Father Emmanuel Garcia, S.J.: The First Native-born Priest of Bangladesh -- 2

Map courtesy: www.mapsofbangladesh.blogspot.com/

Political Trouble in Bengal

It’s not known exactly when Garcia became priest and where he carried on his missionary duty. But, it is true that in the intervening period of his study in Goa and his return from there, Bengal was in turmoil. In 1603, Man Singh, the Mughal-appointed governor of Bengal, declared war against Raja Pratapadittya of Chandika. Within three years, local Mughal subedar Islam Khan defeated Pratapadittya and arrested him. He was being sent to Agra as a prisoner and, on his way there, he died in 1611. Later Raja Kedar Rai also died after he was defeated by the Mughals. After the death of these two Hindu rulers, Bengal again fell into the hands of the Muslims.

Father Emmanuel Garcia Found in Hooghly

Hooghly was a firmly established Portuguese settlement where 35,000 Portuguese and local Catholics lived. After several years, Father Garcia is found there doing his work as a priest.

At the time, some Portuguese – mostly settled in Chittagong -- instead of doing regular commerce, resorted to piracy in the Bay of Bengal and its connecting rivers in collusion with the Moghs of Arakan of present-day Myanmar (Burma). They used to go to Mughal-administered territories of Bengal by their fast-moving small ships and attack assembled people in local bazaars (marketplaces) and rural wedding ceremonies of both Hindus and Muslims and carry away as many people as possible and their movable properties. Things that were immovable, were set on fire. The captives would then be sold as slaves in distant places and many of them were forced to convert to Christianity when they were put into service under the Portuguese. The Mughal government and local merchants and ordinary people were fed up with their marauding adventures. In addition, the Portuguese were also failing to pay the required taxes to the Mughal government.

All these and other reasons led to a drastic action from Mughal emperor Shahjahan, who in 1632, ordered his subedar (governor) of Bengal, Qasim Khan Juyini, to take punitive action against the Portuguese. He ordered a total blockade of the Portuguese settlement of Hooghly and capture all its inhabitants and send them to Agra, the capital of Mughal Empire, as slaves.

The Mughal blockade came in June of 1632 with about 150,000 soldiers against 300 Portuguese troops and 700 local Christians in defense of Hooghly. The Portuguese sent a Jesuit priest to negotiate peace, but Mughal commander Bahadur Khan mentioned what the offenses of the Portuguese were and demanded a search for slaves taken from Mughal territories and punishment of those who purchased those slaves. At the refusal of the Portuguese to concede to a search, an attack was made against them by land and river. The Portuguese repulsed the attack. The Portuguese sought more negotiations, but ultimately they failed. After three months of blockade, several thousand starving inhabitants fled downriver, but Hoogly fell to the Mughals with a great loss of life and capture of about 4,400 Christians, both Portuguese and Bangali. Among them were Father Emmanuel Garcia, S.J. and three other European priests.

The captives were chained and led toward Agra on foot. After eight months, they reached Agra haggard and weak. The emperor demanded that they apostatize (renounce Christianity and convert to Islam) or face death by being trampled under the feet of enraged elephants. Some apostatized, others refused to do so but faced deadly persecution. At the refusal of four Catholic priests, the emperor ordered them to be trampled on by elephants. At the last moment, because of the intervention of Asaf Khan, father-in-law of emperor Shah Jahan, the priests were spared the ignominious death by elephant trampling, but they were placed in a dungeon where they faced constant persecution.

On March 23, 1634, Father Emmanuel Garcia, S.J. died in captivity. In a cemetery in Agra, his grave stone has these written: “Let the soul of Father Emmanuel Garcia, who gave up his life for Christianity, rest in peace.”

The first local priest of Bangladesh died a heroic death being steadfast to this faith. Let him be a source of inspiration for the present generation of Christians in Bangladesh.

The Second Native-born Priest of Bangladesh

It is worth mentioning here that the second local priest of Bangladesh was Father Antonio da Rosario (also known as Father Antoine da Rosario). He was the son of a Hindu zaminder (raja) of Bhushana of the present district of Gopalganj in Bangladesh. In 1663, Mogh pirates kidnapped this young person and took him to Arakan. Portuguese priest Father Manuel da Rosario bought him from the pirates and tried to convert him to Christianity, but failed. It is said, the young man, one day, in a dream saw St. Anthony of Padua telling him to accept Christianity. He then received baptism as a Christian and took his new name after St. Anthony. In 1670, he returned to Bhushana and preached Christianity among his own people. He then preached in the Bhawal region (north and north-east of Dhaka) and Assam. His method of preaching and teaching religion among low-caste Hindus was through song, dialogue and debate. He is said to have converted 20,000 people to Christianity in two years. Later, towards the end of the 17^th century, he prepared the written manuscript, Brahman-Roman Catholic Sambad (Brahman-Roman Catholic news) in the dialogue style.

Sources:

1. Raja Pratapadittyer Jugey Ekti Bangali Jajok (One Bangali priest at the time of Raja Pratapadittya) by Father Pierre Fallon, S.J. (Dhaka: The Pratibeshi weekly -- Christmas Issue, 1972).

2. D’Costa, Jerome, Bangladeshey Catholic Mondoli (The Catholic Church in Bangladesh), Dhaka: Pratibeshi Prakashani, 1988), p. 15-17, 136.

3. The Internet edition of the Banglapedia, Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

4. The Cambridge History of India (Mughal Period), pp. 190-192.

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Father Emmanuel Garcia, S.J.: The First Native-born Priest of Bangladesh -- 1

Father Emmanuel Garcia, S.J.

The above sketch drawn from imagination
(Toronto: Feb. 5, 2011) © Joachim Romeo D'Costa

Father Emmanuel Garcia, S.J., in the 17th century, was the first native-born (Bangali) Roman Catholic priest in the territory now comprising Bangladesh. He was a priest belonging to the Jesuit Order.

Before we deal with him any further, let’s see the state of the Catholic Church in India and Bangladesh.

The Portuguese in India

After Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo), an Italian navigator, on behalf of the monarchy of Spain, discovered America in 1492, Portuguese navigator Vasco-da-Gama did his bit by discovering the sea route to India in 1498 by landing at Calicut (the present-day Kozhikode) of the State of Kerala in India. This event starts the Portuguese presence in India for the next five centuries. The main motive of these daring adventures was getting access to the profitable spices of India and other Asian countries. Before this, the Venetians of Italy had the sole European monopoly of trading in spices imported through land routes of the western Asia.

In 1500, Pedro Alvarez Cabral sets up a factory -- a trading post or a business establishment for purchase and sale of goods -- at Calicut. It was the first European factory in India. In 1503, Alfonso de Albuquerque erected the first Portuguese fortress in India at Cochin (Kochi). In 1505, Dom Francisco de Almeida arrives in Cochin as the first Portuguese Viceroy of India.

The Portuguese then gradually acquired territories in western India by conquests. In 1510, they conquered Goa, and later Daman and Diu. At the same time, the Portuguese began to send their traders to visit different ports of India along its coasts, including Bengal. With the adventurers and traders came Catholic missionaries of different Religious Orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Jesuits). They began to erect churches in different mission centres. Later, they also set up seminaries and colleges in Goa to give formation to candidates to priesthood.

From 1517 onwards, Portuguese began to call on ports in Bengal. In 1537, they were given permission to settle and open factories at Satgaon, near Hooghly, of West Bengal and in Chittagong of present Bangladesh. In 1577, Mughal emperor Akbar allowed them to build permanent settlements and churches in Bengal. Antonio Tavares, founded the new Portuguese settlement of Ugolim (Hooghly) in 1579-1580. This was at the mouth of the Ganges near their first settlement at Satgaon, which was the Mughal government port but in decline at the time. This new town grew fast and, in 1603, it had about 5,000 Portuguese inhabitants with a number of Catholic churches and other institutions.

The First Church in Bangladesh

The Jesuits were keen to preach Christianity in Bengal. In 1598, two of their missionaries, Father Francesco Fernandes, S.J., and Father Domingo da Sousa, S.J. came to Hooghly from Goa. After some months, they headed for East Bengal through the Sunderbans forest. On their way, they visited Chandika (also known as Chandecan in Portuguese, Iswaripur or Old Jessore) near Kaliganj in the present district of Satkhira. Chandika was the main city of the kingdom of Raja Pratapadittya. (This king was one of the renowned Baaro Bhuiyans --twelve chieftains -- of Bengal. These Bhuiyas were powerful and had revolted against the Mughal emperor). The king was gracious to his foreign guests and after knowing their intention of coming to Bengal, eagerly gave them permission to preach and build churches in his territory.

Within a short period, these two priests were able to preach and convert 200 Bangalis of Chandika to Christianity. In 1599, Father Fernandes built a church and a rectory at Chandika. The new church, called the ‘Church of the Holy Name of Jesus,’ was dedicated on January 1, 1600. King Pratapadittya himself was present at the ceremony. This was the first church in Bangladesh area.

Sripur: The Homeland of Father Emmanuel Garcia, S.J.

Sripur was an important port on the bank of the Kaliganga River, a branch of the mighty Padma River. It was situated in the present Bangladesh district of Munshiganj, 18 miles (29 kilometers) south of Sonargaon. Once a busy port, it was completely eroded by the furious currents of the river around 1882. Presently there’s no sign of its existence.

In its hey days, Sripur boasted of being the capital city of Raja Chand Rai and his son Raja Kedar Rai, two Bhuiyans of Bengal. Its ship building and repairing facilities were well-known at the time. Many Portuguese, living there, were engaged in commerce. Other Portuguese also got their ships repaired there. Ralph Fitch (c.1550-1611), a British merchant, traveler and explorer, mentions Sripur as an emporium of trade and commerce and describes his trip from Sripur to Pegu of the present-day Myanmar (Burma) in a ship belonging to Alberto Carvalho, a Portuguese. In 1612, Portuguese Augustinian priests built a church at Sripur and, by 1616, it became an official Catholic missionary centre. There were about 1,000 Portuguese and Bangali Catholics in Sripur.

After their mission in Chandika in 1599, when Father Fernandes, S.J. and Father da Sousa, S.J. reached Sripur for a visit, Raja Kedar Rai welcomed them with friendly gestures. While being there, these two priests came across two Bangali young men who were eager to join their Order and become priests. They were ultimately sent to Goa for higher studies at the famous Santa Fe Theology College. This college accommodated students from different parts of India where the Portuguese had their settlements. One of these two students was Emmanuel Garcia (as converts to Christianity at the time had to take a Christian name as the first name and a Portuguese surname, his original Bangla or Bengali name is not recorded anywhere).

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