Church relics

St Pious College in Goregaon,the city’s only Catholic seminary,has taken upon itself an arduous task of setting up a museum to find and preserve the origin and evolution of Christianity in Mumbai region. From antique church art and literature to church furniture and vestment worn by priests more than 200 years ago,the museum will exhibit a variety of artifacts,both from the existing old churches and those demolished over the years.

The idea was conceptualised by priests at the seminary along with members of the public who jointly formed a Committee for the Preservation and Promotion of the Historic Patrimony of the Church (now known as the heritage committee) five years ago.

“The oldest physical representation of Christianity in the city in the form of a church building dates back to over 450 years ago. Even today,you see the ruins of a cluster of five 400-year-old churches in Chaul in the Raigad district,which was a former Portuguese city. While these sites have traditionally been poorly maintained by the government,we hit upon the idea of preserving at least small artifacts of historical importance so that a part of this history is preserved,” said Fr Warner D’Souza,one of the faculty and an active member of the committee.

The group has been going around in the region over the past five years to study the architecture of church buildings,making photographic documentation and requesting church authorities to give away a few things of historical importance for the museum. The museum,built on the seminary campus,will be thrown open to public on September 25,the 125th anniversary of Mumbai becoming a Catholic Archdiocese.

The antiques collected so far include a chalice of Bishop Leo Murin who helped build the St Xavier’s College,wooden altars from church ruins in Bhayander,vestments worn by priests from Bhayander’s Dongri Village Church that will complete 400 years in two years,the face part of an old wooden statue of Jesus Christ,church paintings from various churches,silver crowns,etc. The entrance to the museum will adorn a 300-year-old wooden statue of Jesus Christ from the church in Dongri Village. The entire project is being funded by Archbishop of Mumbai Oswald Gracias.

“Most of us,including Christians,know little about Roman Catholicism in the city over the years. The St Andrew’s Church in Bandra was built in 1660 AD,but not many of us would know that. The museum will also show a timeline of evolution of Christianity in the country and the city through guided tours… The committee has on its panel,conservation architects who are restoring artifacts such as cloth,wood,metal pieces,church art and furniture etc before they are displayed. Church records dating back to 1700 have also been found. We found several letters by bishops of those times who would inquire about the high tide timing to get to Mahim from Bhayander by boat as waterways were the only mode of transport at the time,” said Fr D’Souza.

David Cardoz,a conservationist architect specialising in heritage churches,said the general tendency was to throw away old things. “Even today,when we visit churches we see objects lying in the attic and being wasted away or thrown out. Some of these objects are so beautiful and of great historical importance. My job is to identify these from amongst the scrap.”