Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

PIME missionaries celebrate

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, FEB. 15. The Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere, one of the earliest Christian missionary groups to set up several institutions in the State, began the year-long sesquicentennial celebrations of its arrival in Andhra Pradesh at Ramanthapur here.

All 12 Catholic bishops of the State laid the foundation-stone for Angelo Ramazzotti Bhavan, being constructed to serve as PIME headquarters in India named after its founder. The PIME now operates from Eluru.

Father Vito Del Prete, PIME's Vatican representative, who flew in from Rome, asked the 40-odd missionaries working in India to continue the work of D. Barbero and F. Pozzi, the first PIME missionaries who reached Secunderabad in 1855 after a month-long journey in a bullock-cart.

Father Durgan Melchior Raja, PIME superior in India, said they had extended succour to tsunami victims in Chennai to the tune of Rs. 15 lakhs in the form of boats. The archbishops of Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam -- M. Joji, and K. Mariadas -- and the bishops of the 10 other dioceses in the State, lauded PIME missionaries for their contributions to the educational, health and social service sectors in the State, without seeking recognition. The congregation took out a procession from the main road to the venue led by a bullock-cart carrying the Bible symbolising the journey by the first missionaries. A Eucharist mass was performed later by the bishops. It was a rare sight to see aged PIMEs such as Luigi Pezzoni, Augusto Colombo who are working among leprosy patients, and Piero Gheddo, a world renowned historian.

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