St. Martin’s Church

The Mission at Sahebdanga was founded by Fr. Poncelet S. J. in 1954 in view of making it a Centre between Bandel and Asansol as there were no parishes between these two. He built a small chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the poor. After Fr. Charles Poncelet's departure to Dhitpur in 1957, Sahebdanga was looked after from Asansol, Kalna and Burdwan consecutively. Later Fr. Frederick D'Souza built a more spacious mud chapel and also tried to revive the spirit of the faithful. The mission sprang to life after the arrival of the 'Friends of Jesus sisters', a pious association led by Sr. Josephine Hansda, at the invitation of the Fr. Valerian Fernandes in Aug. 1991. The church was renamed as Holy Cross Church in 1993. A concrete church building was built and blessed by Mgr Francis Gomes on 31st May 1994. The foundation stone for the church building was blessed by Fr. Poncelet S. J. the name however, changed once again to St. Martin's as the church is dedicated to St. Martin of Tours as for the donor's intention. On 6th June 1994 Fr. Elias Frank began the Asha Kiran hostel, with 10 children. It was erected into a Parish and Fr. Tony Lobo was installed as the first parish priest on 13th June 1999. Category: DIOCESAN Catholic: 1320

Catholic Mission, Sahebdanga, Khandaridanga, Burdwan, PIN-713167