T
he diocese of Bangalore was formerly part of the Mysore Mission
itself separated from Pondicherry in 1845 and entrusted to the Fathers of the PARIS FOREIGN MISSION SOCIETY OF M.E.P.(Missions Etrangeres de Paris). The Mysore mission was erected into a Vicariate Apostolic in 1850 and entrusted to Msgr Charbonnaux, M.E.P. who was till then, coadjutor to the Bishop of Pondicherry.
In 1886, the Bull “Humanae Salutis Auctor” elevated the Vicariate of
Mysore to the rank of a diocese. If Mysore was the title, Bangalore was the headquarter of the mission. All along the second part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th the MEP, under successive bishops, developed a network of churches, schools, convents, colleges which prepared Bangalore to become an archdiocese, a great capital and a cosmopolitan city.
The Christian infrastructure of Bangalore owes much to the French
Fathers, SERVANTON Circle in Cantonment area and BRIAND Square near City Market perpetuate the memory of the founders respectively of such city landmarks as SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER’S CATHEDRAL whose first Parish Priest was Fr Jarrige in 1842, and SAINT JOSEPH’S CHURCH built by Fr Bigot-Beauclair in 1851-1852. SAINT MARY’S BASILICA, started as the first church in Bangalore, was built as we see it now, by Fr Kleiner between 1875 & 1882 before he was made a bishop. SACRED HEART CHURCH was completed in 1895 by Fr Combret. The then Cathedral, SAINT PATRICK’S CHURCH, was completed by Fr Gailhot in 1844 and renovated by the illustrious Fr Tabard who was its Parish Priest from 04.12.1891 till 12.04.1925. He is buried inside the church. ST PETER’S SEMINARY in Malleswaram, now a Philosophy and Theology faculty was established in Pondicherry in 1777 by Bishop Brigot, first MEP Superior of the Malabar Mission and transferred to Bangalore in 1934. SAINT JOSEPH’S COLLEGE was founded by Bishop Charbonnaux as soon as he was appointed bishop in Bangalore. It was handed over to the Jesuits on1st June 1937.
Subsequently the Diocese was bifurcated and thus the Diocese of
Bangalore as such was erected on 13th February, 1940 It became an Archdiocese on 19th September, 1953. On 14th November, 1988 the Diocese of Shimoga was created to which Bangalore Archdiocese ceded the civil district of Chitradurga. Thus the Archdiocese of Bangalore comprises of six civil districts of Bangalore Rural, Bangalore-urban, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Ramnagara and Tumkur. These cover an area of 27,013 85 Sq kms with a total population of 10,557,700 as per census of 1981, of which 4,09,247 are Christians, and of which 2,80,630 are Catholics (1988).
