By Purushottam Nayak –
MAYURBHANJ, Odisha, India — Sept. 7, 2026: Nearly three decades after he was killed while serving tribal communities in one of eastern India’s poorest regions, Catholics in Odisha gathered at the site of Father Arul Doss’ death to remember the priest as a witness to Christ whose legacy continues to inspire the Church.
About 3,000 faithful joined the Diocese of Balasore’s Sept. 2 commemoration at Jambani village in Mayurbhanj district, where Father Doss was killed on Sept. 1, 1999. The annual gathering has become an important pilgrimage and public witness of faith for Catholics in the region.
“It was a massive day of faith witnessing at Jambani village in honour of our beloved priest, Rev. Fr. Arul Doss,” said Father Jadu Marandi, former vicar general of the Diocese of Balasore.
The commemoration began with Holy Mass in the Ho language for volunteers and parish committee members, followed by the Rosary, Eucharistic adoration and Benediction.
The principal Mass was celebrated at 10:30 a.m. by Bishop Varghese Thottamkara, CM, of Balasore. Twenty-eight priests, about 60 religious women and men, 13 members of Father Doss’ family, his home-parish priest from Tamil Nadu and thousands of faithful participated in the celebration.
“God has called us to this sacred place to honour Father Arul Doss, who witnessed to Jesus Christ at the cost of his life,” Bishop Varghese said during the Mass.
‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church’
Reflecting on the early Christian writer Tertullian’s famous statement that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” Bishop Varghese connected Father Doss’ death with the enduring power of Christian witness.
“The martyr gives his or her life once, but the witness of that life can inspire generations to discover Christ,” the bishop said.
Father Doss was 35 when he was killed at Jambani, a remote village in Mayurbhanj district. According to Church accounts, he was attacked by a mob and killed with bows and arrows.
His death occurred less than a year after Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, Philip and Timothy, were burned to death in Manoharpur, Odisha, in January 1999.
The two cases became among the most widely remembered instances of anti-Christian violence in Odisha in the late 1990s.
Born in Tamil Nadu, Father Doss had served for five years as pastor of Anandapur Catholic Church in Mayurbhanj before his death. His ministry was particularly associated with poor and marginalized tribal communities.
“We are grateful to God who called Father Arul Doss and made him courageous, committed and dedicated to proclaiming the Good News and spreading the values of the Kingdom by reaching out to the marginalized, poor and downtrodden,” said Father A. Marian Singarayan of the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, who knew Father Doss as a neighbouring priest.
For Catholics in Mayurbhanj, Father Doss’ witness has outlived the circumstances of his death.
The place where he was killed has developed into a pilgrimage centre, drawing faithful throughout the year and particularly around the anniversary of his death.
Father Varghese Puthumattam, parish priest of Baghdafa, which includes Jambani, said many pilgrims come to pray through Father Doss’ intercession and to give thanks for what they regard as answered prayers.
“Year by year, the faithful gather there to witness their faith and seek the intercession of Father Arul Doss,” Father Puthumattam said. “Some tell us that they have come to thank the Lord for having fulfilled their desires for which they prayed through the intercession of Father Arul Doss.”
Jambani is about 10 kilometres from Baghdafa Parish and approximately 150 kilometres north of Balasore.
The Church’s remembrance of Father Doss has also taken an educational form. The Father Arul Doss Memorial English Medium Play School was established at Lavanyadeipur in Sarat block of Mayurbhanj district, preserving his memory through the education of children. Thus his legacy continues till today.
Twenty-seven years after his death, Catholics continue to return to Jambani not simply to remember a priest who was killed, but to reaffirm the faith for which he gave his life.
For the Diocese of Balasore, Father Doss’ story remains a reminder that Christian martyrdom is not defined only by the moment of death, but by the continuing witness of a life offered in service to Christ and to the poor.