Oscar Sevrin, 22 November 1884 in Neuville-Wanne (

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

) – 30 April 1975 in

Kunkuri Kunkuri is a town in Chhattisgarh, India. It is a ''tehsil'' of Jashpur district. Geography Kunkuri is located at . It has an average elevation of . Transport Three roads out of this township lead to the Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha O ...

, (India), was a Belgian

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

in India and successively

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

(

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

) and

Raigarh Raigarh is a city in Eastern Chhattisgarh. History The tradition preserved by the ruling family of the erstwhile state of Raigarh maintains that the Raj Gond family migrated to this region from Bairagarh/Wariagarh of Chanda district of Mahara ...

-Ambikapur (

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

Religious formation and early years in India

Born in Neuville-Wanne, in the

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

(

) on 22 November 1884, Sevrin joined the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

in 1903 and did his

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

Arlon Arlon (; lb, Arel ; nl, Aarlen ; german: Arel ; wa, Årlon; la, Orolaunum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in and capital of the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it is t ...

(Belgium) After doing his

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

studies at the Jesuit Philosophate of Louvain (1906–08) he left for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

with a group of other young Jesuit missionaries. At that time, the

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

state (covering the entire Eastern part of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

) was a mission area entrusted to the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

Jesuits. While teaching in the schools of Rengarih and

(1911–16), both important centres in the (now)

state (India), Sevrin had his first contacts with the aboriginal population of the

Chota Nagpur plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the bas ...

. He then completed his Jesuit formation by doing theological studies in

Kurseong Kurseong is a town and a municipality in Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Kurseong subdivision. Located at an altitude of , Kurseong is from Darjeeling and has a pleasant climate throughout ...

(

Darjeeling district Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its hill station and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters. Kurseon ...

)The St Mary's Theologate of Kurseong was transferred to Delhi in 1971 and is known nowadays as the '

Vidyajyoti College of Theology Vidyajyoti College of Theology (literally, ‘Light of Knowledge’) is a Catholic private theological college run by the Jesuits located in Delhi, India. It was started in 1879 in Asansol, West Bengal, as a modest 'Saint Joseph’s Seminary'. ...

'. where he was ordained

on 1 July 1919.

Bishop of Ranchi (Jharkhand)

Sevrin embarked on an educational career, first as a teacher in the St. John's High School in Ranchi (1921–31) and later as inspector of the Catholic missions schools in the whole area (1923–24) when, to everybody’s surprise, he was appointed

(9 April 1934). The diocese had been created in 1927 and Sevrin was its second bishop.

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

remained a priority and he did much to develop an educational network for the

Mundas The Munda people are an Austroasiatic speaking ethnic group of India. They predominantly speak the Mundari language as their native language, which belongs to the Munda subgroup of Austroasiatic languages. The Munda are found mainly concent ...

, Oraons and Kharias in the vast area covered by the diocese. He promoted also the local press by creating the

Hindi language Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

magazine called ''Nishkalanka'' and composed a little

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

and other booklets (among them the ''Bible ka Itihas'') in order to build up a faith culture among the many new Christians of his

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

Bishop of Raigarh-Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh)

In 1951 something quite unusual happened: Sevrin, at the age of 67, asked Pope

Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius B ...

the permission to be relieved from his responsibility in Ranchi. He was giving two reasons: there was a local Oraon priest,

Nicolas Kujur Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

, who, Sevrin felt, was quite capable of taking his place as the pastor of the diocese, and, second, he wanted to go to a neighbouring state where conditions of missionary work – because of great hostility towards Christianity – were extremely difficult. His new diocese, Raigarh-Ambikapur (newly erected), was formed of several little

princely states A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

where, as long as they were autonomous (till the

independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

in 1947), the presence of Christian missionaries was strictly prohibited.

Illiteracy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

and the exploitation of the tribal people were rife. Sevrin, the new bishop, settled down in a small

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

(Ginabahar) and started his work: education, medical help, economic and social development were going hand in hand with

evangelization In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are i ...

. Success got him many enemies and he had to face a number of ''malefide'' court cases. On the other hand, he acquired great prestige among the aboriginal population of the area, including non-Christians. He was highly esteemed. In 1957, for the second time, he decided to resign to allow a local man to be the religious leader of his own people. Sevrin ordained bishop his own successor at Raigarh-Ambikapur: Stanislas Tigga. This did not mean retirement, however. Appointed spiritual guide and professor of religion in the high school of Kunkuri he remained active till his death at the age of 91 on 30 April 1975 in

Bibliography

*THOMAS, A.P.: ''Bishop Sevrin, Great Benefactor of the Tribals'', Allahabad (India), 1963. *MATHIJS, F.: A Good Shepherd, in ''Jesuit profiles'', Anand, 1991, pp. 361–364.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sevrin, Oscar 1884 births 1975 deaths 20th-century Belgian Jesuits Jesuit missionaries in India Belgian Roman Catholic missionaries Belgian expatriates in India 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in India