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Bhagalpur as a
diocese is only 25 years old. But the Christian community at
Bhagalpur is over 200 years old. We have evidence that there
were Christians here from 1779. It was a little flock
consisting mainly of the European indigo planters, the
railway men and their dependents and a handful of native
converts.
We can divide the Diocesan History into three parts : viz.
1.
The Early Capuchin Period,
2.
The Interim Patna Jesuit
period, and
3. The TOR period.
To complete these notes I have relied first on the
unpublished work of Fr. Daniel D’Souza OFM Cap of Lucknow,
who is a historian of the Capuchin Missions in North India.
I have also received help from the Jesuit Curia at Patna in
the form of extracts from Fr. P. Dent, S.J.’s unpublished
history of the Patna Mission. The rest is a record of
contemporary events from personal memory and data
collection. Incidentally there is already a History of the
Third Order Regular in India by Fr. Aloysius Kattady, TOR in
2006. The Bhagalpur Diocesan Directory gives up-to-date
information about the institutions and personnel of the
diocese.
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