{"id":1030342,"date":"2026-02-04T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T22:00:00","slug":"trans-26938-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/trans-26938-1\/","title":{"rendered":"India \u2013 Salesians of Kolkata launch Centenary Celebrations with Rector Major\u2019s Arrival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Attard arrived from Rome at <strong>Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport<\/strong>, where he received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from a large gathering of <strong>Don Bosco Past Pupils<\/strong> and <strong>Salesian confreres<\/strong>. Among those present were <strong>Fr. Biju Michael<\/strong>, Regional Councillor for South Asia; <strong>Fr. Sunil Kerketta<\/strong>, Vice Provincial of Kolkata; and <strong>Fr. Jijo John<\/strong>, Provincial Economer, together with members of the wider Salesian Family.<\/p>\n<p>From the airport, the Rector Major was escorted to the <strong>Provincial House<\/strong>, accompanied by the joyful presence of past pupils and Salesians. In the morning hours, Fr. Attard presided over the <strong>Holy Eucharist<\/strong>, celebrated with the Provincial House community in an atmosphere marked by deep joy, fraternity, and gratitude for the Salesian mission.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the day, the Rector Major met with the <strong>Provincial Council<\/strong>, engaging in dialogue and reflection on the life, challenges, and mission of the Salesians in eastern India. Following a brief period of rest, he departed for <strong>Siliguri<\/strong>, where the <strong>first phase of the centenary celebrations<\/strong> is being held today and tomorrow, marking an important milestone in the history of the Province.<\/p>\n<p>The centenary commemorates the arrival of the first Salesians in <strong>Calcutta on 11 November 1925<\/strong>, when <strong>Monsignor Louis Mathias<\/strong>, together with <strong>Fr. Paolo Bonardi, Fr. Giueppe Gil, and Br. Pietro Aprile<\/strong>, inaugurated the Salesian presence by taking charge of the <strong>Catholic Orphan Press<\/strong> and the <strong>Cathedral Parish<\/strong> on their very first night in the city. That historic beginning laid the foundation for a mission that has profoundly shaped the <strong>spiritual, educational, and social landscape<\/strong> of the region over the past one hundred years.<\/p>\n<p>The arrival of the Rector Major thus marks not only the opening of the centenary&rsquo;s concluding celebrations, but also a renewed moment of <strong>animation, encouragement, and communion<\/strong> for the Salesians of Kolkata and the wider Salesian Family in India.<\/p>\n<p><div style=\"padding: 15px; margin: 20px 0; background: #fff3cd; color: #856404; border: 1px solid #ffeeba; border-radius: 5px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;\">\n                    <strong>[Gallery Missing]<\/strong> Folder not found: <code>wp-content\/uploads\/images\/Visita RM India 05.02.26<\/code>\n                <\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Attard arrived from Rome at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, where he received a warm and enthusiastic welcome [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2026938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,96,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1030342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rector-major","category-south-asia","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1030342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2026938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1030342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1030342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infoans.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1030342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}