Building a Priory & Birthing a New Province: A Glimpse from the Pages of History
Published in Dominican Ashram , Vol. 4 No. 4 (December 2022), pp. 176-179. Reproduced with permission. M Y RECENT STUDY of the history of the Catholic Missions in Central India roused my desire to know something about the history of the community where I am assigned, namely, St. Dominic Ashram, Nagpur and the Province of India that eventually took its birth from it. Since I was not content with the fragmentary information available in the public domain, one of the friars suggested that I request access to the community chronicles. My Prior readily obliged and I was handed a voluminous red ledger book, its pages slightly yellowed with age and its binding in a delicate condition. As I opened it in search of a few historical facts, I was pleasantly surprised to find a captivating picture of those early days which, although not too distant in the past, are still quite a treat for the modern reader. I invite you to join me as I try to recount and re-paint this engrossing account. Building...