Calcutta remembers Fr. Gabric, apostle of the Sundarbans

An exhibition in India on the Croatian Jesuit who died in 1988 after living for 50 years among the poor in West Bengal and whose cause for beatification is underway. Figure associated with Mother Teresa for his commitment to the least, the little ones and widows.

Calcutta (AsiaNews) - Calcutta is commemorating the life and works of a Jesuit missionary who came to India from Eastern Europe and, like Mother Teresa, worked for a long time among the poor.

Fr. Ante Gabric, born in Croatia in 1915, arrived in India at the age of 23 and lived here for half a century, earning the nickname "apostle of the Sundarbans," the mangrove forest of the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal.

Died Oct. 20, 1988, Fr. Gabric was declared a servant of God by the Diocese of Zagreb in Croatia, initiating the canonization process. After Mother Teresa's canonization in 2016, he is the second missionary to be honored by virtue of a connection to Calcutta and Bengal.

At the Church of Christ the King in recent days, the exhibition "Where Palms Blossom," which is part of the initiatives of Fr. Ante's cause of beatification, was set up. Produced in collaboration between the Croatian Fr. Ante Gabric Foundation, the Archdiocese of Calcutta and the Diocese of Baruipur, the exhibition features 40 photographs taken by Croatian photographer Zvonimir Atletic.

The black-and-white photographs have already been exhibited in six Croatian cities in 2022. From Calcutta, the exhibition will then move to the Diocese of Baruipur where it will be displayed in Basanti on Feb. 23 and 24 and in Gosaba on Feb. 26 and 27.

Archbishop Msgr. Thomas D'Souza was joined at the opening by Sister Mary Joseph, the superior general of the Missionaries of Charity, along with Father Raphael Hyde, provincial of the Society of Jesus. The exhibition was curated by Violetta Orsulic and Marina Vrecko, president and member of the Fr. Gabric Foundation, respectively, with technical support from Church Art.

Gabric had entered the Society of Jesus in 1933 precisely with the desire to serve in the missions in India. He was ordained a priest on Nov. 21, 1943, at St. Mary's Theological College in Kurseong, West Bengal.

"From that time Fr. Ante was a man of fire and frontier, always finding new ways and opportunities to reach the unreached in the Sundarbans," wrote Nicolas Naskar, a catechist who had worked with him since his arrival in the region.

Fr. Gabric ministered in Basanti from 1947 to 1961 and again from 1970 to 1975. He was then in Kumrokhali from 1975 to 1988 and with Mother Teresa's help opened a dispensary for abandoned children and a small school there. Among the works he founded in the Sundarbans was a "rice bank" that freed the poor from debts to moneylenders.

Plus small rural schools, vocational training centers and even hospitals. She took care of widows who, after the death of their husbands, could not legally inherit and were harassed and even banished by relatives and the community.

"Fifty years spent in the service of the people. Nothing for self, everything for others," Archbishop Thomas D'Souza said at the opening of the exhibition. He added that the fact that he is associated with Mother Teresa is no accident: their work led to the formation of homes for the poor in India.

"He was a light to the Diocese of Baruipur. His life merged with Mother Teresa's," confirmed Sr. Mary Joseph.

Marina Vrecko, who knew him as a child, said, "The photos gave us a chance to visit Calcutta and the Sundarbans of the 1970s and 1980s. The exhibit brings to life the time when Fr. Gabric was a familiar face in India."

"Older people still remember growing up hearing his stories. They remember him as a familiar figure who walked and pedaled through difficult terrain to reach people in need," added Subrata Ganguly of Church Art.

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