BISHOP ABUNDIUS CAVADINI S.J. (1846-1910)

Bishop Abundius Cavadini, SJ

Abundius Cavadini, an Italian was born in Calcinate in the Diocese of Bergamo on February 5, 1846. There were no omens to mark the birth of this chosen son of God. In his early years he showed an eagerness for study, which was noticed during his Scholastic years in the Society of Jesus. He was ever cheerful, a likeable person, with a strength of purpose, and sound judgement-characteristics which were not lost on his Superiors.

He had entered, at an early age the Seminary of the Diocese of Bergamo. He was already a Sub-Deacon when he heard the call to be a religious. That meant, lowering his sights on the Priesthood, for the present. He entered the Jesuit Novitiate of the Venetian Province at San Paolo in Eppan, on November 28, 1867. Thus nearly 9 years later on September 8, 1876, he was ordained Priest in the Society of Jesus, at Brixen. He had all the while wanted to be a Missionary in India. But he had to wait for about 3 years more before his wish was fulfilled. He was sent to Leval in France, to finish his studies and to teach at the Jesuit House of studies at Aux Alleux, near Laval. This formative experience geared him as to how to deal with fellow Jesuits, direct them, and to lead them in to better efforts. In the choice of Providence it was also a preparation for him in administration.

Father Cavadini arrived in Mangalore on January 28, 1880, along with Fathers Lazzarini, Ryan, Sergeant and Zerbinati. St. Aloysius College was then functioning in its temporary quarters at Codialbail. Father Cavadini was appointed Minister of the Community. He also taught in the College. During his Office as Minister, he must have shown his rare qualities of administration as well as his ability to deal with men and matters. Thus, it was within a few months after his five years of service, he was called upon to assume the reign of Rectorship which he did as the 2nd Rector on May 14, 1885, his predecessor being Father Willy. Divine Providence thus was preparing him for greater things to come. Thus, on June 13, 1890, he was called upon to shoulder the additional burden of being in charge of the Superiorship of the Mission of Mangalore in succession to the Rev Fr Rossi S.J. Next year on December 3, 1891 he relinquished his Office as Rector, and took up his residence at Codialbail as Superior of the Mission. He was elected to the Bishopric in 1895.

The Red Letter day for the Catholics of Mangalore who had worked might and main to have the Jesuits in Mangalore came on 25th August, 1887, when, under the Rectorship of Fr Cavadini, St Aloysius College was affiliated to the Madras University as a I Grade College. It must be noted that there were only four students in the Junior B.A. class. Through the centuries the number has gone on increasing and thousands of Catholic boys have graduated through the portals of St. Aloysius College. In 1890, the school Department of Aloysius College was recognized as an 'Ordinary School for the Upper Secondary Examinary. What that meant for practical purposes was that those who passed this exam were eligible for public service-on Rs. 15/ and above: whereas those who passed the Matric could get to the College courses. Barring these two events his Rectorship was a period that marked the steady growth of the College and High School. He was well known for his personal contact with almost every one of his boys-it must be admitted however, the number was small about 300. He Contacted his boys in classrooms, on the playfield and in the Church. What was wonderful in him was that he put each boy at his ease, goaded the lazy, encouraged the industrious, and motivated the top-ranking student. The report of the College for 1910-11 records among other things: "In Bishop Cavadini the College has lost one of its pioneers. He had watched over its infancy; he had witnessed and furthered its developments. As a member of the staff in various capacities, and as Rector for the term of six years, he had endeared himself to all by his characteristic charm of manners and paternal rule". To perpetuate his memory, Dr. A Cavadini S.J. prize was founded by E.B. Palmer Esq., the intimate friend of the Bishop.

The news that Fr. Cavadini was the Bishop-Elect was received on December 2nd, 1895. The Bishop-Elect went to Italy for his consecration, which took place on June 28, 1896, in the Cathedral of Bergamo. The Bishop's return was eagerly awaited in Mangalore and hectic preparations were made for his reception. He arrived in Bombay on October 19, 1896, and at Mangalore on Tuesday, October 27th. When he got off the ship that brought him and boarded the launch that was to bring him across the river at about 5 P.M., a fleet of boats was ready to escort him to the landing place. The reception party met the Bishop's launch and escorted him to the landing stage at Bunder were the atmosphere was reverberating with the cheers of the crowd, and the din of the firing of mortars. The crowd was estimated to be about a thousand. The Jesuit Superior Fr Rossi and Vicar General, surrounded by a large number of the Diocesan Clergy, and laity, received him under a handsome pavilion, a procession was formed, and was escorted to the Cathedral. The way to the Cathedral was lit up with Bengal lights, and with illuminated arches. His Lordship took his seat under a pandal, where addresses were read in Latin by the Clergy and in English by the laity. Te Deum was sung and then the Clergy paid their homage to their new Bishop. The procession was reformed and another reception was held at Milagres. Solemn Benediction was given in the church, and then he was escorted to his residence at Codialbail, where he arrived at about 9.30 p.m.

As Bishop, very quickly, he endeared himself to his subjects, both to the Clergy and the laity. The esteem, loyalty and gratitude of both was expressed through addresses, presents and messages of congratulations on the day of the Silver Jubilee of His Lordship's Priesthood in 1901.

This is how the Mangalore Magazine described the event. We quote at length as it gives us an idea of the celebrations of the time as well as an idea of the affection of Mangalore Catholics towards their Bishop.

"Tuesday was observed as a general holiday by Catholic Mangalore, and the road from the Bishop's residence at Codialbail to the Cathedral was gaily festooned as his Lordship drove to celebrate Pontifical High Mass at 7 O'clock. On his arrival he was received by the Regular and Secular Clergy of the Diocese, the Seminarists from Jeppu, and a vast concourse of people assembled before a large pandal bearing the following inscription:

We greet our Shepherd tried and true,
To us a guide, to us a friend;

He shows his Flock the way to Heaven, Thither for him our prayers we send.

His Lordship advanced to the Cathedral door under a canopy. At the Pontifical High Mass the Very Reverend Father E. Frachetti, S.J., Vicar General and Superior of the Mission, was Assistant Priest: Father Alexander Camisa, S.J., of Jeppu Seminary, and the Reverend C.J. Rego Vicar of Urwa, were assistants at the Throne; and the Reverend Sebastian Noronha, Vicar of Puttur, and the Reverend C. M. Pereira, Vicar of Mogarnad, were respectively deacon and sub deacon. The music was rendered by the united choirs of Milagres and the Cathedral under the direction of Father Joseph Paternieri, S.J., of the College.

After the Gospel His Lordship addressed the congregation in Konkani, taking for the text of his discourse the words of the Psalmist:- "This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein". His Lordship feelingly referred to the day of his Ordination twenty-five years ago, at Drixen in Tyrol, and told his hearers how everything that met his eye just then reminded him of the past. It was for their sakes, he said, he abandoned home and country, and he thanked them for so gratefully acknowledging the fact, by their splendid display of love and affection. It was love for love. He may have done very little for them, but for one thing he was certain, he loved them much, as Priest, and still more as Bishop, following in the footsteps of his late lamented predecessor Dr Pagani. He prayed that God would preserve them in His name, and that he might be able to utter with his last breath that of those entrusted to his charge, none was lost."

At the end of the Mass the Papal Blessing was parted, the Te Deum sung, and Benediction of Blessed Sacrament given. The congregation then moved out to the pandal where a Spiritual Bouquet' was presented and an address read. All the parishes, communities, sodalities and societies of the Diocese took part in making this offering, which took the form of an elegantly bound book containing the name and offering of each contributor. The address was read by Dewan Bahadur A. Pinto and presented to His Lordship in a handsome casket. 

It ran as follows:

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP, - We your Lordship's spiritual subjects and children deem it our duty and our privilege to offer your Lordship our hearty congratu lations on this occasion of your Sacerdotal Jubilee, which it has pleased Almighty God to permit you to celebrate today.

About five years ago, on the 27th October, 1896, when your Lordship, filled with the plenitude of priestly unction, returned to your own loved Diocese of Mangalore, charged by Pontifical authority to feed and guide the souls that here look up to you as their chief shepherd, we your children rallied round you with the loving devotion of loyal hearts, and joined lustily in one great chorus of esteem and affection, strong in the assurance that, in your paternal heart we had a welcome place. Today, with the strength of our love undiminished and its beauty made fresher and more lustrous by the flight of time, we surround your Lord ship once more, on the occasion of your Sacerdotal Jubilee (after having first thanked the Giver of all good, the High Priest of the Heavenly Sanctuary, for having vouchsafed to spare you to witness this happy day in the midst of your spiritual children, whose loyalty and devotion to you know no bounds). We offer you the homage of our hearts on this happy occasion, and recall with pride that we are the favoured ones who have benefited most by your sacerdotal ministry of well-nigh twenty-two years; for only three years of your priestly career were devoted to spiritual ministrations in your own native land. Well do most of us here present remember that eventful day in 1880, when your ardent desire to serve the Mission being granted, you landed here with a few companions, all equally inflamed with missionary ardour to work in this distant vineyard of the Lord. For nearly seventeen years, up to the time when your Lordship was called by the voice of authority to enter the Episcopal ranks, you laboured among us as a priest with a zeal worthy of your sublime vocation, teaching the ignorant, consoling the miserable and leading souls to God by word and by example: and when after a short stay in your native country, you returned to us about five years ago, radiant with the glow of Episcopal grace, we welcomed your Lordship not as a stranger among us, but as one whose reputation for untiring activity, burning zeal and consummate tact had already been firmly established. The present condition of the churches of the Diocese, the schools, the orphanages, and hospitals that surround us, bear witness, My Lord, to your untiring zeal and your magnanimous spirit prompted by high ideals. As Professor first, and then Rector of the College that has rendered such signal service to the cause of education, as Superior of the Mission, and finally as Bishop of this extensive Diocese of 80,000 souls, your Lordship has endeared yourself to all hearts by your affability and pastoral solicitude for the welfare of all. Your Lordship's priestly career has been indeed one long series of triumphs, culminating in the crowning glory of the Episcopal dignity. Is it not meet, then, that we should celebrate your Sacerdotal Jubilee with grateful hearts mindful of the fact that your triumphs have been ours, in as much as we are bound to you by ties as close as an un swerving spiritual allegiance can make them? Yes, we have reason to thank God for having spared your precious life to us so long and having given you health and strength to labour so fruitfully among us. Much of the success of your Lordship's spiritual ministry is, we are convinced, due to those unbending principles fashioned out of the singular wisdom of the rules that govern the Society of Jesus- a Society which, as has been well remarked by those who are capable of forming a judgment, enjoys the well merited fame of being most efficacious in producing men of worth. Thus, then, we hail this occasion, the Silver Jubilee of your Lordship's career, not merely as a priest, but as a Jesuit priest. In your Lordship's Sacerdotal career, we are happy to trace those marks of nobility and goodness, those sterling priestly qualities which today call forth paeans of praise from our grateful hearts. Accept then, My Lord, the homage of our hearts and the assurance of our loyalty and devotion to your exalted person. And with this expression of our allegiance permit us to offer your Lordship a small token of our gratitude for the blessings conferred on us and our children through your ministry. We have resolved that this our offering should be a personal gift to your Lordship. comprising, firstly, a spiritual bouquet culled from the garden of Catholic devotion, and secondly, a brougham and horse which, while promoting Your Lordship's comfort and convenience, will at the same time serve as an outward manifestation of your exalted dignity. Deign, My Lord, to accept our humble offering as a memento of this happy day; and while begging your Lordship's Episcopal blessing for ourselves, we pray that God may spare your Lorship to continue your sacred ministry among us until it shall be given us to celebrate your Golden Jubilee. We remain, your Lordship's dutiful subjects, The Catholics of the Diocese of Mangalore.

His Lordship replied as follows:

My dear children, - You see me today before you as one who is struck with wonder and excess of feeling, this is a day of joy for me, but I have no words to give expression to my emotions. Yet I feel that now is the time when I should have a voice capable of reaching every extremity of this Diocese, where all have vied with one another to make this festive occasion a success. Of all the things you have attributed to me in your beautiful address, as I said in my sermon, I can claim only one thing, and that is that I have loved you; the rest you either owe to others or I must put down to your kindness. What struck me most in this demonstration is the precious book rich with treasures of thousands and thousands of Holy Communions, Masses, Rosaries and similar pious works, with which you have presented me. I feel like a man who being stricken with poverty finds himself at once rich by an unexpected turn of good fortune. So many prayers from good and grateful hearts for the necessary graces to lead you on to salvation! These will return to you in a shower of graces and blessings. When the father is rich the children cannot be in want. I shall be proud to use your horse and brougham just because it is yours, just because it comes from you, because all my people join in giving it to me, because it will constantly remind me of their affection for me. I appreciate your kindness in giving me something which I shall be obliged to use myself. What is must consoling and edifying is to see the peace and harmony and good understanding with which all your efforts have been carried on. Nothing can be more consoling just now when peace and harmony are the great desideratum. From this very place I addressed you five years ago. The words which for the first time five years ago I spoke to you come back to me now. I am inspired to repeat them today. They are words which were constantly on the lips of our Lord when addressing His disciples and which are in the mouth of the Bishop whenever he says Mass-Pax Vobis - Peace be with you. They were my first words and I repeat them: Peace, Peace, which will bind you in union and charity. One of my consolations is that peace will soon join you in a new bond. I do not mean that you were formerly separated but you will soon be more united. I shall soon take the opportunity to come and bless the amalgamation. May peace be with you always. May the effect of your prayers be granted to you. As a pledge of my love, I give you my paternal blessing."

During his episcopacy the Diocese progressed in numbers: faithful, priests and nuns. In January 1898, the Sisters of Charity were brought to Jeppoo. The Homoeopathic Poor Dispensary which was opened by Fr Muller in 1891, was enlarged by the addition of a hospital and a 'Refuge for the poor. The bubonic plague which struck Mangalore in 1902, revealed the charitable heart of his Lordship "which was as big as himself". In his great concern to relieve the suffering humanity, he saw to it that a good 'Plague Hospital' was added to the Charitable Institutions. It should not be forgotten that the apex of the Silver Jubilee Celebration was reached on Sunday, the 29th December 1901. when the Diocese of Mangalore was solemnly consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1903, on April 19th Sunday, the relics of St Gratian Martyr, were solemnly translated to the Jeppoo Seminary Church.

Bishop Cavadini's end was tragic. He was accidentally poisoned, when he was in his sixty fifth year, and fourteen years a Bishop. They tried to save him by an operation; but it did not effect any improvement. A change of climate was advised, and he was taken to Ootacamund, where he died on Holy Saturday. His mortal remains were conveyed to Mangalore and lie buried in the Cathedral, Mangalore. As in life, so in his illness, he was always cheerful and resigned to the Will of God.

This above material is taken from the book "Restless for Christ - Lives of Select Jesuits who toiled in the Karnataka Province" Series - IV