BISHOP NICHOLAS PAGANI, SJ (1835-1895)

Bishop Nicholas Pagani, SJ

With the Papal Brief 27th, September, 1878, which separated Mangalore and a part of Malabar, Calicut, from Verapoly and formed them into a separate ecclesiastical unit, came the appointment of Fr Nicholas Pagani, S.J., as the Vicar Apostolic of the new Ecclesiastical Unit and the Superior of the Jesuit Mangalore Mission. Unfortunately, we have not many records on Bishop Pagani except his letters and ecclesiastical correspondence. For his Biographical sketch, therefore, we have to depend very much on the meagre statements left in writing in different documents.

As the First Bishop of Mangalore as an independent ecclesiastical unit and Diocese, Mangalore owes much to Bp Pagani. He had to organize the Diocese in its very initial stages, set up good traditions and set it up on strong Catholic foundations. And in this his task, his past experience was a great help to him. He was not new to India. He had, after his Jesuit studies come to India in 1861 as a member of the Bombay Mission and had worked for 17 years in different capacities, as parish priest, military chaplain, missionary and headmaster and had earned a name for piety, hard work, discipline and efficiency in work. In fact, he was also for a year Pro-Vicar Apostolic in the absence of the Bishop of Bombay.

Bishop Pagani was born on August, 9, 1835, in a noble family in Nocera Dei Pagani in the Kingdom of Naples. After his studies in a Jesuit College, he joined the Society of Jesus at an early age of 16, Very surprisingly he was ordained in just ten years at the age of 26 and came to India in 1861 as a member of the Bombay Mission. After 17 years in the Bombay Mission, he was appointed to head the Jesuit Mission Band who had been assigned to the New Mission of Mangalore. Before coming to Mangalore, he visited Goa to venerate the body of St Francis Xavier and to seek his intercession for the success of the Mangalore Mission. Straight from Goa he came to Mangalore with eight other Jesuits who joined him at Goa, 6 from Europe and 2 from Bombay and landed on the last day of the year, December, 31st, 1878 at 11.30 a.m. On that very day he received from the hands of the Administrator Apostolic and Vicar General, Fr. Victor (Verleure) of St Anthony, the charge of the newly carved out ecclesiastical territory. Mangalore-Calicut and of the Mangalore Mission. For 17 years he laboured in the Mangalore Diocese, first as its Vicar Apostolic and then as its First Bishop. His life of 60 years falls almost in three equal periods, 16 years of student life, 17 years in Bombay Mission and 17 years in Mangalore Mission with ten years of religious formation as a Jesuit Novitiate, Philosophy, Theology and Tertianship.

In 1885 in answer to requests from Mangalore and in appreciation of the zeal and hard work of the Jesuits their Superior, Fr Pagani, the Holy See raised Msgr. Pagani to the dignity of a Bishop with the Titular Diocese of Tricomium. He was consecrated on 25th October in the Cathedral. "The Cathedral was decorated in gorgeous style for the occasion and everything was done to mark the event of the first consecration of a Bishop that ever took place in Mangalore." This is what the History of Mangalore has to note on this great event. "The Clergy assembled from all parts of the Vicariate. There were five hundred reserved seats in the Church... The number of persons present was estimated at about three thousand five hundred. After the ceremony the newly consecrated Bishop received several addresses that were read under a splendid pandal erected in front of the Church. A fine emerald ring was presented by the Catholic Community. The other notable presents were a chalice and pectoral cross chain." In 1889 when the Indian Hierarchy was established, Bishop Pagani became the First Bishop of the Diocese of Mangalore.

The first years of the Jesuit Mission were years of unremitting toil for the new Missionaries. The Bishop laboured hard to organize thoroughly the administration of the Vicariate and then the Diocese". The work of the Jesuits was a pioneering work and the Bishop and the Superior of Jesuits had to be all alert to pilot the work. Herein the experience of 17 years of work in the Bombay Mission was of great help to Bishop Pagani. His letters to Europe to his Superiors and friends speak of his deep desire to set up fine traditions. In Parishes Catechetical work had his preference. At his direction Fr Urban Stein S.J. at the Cathedral and the other Parish Priests in their respective Parishes set up groups for regular teaching of Christian Doctrine.

Educational work, the starting of a College was a must because the Mangaloreans had asked for Jesuits precisely for that purpose. But it was a herculean task for a few men and most of whom were just beginning the study of English. But Bishop Pagani shouldered the burden. He set aside Fr Angelo Mutti, S.J., his own Secretary and procurator of the Mission, to launch out to collect the necessary funds and through his influence obtained the services of Fr Joseph Willy, S.J., of the Bombay Mission for the College. Fr. Willy was the right man with his vast experience in educational matters. He became the First Rector and Principal of St Aloysius College.

"One cannot help mentioning one admirable but striking feature of the policy of the Jesuits of the Venetian Province who ruled the Diocese of Mangalore for nearly 50 years before it was handed over to one of the sons of the soil and that too by the ruling Bishop migrating to an underdeveloped part of the Diocese. This is their generous, manly and Christ-like recognition of the claims and merits of their flock. From the very outset they extended their hand of fellowship and in glaring contrast to the example of others of their band elsewhere admitted into their ranks and into the ranks of the Clergy, young men fully qualified by their piety and learning... In one sense the Jesuits of the Venetian Province have been fortunate in their charge. They came into a rich spiritual heritage created after centuries of patient toil by the different religious orders which preceded them. They had ready at hand first class material among the Catholics, the descendants of the highest caste in India and of a highly intelligent and virile race awaiting the magic touch of their hand to bloom forth into a rich harvest. Theirs was not the task that falls to the heart broken Missionaries having to plough through the arid soil of a depressed type of humanity which is often the despair of the ordinary Missionary. Theirs was the task of consolidation and stimulation and this they carried out with eminent success. No small credit is therefore due to them for discerning this fact and adapting to the needs of the age". Thus wrote Mr. J. P. Rego, B. A., J. P., in the Mangalorean Review, fifty years ago. And Bishop Pagani, the First Jesuit Superior and the First Bishop of Mangalore, not only laid the policy but followed it determinedly in action. The Seminary which had been closed was reopened within days and within ten years, more than 20 were Ordained to the Priesthood. In five years’ time a novitiate for the admission of young men into the Society of Jesus was also opened at the same place, the Seminary. It is no wonder that a Seminary which was started with such traditions could give a full contingent of Priests to enable the Diocese to be self-supporting in personnel in 45 years. In less than half a century both the Diocese and the Society of Jesus had sons of the soil at their head. Both firsts in the Church and Jesuit history in India. Bishop Pagani laid firmly the foundations of this policy. Fr him the Seminary and the College were the two eyes of the Diocese.

But he did not neglect Parish and Missionary work. With equal zeal and determination, he set about to organize Parish and Mission work in the Diocese. All had to be ab ovo as it was a new Diocese. While stabilizing old religious customs, to strengthen faith and morals, a right orientation had to be given to new practices and devotions. The Bishop lost no time to acquaint himself with the different Parishes and Mission stations his Diocese. In spite of travel problems of those bullock-cart days, he undertook an extensive visitation of Cannanore, Tellicherry and Calicut and then began his visitation of South Kanara. A letter of Bishop Pagani gives us an idea of these visits. The letter was written towards the end of 1887. We reached (name not cear) after 19 hours; there I slept on the dining table till 3 a.m. Later I celebrated Mass for the people of Gaddi, a place at the foot of Kudremuk. The people had come in large numbers walking a long distance all the night. I was touched by the faith and devotion of those Christians. For the last two years they had not seen priest. They requested that a priest should be sent to them and I promised to do it as soon as one is available. At 6 o'clock in the morning. I left for Bidren where we calculated to arrive by evening but things could not go on smoothly. At Senur we took some refreshments but then, when we med our journey, the bulls could not proceed because the cart wheels got stuck in the mud; we had to alight from the cart and help the bulls to drag the cart and so was the journey till 8 o'clock in the evening, when we reached a wooden bridge some 200 feet long but which had broken in the middle. We forded the river with the help of candles, held in our hands and had to seek the help of many men to lift the cart over the breach in the bridge and to place it on the other side. Again, and again, we had to alight from the cart to enable the bulls to pull through the mud. However half hour after midnight we reached Bidren, where we found the Christians who had come from a long distance, waiting for us since the evening. After our arrival they formed a procession lighted by torches and to the sound of crackers and the constant ringing of the bell, led us to the Church".

Amidst hard and pioneering work which was consoling and highly spiritual, the Bishop had his cross of suffering, cross of grief in the adamant attitude of some of his faithful who had turned rebels. They did not want to submit to the rule of the Propaganda but desired to be under the jurisdiction of Goa. Fundamentally it was a question of ambition of a few, misunderstanding of and misguiding of a few others and wounded pride of a few leaders. The story of the so called Bramavahar schism is a sad story. What had begun as a question of jurisdiction, due to mere human play of petty ambition and imprudent tempers and ill-timed action let to a real schism, good people some of whom had begun with the best of intentions were led astray and as often happens in affairs of human passions, had not the courage to retrace their steps, it must have been a very painful experience for Bishop Pagani that he had to enter the Church at his first pastoral visit at Kalianpur under police protection. The pain was the sadder as not a little was the trouble fermented and kept up by the imprudent advice and remarks of a very few priests who otherwise professed full loyalty and submission to the Bishop of Mangalore.

In this centenary year when we are recalling the memory of Bishop Pagani and Bishop Cavadini, the two who suffered the most from the schism and who tried the most to win back the rebel faithful, let us ask pardon for our faults against charity and prudence and earnestly pray that the so-called schism may disappear from the Diocese of Mangalore.

Hard work, incessant and often not comfortable. travelling, mental anguish to help souls especially of the recalcitrant, combined with the climate was slowly under mining Bishop Pagani's health. He spent a year in Europe in 1893 and to all appearances returned refreshed and strengthened. But within a year he found his health failing him. He had to make efforts to carry on his work. Often, he used to go to the Seminary for rest, especially to spend the night there. But amidst his increasing ailments he ever remained the same gentle and meek Pastor of Souls. Not a word of complaint passed his lips. He was visibly becoming weaker, though he himself and those others near him never suspected that the end was very near. We have still in manuscript a letter written after his death giving an account of the last days of the First Bishop of Mangalore. We quote verbatim at length as it gives an idea of the man and the esteem in which he was held.

Ever since the return of his Lordship from his last visit to Europe, he was so far set up in health as not to need the services of the doctor. This year in particular (1895) he expressed himself decidedly better. But with the beginning of the hot season, there came a sudden change a change much for the worse. Disease, so long dormant, began to assert its vitality, and to undermine his strength.

On Maundy Thursday he was so exhausted as to be scarsely able to go through the ceremony of the Blessing of Holy Oils; and was thus forced to recite the parts that are according to rubrics, to be sung. On Easter Sunday, after having begun Pontifical High Mass, as he reached the Credo, he felt himself utterly unable to continue. Therefore, he drank a tumbler of water, making use of the permission he had obtained. After Mass, he directly drove to the College for rest and relief, if he could obtain any.... But none dreamt that the crisis was so near. He now complained of utter prostration of his natural strength. He was even unable, when at the Seminary, to satisfy his devotion of paying a short visit to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is but a few yards off...... Wednesday, April, 24th, was the last night that he slept at Jeppu, and that night he caught a chill. Next morning, instead of going direct to Codialbail, he repaired to the College, as the day was oppressively hot. Already he had slight fever. Friday next the effort of saying Mass, raised the fever to 102'. Thus far no fears were at all entertained regarding his safety. The Bishop, However, asked his visitors to pray for him and specially to make a Novena to Our Lady of Pompei. The fever raged on Saturday. Next day the first symptoms of the real danger manifested themselves. The doctor was far from being sanguine of success. Influenza had developed into inflammation of the lungs. Monday following, the case was declared hopeless... Holy Viaticum was administered at 7 a.m. when the Bishop invited his dear Lord to come to him, saying in a voice loud enough to be heard by standards, "Veni, Domine Veni, noli tardare". At noon Extreme Unction was administered by the Vicar General, Very Rev Fr Cavadini. The Bishop said the Confiteor and received the Apostolic Benediction. Towards evening, it was visible that he was rapidly sinking. The good Dr. Lee watched the ebbing of life, utterly unable to retard the progress of death. Till 11 o'clock of the night, he repeated the ejaculations suggested to him, and it was about that time that he received the last absolution in a conscious state. Surrounded by as many of his religious brethren as could be present, the good Bishop breathed his last at a quarter to two, Tuesday morning, 30th of April, 1895.

The funeral took place that very day at 5 in the evening. More than 4000 people with almost all the Clergy. diocesan and religious, and a good number of Government Officials taking part in the funeral rites. Fr. Torri preached the funeral oration, expatiating first on the gentler virtues of the illustrious deceased, viz, his uniform meekness, kindness and amiability; then on the nobler traits of his character, especially that urging zeal which consumed his soul; consequently of the good works in which that active zeal found vent; and wound up by saying that from the coffin where he lay, dead as he was, he yet preached to all present, saying, "Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls".

The remains of Bishop Nicolas Pagani were reverently laid by the side of his predecessor Dr Mary Epharem O.C.D.

A few days after the death of the Bishop, a meeting of the Catholic Community was held to honour his memory. The meeting was actually held on 11th, May, 1895 and the proceedings published in print. We cull the following from it.

"Gentlemen, speaking broadly there are some fifty ordained priests and ecclesiastics administering to the various wants of the people of Mangalore town itself, in the place of fifty priests in the whole district thirty years ago. There is now a Seminary for the education of priests, located in a splendid building and powerfully manned; several new and beautiful churches adorn the city which can also boast of perhaps the only institutions of cloistered nuns in India whose prayer find ready favour with Heaven; Sodalities and similar societies for spiritual improvement have sprung up and the practice of moral and spiritual exercises has increased; and at the present time, the whole diocese is administered from one end to the other with the spirit and fire of the Holy Ghost.

"As Regards education, in the place of Mayor's spelling book for about a year or two, and Murray's Grammar, Garrett's History of India and the 3 R's for four or five years more, which formed the course of a young man's study thirty years ago, we have now, under auspices of the Jesuit Fathers, with the late lamented Bishop at their head, a First Grade College teaching up to the B. A. Standard, in a magnificent building, perched on one of our glorious little hills, and overlooking a lovely country all around. This institution is one of the marvelous feats of His Lordship's administration....

"In these days of highly expensive medical treatment, His Lordship did not forget us, but established a Homeopathic and Electro-Homeopathic institution which affords cheap and gratuitous relief to thousands of the suffering poor under the superintendence of Fr. Muller.

"Though, doubtless, some of us think that more subscriptions have been collected from us in these days than thirty years back, we should not forget that these donations have procured us the blessings of Heaven in the advancement of our material prosperity a hundred-fold.

"His Lordship possessed a most generous, kind and sympathetic soul, He probably kept a note of every Mangalorean abroad. One of his last acts was, I think, to send me and my family his holy blessing. This act of his draws forth my tears over his grave and makes me take a firm resolution of becoming an upright man, if only to merit his affection and love."

Speaker after speaker stressed the same characteristics and qualities of the Bishop: his meekness, his kindness his sympathy towards the poor and the sick, his solicitude for the care and good of his people.

We end this biographical sketch of the First Bishop of Mangalore by reproducing the lines printed on the reverse of the Souvenir of the Bishop which sums up the high virtues which characterised his life:

"His ear wide open to each tale of woe,
His lip sweet balm did drop on friend and foe.
His only care his flock from harm to save,
To it all time, all thought, all strength he gave.
His only joy for it to spend himself

Nor toil, nor health he spared, not life itself.

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