When it comes to churches, Bandra has been more blessed than any other place from Colaba to Virar. Imagine having seven churches within an area of just 4 sq. kms! This intrigued me and when I started working on several family trees and delving into Church records, and visiting church graveyards I became eager to know why there were so many churches all concentrated in Bandra.
Whilst cleaning and clearing out Joe’s bachelor uncle’s apartment after his demise, I was most fortunate to find a worm-eaten book titled “Bandra, Its Religious and Secular History” by Braz Fernandes. Being fascinated with history, I requested my godfather, the late John Mathews, who was a well-known book-binder in Bombay, to restore the volume. He painstakingly did so, with even fragments of pages reassembled on butter paper and all bound with a hard cover. This book is out of print and no longer available anywhere except in a few libraries, so I value it even more, despite its many missing portions. It contains a lot of fascinating information I knew nothing about and was happy to learn. Like me, there might be others as interested to know why we have so many churches in Bandra.
Let me start with the one which no longer exists, but is of immense historical significance.
The Church and College of Santa Anna (no longer exists)
The Jesuits were said to have built this college, with a chapel attached, in 1620. The foundations of the old walls of Santa Anna give an indication of what a vast tract of land it covered. From a point near the Bandra-Mahim causeway where the mosque is now located, it extended westwards along the sea-shore as far as Bundarwadi, then across the old Godhbunder Road as far as D’Monte Street and diagonally in a straight line to the Bandra railway station, cutting through Hill Road.
[In 1864, a large portion of this land was acquired (from the family of the author Braz Fernandes into whose possession it came) by the Bombay Municipality, for the slaughter house. I can well recall the stench from this place that would greet rail commuters as the train approached Bandra station. The reason it was built so close to the railway station was to facilitate the transport of the meat. The very first meat train left Bandra on 20 February 1867 at 3.30 am and reached the Bori Bundar station at 4.45 am. The slaughter house was moved to Deonar many decades later, and the site once again changed hands and became the B.E.S.T. bus depot.]
The Church of Santa Anna faced the Church of St. Michael’s in Mahim, which was on the opposite side of the large creek, with a width of half a mile separating them. It had a broad flight of steps going down to the water’s edge with a landing place in front of the college. From here people could also be ferried across to Mahim. It was only in 1775 that the British started a regular ferry service between Bandra and Mahim, which also made provision for the transportation of horses and stores.
While it has been said that the college was later raised to the status of a university, in 1926, Fr. Francisco Rodrigues, S.J., Director of the Portuguese “Messenger” in Spain wrote to the publication The Angelus that was publishing chapters of Braz Fernandes’ book:
“I take the liberty of informing you that the Jesuits never had a college in Bandra, much less a university….”
While this Jesuit institution in Bandra may not have been a college as we understand it, it certainly had attained the stature of a great educational establishment.
More details about the Santa Anna Church are in Appendix 3. After the destruction of the Church and college, a large stone cross which was in front of the college was relocated to the compound of St. Andrew’s Church, Bandra. In 1864 it was erected on a huge masonry pedestal in the cemetery to the left of the Church. Quite a few graves of the Rodrigues family are located very close to this Cross.
The Church of Our Lady of the Mount
The historian, Braz Fernandes, writes that the Jesuits arrived in Bandra in 1565, and in 1566 they built a modest mud oratory on the Bandra Hill for their private worship. In 1587, the Jesuit fathers, who had their headquarters at the Santa Anna Church, took over care of this oratory which then came under the parish of Santa Anna. They installed a statue of the Virgin and Child they had brought from Europe and dedicated the Chapel to Our Lady of the Nativity. There is much controversy about this statue which I will go into very briefly below.
In the 16th century this was the earliest place of catholic worship in Bandra. In 1640, the Portuguese Captain of Salsette enlarged the chapel to serve the garrison based at the Castella de Aguada at the foot of the hill.
In 1882, when the chapel was found to be too small for the growing number of pilgrims that flocked there each September for the Bandra Feast, a glass enclosed portico was erected in front of the chapel, but eventually even this proved to be too small for the crowds of devotees. It was finally decided to pull down the chapel and construct a large church. Work commenced in 1902 and the gothic style building we see today was completed in 1904. The Rodrigues family also contributed to the building of the present day church (see Chapter 1 of the book). The family also donated a large statue of the Holy Family which was placed in the sacristy.
In the Marian Year 1954, Pope Pius XII raised the church to the status of a Minor Basilica.
[Re. the statue of Our Lady: when Bandra was invaded by a private army of Muscat Arabs in 1700, they raided the shrine hoping to find treasure. When they did not find any, but thinking the gilded orb in the right hand of the Virgin was made of gold, they chopped off the forearm of the statue. They had intended to set fire to the church but were prevented from doing so when a swarm of bees attacked them, forcing them to abandon their plans. As the statue was damaged it was said to have been stored in the lumber room and the statue of Our Lady of Navigators from the side altar of St. Andrew’s Church was brought to replace it temporarily.
Records also tell us that when the Marathas occupied the Bandra hill, they burnt this chapel and threw the image of Our Lady into the sea. The statue drifted away and was caught in the fishing nets on the Mahim shore. (A letter was said to have been written in 1669 – it had to be 1769 – by a Jesuit, confirmed that this event took place. The Maratha invasion is said to have taken place around 1738/9.) For safety the statue was kept concealed in St. Michael’s Church. Braz Fernandes mentions that in 1761 the statue was brought in solemn procession from Mahim to Bandra, in an ornamental carriage and installed in the chapel that had been renovated in 1760. The receipt signed by the driver proves that the statue was kept in Mahim. In fact, Braz gives a detailed list of expenses incurred for the first feast of the Nativity of Our Lady celebrated on 8 September that year. The koli fisherfolk had dubbed the statue ‘Mot Mouli’, literally, the ‘Pearl Mother’ who carried the pearl Jesus in her arms. It is still referred to by this title and is the focus of pilgrims of all faiths from all over India during the month of September.
When the original mutilated statue was repaired (the Child Jesus was moved to the right hand of the Virgin) and re-installed on the high altar in the Chapel in 1761, the statue of Our Lady of Navigators was returned to the north side altar of St. Andrew’s Church, where it still is. So which statue was thrown into the sea? With all the confusion and mix up of narratives, the facts about the two statues cannot be verified. All we know is that today, the statue of our Lady of Navigators has been returned to its original place in St. Andrew’s Church.]
St. Andrew’s Church
Practically every source, including material from St. Andrew’s Church, gives the date of construction of the church as 1575. When I visited the Museum of Christian Art at the Goregaon Seminary, the timeline of churches built in Mumbai shows that St. Andrew’s was built in 1616. This had to be a mistake according to me, and a church or chapel of St. Andrew’s had to have existed before 1616. I decided to check with Dr. Fleur D’Souza, former Vice-Principal (Faculty of Arts) and retired Head, Dept. of History, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, who was responsible for working on the timeline. Here’s an excerpt from an article by her which she sent in response:
“The village of Bandra was given to the Jesuits in 1571 (this differs from Braz Fernandes’ version). Shortly afterwards, the Jesuits came to Bandra and made their first attempt at evangelization. They met with strong opposition and seem to have been half-inclined to give up when Brother Manuel Gomes arrived on the scene in 1575. (He had joined the Society in Bassein in 1555 as a Brother, was persuaded to receive priestly ordination in 1583, died in 1590, and was regarded as the “Apostle of Salsette”). A Portuguese, born in India, Brother Gomes infused new life into the evangelical enterprise, which soon bore fruit. By 1588 there were 4,000 converts; this number rose to 6,000 by 1591; and by 1603, the whole of Bandra to a man had become Catholic!”
I believe it was Fr. Manuel Gomes’ knowledge of the local language that is credited for converting almost the whole of Bandra. I could not verify if Fr. Gomes was the first vicar of St. Andrew’s Church as has been reported. But if he died in 1590 and the church was built only in 1616, then another place of worship had to have existed before 1616. St. Andrew’s website says that the church was rebuilt in 1616, indicating that an earlier church existed. This probably explains why the year 1575 marks the start of St. Andrew’s church in most accounts. The archives of Our Lady of the Mount mention that because of the increase of Christian population, the parish of Santa Anna was bifurcated. The parish of St. Andrew’s was thus created in 1616 and the Mount Mary oratory was then placed under the jurisdiction of St. Andrew’s.
The Portuguese attribute the spread of Catholicism, especially in Bandra, to the efforts of Fr. Manuel Gomes. Other sources credit it to Fr. Joao Dias, a Spanish priest, who was greatly influenced by St. Francis Xavier whom he met on his travels in Malacca.
When St. Andrew’s Church was built, the jurisdiction of the parish included a vast area and extended up to Juhu. How difficult it must have been for people to travel from so far to attend church services!
The church was repaired in 1764, underwent further complete repairs in 1864, and had a large wooden porch constructed in 1890. I remember as a young girl being awed by the width of the church walls, which were more than my height. I also thought the church, with its wooden porch was rather old fashioned compared to my modern parish church, St. Peter’s; little did I know that one day I would also be a parishioner of St. Andrew’s, where so many of the Rodrigues family were buried.
The original façade of the church was replicated when it was extended and renovated in February 1966. All that remains of the original Church are the two side altars, the pulpit and the two large panels carved in relief depicting the Resurrection of Our Lord and the Coronation of Our Lady, which hang on the side walls. The present altar, which differs from the two side altars, was added only in 1890 after the original altar was eaten by white ants.
St. Peter’s Church
Even after the transfer of the island of Bombay and its dependencies from the King of Portugal to the British Crown (following the marriage of Catherine de Braganza of Portugal and King Charles II of England, in April 1662), the ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Catholics and the churches still vested in the Archbishop of Goa and the King of Portugal. This went on till 1720 when the British government, annoyed over the powers exercised by the Archbishop of Goa, represented to the Court of Directors that the clergy and the Archbishop of Goa acted as spies and agents for enemies. They proposed it would be more conducive to place all the churches in Bombay under the Carmelites. Accordingly, Italian Carmelites were invited in and the Portuguese priests were expelled from Bombay. After the Carmelite friars took over, there were continual disputes between the Archbishop of Goa and the Bombay Government, till the Archbishop appealed to the Court of Lisbon which in turn made a representation to the British envoy. The outcome was that the Government of Bombay was asked to restore the Archbishop’s authority.
Sad to say, what followed was a lot of scheming and intrigues within the church, with the British government of course taking full advantage of this for its own purposes. Another representation was made, this time by the Carmelites, and the Court of Directors then ordered the churches in Bombay to be divided. This led to the establishment of the double jurisdiction in Bandra of the Padroado Real (Portuguese Crown Patronage) and the Propaganda Fide. (See note below).
Matters did not end with this arrangement but I don’t intend going into the back and forth accusations from both sides, and the shameful episodes that followed. Orders were then issued by the Vicar Apostolic for the Padroado vicars to withdraw, which they of course refused to do. Loyalties to one or other of these jurisdictions sparked off many debates and quarrels and were a major issue in those days. Those parishioners of St. Andrew’s Church who wished to switch allegiance to the Vicar Apostolic (Propaganda Fide) accordingly made an application to the Collector of Thana seeking directions. Eventually, the Collector ruled that the church could not be handed over to Propaganda Fide jurisdiction and the applicants were free to transfer attendance to St. Michael’s Church, Mahim. Because of the distance and inconvenience in travel, the petitioners then applied to the Collector in 1846 for leave to build a chapel, and their request was granted. In 1849, one hundred and sixty-one parishioners of St. Andrew’s Church left the St Andrews parish church, opting for the jurisdiction of the Vicar Apostolic. They erected a temporary chapel of bamboos and thatched coconut palms, and this was the beginning of St. Peter’s Church and the institution of double jurisdiction in Bandra.
A regular edifice for the church of St. Peter’s was started in 1852 and completed a year later. This had the chapel on the ground floor and the first floor was used as a residence for the priests and a parish school, and then a Jesuit seminary. Four years later a second storey was added. With the growing needs of the parish, a larger church was constructed in 1938 on the site of the old one. This beautiful Romanesque style edifice was my parish church from the time I was born till we changed residences in 1995.
Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
In 1887, the Confraternity of the fishermen of St. Peter’s Church insisted on retaining their insignia in their own possession, while the vicar insisted that the church retain these. The quarrel over this led to two factions, which came to be known as the ‘church party’ and the ‘non-church party’ being formed. A further division was created when the Jesuits were accused of showing special favour to the better class of people who had now become parishioners of St. Peter’s Church. The fishermen contended that they were the ones who helped the Apostolic Vicariate get a footing in Bandra, and it was they who had built St. Peter’s church, so it followed that they were the true founders of the parish, and hence better treatment should be shown to them. The quarrel continued and came to a head on the 6th Sunday in Lent (known as Palm Sunday). Shamefully, a free-for-all fight started in the storeroom and ended up in the church, with the huge candle-sticks being used as handy weapons. There was bloodshed but fortunately no fatalities as the police arrived in time to put a stop to it.
The non-church party of 215 families, mainly fishermen, now wanted to revert to the Padroado jurisdiction. What followed was another long drawn out drama of letters being exchanged but no action taken. Finally, the Archbishop of Damaun asked the Vicar of St. Andrew’s Church to temporarily take back these 215 families from St. Peter’s, till they could build a church of their own. Through the efforts of the parishioners of St. Andrew’s and the chapel board of Our Lady of the Mount, they were eventually given a place to erect a church. The people, being poor, had to overcome great difficulties in collecting funds, but with donations and some interest-free loans, in 1894 they finally completed building the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The main altar of the church came from one of the ruined churches of Diu, but was changed when the church was enlarged and modernized.
St. Anne’s Church
This started out as a chapel of St. Anne which was built in 1858 on a little hillock in the village of Malla. After the roof and woodwork of the building had deteriorated, the chapel was renovated and enlarged in 1896. The entire chapel was razed in 1938 and a new church was built and blessed on 7 May 1939. It was only in 1943 that St. Anne’s chapel was raised to the status of an independent church.
Chapel of Our Lady of Calvary (no longer exists)
The chapel of Our Lady of Calvary was also called Calvary Chapel or O’Calvario and was blessed on 17 September 1890. It was a simple east-facing structure that was located on the crest of Pali Hill and was built for the convenience of the catholics of neighbouring villages. This is probably where the family of Braz Rodrigues worshipped when they lived in the village of Parwar. The chapel had a steeple that could be seen from as far away as Santa Cruz as there were only sprawling paddy fields all around. One could also view the airport from the top of this hill.
There were crosses that once dotted the pathway that led up to the chapel. These were inaugurated in 1902 and devotees started flocking to the chapel for the Stations of the Cross during Lent. The chapel grew in popularity thereafter. These very same crosses have now found their way to Dongri village (in Greater Mumbai) and line the path to the Irmitri Fort (now a church) on the hill. At the foot of the Calvary hill leading up to the chapel was a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows which was brought from Rome. This can now be seen at the entrance of St. Anne’s Church,
St. Theresa’s Church
St. Theresa’s Church was founded in the 1940s by the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) fathers in Town Planning Scheme III (probably on the land which once belonged Braz Rodrigues who owned a lot of land in that area). Their mission activity started on 3 December 1948 when Fr. Proksch, together with the vicar of St. Andrew’s Church, visited the villages of Khar and Pali.
The new church, which was considered a landmark in church architecture in India, was blessed by Cardinal Valerian Gracias on 2 October 1962 on the feast of their patroness, St. Theresa. We are now parishioners of this church – when we come to stay in Mumbai.
St. Francis of Assisi Church
The St. Francis of Assisi Church was founded in 1982 and is located on Kadeshwari Mandir Marg. This is better known as Cemetery Road as the Plague cemetery (now called the seaside cemetery) and the Jewish cemetery are located here. It is at the foot of the Mount Mary’s hill on the east side and close to the Bandra-Worli sealink, and caters to a large catholic population in that area. It was one of the last churches to be constructed in Bandra. The statue of St. Francis of Assisi was donated to the Church by St. Andrew’s Church.
St. Joseph’s Chapel
The St. Joseph’s Chapel located in the very heart of the Bandra bazaar was once the Thomas Aquinas school. After the school closed down it was converted into a chapel in 1910 and is still in use by the people living in the vicinity.
And that, in short, is how Bandra came to have so many churches in such close proximity, not counting the many other chapels that are spread all over. For those who are interested, there is a wealth of information on most of the churches on the net. I have given a very condensed version just to whet the curiosity of history buffs. We Christians are fortunate that Churches keep detailed records of births, marriages and deaths, because these records provide a vast amount of information and certainly help in compiling family trees.
Note:
Padroado Real means ‘royal patronage’. When the Archdiocese of Goa was created in 1534, the whole of the western coast around Bombay formed part of that archdiocese. Missionary activities in Bassein, Salsette and Bombay also commenced at the same time thus laying the foundation of the future Archdiocese of Bombay. It was to encourage the evangelization efforts of the Portuguese missionaries who accompanied the conquerors that an arrangement was made between Portugal and the Holy See, by which the Vatican delegated the administration of the local churches they established, to the kings of Portugal. This system was known as Padroado Real and it was progressively dismantled throughout the 20th century.
Propaganda Fide: In June 1622 The section of the Roman Curia overseeing evangelization in mission lands instituted the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, commonly referred to as Propaganda Fide. This was under the aegis of the Vatican Roman Curia.
The House at 43, Hill Road 