1. The early missionary efforts, leading to the founding of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Great Mughals

2. The founding of the Delhi-Simla Archdiocese


The Emergence of Delhi-Simla Archdiocese

In the mid-19th century, Simla was a small town in Himachal Pradesh, about 7,400 feet above sea level, with an agreeable midsummer temperature. When the British came to India, they realized its utility and so developed in into a summer resort. Bishop Joseph Anthony Borghi also realized Simla's utility and, in 1844, he built two churches, one at Kasauli and another at Subbathu, both in Simla District. His successor, Bishop Cajetan Carli, built a church in Simla proper in 1851.

The Capuchins invited the Religious of Jesus and Mary, the Loreto sisters and the Presentation Sisters to open educational institutions. The Capuchins also started St. Bede's college in Simla and handed it over to the Religious of Jesus and Mary to run it. The college soon became a well-known institution of excellence.
In 1910, by a Decree of the Sacred congregation of Faith, Simla Archdiocese was erected. Along with that the districts of Ambala, Hissar, Karnal, Patiala, Nabha, Jind Lahoru, Malerkotla and the station at Kalka, Dagashai, Solan, Hotogh and Simla were detached from Agra and passed over to this newly erected Archdiocese.

The Holy See entrusted this Archdiocese to the English capuchins and chose Fr. Anselm Kenealy, a member of the English capuchin Province, to be the first Archbishop. He was consecrated on December 21, 1910. Archbishop Sylvester Patrick Mulligan succeeded him in 1937 and in that year, the city of Delhi and those portion of the Punjab which were under the Archdiocese of Agra, were added to the Archdiocese of Simla. It was during Archbishop renamed as Archdiocese of Delhi-Simla. It was during Archbishop Mulligan's time that construction of St. Anthony's Church at Paharganj was started in 1947 and completed in 1949.
Archbishop Sylvester Patrick Mulligan passed away in 1950. In the following year, Rt. Rev. Joseph Fernandes, the then Auxiliary bishop of Calcutta, toll over as the first Indian Archbishop of Delhi. Son after, the English capuchins moved to the apostolic Prefecture of Jullundar, which was erected on January 17, 1952, detaching the districts which were part of Lahore diocese but became apart of India after the portion and which was entrusted to the British province of the capuchins. As a result, when Archbishop Joseph Fernandes took over, he had hardly any priests,. Msgr. John Burke was a chaplain to the Royal Air force and continued to stay in Delhi. A priest from Ajmer and another from Chittagong were the parish priests of two Important churches. The latter, however, had to leave India because of his pro-Portuguese leanings. Fr. Favrin, whom the Archbishop knew in West Bengal, worked in the diocese till 1964 when he met with a fatal accident at the crossing of Rajpath and Jan path. Thee were also a few other Indian capuchins. The most venerated was Fr. Benedict. He had the bearing of an Old Testament prophet. Even dishonest people sought him for assistance and lay people and priests went to him for confessions. Fr. Jorge D'Souza and Theodore Menezes came to Delhi around 1952. In the Diaspora there were a few priests, like Fr. Jerome Prabhu who was posted at Kassauli.

Then there was Fr. Stanley Mascarenhas, who was responsible for upgrading
St. Michael's School in Gurgaon. He also looked after St. Michael's Church, established in 1953, and visited the Catholics I Kanhei Mission, some 10 kilometers away. The Kanhei Mission has an interesting history. It was started in 1930 'by accident' by an English capuchin residing at St,. Mary's Church, Old Delhi. The resident English Officer at Gurgaon was his friend and during one of his visits to him he saw some poor villagers brought there by the police. He was told that they were criminals. The priest visited the village at the request of the people. They embraced Christianity as a proof of their turning way form their criminal ways and the officer dropped the cases against them. The Cathedral Parish later adopted the mission.


3. The founding of the Delhi Archdiocese

The Birth of Delhi Archdiocese

In spite of the shortage of priests, the Archdiocese of Delhi-Simla made sufficient progress and on June 4, 1959, the Archdiocese was bifurcated into two separate ecclesiastical units, viz. diocese of Simla -Chandigarh and Archdiocese of Delhi and both were handed over to the diocesan clergy. While Archbishop Joseph Fernandes was renamed the Archbishop of Delhi, Msgr. John Burke, the then vicar General of Delhi Archdiocese, was consecrated on November 1, 1959, as the first bishop of the newly carved out diocese of Simla-Chandigarh. On the same day, Rev. Fr. Angelo Fernandes, the then administrator of Holy Name Cathedral, Bombay, was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Delhi.
At the time of the bifurcation in 1959, the Archdiocese of Delhi had only 10 churches. In spite of these limitations, a planned growth for the Archdiocese was envisaged by the then Archbishop Joseph Fernandes and his coadjutor Archbishop Angelo Fernandes who succeeded him in 1967.

At present the Archdiocese of Delhi comprises the State of the Capital Territory of Delhi and the seven civil districts of Haryana, namely, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Mahendergarh, Sonepat, Faridabad, Rewari and Jhajjar. Though most of the activities of the Archdiocese were confined to the city, efforts were also made to extend the Church to Haryana. Only Gurgaon had a mission, St. Michael's Church, since 1952. the Sonepat mission was started around 1963. A certain Mr. Sylvester persuaded the Archbishop to start a school. The Sisters of charity of Ss. Bartholomea Capitanio & Vincenza Geroiza, popularly known as bambino Sisters, opted to go there. They opened the Holy Child School in 1964 in a rented place and later moved to the land purchased for the school, alsong with the land for a church. Though the priests' residence was built in the late sixties, along with the school for over 20 years. This mission station was entrusted to the Indian Missionary Society in 1986. The same Society runs the Ganaur M9ission in Sonepat district, which was stated in 1995.
The Church in Jahangirpuri has a history behind. Twice the attempt of the people to build a structure was resisted by the local people. When ultimately the building was coming up in 1991-92, non of the priests was allowed to go near the construction site. Only at the time of the inauguration the people of the locality came to know that it was a church. At present, the Parish of St. Vincnet de Paul at Jehangirpuri is run by the Jesuits.

The Mission in Rohtak, started in 1978, was a unique experiment. Two diocesan priests form Bombay and two form Delhi, living in a rented place, constituted one community and one sister each form the congregation of Canossian Daughters of Charity, the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary and the Union of the sisters of Presentation of the Blessed virgin Mary, living in another rented place constituted another community. Each community chose a leader and the seven worked as a team. The idea was not a to build institutional structures but to be in touch with people, reacting to situations and offering services wherever needed. The members began with imparting value education in the existing government and private schools and got involved in imparting non-formal education in the slums. There was one Christian family, and a couple of single Christians working in factories, banks etc. The majority of the small Christian population were foreign students, mostly form African countries, studying in the medical, engineering and other colleges in Rohtak. After 5 years a regular Mission station was established.

In Faridabad the first station, St. Joseph's Church, was established in 1962. In 1985, the mission was bifurcated with another church Sector 9 and, in 1994, a third church came up in Sector 28. There are also 7 religious communities and 8 Catholic schools.

In Rewari a Catholic Mission, with resident priest, was established in 1985 through a dilapidated church existed long before. There are also 2 religious communities. In Narnaul of Mahendragarh District the Pilar fathers established a Mission station in 1990. In addition, the Franciscan sisters of Our lady of Graces set up a convent as part of the Mission.
The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, visited the Archdiocese of Delhi in January 1986 and rededicated it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and commended to the Lord all the 19.5 million people entrusted to the care of the Archdiocese.

Most. Rev. Angelo Fernandes retired as Archbishop of Delhi in 1990 and Most Rev. Alan Basil de Lastic took over as the new Archbishop on January 27, 1991. To assist the new Archbishop, Rt. Rev. Vincent M Concessao was consecrated as the Auxiliary Bishop on April 1, 1995.

On the 26th of November 1998, the Holy See announced the appointment of Rt. Rev. Vincent M. Concessao, Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi, as the new Archbishop of Agra. The installation ceremony took place on the 21st of January 1999 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate conception, Agra. With the transfer of the Auxiliary bishop of Delhi to succeed the Most Rev. Cecil D'Sa, Archbishop Emeritus of Agra, some significant changes took place in the Archdiocesan Curia of Delhi. Given the enormity of Episcopal responsibilities of Archbishop Alan de Lstic, some of which were hitherto shared by his Auxiliary, it was found necessary to appoint two Episcopal Vicars with whom, together with the Vicar General and the Judicial Vicar, the Archbishop would share his Episcopal responsibilities in the Archdiocese of Delhi. Accordingly, the Archbishop appointed Rev. Fr. Susai Sebastian, Parish Priest of the church of Our lady of Health, Masihgarh-Okhla, and Rev. Fr. Anil J.T. Couto, Recctor of the Archdiocesan Minor Seminary, "Vinay Gurukul" as Episcopal Vicars to serve on the Archdiocesan Curia for a tenure of three years.
On 20th June 2000, Archbishop Alan de Lastic expired at Poland in a car accident. Then Rev. Fr. Victor D' Souza elected as the archdiocesan administrator. Archbishop, Rt. Rev. Vincent M. Concessao transferred from Agra to Delhi. Installation ceremony took place on the 19th November 2000 at St. Columbas school ground as the new Archbishop of Delhi. To assist the new Archbishop, Rt. Rev. Anil J.T. Couto, Recctor of the Archdiocesan Minor Seminary, "Vinay Gurukul" was consecrated as the Auxiliary Bishop on 11th March 2001. Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao appointed Bishop Anil Couto as the Vicar General of the Archdiocese.

At present there are 80 diocesan priests and the Archdiocese has 60 parishes, most of them situated in the capital city itself. The Archdiocese also has a large number of religious communities and religious congregations. At present, the number of religious congregations within the territory of the Archdiocese at present is 19,500,000 of which the Catholic population is 10,5000. these consist of the Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholics.

The people of the Union Territory of Delhi comprise a large number of migrants from different states of the country, particularly for the nearer ones, like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It also has a large number of refuges who came to Delhi in 1947 soon after the Partition on India. As the city developed and the employment opportunities increased, the number of migrants also grew and the population now has raised to almost our time in comparison to the figure of nearly five decades ago. Today, as we near the end of the millennium, it stands at more than nineteen million people. Along with the increase in the migration of the general population, the migration of Christians too increased.

To solve the problem of congestion, more attention I begin paid now to develop satellite town and a new Planning Body has set up for which is called the National capital Region which takes into consideration all the towns within a radius of about 80 Kms. In terms of economics, Delhi has a mixture of both the very rich and the very poor with a growing middle class mostly engaged in various services. On the nine million people, over tow million live in slums. Various industries that had developed over the past two or three decades are now being shifted to the satellite town of the neighboring states. By and large, people of different faith, states, languages and cultures live together in peace, though occasionally there are communal riots and clashes which rarely go out of control.