Antonius Maria Bodewig

Antonius Maria Bodewig (1839–1915) was a German Catholic Priest regarded as the spiritual founder of a religious order, the Missionary Sisters of Queen of Apostles (SRA), founded 1923. A would-be missionary to India, he promoted inculturation, a method of evangelisation whereby the Christian message is presented within the culture of the indigenous people. In so doing, he was decades ahead of his time.

Antonius Maria Paul Hubert Bodewig was born on 2 November 1839 in Bonn, Germany, to Constantine and Elisabeth Bodewig. He showed early promise and at age 17, after completing his gymnasium studies, entered the Society of Jesus in Muenster on 21 August 1856, taking vows in 1858.

After noviciate, the young Bodewig studied philosophy in the province’s formation house at Aachen, 1861-63. From 1864-66 he attended a language course at the University of Bonn. 1869-72 he taught in the Society’s Stella Matutina College in Feldkirch, Austria. He was ordained priest May 3, 1871 at Maria Laach by Bishop Matthias Eberhard of Trier. Completing his theological studies in 1872 at Maria Laach, he received the mandate to go to the mission field of the Bombay-Pune Mission, India. It was said that he knew 17 languages and had four doctorates.

At this time, Bishop Leo Meurin was in charge of the vicariate of Bombay and, influenced by the thinking of Robert de Nobili, promoting the idea of a missionary endeavour among the Indians which would not attempt to impose western European cultural values. Bodewig adopted his ideas with enthusiasm and in 1879 registered to learn Sanskrit, Marathi, English, Indian Philosophy and Mythology.

However, his studies were cut short when Bishop Meurin sent Bodewig to Igatpuri. Following the methods of de Nobili, Bodewig was advised to adopt the dress and lifestyle of an Indian Brahmin in an attempt at evangelizing high caste Hindus.

Nobili, an Italian Jesuit, had arrived in Madurai, South India in November 1606. He soon realised that the lack of success in the missions was due to the great differences in culture between European and Indian people. De Nobili understood that Western cultural standards of dress and behaviour are distinct from the core teachings of the gospel. For instance, eating beef, drinking alcohol, infrequent bathing and entering holy places with shoes on were considered barbarous and filthy by the indigenous people. De Nobili installed himself as a Hindu Sannyasi in a simple house of his own where he began to study Tamil and later Telugu and Sanskrit. His converts continued to wear Indian clothing and retain the traditional sandalwood ashes on their forehead – anything not connected with any religious tenet may be regarded as forms of Indian culture.

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