Telefilm on Mangalore’s Servant of God

(April 13, 2012) A telefilm based on the life of Indian Servant of God Monsignor Raymond Francis Camillus Mascarenhas, the founder of the Bethany Sisters, has been released by Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore. A hundred artistes acted in the telefilm entitled, Kalpavally, that was released at Bethany Hall in Mangalore on Monday. Sr. Rose Celine, Secretary of Bethany Education Society said that most of the actors in the film are students and teachers of Little Flower School, Kinnigoli. Bishop D’Souza also launched a website dedicated to the Servant of God (www.rfcmascarenhas.com) on the occasion. Sr Lillis, assistant superior general, said that the website was created on special request of people from India and abroad who were devoted to the Servant of God. Msgr Mascarenhas, born in 1875 and died in 1960, is the first and the only Servant of God on the path to sainthood in the Catholic Church originating from the Indian Konkani community of Mangalore. He founded the indigenous religious congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany or Bethany Sisters, in Mangalore on July 16, 1921 with four members, to participate in the mission of the Church by responding to the prevailing needs of the times. The title Servant of God is given to a person when the process for his or her sainthood cause is initiated at the level of the diocese where he or she lived, following a clearance from the Vatican.