The
genesis of Sacred Heart Church, Kharagpur dates back to 1901, when
Fr. Hipp, a professor of St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, was
appointed to take in charge of the growing Railway centre of
Kharagpur, a junction of the two main lines running between Calcutta
and Madras and Calcutta and Bombay. On 21ST
December of the same year Fr. Hipp build a presbytery which was made
on mortar and brick that consisted of a large room which served as a
chapel to a swelling congregation. A small leap resulted in a rapid
growth of parishioners that counted Europeans, Anglo-Indian,
Tamilians and Telegus, this resulted the transfer of Bengal Nagpur
Railway workshops from Nagpur, and the year was 1903. On 15th
December 1904, Fr. Louis Haghenbeek, the newly Parish Priest
requested Fr. Van Severen who at that time resided at Jualbhanga took
care of the growing village communities of Jhargram, Bhangamora and
Midnapore to join him as an assistant.
This
well-nigh desertion of a village mission field saw Fr. Leopold
Knockaert taking the initiative in a mass movement comprising of
Santal, Mahilis, Haris and other half of Hindu Adivasis which reached
the 2000 mark. This resulted in the negligence of the Bengali
communities of the 24 Parganas while a large number of Christians in
Chotanagpur benefited by absorbing the major part of the resources of
the Bengal mission, in men and money.
In
1893, the deteriorating health prevented Fr. Knockaert to continue
his mission of Jhargram and left to Purnea where he gradually
recovered. Here he started another mission among Santals in North
Bengal which concentrated around Majlispur and became the basis from
which Fr. De Bono; a Maltese Jesuit started the presently flourishing
Santal Mission. But it was not long when the successors of Fr.
Knockaert, Frs. Lhermite and Van Severen, for some reasons had to
discontinue the movement which he initiated. On 1897 in Jualbhanga
due to prolong sickness Fr. Leopold Knockaert breathed his last, it
was like the beginning faced its last.
Back
in this small village Kharagpur, Fr.Van Severen along with Fr.
Haghenbeek pioneered in the Ranchi mission field under Fr. Lievens at
the time of the great “conquests”. The trio worked for several
years before leaving to Midnapore. Fr. Haghenbeek was well versed in
administrative abilities which he made a good use of it when he was
made Rector of Manresa House, Ranchi and from here he carried his
ability to Kharagpur where he spent rest of his life. In this small
sleepy village of Kharagpur Fr. Haghenbeek focused his interest on
the Anglo-Indian community and building of the present Church. For
the construction of the worship place B.N.R arranged an
architect-engineer and the work made its way on 29th
April 1916, and by 24th
March 1918, Mgr. Brice Meuleman, Archbishop of Calcutta, blessed the
new church, dedicated to the Sacred Heart. This effort however told
on the health of Fr. Haghenbeek and by the end of 1919 he had to
leave his beloved Kharagpur for Calcutta where he died on 21st
November 1920.
By
now this small sleepy village known as Kharagpur made itself the
center of attraction and was divided into two corners. To the South,
the higher ranking, Managers and other functionaries of Officer’s
rank, lived in the planned garden city, its six avenues and ten
streets. The chief Mechanical Engineer held the highest post, while
the other higher ranks were Englishmen, among them the Mail Drivers
till the independence had to be Englishmen. Others were
Anglo-Indians, who were Catholics in number.
The
other half was living in the North side of the town that consisted
workers, firemen and jacks on the line, employees of the Workshops,
divided in 9 Types according to rank. Anglo-Indians and Goans were
met with in Types 7, 8 and 9 while the rest were Indians mainly
Tamilians and Telegus. This division saw a gradual rise of the
Catholics and by the 20s they crossed the thousand mark barricade. Kharagpur
was no more a village, by now it became a known destination, the
Parish Priest and his assistants were enjoying privileges under the
B.N.R administration such as a 1st
Class Railway pass from Calcutta to Khurda Rd and Chakradharpur, with
a 3rd
Class Pass for the catechist and a permit for a cycle. The typical
“Railway Chaplain” mentality grown on them memorizing the train
timings and used to call the Mails, Express and passenger trains by
their numbers, ‘one up’, ‘two down’, ‘three up’, ‘four
down’. The arrival of the Mail was commented upon at the breakfast
table, especially the Puri Express (driven by an Anglo-Indian.
Catholic) who made himself known by the way he blew his whistle.
Not
all Parish Priest had the same approach one such was Fr. Camille
Limbourg, the founder of St. Anthony’s Calcutta who was an
outstanding exception. He was the professor of History at St.
Xavier’s; an aging man who was made the Parish Priest of Kharagpur
in the mid twenties. He entrusted the European and Anglo-Indians
congregation of the 6 Avenues and 10 streets to his assistant and
made himself available among the Madrassis of the Types. He acquired
from the Railway a plot of land where he constructed a large church,
dedicated to St. Antony.
Fr.
Limbourg who was slowing down by age made a unique mechanism, a
tricycle which he used it to travel a distant of 2 miles every
morning. But with his age growing, his health slowed him and he found
the tricycle as a mountain to push with his aging legs. He then made
a quick adjustment by arranging a bullock cart pulled by two bullocks
has his mode of transportation.
It
was not a strange experience on the bullock cart as it was people’s
first choice of transportation in those days. Fr. Limbourg used to
enjoy his transport by lying on it with the requisite topee covering
his head while his long beard danced with the tune of the breeze. His
boots were long enough almost touching the bullock’s tails. The
animals were not always obedient, but soon became part of ‘Limbo’s
‘legend. One morning the bullocks stopped stubbornly in the middle
of the line and the whistle of the Puri Express was announcing its
arrival. The animals were beaten profusely to move out of the tracks
but the bullocks were too adamant to move an inch this resulted for
the Pune Expres to stop.
A
predecessor of Fr. Limbourg, Fr. George Verloove, in the early
twenties had re-discovered the Christians of Jhargram, Bhangamora,
Midnapore and Balichak which survived unmitigated negligence at the
hands of the railway chaplains, much of it due to the care of an
outstanding Catechist, Gregory Gour, who died in 1930. Unfortunately
for the Christians, Fr. Verloove shifted to Jamshedpur where he built
St. Mary’s Church, in the north road which is a replica of the
Sacred Heart Church of Kharagpur.