HARTMANN, ANASTASIUS. - Titular bishop of Derbe, b. 24 Feb. 1803 at Altwis (Hitzkirch, Lucerne), entered the novitiate of the Capuchins of Baden (Aargau) on 17 Sept. 1821; ordained priest on 24 Sept. 1825, preacher, spiritual director and master of novices, lecturer in philosophy and theology, in 1841 professor of theological controversies at the Missionary College of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen in Rome, of which he was vice-rector until his departure in 1843 for the mission of Agra (India).

In 1845 he was appointed first vicar apostolic of Patna, where he gave vigorous impetus to missionary activity, erecting churches, stations, schools and welfare institutions, and provided for the religious care of the Irish troops and for the defense of the Catholic religion against the Protestant missionaries. In 1849-54 he simultaneously administered the apostolic vicariate of Bombay, torn by internal factions; he successfully resisted the Indo-Portuguese schism of Goa; in 1854 he was appointed its vicar apostolic, and also apostolic administrator of Punach. In failing health he returned to Europe in 1856; in Rome he worked at Propaganda for a new general organization of the missions in India and contributed to the negotiations for a concordat with Portugal; as interim procurator of the missions of the Order, he reorganized their operation. In 1860 he returned to India as vicar apostolic of Patna, raised this mission again from recent ruin; he defended the rights of Catholic schools and at Calcutta in 1865 safeguarded the laws of Christian marriage before the English government. Worn out by his labors, he died of cholera at his residence in Kurjee, a suburb of Patna, on 24 Apr. 1866. In 1906 the process of beatification was begun.

He composed many monographs on sacred, historical, linguistic and natural disciplines, which for the most part remained in manuscript. He earned the title of "Canisius of Hindustan," both for his activity and for his Masihi Tālim, seu Catechismus hindustanus (Bombay 1852), which went through several editions; and for the translation into the Urdu language of the New Testament (Patna 1864). In 1850 he founded the newspaper The Bombay Catholic Examiner, in which he published his esteemed pastoral letters.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: Antoine Marie, Vie de mer H. A., Fribourg in Br. 1876, Engl. trans., Calcutta 1868: Autobiographia, ed. A. Jann, Indemhōl 1917: De servi Dei A. H. vita et aperibus, in A. H., Institutiones theologiae pastoralis, Assisi 1932, pp. v-xviii; under the editorship of Fr. Adedino Jann the collection Monumenta Anastasiana was begun in 1939, which so far comprises 5 vols. (Lucerne 1939-48), in which will be published the writings and documents concerning him: Catalogus et status causarum, in Analecta Ord. Min. Capuccinorum, 61 (1945), p. 58.

Ilarino da Milano

@incollection{ec6_hartmann_anastasius, author = {Ilarino da Milano}, title = {Hartmann, anastasius}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {1368--1369}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/hartmann-anastasius} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Hartmann, Anastasius

About this entry