| 1908 |
Kesramal,
the first mission Station in Gangpur
opened. Fr. Van Severin and Fr.
Alary sent to set up the mission. |
| 1909 |
Sylvan
Grosjean, SJ, (who as the Provincial
Superior had sent Frs. Severin
and Alary to Kesramal earlier)
the first full-time resident priest
of Kesramal arrived. |
| 1919 |
Hamirpur
mission station opened. |
| 1922 |
Gaibira
mission station opened. |
| 1925 |
Jhunmur mission station opened.
|
| 1936 |
Kusumdegi
mission station opened. |
| 1944
|
The congregation of the Handmaids
of Mary founded by
Fr. Edmond Harrison, SJ.
|
 |
 |
Building
and Branching out of the
Gangpur Mission by SVDs |
| |
|
| 1948 |
Fr.
Stanislaus Wald, SVD, the first
Divine Word Missionary, arrives
in Gangpur, at Gaibira, on July
11. In the same year, Frs. Alois
Kanski, Andrew Topol, Charles
Schmidt, Clement Beck, Edward
Borkowsky and Anthony Fleming
joined him. |
| 1949 |
Hamirpur High School started. |
| 1950 |
Jharsuguda mission station opened.
It is the first station opened
by the Divine Word Missionaries. |
| |
 |
 |
| 1950 |
An Apostolic School started at Hamirpur, Rourkela. |
| 1951
|
GANGPUR
MISSION BECOMES SAMBALPUR DIOCESE. |
| |
Bishop
Herman Westermann consecrated
Bishop by Cardinal Frings of
Colonge at St.Christin’s,
Germany, in July. He arrived
in Sambalpur on the Christmas
Eve and chose Kalunga for his
residence. |
| 1957 |
The
first mission in the Western area
of the province opened at Madhupur. |
| 1954 |
SAMBALPUR
BECAME INDEPENDENT SVD REGION
WITH Fr.CHARLES SCHMIDT AS THE
FIRST REGIONAL SUPERIOR. |
| |
Until
then, Sambalpur was a district
of the Indore Region. |
| 1958 |
Golden
Jubilee of Gangpur Mission celebrated.
There were 28 priests and 83,000
Catholics in the mission. |
| 1960
|
First
Indian SVDs, Fr. Elias Tete,
Fr. Gregory Minj and Fr. James
Arackal, came to Sambalpur.
When they came Fr. John Kerketta,
Fr.Emmaunel Tirkey and Fr. Samuel
Tirkey, all diocesans, were
the only Indian Priests in the
Mission. |
| 1963
|
Hamirpur
Apostolic School shifted to Gaibira. |
| |
Fr.
Andrew Topol, SVD, the founder
of Sundargarh parish and a veteran
missionary died in an accident
on April 16, 1963. He became the
first occupant of the cemetery
at Shanti Bhavan. |
| 1964
|
The
residence of the bishop changed
from Kalunga to Hamirpur. |
| 1968 |
Jyoti
Bhavan, the combined (SVD and
diocese) minor seminary started
at Sambalpur. |
