Moodubelle, 26 September 2010: With saffron dress and long beard, Fr. Vasant who was on a holiday and had been to Moodubelle to attend a funeral presented an appearance of a die-hard ascetic. As my curiosity about this priest increased, i made up my mind to have an interaction with him and find out the reason behind his adopting this kind of typical outer look which has not been common among a large number of priests even serving in North India. When i requested Fr. Vasant for an interview for Bellevision.com, he readily agreed and asked me to fix an appointment in consultation with his cousin Alphonse Alva which he was kind enough to arrange within few days.
On the day fixed for the meeting, Prabhat Alva, brother of Alphonse accompanied Fr. Vasant to Bellevision Media Network office in Moodubelle where we had an interesting interaction and i was amazed with the simplicity and down to earth approach of Fr. Vasant. This was chiefly due to the fact that he had made a remote village in Uttar Pradesh his home for a long period and the villagers his friends.
Fr. Vasant whose original name was Vincent was born on 23rd June 1946 as the fifth among six children-five sons and one daughter of late Marcel and Imilia Cornelio (sister of late Robert Alva) of Kukkunje in Kallianpur. Vincent had his initial education in the Nitturu Higher Primary School, Ambagilu which was run by his father. The school was founded by late Augustine Cornelio, uncle of Vincent’s father, Marcel Cornelio. Later, Vincent continued his studies in the Milagres High School where he completed SSLC in 1963.
Fr. Vasant said that it was while he was studying in the 8th standard he developed a strong desire to become a priest. This was chiefly due to the positive influence that he had from late Fr. Faustine Alva and Fr. Charles Alva of Moodubelle who were his maternal uncles and were serving as priests in the Allahabad Diocese of Uttar Pradesh. His maternal grandmother’s sister, Sr. Petronilla (AC) was a nun who also inspired him in his vocation. Another person who had a positive influence on young Vincent was Fr. Tellis, headmaster of the Milagres High School whose way of dealing with the young impressed him very much. Fr. Tellis was very considerate, loving and caring while dealing with young children.
Having nurtured his vocation, Vincent made up his mind and joined the Allahabad Diocese soon afer completing SSLC in 1963. Vincent was first sent to St. Paul’s Minor Seminary at Lucknow where he completed intermediate studies. Later, he continued priestly studies in St. Joseph’s Seminary in Allahabad and was ordained a priest on 30th December 1972 at Allahabad.
While in St. Joseph’s Seminary at Allahabad, Br. Vincent along with other seminarians were sent to nearby villages by the Rector of the seminary so that they could understand the lives of the common people and have a healthy interaction with them. They used to go to the Christian families and pray with them and establish a rapport with the local people.
After ordination, Fr. Vincent was appointed as the assistant priest at Dostpur in the Sultanpur District in Uttar Padesh. The Allhabad Diocese comprised of 13 administrative districts in Uttar Pradesh. After some time, Fr. Vincent was sent to St. Mary’s Church at Faizabad where he served for a year and was once again sent back to Dostpur from where he was transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes Church at Renukoot. Besides rendering priestly service, Fr. Vincent also taught in the parish school.
Somehow, Fr. Vincent was not satisfied by just carrying on the routine pastoral and teaching work. He desired to be closer to the common people and identify himself with the simple villagers. He felt that the conventional approach as a priest was not conducive to be closer to the local people.
Since 1950s there had been a movement in the Catholic Church, especially in North India known as ‘inculturation’ to adopt Indian culture. The practice of adopting Indian names by the priests came into vogue during this period. In the forefront of this movement were priests such as Fr. Charles Alva who adopted the name as Dhiranand Bhat. In 1963, the Vatican gave the freedom to the church to adapt to the local culture.
Being strongly influenced by the trend of ‘inculturation’, while at Renukoot, Fr. Vincent along with five other priests with similar attitude and approach began to live as a community in an ashram named ‘Christa Panthi Ashram’ at Varanasi in 1975. Though they performed all religious duties, these priests were not attached to any particular parish. Being in ashram, these priests began to adopt the usual practices of the ashram life beginning with the external appearance. While some priests wore khadi others doned kavi (saffron) coloured clothes. Next, they adopted Indian names. Thus, Fr. Vincent changed his name to Fr. Vasant. Fr. Ishwar Prasad was the ‘acharya’ (head) of the ‘Christa Panthi Ashram’.
While in the ashram, the small band of priests, besides adopting typical ashram dress and Indian names followed the usual ashram routine such as prayers, meditation, discourses, meeting people belonging to different religions, study of scriptures of different religions, visiting the banks of the Ganges River and interacting with people, mostly Hindus.
After nine months of ashram life, Fr. Vasant was sent to the newly opened mission station at Asnabandh in the Sonbhadr District. As there was no school at this place, Fr. Vasant opened one and motivated the local people to send their children to the school. The villagers were very poor agriculturists. After one year, Fr. Vasant opted to live among the people without being attached to any institutional life at Aharaura village in a tin roofed house which was originally a mission substation.
It was a strange place with stranger people for whom Fr. Vasant was a complete stranger. For sometime, he lived by himself cooking his own food. Gradually, Fr. Vasant became friendly with the people and they began to support him by providing essential commodities such as foodgrains and vegetables. Fr. Vasant began to help the people in their difficult times by giving them proper advice. Meanwhile, he used the time to pray, read and study. In this way, Fr. Vasant spent thirteen years as a hermit in the Aharaura village. During these years he used to visit some of the churches and convents whose distance from his shelter was more than fifty kilometres.
After thirteen years of stay at Aharaura and completlely identifying with the local people and sharing their pain and joy, Fr. Vasant was asked to take the new assignement at Dostpur for the third time where he served for nine years where besides his normal priestly duties, he also conducted the school and carried on agricultural activities in parish land growing rice, wheat and vegetables. Meanwhile, Fr. Vasant also carried on dialogue with people of different religions. Later, Fr. Vasant was transferred to Obra in Sonbhadr District where he served for eight years.
Since 2007, Fr. Vasant has been rendering service at Asnabandh in Sonbhadr District where he runs a school, hostel and a convent. Fr. Vasant has been in touch with people and interacts with persons belonging to different religions.
Fr. Vasant says that he has earned a lot of respect from people irrespective of their religion because of his down to earth approach and living a simple life. His cousin Alphonse says that even though the Bihsop of Allhabad had offered a vehicle to Fr. Vasant so that he could travel to the remote areas without much difficulty, the latter politely declined this offer as he wanted to live like a simple villager and be closer to them. He did not want the vehicle to be a barrier between himself and the people.
Recalling his community life in the Christa Panthi Ashram at Banaras, Fr. Vasant said that by living in the ashram he could grasp the essence of Indian culture and ethos and this has helped him in coming down to the level of the common people. Fr. Vasant values greatly his life in the village of Aharaura where he resided for thirteen years and made the common villagers his friends.
(I am grateful to Alphonse Alva and his brother Prabhat Alva for arranging a meeting with Fr. Vasant for this interview-Eugene)