Bengaluru: The Indian Church lost one of its foremost mentors, formator, and an accomplished author, Monsignor Joseph Bakianathan Francis, in Bengaluru on Thursday. He was ailing for some time. He was 84.
The Funeral Mass will take place on Tuesday, 17th May 2022 at 3 p.m. at Sacred Heart Church, Richmond Town, followed by burial in the Sacred Heart Priests’ Cemetery.
On the same day, his mortal remains will be kept at the Sacred Heart Church for public homage from 1 p.m. to 2.45 p.m.
A widely respected theologian and scholar, Monsignor Joseph Francis used to regularly contribute to Indian Catholic Matters.
Monsignor Joseph Francis was born on October 5, 1938 and did his schooling at St Aloysius Middle School, Bangalore and he actually wanted to join the army but God had different plans for him. During one of the talks at school, he was touched by a great theologian Fr Augustine Sequeira’s talk on the Sacrament and priesthood. Three students including Fr Joseph Francis stood up and offered to become priests.
The following day, Monsignor Joseph Francis mother took him St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral Parish Priest Monsignor I B Pinto and after some inquiries gave him some books in Latin and told him to learn the prayers and attend mass. He was then given a letter and was asked to report to the minor seminary and further his studies at St Joseph’s School on Residency Road. He was then later sent to a major seminary at Pune for higher studies.
He was ordained as a priest on September 21, 1963. He worked in 10 different parishes and since 1973 he was a formator at St Peter’s Pontifical Seminary, before retiring due to ill health. He completed his M.A. (History) at Karnataka University, did his B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) from Bangalore University. He further did L.Ph., Papal Athaneum, Pune; S.T.L., Papal Athaneum, Pune; S.T.D., Katholieke Universiteit, and Leuven Ph. D., Religious Sciences Katholieke Universiteit, at Leuven, Belgium.
He presented his Doctoral Dissertation on “Love in the Life and Works of Mahatma Gandhi”.