The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-09-07
|ND|A's CATHOLIC RAJAs
Converts to the Faith-One Built
Church-Her Panegyric Preached
by Cardinal Wiseman-India's
Catholic Aristocracy.

Catholic Rajas, Nawabs, RAMS and
Begums have been almost swept away
by the tide of Western civilization,
says writer in the Bombay Exam
iner, but in the days of Xavier, De
Nobili, De Britto, Beschi and other
early pioneers of Christian evangelical
ton they played no insignificant part
on the stage of the Indian world 1t
is needless to look even so far back.
The octogenarian of the present day
must have heard in his childhood of
the gorgeous pageantry of the court
of Begun Sumroo of Sardhana. She
was convert to the Catholic Church,
and one of her pious benefactions is
beautiful church in her native place,
which any one can see for the trouble
of buying a return ticket for Agra.
The Begum's native name was lei
bOol-Nissa. She was the daughter of
an Arab chief, and was married to
Walter Reinhardhe Sombre, a native
of Treves, in the Grand Duchy of Lux
emburg. She was baptized under the
Christian name of Joana, by Father
Gregory, Carmelite monk, in 1881.
The church built by her at Sardhana
was opened and blessed by the Pre-
feet Apostolic of Agra in 1922. The
Begums palace is now in the posses
sion of the Catholic mission of Agra,
which has utilized it as an orphanage
for Indian Christians The church is
magnificent pile of Jeypore marble,
ornamented with mosaic work laid in
cornelions, jaspers and other marble
stones. A splendid monument in
Carrara marble, executed by an Ital-
ian artist, proclaims, in mute elo-
quence the pious acts of Begun Sum-
roo. Her panegyric was delivered by
the late Cardinal Wiseman in Rome.
Catholic Indian Aristocracy.
The Catholic Indian aristocracy,
since the days of Begun Sumroo, has
undergone continuous process of at
found few scattered over the empire
who are able to boast of an ancestry
that goes back almost to the prehis-
toric age of the Vedas One such is
Raja Shyam Sing, of Tajpur, whose
elevation to the Legislative Council of
the United Provinces has given great
satisfaction to the Catholic community
of Upper India. The Raja is descend
ed from an ancient Taga Brahmin
family which rendered valuable serv-
ices to the British Government on the
first occupation of the United Prov
inces. One of the Raja's ancestors,
Partab Singh, vanquished the rebel
Nawab of Najiabad, defended Bijnaur,
and in many ways contributed to the
restoration of order during the trou-
blous days of the mutiny. He received
the title of Raja with extensive grants
of land in recognition of his loyal
services, His son, Jagat Singh, re-
ceived the title of Raja Bahadur as a
personal distinction. He was sue
ceeded by his brother, Shyam Sing,
the present Raja, in 1885. The title
was declared hereditary in $685. Raja
Shyam Singh, who is a devout Cath
Ollie and has been most energetic in
the promotion of the Catholic faith,
having already built a Catholic Church
at Tajpur, was at first a convert to
Professionalism, but was brought into
the true fold about the year 1902
through the example and prayers of
his brother, who is a Catholic, The
Raja married in 1906 a Catholic lady
of Mangalore, the daughter of Mr.. J..
F. Coelho, of the distinguished Coelho
family. He is an enterprising land
owner, and is noted for his keen in
terest in agricultural improvement