During the Bettiah Raj of Bihar, the ethnoreligious community of Bettiah Christians was established in India in the 17th century by Christian missionaries belonging to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a Roman Catholic religious order.[4] It is one of the northern Indian subcontinent's oldest Christian communities that was founded after Raja Dhurup Singh requested Joseph Mary Bernini to heal his ill wife and was successful in doing so.[4][5] The Bettiah Christian Mission flourished under the patronage of the royal court of the Bettiah Rajas, growing in number.[4]
From the 17th century onwards, Catholic Christian missionaries of the Jesuit and Capuchin religious orders "established hospices at Kathmandu, Patan and Bhatgoan, the capitals of the three Malla Kings of Nepal who had permitted them to preach Christianity."[4] An indigenous Newar Christian community thus became established.[4] When the Mallas were overthrown by the Gurkhas, the Newar Christians took refuge in India, settling first in the city of Bettiah and then later moving eleven kilometres north to Chuhari, where they reside to this day.[4]
^ abcdefJohn, Jose Kalapura (2000). Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 61. Indian History Congress. p. 1011-1022.
^"Bihar Christians have fostered faith harmony 250 years". Union of Catholic Asian News. 6 November 1995. Retrieved 14 November 2020. Cherubim John, a writer and historian, said the Bettiah community began after Italian Capuchin Father Joseph Mary Bernini cured the local queen of an "incurable" illness. The king donated 16 hectares of land later known as the "Christian Quarters" to the Capuchins. The king allowed Father Bernini, who was on his way to Tibet, to preach, and helped build a church next to his palace.