2012-11-05 15:59:13

US missionary awarded for Hindi Catholic writings


November 05, 2012 - An American Jesuit priest in North India’s Bihar state has been honoured for spreading the Catholic faith through his extensive writings in Hindi language. US priest Fr. Jerome Durack was honoured with the fourth Cherubin Barno Sahu Memorial Award for 2012 on Saturday. The award of Rs. 6500 and a certificate named after Cherubim Barno Sahu, known by his pen-name ‘Suman’, a renowned Catholic writer from Bettiah who died in 1984. Patna Archdiocese, the Patna Jesuits and Prabhat Prakashan jointely instituted the award in 2008 on the 24th anniversary of Sahu’s death, to honour each year a leading Catholic Hindi writer of India. Sahu, whose first major hit novel was ‘Sahi Rasta’ (The True Way), has also numerous stories, poems, songs, and plays to his credit, besides translations of numerous psalms. Sahu’s special job was to teach Hindi to American Jesuits of the Hindi belt. Fr. Durack on receiving the award on Saturday acknowledged that it was because of Sahu that he had mastered the Hindi language well. “He taught us to speak and write Hindi within four months of my initial formative years as a Jesuit,” said the 83-year-old secretary to the bishop of Bettiah. Archbishop William D’Souza of Patna said that with his prolific writings on religion, catechism, spirituality and moral issues, Fr. Durack’s contribution to Hindi language has been remarkable. The priest has written books on the lives of saints and regularly contributes to Pavitra Hriday Ka Sandesh, a Hindi Catholic magazine published by Prabhat Prakashan.







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