Fr. Jocopo Broy-A Missionary without a Mission

Abstract

The history of the Catholic Church in North East India was indeed the work of a number of pioneer missionaries who served and dedicated the cause of the gospel with great zeal and contributed substantially to its remarkable growth and development. The missionaries constituted a devoted and dedicated band drawn from every part of the world, and included men and women, priest and nuns as well as laity whose heroic missionary life, dedication and self service laid the foundation of a flourishing mission field. This paper is an attempt to study the role of the Milan Foreign Mission Society or PIME in the Assam Mission through their lone missionary Fr. Jocopo Broy who dedicated his life and service to Assam, inspite of many woes and trials, challenges and controversies and without any active support from his home mission or superiors. The fact that he singlehandedly manage the Assam mission for 18 long years is not without significance in the history of the Catholic Church in North East India and though he may be considered as a missionary without a formal mission, yet much credit goes to him for having convinced others after him that Assam was an ideal mission field which today has grown into a considerable community of faith with an inner dynamism of its own.