{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 164,
  "chapterName": "1929. Description of the Christian Village of Maryabad",
  "pageFrom": 339,
  "pageTo": 340,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 339,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n339\n6. (i) At any time after the commencement of this Act,\nthe General Council may by resolution appoint such number of\npersons as they shall see fit (not being less than three) to represent\nthe Indian Church and to hold property for any uses or purposes\nthereof, and when it is shown to the satisfaction of His Majesty\nthe King that the said Council has appointed such persons His\nMajesty the King in Council may by charter incorporate them\nand their successors with power to hold land without license in\nmortmain under the name of the Indian Church Trustees.\n(ii) At any time after the commencement of this Act and\nbefore the date of severance, any corporation or corporations sole\nor aggregate which will be dissolved under paragraph (iv) of section\ntwo of this Act may, be proclamation in writing, vest any property\nsubject to this Act held by it or them, severally or jointly, in any\nsociety or body of trustees duly registered under the Societies\nRegistration Act, 1860, or the Indian Companies Act, 1913, and\nthat society or body shall hold such property on the same trusts or\nfor the same purposes on or for which corporation or corporations\nheld it...\n10. The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, shall apply to\nthe Indian Church on and after the date of the severance in like\nmanner in all respects as it applied to the Indian Church before\nthe date of severance.\n11. This Act shall come into operation on the date fixed by\nHis Majesty in Council for the coming into operation of the\nIndian Church Measure, 1927.\n12. This Act may be cited as the Indian Church Act, 1927.\n164. DESCRIPTION OF THE CHRISTIAN VILLAGE\nOF MARYABAD (1929 A.D.)\nThis is a description of the establishment and subsequent history\nof a Roman Catholic village in the Punjab. It is found in Missiones-\nRelatio Missionis Lahorensi', Analecta Ordinis Minorum Capucci-\nnorum, pp. 67-70.\nHistory. In March 1892, Mgr. Vanden Bosch bought from\nGovernment in public auction, 150 acres of land situated on the\nChenab Colony in the Gujranwala District for Rs. 6,500.\nThe first caravan consisting of RR. FF Lievin and Engelbert and\nthree Christian families left Daoki (Sialkot) on January 8th 1893\nand after six days' march mar reached the land on a Saturday and placed\nit under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary in whose honour",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 340,
      "ocrText": "340\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nit was dedicated and named 'Maryabad', i.e., Abode of Mary.'\nThree months later, on April 3rd 1893, Father Felix and Father\nDesire were sent out to the new settlement to minister to the spiritual\nwants of the pioneers and an to guide them in their labours. By 1895\nthe number of Christians had increased to about 500.\nAt that time a favourable and unique opportunity offered itself:\nfive hundred acres of adjacent land were bought from S. Gulab\nSingh for Rs. 25,000, in order to increase the size of the individual\nholdings hitherto too small for profitable working.\nDuring the years of famine (1895-96) several Protestant families\nwho had leased land from Mahommedan or Hindu colonists had\nto leave their holdings and not knowing where to go came to\nMaryabad where they were allowed to stay. They were well to-do\npeople, had sufficient money and plenty of grain, and could, there-\nfore, subsist on a sm small plot of land land till better times. Other rela-\ntives of the former settlers arrived and the number of Christians\nrose to over a thousand. To work the colony successfully Fr. Felix\nhelped them to buy bullockcarts, found them work in transporting\nthe produce of his land and that of the surrounding villages to the\nnearest market, etc. Others had to burn bricks, others, again, had\nto help in the erection of the various large and beautiful buildings\nof Maryabad, and thus by thrift and careful administration all the\npeople became happy and prosperous.\nOn October 4th 1896, the foundation stone was laid for\na chapel; and later a presbytery, capable of housing four mis-\nsionaries was erected, both being completed by 1898, by which\ntime a well had also been sunk, furnishing a pure drink supply,\ndoing away with the danger of further epidemics caused by polluted\nwater. The church was solemnly blessed on December 8th, 1898\nby Mgr. Pelckmans, Bishop of Lahore, and dedicated to the Blessed\nVirgin Mary and St. Joseph. A school and an orphanage for boys,\nand another for girls, a convent and a dispensary were built and\nall these Institutions were furnished and decorated throughout, the\nchurch being ornamented with oil paintings executed by Brother\nFlorentin.\nBefore Maryabad had completed the first decade of its exis-\ntence, the Christian community was fully organised. The village\nplot had been intersected by broad roads, with trees growing on\neach side of them, and lined by houses providing accommodation\nsufficient for one thousand inhabitants of the place. The farm land\nadjoining the village had been cut up into fair-sized plots and\nbrought under profitable cultivation. Sheds had been erected for\nstoring grain and field produce. Industries had been established to\nprovide employment for those whose services could not be utilised",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}