Fr Laborde: Inspiration behind “City of Joy” dies

By Matters India Reporter

Kolkata: Father Francois Laborde, a French Jesuit who spent decades among the poor of Kolkata, was buried on December 28 in a parish in the capital city of West Bengal.

Father Laborde was considered the inspiration behind French author Dominique Lapierre’s “City of Joy,” a novel on the slums of Calcutta (now Kolkata).

He died of old age illness on Christmas Day in a hospital in Midnapore, near Kolkata, He was 93.

Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta led the funeral services on December 28 at Saint John’s Church.

“Father Laborde worked silently and with great humility among the poor for more than 55 years. Religion, caste and creed did not matter to him as he reached the poorest of the society,” said Archbishop D’Souza in his condolence message.

According to the prelate, the Jesuit priest was always just a call away. “And when praised, he would humbly say, he was just doing God’s work,” added Archbishop D Souza.

Born February 28, 1927, François was educated up to the baccalaureate with the Jesuits. After a year of philosophy at the Sorbonne, he joined the Prado institute in order to become a priest among the excluded and the poorest.

It was in Paris, his hometown, that his proximity to the poorest was awakened. He was then 9 years old. Coming from a petty bourgeois family, he suddenly discovered that his best friend lives in an even less favored situation.

“When I was invited to his home for the first time, I was amazed. His family lived on the sixth floor and he slept on a folding bed in a loft. A few days earlier, he had left my house crying… Since that day, I understood that it was necessary to go to the poor in order to understand them. “

He was ordained a priest in 1951.

In January 1965, Father Laborde came to India to carry out a sociological study on “The relations between marginalized and integrated populations,” under the patronage of the UN and Unesco. Seized by the immense misery of Calcutta, a sprawling city that faced the arrival of millions of mainly Hindu refugees, fleeing East Pakistan (created by the partition of India in 1947), he decided to stay there definitely.

“Of course,” he said, “you cannot help but be moved, humanly and spiritually when you arrive in India. But it was the poorest people who gave me back my faith, by the way they face the difficulty. God allowed me to glimpse a third way between anger and resignation. ”

He therefore chose to share the existence of these families whom he admires “The power of intercession with God” whether they are Catholic, Muslim or Hindu.

In Calcutta, in 1976, with the help of Cardinal Lawrence Trevor Picachy, the archbishop of Calcutta, he opened first home for disabled children in the parish of Nirmala Mata Maria in Howrah, a district on the outskirts of the city. In the following years, he opened other centers in Howrah for children with leprosy.

The association, well known in India as “Howrah South Point,” has seven reception centers with specialized schools, physical rehabilitation units, and vocational training workshops. In addition, there are dispensaries, schools (nearly 2,000 students from underprivileged backgrounds), workshops and support programs for young mothers.

Howrah South Point now employs 360 people. In all these centers, Muslims, Hindus and Christians work together to serve th most disadvantaged.

Father Laborde liked to say that HSP was not his work, but that it had developed thanks to these Indian women and men and thanks to the many volunteers who come each year from France, Germany and Switzerland.

The French priest had been knighted in the Legion of Honor by President François Mitterrand and then elevated to the rank of officer in 2019.

French ambassador Alexandre Ziegler had gone to Howrah South Point in Andul, the home that Father Laborde set up for those in need, to confer the award. This was the second time that he won the award, the first time he was awarded by the late president Mitterrand.

When he was conferred the Legion of Honour, the ever-smiling nonagenarian simply said he felt “truly happy”. That was, in fact, the only reaction from the man who has been managing a non-profit organisation for the rehabilitation of children with disabilities and also the underprivileged and has brought joy to thousands of such children. And it has been an eventful journey.

When he started working in the Howrah slum, the local priests from nearby churches started offering help. “After a few years, I met this young woman. She was from the slum and wanted to help the poor. She said she didn’t want to become a sister, but work for the poor. She was a godsend and I got my first helping hand,” Father Laborde said.

In 1976, a few more young men joined him as volunteers and together, they started working for the local children from the Mother Mary Girja campus, Andul Road. One of their most important jobs was to facilitate treatment for the poor children in local hospitals.

“In most cases, the sick children were turned down by the doctors and hospitals because of their economic background and also because they couldn’t explain their problems. With me around, things started getting better,” Father Laborde added.

In one such visit, Father Laborde met Doctor Sen, who later extended a helping hand. “I took a sick child to him and when I offered him money, he got angry. He said it was inhuman to charge money from the child and I knew I got a friend,” Laborde added. Now that Lapierre is unwell, Laborde has a message for his friend. “I have heard that Lapierre is very unwell. All I want for him is a speedy recovery,” he said.

By that time, Father’s Laborde dreams had started taking shape. Soon, it grew into nine homes, more than 10 schools, three creches, vocational training centres and dispensaries what with 300 social workers reaching out to over 1,00,000 people across the state. “Running this facility isn’t easy and even six months ago, he used to do everything on his own. After a young priest joined us, Father Laborde handed him most of the responsibilities. Even today, if he sees someone suffering, he reaches out to him, his age and physical limitations notwithstanding,” said a close aide of Father Laborde.

With Lapierre

In 1969, Lapierre came to Kolkata to research his book. Father Laborde literally walked Lapierre hand-held through the alleys of poverty and distress in Pilkhana and other slums for his groundwork for ‘City of Joy.’

The French author spent days with the priest to understand the nature of his work and see Kolkata through his eyes. “We met a number of times. He was a keen observer. I was fascinated to know that he wanted to give a voice to the poor,” Father Laborde said. After 17 years of his first visit to Kolkata, Lapierre published City of Joy in 1985.

Father Laborde , who had spent all his life serving the underprivileged, especially physically challenged children, was immortalized as Stephan Kovalski by Lapierre in his novel published in 1985, which was later filmed.