By Irudhaya Jothi –
Agartala: Agartala Diocese celebrated its silver jubilee of existence along with the first Bishop Lumen Monteiro on December 4 at Holy Cross School ground in Agartala.
As many as one hundred girls representing 19 tribal groups, attired in their culture led the celebrant with an entrance dance synergizing different moves for single music rhythmically.
Ten bishops concelebrated along with the jubilarian Holy Cross Bishop Monteiro with a little more than one hundred priests and nuns.
A short felicitation program after the Eucharist was managed by the lay faithful effectively, the youth leaders from the front.
Agartala diocese was erected by the Papal Bull Venerabiles Fratres Nostri dated January 11, 1996, Pope John Paul II.
The new Diocese of Agartala, which comprised the whole State of Tripura. It was bifurcated from the erstwhile Diocese of Silchar.
Holy Cross father Lumen Monteiro was appointed as the first Bishop of the new Diocese of Agartala and was ordained and installed on 26 May 1996.
The Diocese of Agartala is dedicated to Christ the Light of the World with its motto: Lead us onward (Duc in Altum). The patron of the Diocese is Jesuit St. Francis Xavier.
The preparation for the jubilee celebration started in 2019 with many conventions for children, students, youth, Small Christian Community groups, Religious men, and women. However, due to Covid-19 indefinite lockdowns, many of the programs were organized in a subdued manner.
With all the restrictions of the number of participants and keeping in mind the covid protocols, the jubilee celebration was organized with just around 1000 participants of faithful of Tripura, priests, nuns, and the bishops of Northeast region of India.
Holy Cross Father Shaji Mandapathikunnel Lucka, the chairman of the jubilee committee was happy with the whole process for the preparation of jubilee in the last more than one year.
The vice-principal of Holy Cross College in Agartala said, “I am happy with the collaboration and support from the laity, Religious and priests of the diocese since day one. I thank all.”
The founding of the Tripura mission is attributed to a Jesuit priest, Ignatius Gomes who visited the Christians in Mariamnagar in Agartala bordering Bangladesh in 1683.
North East Historian Dr. David Syiemlieh makes this mention that after about two hundred years in 1843 Holy Cross Father Barbe visited the Catholics from Chittagong.
As per history, it was only from 1937 that priests began to take up permanent residence at Mariamnagar. The first parish in Tripura was erected at Mariamnagar in 1939 and the first permanent Church was blessed in 1952.
In 1969, the Prefecture was upgraded to the position of a Diocese and Father Denzil D’Souza was elected the first Bishop of Silchar. At that time the Diocese comprised the States of Mizoram and Tripura and the two districts of Cachar in Assam.
The silver jubilarian Bishop Monteiro expressed his gratitude and joy in steering the diocese from its inception.
Expressing his sentiments he said, “I feel truly blessed as I cannot imagine that I am celebrating my Silver Jubilee.”
He also thanked God, priests, nuns, and laypeople for their collaboration and contribution to the mission in the Diocese.
The Church in Tripura would have grown more if the formation of the catechists and just remunerations were given importance, said one of the participants and parish council members who didn’t want to be named.
He hoped the jubilee will open those possibilities.