Initial attempts

The Initial Attempts
The history of a religious society is the history of God’s work. This lies beyond the perceivable, like mustard seed that grows mysteriously into a tree, leaven that ferments the entire dough of history. God alone sees it, directs its actualizing energies, and we leave it to Him to judge the success or failure in our attempts to be carriers and servants of His Good News. What we attempt to gather from the archives and the pages of the chronicles of Claretian history in India is the process by which the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is planted, flourished and spread out in this ancient land of religions. It is a retrospect in gratitude for the past, to commit more fully in the present and to look forward to the future with trust and hope.
Signs and events in our life guide many of the good things that have happened in the world. It is the same that had moved Fr. Schweiger to pursue the plans for the Claretian foundation in India. Fr. Jose Maria Vinas was appointed perfect of the International College, which was functioning on the 3rd floor of the present General Curia in the year 1953. While he visited Fr. General in his room he found a map of India hanging under the image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He asked Fr. General what it signified. Fr. General told him that he wished very much to found the Congregation in India and he said, "we the superiors have no one to order us, but we must be very much attentive to the signs through which God wants us to know His Will". He continued to say that he received a sign during the holy year (1950), when he participated in the procession of ‘Corpus Domini,’ “All the candles were put off. Mine remained lightened and immediately one Indian seminarian or a priest approached me asking for the light. At that moment I felt in my heart that this question was a ‘sign’ that the Church in India needed our presence. My desire was more strengthened by this incident." Fr. General acted upon this sign by writing to Monsignor L. Raymond, the then Apostolic Nuncio in Delhi on November 7, 1951, "I shall be very much grateful to you, Reverend Monsignor if you would find something for us in India, possibly that allows us to develop in the future. Meantime we pray and keep ourselves ready to the call of the Lord if He wills that we work in that wide and much needed vineyard in India".

Mons. L. Raymond advised Fr. General to take up a mission in Pakistan because of the great difficulty for the foreign missionaries to enter independent India. (Reply to Fr. General dated Nov.22, 1951). Henceforth there were many exchanges of letters with Mons. F. B. Cialeo, O.P., the then bishop of the diocese of Multan, during the years 1951-52. But the congregation could not realise another foundation since it had opted for Japan in 1952.

The first ever invitation by an Indian bishop to the Claretians to work in his diocese was in 1952. Rt. Rev. Leonardo Joseph Raymond, the Bishop in Allahabad, invited the Claretians to work in his diocese and to teach in the seminary of Allahabad. The bishop even gave an affidavit to the Claretians. "This is to assure you that in the diocese of Allahabad, instead of the Society of the Queen of the Apostles, the Congregation of the Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians) will be henceforth recognized as one of the religious communities working in the diocese." (Dated Feb. 5, 1955 ). This was not materialised since the foreign missionaries could not enter India. Hence the Bishop recommended sending missionaries from the Commonwealth countries since India also belonged to the Commonwealth Federation.

Meanwhile the Bishop of Kollam (Quilon) came to know of the Claretians during one of his trips to the United States in 1955.We read in a letter of Fr. Aloysius Ellacuria, C.M.F. from Los Angeles to Fr. General: "...in Washington D.C., His Excellency passed by the sign at our house of Studies which read 'Claretian Fathers'. Being a stranger to the Claretians he went in and made the acquaintance of our fathers and students residing there. His Excellency was their welcome guest while staying in that city... He has a great devotion to Our Blessed Mother. It has been one of his greatest endeavors to increase the devotion to Our Blessed Mother in his diocese. Time and again His Excellency extended to establish our own Seminary to train native vocations for our Congregation for, as he says, ‘vocations are very plentiful and he has a surplus of them which the other dioceses have been taking...’ The Bishop stressed his desire to have any religious order and the Claretians in particular, in his diocese. For this reason His Excellency expressed his desire to see Your Reverence, dear Father General, about establishing the Claretians in his diocese, while he (the Bishop) is in Rome," (June 10,1955).

As invited by the Bishop of Quilon, Fr. Peter Schweiger visited India in May 1956. On May 19, Fr. Schweiger wrote to Fr. Candido Bajo, the then Vicar General of the congregation from Quilon, "It seems to me that Punalur is a suitable place ...It is situated on the side of the Trivandrum-Quilon Road... there is bus service for Quilon for every 30 minutes, which is about 60 kilometers away. ...Among the 20,000 inhabitants only 3000 are Catholics and among other religions Hindus are majority. Also there is a different sect-Jacobites. Nothing lacks for the Claretian Fathers to occupy here. ....everything is good for our foundation, only thing that remains is the permission for our missionaries to enter India."

Again we read in a letter he wrote on May 20,1956: "I have visited different places of the Malabar where missionaries are needed. These are good places for missionary works. Among them are Punalur and Kottarakara, two centers of population, on the side of Trivandrum-Madras road, with communication, every hour, with Cochin and Quilon. The Bishop is ready to donate us a station in Kottarakara with a church and a house while we need not buy land and construct building. Among the population only 500 are Catholics. The rest are Hindus, Jacobites and Muslims. There will be great work to do." On his return, Fr. Schweiger stopped over at Delhi and discussed with Monsignor Jack A. D'Souza, the Archbishop of Delhi on the manner of procedure to found the congregation in India. Monsignor Jack A. D'Souza himself wrote to the Bishop of Quilon on May 23, 1956 asking what he wished would be the work in his diocese which must enter in their visa application forms disposing the Government of India to be agreeable.

On 24th May Fr. Schweiger left India for Manila, Philippines through Calcutta. After that we find another letter dated Dec. 17, 1956 to Fr. General by Monsignor Jack A. D'Souza. "I have not heard anything further from the Bishop of Quilon. "From my conversation with his contemporaries I think the possible reason could be the problem of rites that prevailed in Kerala. For Fr. Schweiger could find that the expected vocations to the congregation were more from the Syro-Malabar rite. Hence he would have thought of avoiding the problem that might arise in the congregation in the future regarding the issue of rite.