Jesuit Father Christian Mignon, a Belgian Missionary who translated the Bengali Catholic Bible “Mangalbarta Bible” (Good News) into the local language for people in the Indian state of the West Bengal, has passed away on October 20, at the age of 93. He had previously translated liturgical texts after the Second Vatican Council, which opened the way to the use of local languages in Holy Mass.
As reported by ucanews.com, a priest from the Calcutta Jesuit Province remarked that “One of the best contributions of Fr. Mignon in the translation are the detailed footnotes he added, for the people to understand the Word of God in the right perspective.”
Fr. Mignon came to the Bengal Mission at the age of 25 and was to make a unique contribution to religious life in Bengal, translating the Bible into Bengali over a 40-year period. While continuing to work in parishes and later teaching Bengali at St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, he began writing Christian literature in Bengali, including the translation of the Bible into Bengali, which he began in 1976. Four years later he stopped parish work and teaching, to devote himself to translation work from his residence in St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, where he lived until he died.
