Till the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799 at srirangapatna in the final Anglo-Mysore war the churches in his reign were either non-functional or destroyed for the wrong conception that the churches were supporting the English company. The history of Christianity during Tipu's time was a gloomy one. Incidentally the English were Tipu's arch enemy and he hated them very much for their dishonesty. Soon EIC had begun to expand their activities in the southern region in order to establish their hegemony in that area. Now battered Srirangapatna was back to to normalcy.
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| Happy Christmas greetings, 2023 englishfancy.com |
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| .Immaculate conception church, Ganjam, KAdeccanherald.com/ |
Rev Fr Abbe J A Dubois (born in 1765), a young French Catholic missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) in 1800 settled in Puducherry to engage in evangelical work. On invitation from Governor General Lord Richard Wellesley, Fr. Abbe landed in the small village of Ganjam. the purpose of his long visit to this place was to rejuvenate christianity in this part of Mysore and to recover the region from the scars of the past that saw so many battles and skirmishes. Credit goes to him for restoring Catholic religion in Bangalore and other places. Being an educationist, healer and social reformer, he was keen to help the natives from horrors of war and instill hope in them
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| Abbe chapel, Srirangapatna, imported French en.wikipedia.org |
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| Belltower, Abbe Dubois, srirangapatnaen.wikipedia.org |
Being hardworking and trustworthy, no doubt, he made a mark in the village and won the trust of the natives. He never remained aloof and never hesitated to adopt the culture of that place, customs, language, food, traditions and attire. This made him close to the community. He was known as the ‘Dodda Swamiyoru’ of the church he had constructed in Ganjam. Today, the church symbolises his initial toil, sacrifices and selfless services he rendered to the people.
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| Immaculate conception church, Ganjam, KA. mysorediocese.com |
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| Fr. Abbe J.A. Dubois(January 1765 -1848)istockphoto.com |
The interior of the church is impressive and the walls are adorned with impressive sketches narrating various episodes from the life of Christ. Almost for a quarter century (from 1799 to 1923), Fr. Abbe' life was intertwined with Ganjam and it became his second home . There is small museum here and on display are the clothes, wall clock, books and various items used by Father Abbe, are on display. Father Abbe also constructed The Harobele Church in Ramanagara, While records show that Christianity here dates back to 1662, the village has an unbroken tradition of staging a play every Good Friday on Kapalabetta since 1906. he played a role in the development of St Mary’s Basilica in Bengaluru, the Catholic Church in Hassan, and and other places.
Apart from a social reformer, he was great heale too and gave importance to the health care of the people regardless of caste and religion. When the native relied on the native medicine, Fr. Abbe convince them to tale allopathic medicine, pills, etc for cure. Besides, he introduced vaccination against dreaded diseases like smallpox, cholera and medication against plague that had largely afflicted the region. Thus he save thousands of people from near death. He administered vaccination against smallpox to Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, who succeeded Chamaraja Wadiyar IX. Fr. Abbe was instrumental in staring cooperative farming - Sahakaara Besaya and the farmers found it useful.
It was Fr. Abbe Dubois who restored the catholic missions in Bangalore and other places and tried to rebuild the damaged churches or build new ones.The present historical church Immaculate conception church, Ganjam was recently renovated. Fr Dubois left India in January 1823, after his long missionary services in Mysore and other places with a special pension conferred on him by the East India Company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Antoine_Dubois
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/church-tells-thousand-stories-676576.htm
https://www.navrangindia.in/2014/12/a-hindu-saint-cum-catholic-french.html
