KOLKATA, India (UCAN) – Former students of St. Xavier’s College, a premier Jesuit-run institution in Kolkata, have paid tribute to India’s first printing press that the Jesuits set up.
They helped erect the replica of the gate of the College of St. Paul in Goa at the popular Kolkata Book Fair . The Jesuits in Goa had set up India’s first printing press in 1556.
Visitors at the Kolkata Book Fair browsing books at the Jesuit stall
Since the book fair deals with printing, it is appropriate to pay tribute to the Jesuits who set up the first press, said Snehasis Sur, secretary of St. Xavier’s College’s alumni association.
The 10-day book fair scheduled to end Feb. 2 is regarded as the largest attended book fair in India. Media reports say more than two million people visit it annually.
Sur said the effort was undertaken to mark the completion of 150 years of St. Xavier’s College and 25 years of the alumni.
He said most people are unaware that Jesuit missioners began printing in India. The replica of the gate of St. Paul’s College will educate people of the Jesuit contribution, he added.
In 1542, Saint Francis Xavier, who was based in Goa at the time, requested the king of Portugal to send a printing press for India, Ethiopia and Japan. The ships sailing to Ethiopia had to pass through Goa since the Suez Canal was not in service then.
When the Jesuits in Goa received news that the king of Ethiopia was not keen on receiving the missioners with the printing press, it was setup at the college in Goa.
Sur, a journalist with a national television channel, said the College of St. Paul, began in 1542, was abandoned when a plague ravaged Goa in 1570, but the gate still stands as a historic witness to the first college the Jesuits built in India.
The replica of the gate at the book fair also is to acknowledge the Jesuits’ educational service to the nation, Sur told UCA News.
The alumni association has also setup a stall at the book fair with literature, books, photos of and on Calcutta Jesuits and their institutions. The gate of the College of St. Paul stands at one of the main entrances to the fair.
At the stall, visitors can read literature on the College of St. Paul, and appreciate the works of the Jesuits, said Sunil Ghorai, who manages the stall. Ghorai said this was the first time that the Jesuits had found a place at the annual fair.
“This is the only stall where Christian literature” including the Holy Bible in Bengali, lectionaries, lives of saints, is available at the fair, and “there is a lot of enthusiasm among visitors,” he said. He added that more than 300 people visited the stall on the first day.