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Mgr.Godelle

(1861-1867)

Mgr.Godelle, Administrator of Coimbatore, was also Co-adjutor of Pondicherry. Therefore, he succeeded automatically Bishop Bonnand.

State of the Pondicherry Mission in 1861

There were 47 missionaries in 1861 and 16 more new ones joined them. There were 12 Indian priests ordained before 1861 and 10 more ordained during his episcopate.

Education

For long, the Bishops of Pondicherry desired to have a congregation of Brothers to take charge of education in the Mission. Without the knowledge of either the Mission or the French administration three Brothers of the Christian Doctrine arrived in 1862. Mgr.Godelle welcomed them.

Mgr.Godelle

Marriage Legislation

There were a number of problems, particularly in the mixed marriages. In 1864 a decree was passed to the effect that the ministers of Christian Religion in British India had the rank of government officers regarding the celebration of marriages. Thus, marriages canonically contracted in the Catholic Church were held as valid by the government. The Parish Priests had only to send quarterly returns of marriages to the registrar of the government. This pleased everybody. Some articles of the law were against the Catholic rules such as concerning the Pauline privilege. The British government showed its good-will by exempting Catholics from paragraphs such as going against the rites, ceremonies and customs of the Roman Catholic Church. Hence the law was again amended in 1872.

Death of Mgr.Godelle

In 1867, all the Bishops of the world were invited to Rome to solemnize the 18th century of the martyrdom of saints Peter and Paul and also to attend at the same day the canonization of 26 Japanese martyrs.

Mgr.Godelle, accompanied by Mgr.Charbonnaux, went to Rome. At the end of the celebrations they both met the Holy Father in private and started their return journey. Meanwhile Mgr.Godelle fell ill and he was taken by Mgr.Charbonnaux to Chambery, where he was admitted in the general hospital, since Mgr.Godelle refused to seek hospitality from the Archbishop of Chambery on account of his austerity and simplicity. He requested Mgr.Charbonnaux to proceed to India while he remained alone in the hospital, in the company of a missionary from China. He received the last sacraments in the presence of the Metropolitan Chapter and expired on the same day on 15th July 1867. He was buried in the graveyard of Chambery and a monument in the Cathedral was erected by public subscription.
On 14th August 1867, a solemn service was held for him at Pondicherry which was attended by all the members of the government and at which military honours were rendered.

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