Thane's brush with Christianity 200 years before Bombay’s

Last Friday, services held in four churches in Thane, Sion, Italy and Georgia marked the martyrdom of the first Latin missionaries to arrive in this part of India’s west coast, nearly 200 years before the Portuguese

We always knew that the Church of India had martyrs. This incident confirms some were here too,” says Father Basil Lobo, parish priest of Sion’s Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, a Franciscan-run parish where one of the four commemorative services was held on April 9 to mark the 700th anniversary of the martyrdom of four friars. They travelled by land from Italy to Tbilisi, in Georgia, moved to Tabriz in Iran, and finally boarded a ship from Hormuz. They were headed to Kollam in Kerala, and eventually to China but unexpectedly landed in Thane. It’s here that they—priests Thomas of Tolentino and James of Padua, cleric Peter of Siena and a lay brother and linguist, Demetrius of Tiflis (Tbilisi, Georgia)—were martyred on April 9, 1321.

In some interpretations, palm fronds act as visual markers for martyrs.

Ever since Thane-based Dr Fleur D’Souza, historian and former vice-principal of St Xavier’s College (SXC), Mumbai, wrote an article about these Franciscan martyrs for her parish bulletin at St John the Baptist, she has been intrigued by this link. When she was a collegian, older parishioners, including her family members, would recall stories about them. Later, her academic pursuits (Head, History Department, SXC) enabled her to deep-dive into researching their presence in these parts. “The arrival of these friars to the port town of Thane by accident is well documented by Jordan of Sévérac, a Frenchman who, along with a Dominican, had accompanied these Franciscans. This could possibly be one of the earliest recorded encounters of the Catholic Church with the region’s population that constitutes today’s Archdiocese of Bombay,” reveals D’Souza. The group was hosted by one of the 15 Nestorian (Syrian) Christian families in Thane, which at the time was a multicultural society that included Arabs and East Africans.

These stained glass murals in Sion’s Our Lady of Good Counsel were designed by late Fr Christopher Coelho, who also designed the new church building

Mirroring D’Souza’s efforts, over 6,000 km away, two Italian scholars, Paolo Cicconofri and Carlo Vurachi, have been documenting the lives of these Franciscans, and exchanging notes with her. “Thomas and his companions were not the first missionaries of the Latin Church to reach India, because a few years before them, others had gone to China via Kollam and Meliapur (Mylapore, Tamil Nadu); but they were the first to reach Maharashtra and this region of Mumbai, even if by chance. They were also the first martyrs of the Latin Church, who linked their names and their experience to India,” shares Cicconofri in an email interview to mid-day. It is symbolic to the spread of Christianity in India because they arrived nearly 200 years before the Portuguese, as men of peace, only armed with the Gospel and their faith.

Cicconofri discovered the story of Thomas and his companions while working on a book about the Blessed Odoric of Pordenone, who in his ‘Relatio’ (Italian: narration) tells the story of the four martyrs, and how he moved their relics to China after their death. Oderic had heard of their fate while in Persia, and so, he halted in Thane in 1323 to collect their bones. He carried them to China, where these relics remained in one of the Franciscan churches. 

Back in Sion, Fr Basil’s parish has an interesting connection to this incident. This church is part of the Order of Friars Minor that was started in Assisi, Italy. “Built as a chapel in the late 1500s, it was originally attached to St Michael’s Church in Mahim, and was used as a transit house for Franciscan friars. The church’s interiors have stained glass murals that are visual tributes to these martyrs. These were designed by one of our Franciscan friars, Fr Christopher Coelho,” he shares.

Dr Fleur D’Souza with (left) Paolo Cicconofri and Carlo Vurachi. The Italians’ soon-to-release book, Tommaso da Tolentino: Storia di un francescano showcases the life of this Blessed Thomas, who was a protagonist in the history of his order. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar, Fleur D’Souza

Oderic’s detailed account, along with Jordan’s writings, helped the two Italians and D’Souza to reconstruct this historic timeline. Vurachi remembers his visit from 2018, when he saw the places he had only read of in books. At a mass at St. John the Baptist, the congregation listened as he spoke about the Thane martyrs, reiterating how Christianity came here nearly 200 years before it reached Bombay.

Relic in Thane
The relic of Blessed Thomas of Tolentino is in an ornate cabinet in the sanctuary of the 438 year-old St. John the Baptist Church. This was thanks to the efforts of Bishop Allwyn D’Souza, parish priest, Gerry Fernandes, and parishioners Jervis Alvares, Paul Aguiar, Alex Miranda and Dunston Rebello, who drafted a booklet on this event. While researching for Witness (D’Souza’s book on St John the Baptist Church) at the Archbishop’s House, she found a letter from 1961 that reveals how the then parish priest Fr Frank Lobo was able to acquire it as it was in Tolentino. A request to Fr. Augustine Sepinski, O.F.M Minister of the Franciscans in Rome, forwarded by Valerian Cardinal Gracias, then Archbishop of Bombay, paved the way for a small relic to arrive here.

Did you know?
D’Souza reveals that Franciscan Odoric’s detailed accounts of his time in Thane mentions 'fire worshippers’ that some say refers to the Parsis.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!