Miao: French Missionaries Krick and Bourry were remembered at the 60th Tibetan National Uprising Day commemoration in Miao on 10 March 2019.
“Tibet and Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh have an age-old connection,” said Fr. Felix Anthony, the social communication secretary of Miao Diocese in east Arunachal Pradesh. “French Missionaries Nicolas Krick and Augustine Bourry were killed on their way to Tibet in 1854. They sowed the first seeds of Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh 165 years ago before they were killed on August 2 the same year at the Tibet-Arunachal border region by a Mishmi Tribe chieftain.”
Tibetans all over the world gather together every year on 10 March to commemorate the unforgettable event in the Tibetan history and pay homage to the thousands of heroes who laid their lives, resisting brutal suppression of the Chinese Communist occupation forces in 1959.
“Though Fathers Krick and Bourry could not enter Tibet, my presence with you today as a guest on the 60th Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day is like fulfilling the dream of the two French Missionaries,” Fr. Felix said, addressing the a large gathering of 500 Tibetans from the Miao Tibetan Settlement, who took out a candlelight Peace March from the settlement to Miao town, covering distance of five kilometers on foot.
Miao in Arunachal Pradesh has the largest Tibetan settlement in the North East India with 500 families with the population of more than 3,000 people.
The memories of the Servants of God Krick and Bourry, the missionaries to Tibet getting revived on the 60th Tibetan National Uprising Day augurs well for the cause of canonization of the two martyrs.
With the prayerful support of these two holy men, one hopes that the global human rights communities, like the UNO, would wake up to the poor plight of the Tibetans settled across the world and support them in their fight for freedom and help them return to their country one day to live with dignity.
The 60th Tibetan National Uprising Day was organized by the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of Miao unit.