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SVD House Kirem, Mangalore |
SVD's In Mangalore Down Through The Years
The SVD foreign
missionaries who landed up in Indore, Madhya Pradesh in 1932 searching for
indigenous vocations reached Mangalore in the year 1951. The
administration then sent Fr. Zimmermann accompanied by Fr. Peter to
Mangalore for recruitment. They came down from Mhow to Mangalore and
contacted the concerned priests at vocational centers and parish priests
in Mangalore. They addressed the people on Sundays after Holy Masses;
Parish Priests themselves being translators into the local vernaculars.
They were given Fr. Charles Pais, a diocesan priest, as the SVD vocational
contact person in Mangalore.
During their trips
they got a few candidates whom they sent directly to Mhow (M.P.). Later on
a commission was set up to study the possibility of starting an Apostolic
School in Mangalore (Fr. Peter Verhaelen, Fr. Ritz and Fr. Otoole) to
explore the possibility of starting an Apostolic School in Mangalore. The
Mangalore Bishop Julian D'Mello and senior priests encouraged them to
start it in a village parish rather than in the city as the vocational
shift was then in the villages. So, Fr. Peter was entrusted with this
noble task. When he came to Mangalore, the ‘Rome of East’, sometime in
1960, he saw the rich soil for recruiting vocations for SVD. Fr. Peter
Verhaelen can be rightly named as the pioneer among SVD vocation promoters
in Mangalore even though Fr. Zimmermann had initiated the process. Fr.
Peter began the vocation work in Mangalore in a systematic way when he
came from Kerala to establish a house of our own and work towards
promoting vocations in Mangalore Diocese, which is the cradle of
Christianity in this region.
Fr. Peter started the
Apostolic School in the Padua High School hostel at Nanthur Cross. Before
that, he kept our boys at Olivet Brothers’ monastery for some time. In
1960-61 Fr. Peter rented a house near Kirem Church. Meanwhile he bought
9.57 acres of barren land for a price of Rs. 14,250/- at Damaskatte. The
said land was known to be haunted by ‘spirits’ since it was a cremation
ground. Later he started constructing a house in this plot. He along with
his regents worked day and night to realize this project. He himself
worked along with the workers. Even today people remember him as a
tireless worker. With his limited knowledge of Konkani and unlimited
gestures, he managed to complete the most part of the building within a
record time of one year and moved into the new house. Even though not
fully completed the Apostolic School was inaugurated on 22.12.1962
unceremoniously. More than his physical strength, it was his dedication
and spiritual strength that enabled him to build this beautiful edifice.
What was once a barren, haunted land is today a green forest, lovely to
behold and peaceful to stay. Later on Fr. Salvador Serrao and Fr. Victor
Noronha bought some more land adjoining it. The total land we have today
is about 18.57 acres which is fully utilized for cashew plantation,
coconuts grow and other fruit trees besides the buildings and the play
ground. St. Peter is the patron saint of this house. It is registered as
‘St. Peter’s Apostolic School, Aikala.
Since then many
priests have worked with great enthusiasm to promote vocations in
Mangalore. They have used various methods to attract the young boys to our
congregation. During the initial years we accepted boys who were in
standard 8th and above. But this practice was discontinued a
few years back. Even though the work of vocation promotion originally
began only in the Mangalore Diocese now it has been extended to other
parts of Karnataka such as Mysore and Kolar. We have a couple of
vocations from these places and a few have become priests already. The
total number of priests from Mangalore is over one hundred and a Brother
in the person of John Menezes. Many of them are working in the foreign
missions. There are good numbers of students at various stages of
formation. Every year we get nearly 15-20 new vocations to the Society.
They remain in the minor seminary for three years. At this stage of
formation they are initiated into prayer, spiritual reading, devotions,
silence and traditions of the society etc. Sufficient importance is given
to manual work, sports, music and dance. All these programmes are geared
towards the wholistic growth of the person.
Besides the assigned
jobs in the seminary the staff members are actively involved in the
pastoral ministry in various parishes and convents. This helps in keeping
good relationship with Diocesan clergy and religious in the Diocese. This
involvement has good result on the vocation promotion as our friends,
religious as well as diocesan priests direct many students to our
congregation.
We also publish a quarterly magazine in Konkani called, ‘Sobdacho Ulo’ (Call of the Word). It is a mission magazine started by Fr. Bernard Rodrigues when he was a vocation promoter. This book is sent free of cost to the students and also to anyone interested in mission. This magazine is of great value to us as it promotes mission awareness among people and many come forward to help us in our endeavours through financial help, prayers and directing aspirants to our congregation. Because of the support we receive from SVD friends we can say that we do not have shortage of vocations. God continues to call many young boys to carry on his mission work through different people especially through the dedicated work of SVD priests in Mangalore.
PRESENT.......
SVD House Kirem has 20 students led by Fr. Francis Fernandes (Rector), Fr. Edward Ferrao (Procurator).
