In a previous blog I discussed how the first Europeans to settle as a group in Bengal were the Portuguese. These early arrivals formed a settlement in Chittagong, the main port city of present-day Bangladesh. I traced this heritage by tracking down the following ruin, known to locals as Portugal Bhobon (Portugal Building):

Figures 1-5 Portugal Bhobob (Portugal Building), Chittagong, Bangladesh

Portugal Bhobon was not the only example of early modern heritage I encountered in the sprawling historic city. Chittagong is home to a thriving Catholic community, hosted by a network of churches or girjas, as they are locally called. Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Chittagong. (Its counterpart in the capital, Dhaka, was featured in another earlier blog.) On my visit to the Cathedral I met with the friendly bishop who showed me around.

Figure 6 Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral, Chittagong

Figure 7 Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral, Chittagong

Chittagong Cathedral is a beautiful but British colonial era building; by no means an early modern original structure as was the case at Dhaka Cathedral. However, it has fascinating reminders of its early history dotted about its grounds. Notable among them is this marble plaque featured prominently on the façade of the building:

Figure 8 Plaque on Chittagong's Catholic church history, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral, Chittagong

Figure 9 Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral, Chittagong

One of two plaques (the other in Bangla), it details the history of the Portuguese and Catholic community in Chittagong, beginning with the Portuguese settlers of the early sixteenth century. The community traces its roots clearly to these early European travellers and missionaries, seen as the first Christian arrivals, who brought with them the Catholic faith. The plaque details that the first Portuguese Catholics to arrive in Chittagong were traders in 1518. Thereafter, the first Portuguese settlement in the area was established in 1537. Early missionaries are also listed, including Father Francesco Fernandez, remembered as the first Catholic missionary and martyr in Bengal, who arrived in Chittagong in 1598.

What is particularly intriguing is the history of the church itself. Although the present building is not an original early modern Portuguese construction, it is, however,  built on the ruins of the first church which was founded on 24 June 1600 and dedicated to St John the Baptist. This original church was destroyed two years later in 1602. Interesting to note too, is that through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Chittagong church was under the jurisdiction, first of the Diocese in Cochin (Kochi) on the Malabar Coast, and later the Diocese of Mylapore on the Coromandel Coast, both a considerable distance from the coastal Bengal city. It was not until 1927 that the Diocese of Chittagong was established.

Another remarkably fascinating marker of early modern heritage on the Cathedral grounds is the following memorial:

Figure 10 Martyr's Monument, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral, Chittagong

Figure 11 English plaque at Martyr's Monument, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral, Chittagong

In 2019 the Chittagong Cathedral marked 500 years of the Catholic faith in Bangladesh and in particular paid tribute to the early seventeenth century martyrs of the faith. The above Martyr’s Monument was unveiled in memory of those who were killed, including the aforementioned Francesco Fernandez. In 1602 the Arakan army, in rivalry to the Mughals, launched an offensive in Chittagong. It was during this conflict that Fernandez was killed and most churches, included that which originally stood at the present-day Cathedral, were destroyed. Despite the violence and destruction, the community endured and grew, thriving to this day.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral may not enjoy the survival of its original seventeenth century church structure, as Dhaka Cathedral does. However, its early modern heritage is nonetheless consciously remembered, celebrated and immortalised in monuments and plaques by the devout Catholic community there. While this act of preservation is primarily to benefit the community of believers, it also valuably serves those well beyond this community by conserving centuries worth of early European history and heritage in these lands that the rest of us can study and learn from.