Fr Thomas Stephens, arguably the first
British Jesuit to arrive in India, was born in England in 1549. Historically,
this was a period of intense religious persecution in England. Persecuted for
his Catholic faith, he left England for Rome, where he was admitted into the
Society of Jesus, popularly known as the Jesuits. Burning with an ardent desire
for the Eastern Missions, he was destined to the Missions of Salcete, Goa where
he spent 40 years in the service of his adopted country that he loved unto
death.
Fr
Stephens arrived in Goa on October 24, 1579. He was ordained a priest, after
completing his priestly studies at the Jesuit College, Rachol. Historically,
Goa at that time was very much the same as of Stephen’s days in England, under religious
persecution. Having encountered its negative effects in England and his
traumatic experience with the ruthless martyrdom of his five Jesuit companions in
Cuncolim, Goa, Fr Stephens adopted a completely different approach towards
evangelisation. Unlike the repressive policies of the Portuguese, Fr Stephens
developed an appreciative response to Hinduism and the Indian culture of that
time.
He envisaged a visionary methodology of
evangelisation, namely, communicating Christ, not in confrontation, but in a
genuine dialogue with the local faiths and cultures. Implementing this demanded
that he learnt the language of the natives, which led him to undertake a scientific
study of Konkani (at that time called Canarin), besides learning both, the
Sanskrit and Literary Marathi. From the quality of works he produced it is very
clear that he had acquired a thorough mastery of these three languages.
Fr
Stephens’ three significant works include (a) The ‘Krista Purana’
(1616), written in an elegant Marathi with a generous sprinkling of the Konkani
vocabulary, a narration of the Biblical Story in the language and style of the Hindu
Puranic Literature (b) ‘The Compendium of the Christian Doctrine’ (1622), which
uses Hindu Religious terms to express the teachings of Christian Doctrines and
which is written on the lines of the old Hindu Gurukul traditions of a dialogue
between the ‘Guru’ (Master) and the ‘Sissu’ (Disciple) and (c) His
Konkani Grammar in Portuguese (1640) with Konkani words being written in the
Roman script, which bears the honour of being the first grammar to be ever
printed in any Indian languages and has helped new missionaries not only to
learn the vernacular, but create eloquent preachers and profound writers in the
vernacular.
These
three works were written in Roman script and were printed at the newly set up
press at the Jesuit College, Rachol. The last two however
were published posthumously. Fr Stephens is also credited with being the first
person to identify the important fact of the originality and similarity of
Konkani and Marathi languages with Greek and Latin. This however was two
centuries prior. In 1786, Sir William Jones established beyond doubt this
historical relationship. Fr Stephens was also one among the many authorities of
international repute to prove that Konkani is a full-fledged independent
language. Moreover, prior to Fr Stephens, there are no such records of works in
the literature of the Konkani language. Hence, he could rightly be called a
‘pioneer’.
Fr
Stephens’ methods of presenting Christ in a manner that initiated his readers
into the depth of the Christian faith while feeling fully at home with the
traditions of their local cultures had won for him the hearts of both, the
Hindus and the Christians and had a great influence on his contemporary
missionaries to India.
Well loved
by simple folks and scholars, he passed away in 1619 in Salcete, Goa. Today,
the Jesuits of the Goa Province carry forward his great vision through a
Cultural Research Centre, named in his honour — Thomas Stephens Konkani Kendr
in Porvorim.
During the commemoration
of his 400th death anniversary, the Kendr is organising a Symposium today,
October 5, 2019, entitled ‘Fr. Thomas Stephens’ Encounter with Language and
Culture of Goa’.
The writer is on staff at the Thomas
Stephens Konkani Kendr, Porvorim
