I started writing this on February 17th, the death anniversary of Brother Michael Paul Riordan who was our
2nd Superior General from 1838 until his death in 1862. It was Brother Paul who was responsible for sending
Patrick Francis Fitzpatrick (36) and his cousin Thomas Alphonsus Tolan (33) to Calcutta where they arrived on 15th February 1848.
They officially set about their apostolic ministry on 28th February, so they weren't given much breathing space.
Many have wondered why these two men were not fully integrated into the Congregation of Christian Brothers.
Perhaps a little explanation is called for.
In answer to many requests made to the Superior General, a few Brothers were sent to Sydney in 1843.
They were accommodated by the Benedictine Bishop and set about teaching in three schools immediately.
They were highly praised for their hard work and total commitment. But the Bishop thought they should sever all
links with the congregation in Ireland. Maybe this seemed reasonable at the time given the difficulty of communication
and the distance involved but the Brothers were adamant - they wanted to remain united with the parent body.
As a result the Brothers left Sydney and returned to Ireland in 1847. (Interestingly, one of those Brothers,
Francis Larkin taught young Patrick Treacy in Thurles. Patrick became Brother Ambrose who was the dynamic leader of
the Brothers who returned to Australia in 1868. He is regarded as the founder of the Australian Province.
Brother Ambrose's nephew, Brother Paddy Muldowney, was an amazingly talented and respected Brother in Ireland.)
Many requests were made to our General Council around the same time to send Brothers to Calcutta.
The local clergy, notably Dr. Olliffe and Monsignor Carew, both originally from Ireland, made them aware of
the difficult circumstances under which many poor Anglo-Indians had to live. I use the term "Anglo-Indian" rather loosely.
There were whole families of British people living in India for longer or shorter terms.
There were single men who were posted here on fixed-term contracts. There were the "country born" - descendants of those
who had come from Europe. In time there were the Anglo-Indians who lived in colonies, those who occupied railway quarters
and those who were in the cantonments. Residence almost determined social standing - a kind of caste system.
An arrangement existed whereby the children of the country born were educated in England. Later schools were set up for
them in India. Then there were those Anglo Indians at the bottom of the heap, many of them descendants of Irish soldiers.
Due to their straitened circumstances and lack of job opportunities, many Irishmen joined the British Army.
They followed the flag in all the countries where the British were at war or were in occupancy.
In India many of these "Irish" foot soldiers married local girls. The infamous withdrawal from Kabul in 1842 saw 16,000
"English" (a huge number were Indian sepoys) massacred. Of these, 4,500 were military personnel and the rest
were camp followers. Some of those orphaned would have been accommodated in the schools Monsignor Carew and the
Community of Catholic Charity Schools were prompted to open in Moorghihatta, and in rented premises in Bow Bazaar Street.
The Loreto Sisters came to Calcutta to look after orphans and other Catholic girls. Like the Benedictine Bishop in Sydney,
Monsignor Carew wanted to control the Sisters and had them sever connections with the Mother House in Rathfarnham, Dublin.
It was thirty years before they were reunited.
After their experience in Sydney, and being aware of what happened to the Loreto Sisters, the Christian Brothers
would have been cautious about sending Brothers to Calcutta. At our 1841 chapter there was a request from an Archbishop,
sponsored by two Brothers, to have our Thurles monastery revert to diocesan status. Undoubtedly, despite these factors,
there was great compassion for the poor orphaned children in Calcutta. A compromise solution was reached.
If there were volunteers prepared to undertake the Calcutta mission, the Christian Brothers would see to their initial
religious formation and train them in classroom procedures. Two men from Dublin, Patrick Fitzpatrick and Thomas Tolan,
were among the volunteers.
The two cousins had their novitiate training in the North Monastery, Cork. Some wags might remark that that was good
training for a foreign mission, given the differences in the Dublin and Cork accents! Patrick Fitzpatrick had a longer
training period than his cousin's three or four months! The three other volunteers who had joined with him left the
novitiate, and his cousin Thomas Tolan took their place. In those days there were a number of instances where our
candidates underwent such a programme in the local Christian Brothers Monastery, being directed by the local Superior -
or Director, as he was then called. Brother Baptist Leonard was probably the Director responsible for the novices in Cork.
As part of their training the two cousins went to North Richmond Street in Dublin to learn about running a school and managing
classes.
Monsignor Carew warmly welcomed the two cousins after their four month long voyage to India.
As per instruction, the duo brought with them a copy of the Brothers' 1832 rule and the habit of the congregation.
Thomas was longer on the voyage than he had been in formation! These were the men whom Monsignor Carew wanted to be
the first members of his religious order - the Calcutta Brothers . Francis was appointed to look after the school and
orphans at Moorghihatta. Thomas travelled daily to Bow Bazaar Street to look after the free boys' school there.
Interestingly, the two Brothers made their first annual vows on 17th March 1848 according to the formula used by the
Christian Brothers. Monsignor Carew, rather naively, applied to Rome immediately for papal approval of his congregation.
Over the years various candidates joined the Brothers; they were given a habit and put into school next day!
Not surprisingly they didn't last long. A development was that Brothers Fitzpatrick and Tolan were allowed to take Final
Vows on 17th March 1851.
Brother Fitzpatrick was appointed Superior. It is difficult to imagine the onerous responsibilities placed
on this highly strung man. He had to supervise and provide for the 100 orphans who were boarding in Moorghihatta,
teach them and 120 day scholars, try to enlist new members, keep the accounts of expenditure to present to the Monsignor
while seeking ways to expand the meagre accommodation in the confines of over-populated Moorghihatta. He supervised
the O'Connell Memorial Building - the addition of a second storey to the existing building.
Visitors to the cathedral grounds can still see the commemorative plaque on the wall of that building.
A friend told me that it might be more difficult to find an account of the money promised by O'Connell!
On the other hand, Monsignor Carew was the soul of generosity. He honoured all requests made by Francis who was his
friend and confidant. The Monsignor had grandiose apostolic schemes, zealous priest that he was. They lacked practicality.
Poor Francis must have been severely stressed as he tried to live up to his patron's expectations.
Monsignor Carew's death at the age of 55 on 2nd November 1855 had a devastating effect on Francis
who died exactly four weeks later, aged 43. According to his wish he was buried beneath the classroom in
Moorghihatta where he had laboured so assiduously for seven years.
Archbishop Carew was succeeded by Bishop Olliffe. The men were very different in mind set.
Olliffe was very much down to earth. He didn't share his predecessor’s hope of founding a congregation of Brothers to
work in Bengal as the Christian Brothers worked in Ireland. He appointed Brother Tolan Superior of the five Calcutta
Brothers and two postulants but he wasted no time in trying to get an established order of Brothers to amalgamate with
those in Calcutta. He had Brother Tolan write with such a request to Paul Riordan. A refusal saw Bishop Olliffe making
a similar request to the Superior General of the De la Salle Brothers in Paris. It is obvious from correspondence that
both the Bishop and Brother Tolan were under the impression that the Christian Brothers in Ireland were a branch of the
De la Salle Brothers. Small wonder - on 20th February 1843 Paul Riordan wrote to the De la Salle General: "We beg of
you to grant us letters of affiliation. ....Remember that we are your faithful children and that our institute is a branch
of yours." Poor Edmund!
Brother Tolan's story is as amazing as it is tortuous. In 1857 he was to go to Europe to attempt persuading
the Christian Brothers to amalgamate with them. He turned up in Paris and spent a year with the De la Salle
Brothers subsequently making his novitiate. After 18 months he was back in Calcutta, never again to return to Ireland.
Meanwhile Brother Venere, Superior of the De la Salle mission in Penang, visited Moorghihatta and sent a report to Paris.
As a result the French Superior General gave his approval to the idea of amalgamation and Brother Venere was sent to
Calcutta as Superior of the Brothers there. Shortly after Brother Tolan's return Brother Venere embarked for Paris and
came back with ten ill-chosen confreres. There followed six months of bickering, rudeness, and other unpleasantness.
The two groups were totally incompatible. The French men spent a while in the villa at Dum Dum trying to learn English
but when they came to Moorghihata there was inadequate accommodation for the Calcutta and French Brothers.
"Squalid" was the word used to describe their condition. The French rule was resented in part and there were
appeals to the Bishop and Superior General. The Calcutta Brothers maintained that their vow of obedience was to the
Archbishop of Calcutta and not to the De la Salle General. Predictably a house divided against itself could not stand.
Brother Venere and the five remaining French Brothers withdrew to Dumdum on the recommendation of the local Bishop -
a better part time solution than Venere's proposal that the Irish Brothers be dismissed from religious life one by one!
Alphonsus Tolan, who had made his novitiate and vows with the De la Salle Brothers, stood with the Irish Brothers and the
poor of Moorghihatta. Once again he became Superior of the little group of eight.
The following years saw a succession of kindly disposed Bishops dying, candidates (the vast majority of them from
the Moorghihatta orphanage) joining and leaving, the work load of the faithful few increasing. Alphonsus Tolan must
have been a man of tremendous faith and clear focus to keep going on optimistically and relentlessly.
In 1864 he acquiesced to Bishop Hartmann's plea to send Brothers to his orphanage in Kurji, Death and defection put
paid to the venture in a short time.(The Brothers returned to Kurji to take over the school in 1894.)The Calcutta Brothers
had not received papal approval despite many requests. A committee of four (Alphonsus among them) was set up in 1877 to
study the 1871 rule of the Christian Brothers in Ireland. This was a first step in yet another request to amalgamate with
the Irish Christian Brothers.
There were signs of growth, nonetheless. A community was established in the newly built St. Joseph's,
Bow Bazaar in January 1873. Brother Tolan, appointed Superior of the Congregation, took up residence there.
A novitiate was opened in Dumdum in March 1876, bringing the Brothers' communities to three. Forty orphans were also
accommodated in Dumdum.
In May 1879 Brother Paul Kinnear was appointed Superior in place of Brother Tolan, now quite incapacitated.
Over the next ten years numbers dwindled from thirty three to eighteen. (Fifteen of the eighteen were from the
Moorghihatta orphanage.} A lot of upset was caused by a disgruntled Brother who had a bad effect on other members.
Alphonsus Tolan died on 5th June 1885. Not much is known about this man who carried the baton for so long,
in a virtual maze of circumstances. He was genial with a finely tuned sense of humour which regaled his confreres at
meals and recreation. But what is really amazing is his persistence because of his love for the poor and his belief
in the apostolate of the Christian Brothers. A year after Brother Tolan's death Archbishop Goethals made fresh overtures
to Anthony Maxwell for the merging of the Calcutta Brothers with the Christian Brothers, an event which was initiated
on 26th January 1890.with the Brothers putting on the habit of the Christian Brothers and finalised (after a few hiccups!)
on 8th September 1891 when eight professed Brothers of the Calcutta Brothers pronounced their final vows in the Institute
of Christian Brothers.
Maurice Baptist Finn cfc