Sunday because of the distances, these people remain faithful to Christ and continue to grow in the faith,” Fr Scicluna said.
His colleague, Fr Joseph Borg, added: “I think that when they hear about our faith they see something beautiful and attractive in it and give their lives to Christ. It will be the work of God’s grace.”
Fr Scicluna recounted how the Santal mission started when the Belgian Jesuits asked for help because they could not cope with the workload. The Jesuit province of Sicily, of which the Maltese formed part, wanted to be assigned a foreign mission.
On September 9, 1924, Fr Anton DeBono was the first Maltese Jesuit to go there. Back then, the Jesuit Santal mission formed part of the Calcutta Archdiocese.
In September 1962 the Holy Father set up the Dumka diocese and the Darjeeling diocese and appointed bishops to head both.
The historic ordination of the respective bishops – Fr Leo Tigga and Fr Eric Benjamin – took place in Malta on October 7, 1962, by the late Archbishop Michael Gonzi.
Since 1925, 73 Maltese Jesuits have worked in India. Today there are more than 80 parishes, a university college, 20 colleges, 70 primary schools, 165 village schools, 70 hostels, 68 adult learning centres, eight orphanages, five hospitals, 43 health centres and pharmacies and two old people’s homes.
All this has been made possible thanks to the cooperation of the Indian Government and the generosity of Maltese and Gozitan benefactors.
Fr Paul Pace, the provincial of the Jesuit Community in Malta, was present in Dumka to attend the celebrations for the Golden Jubilee some weeks ago.
In a message for the occasion he wrote: “The contribution of the Maltese Jesuits can only be described as remarkable: they started from scratch and now there are three flourishing local churches full of life and energy.
“This would not have been possible without the contribution of the many Jesuits who left for India and gave their all and their innumerable companions and benefactors whose imagination was fired by the heroism of the missionaries and whose help made the dreams of a small and poor province come true.”