The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gwalior ( la, Gwalioren(sis)) is a

diocese In 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 provinces were administratively associa ...

located in the city of

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

in India.

History

There had always been a large number of Christians in the service of Raja

Scindia The Scindia dynasty (anglicized from Shinde) is a Hindu Maratha dynasty of maratha origin that ruled the erstwhile State of Gwalior. It had the Patil-ship of Kumberkerrab in Wai. It was founded by Ranoji Scindia, who started as a personal serva ...

Gwalior State Gwalior state was a semi-autonomous Maratha state. It was centred in modern-day Madhya Pradesh, arising due to the rise of the Maratha Empire and fragmentation of the Mughal Empire. It was ruled by the Scindia, House of Scindia (anglicized fro ...

. In its heyday the Catholic community was reckoned to be one thousand strong. They were scattered in three main camps under the command of three Christian officers.'(Vannini Fr. Fulgentius ofm cap. : Hindustan - Tibet Mission) They were the Lashkar camp, called by the Indians Kampoo, commanded by Colonel Filose; then Sikander Kampoo, commanded by colonel Alexander; thirdly, the Jacob Camp commanded by colonel Jacob. Colonel Filose and Colonel Alexander were Catholics, but Colonel Jacob was an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

. Due to political disturbance and the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, the missionaries coming to India were reduced to 12 in 1770, 8 in 1800 and from 1817 to 1822 there were only three missionaries working at different places. Fr. Angelo of Caraglio was working at

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

, Sardhana and

between the years 1817 - 1822. With this we can trace that Gwalior was a visiting station from 1817; but from the letter of John Baptist Filose to the Capuchin fathers working at Surat, requesting them to send a chaplain to Gwalior, we can conclude that Gwalior had a visiting chaplain even before 1803 (ibid p. 272). It seems that due to lack of missionaries, people who were willing to become Christians were baptized without sufficient instruction to the catholic faith. Therefore, missionaries coming after them had a difficult time. There was another group of Christians who had come from Goa in search of employment in the Scindia dominion. The present church of St. John the Baptist was built by John Baptist Filose, roundabout the year 1828. Fr. Constant Fernandez, a Goan Diocesan Priest was the first residing chaplain of Lashkar and he laboured from 1832 to 1844. He was succeeded in August 1844 by Fr. Anastasius Hartmann, a Swiss Capuchin. He worked 18 months at Gwalior. During his stay he opened a school for the education of poor children, established an industrial centre for the employment of young girls and widows, provided the station with a burial ground and education uplift of his flock. His whole idea was to make the Christians better, to get them to lead a real Catholic life. He was appointed Bishop of Derne and First Vicar Apostolic of

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

on 30 September 1845. It was during this year that Agra Mission was divided into two separate Vicariates: Agra and Patna. Before this the whole of North India, known as the prefecture Apostolic of Tibet & Hindustan, was constituted into the Vicariate Apostolic of Agra, in 1820. The list of the Chaplains at Gwalior is rather long. There have been 33 Chaplains from 1832 till it was dismembered from the Agra Archdiocese (established in 1886) and added the diocese of Jhansi on 5 July 1954. The priests who were involved as parish priests at Gwalior were Fr. Roger ofm Cap., Fr. M. Joseph, Fr. Alphonse C., Fr. Abraham Palakudy, Fr. Joseph, Palakudy and Fr. John C. Kedari, Fr. P. Martin, Fr. Eugene. Six districts of M.P. cover within the diocese of Gwalior. They are Bhind, Datia, Gwalior, Morena, Sheopur and Shivpuri.

Leadership

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 c ...

s of Gwalior (

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

) ** Bishop Joseph Kaithathara (9 February 1999 – 18 October 2016) ** Bishop Thomas Thennatt (18 October 2016 - 14 December 2018) ** Bishop Joseph Thykkattil (31 May 2019 – present)

References

External links

GCatholic.org

Catholic Hierarchy

Video of St. John's Cathedral of Gwalior
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwalior Roman Catholic dioceses in India Christian organizations established in 1999 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Christianity in Madhya Pradesh Gwalior 1999 establishments in Madhya Pradesh