175 years of Missionaries of St Francis de Sales

FR PHILIP THOTTAM

Missionaries of St Francis de Sales (MSFS) completed 175 years of its existence on October 24, 2013. It was on this day in 1838 that Pierre-Joseph Rey, Bishop of Annecy, France, gave canonical existence to the congregation, thus the first congregation to bear the name of St Francis de Sales and to claim to show direct signs of his influence under the guidance of venerable servant of God Fr Peter Mary Mermier. 

Together with Claudine Echernier, a village girl from Feternes, Savoy, Fr Mermier also founded the Congregation of the Daughter of the Cross, in the context of the aftermath of French revolution which inflicted religious intolerance and consequent erosion of religious faith among the Christians. 

The MSFS Fathers’ arrival in India and their mission from then on is commendable. The congregation which had founded was hardly 4 years old when Fr Mermier responded to Rome the call of the missions to India. He had 10 priests and 4 brothers. Of the 14 members, he prepared his best men ~ six of them in the first batch, to set out for India, 4 priests and 2 brothers. There were no financial resources and no proper preparation for the missionary apostolate and yet, Fr Mermier dared to accept the mission to Visakapatanam with courage and optimism. Having boarded the ship at Bordeaux, France, on June 8, 1845, three months of voyage brought them to Pondicherry on September 8, 1845.

From that date, the Indian mission would occupy the prime place in the life and history of the MSFS until now. The MSFS has brought up 12 dioceses along Visakhapatanam and  Nagpur missions, of South-Eastern and Central India respectively.

The presence of MSFS in Goa goes back to 1939 when a plot of land on the Bastora plateau, at the limit of Paliem, was offered to the MSFS by Antonio Jose Noronha of Paliem, Ucassaim. An institute was started in 1942 as juvenate for boys desiring to become MSFS, which became a school in 1943 and by 1949 it became a high school. From then on, due to the missionary spirit of MSFS fathers and brothers, there had been about hundred committed priests and brothers from Goa alone, of which there were two bishops viz, late Bp Eugene D’Souza of Nagpur diocese and late Bp Joe Rosario of Amravati diocese. Today, the MSFS priests are working in five centres in Goa rendering quality service

 to the people. While the SFS Institute at Bastora continues the original mission of training the young seminarians in the spirit of the congregation, there are two schools rendering quality education and all round development to the students from pre-primary to higher secondary: one in Aldona and another in Siolim which have completed 75 years of their service. The parishes, of Our Lady of Fatima, Fatorpa, and Our Lady Lourdes, Valpoi, have grown and continue to grow to its full stature under the guidance of MSFS missionaries. The MSFS priests from Goa are working today in different parts of the world, continuing the missionary spirit of the Patron St Francis de Sales and Founder Fr Peter Mary Mermier.

(The author is the rector of the MSFS minor seminary at Ucassaim, Goa)