>Brigade Piron: removed Category:Belgian Jesuits; added Category:20th-century Belgian Jesuits using HotCat

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removed Category:Belgian Jesuits; added Category:20th-century Belgian Jesuits using HotCat

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'''Pierre Fallon''' (24 September 1912, [[Namur (city)|Namur]], [[Belgium]] - 20 September 1985, [[Calcutta]], India) was a Belgian [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]], [[missionary]] in India, Professor of [[French literature]] at the [[University of Calcutta]]. In 1950 he founded the dialogue centre Shanti Bhavan (with [[Robert Antoine]]) in Calcutta; in 1960 the similar Shanti Sadan in North Calcutta; and later took charge of Shanti Nir.

==Education==
Fallon entered the Society of Jesus in 1930, and came to Calcutta, India in 1935. He obtained Indian citizenship in 1950. He held a [[Licentiate (degree)|licentiate]] in [[Indology]] from the [[Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)|University of Louvain]], a licentiate in philosophy, a licentiate in [[theology]], and was the first Jesuit to obtain an MA in Bengali philology from [[Calcutta University]].<ref>"Avant-propos," R. De Smet and J. Neuner, eds., ''La quete de l'eternel: Approches chretiennes de l'Hindouisme'', tr. Roger Demortier, Museum Lessianum, section missiologique n. 48 (Desclee de Brouwer, 1967) 10.</ref>

==Work==
He founded ''Shanti Bhavan'' with [[Robert Antoine]] in 1950, and contributed much to make it a living centre of intercultural and interfaith dialogue.

Ten years later he founded a similar ''Shanti Sadan'' in a much poorer and crowded area of North Calcutta, and later, after the sudden death of Louis Winckelmans took charge of ''Shanti Nir'' (1978), in the southern suburbs of the city. He was an [[education]]ist of renown, but also took charge of charitable work for the famine-stricken and refugees.

For 25 years he was a much appreciated and highly respected professor of [[French literature]] at the [[University of Calcutta]], where he also became a member of the senate and the academic council. He also taught at [[St. Xavier's College, Calcutta]]. He was much in demand as a public orator in Bengali, French and English. But his heart was in translations from the Bible and other texts for Christian worship in Bengali. His "Glossary of Bengali Religious Terms" (1945) had prepared him for the task of translating biblical and liturgical texts.<ref>"Avant-propos" 10.</ref> He was deeply involved also in interfaith dialogue. The last words he typed before his fatal heart attack summed up his entire life-work: "Dialogue with Persons of Other Faiths..." That was in September 1985: Pierre Fallon was in fact preparing a text for the forthcoming visit of [[John-Paul II]] in Calcutta (February 1986).<ref>R. De Smet, "Foreword", Religious Hinduism, 4th rev. edition, ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner (Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997) 17-18.</ref>

==Bibliography==
===Primary bibliography===
*''Christianity in Bengal'' in ''Studies in the Bengal Renaissance'' edited by Atulchandra Gupta (1958), revised and enlarged by Jagannath Chakavorty, Jadavpur, Calcutta: National Council of Education, 1977.
*''Glossary of Bengali Religious Terms''. [See R. De Smet, "Foreword", Religious Hinduism, 4th rev. edition, ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner (Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997) 17–18.]
*''New Testament''. Translation into Bengali. [See R. De Smet, "Foreword", Religious Hinduism, 4th rev. edition, ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner (Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997) 17–18.]
*''Mass Ritual''. Translation into Bengali. [See R. De Smet, "Foreword", Religious Hinduism, 4th rev. edition, ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner (Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997) 17–18.]
*"Introduction: A Christian Approach to Non-Christian Religions". ''Religious Hinduism: A Presentation and Appraisal''. 3rd rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1968. 15–22.
*"God in Hinduism: Brahman, Paramātman and Bhagavān". ''Religious Hinduism: A Presentation and Appraisal''. 3rd rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1968. 73–81.
*"The Gods of Hinduism". ''Religious Hinduism: A Presentation and Appraisal''. 3rd rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1968. 82–94.
*"Image Worship". ''Religious Hinduism: A Presentation and Appraisal''. 3rd rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1968. 172–182.
*"Bhagavata Purana and Bhakti Currents". ''Religious Hinduism: A Presentation and Appraisal''. 3rd rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1968. 236–245.
*"Doctrinal Background of the Bhakti Spirituality". ''Religious Hinduism: A Presentation and Appraisal''. 3rd rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1968. 246–254.
*"Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan". ''Religious Hinduism: A Presentation and Appraisal''. 3rd rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1968. 287–295.
*"The Present Situation". (In collaboration with R. Antoine.) ''Religious Hinduism: A Presentation and Appraisal''. 3rd rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Allahabad: St Paul Publications, 1968. 308–320.
*"Introduction: A Christian Approach to Religious Hinduism". ''Religious Hinduism.'' 4th rev. edition, ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997. 23–30.
*"God in Hinduism: Brahman, Paramātman, Īśvara and Bhagavān". ''Religious Hinduism.'' 4th rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997. 108–116.
*"The Gods of Hinduism". ''Religious Hinduism.'' 4th rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997. 117–129.
*"Image Worship". ''Religious Hinduism.'' 4th rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997. 220–230.
*Bhāgavata Purāṇa and the Great Bhakti Currents". ''Religious Hinduism.'' 4th rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997. 292–302.
*"Doctrinal Background of the Bhakti Spirituality". ''Religious Hinduism''. 4th rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997. 303–313.
*"Śrī Rāmakrishna, Swāmi Vivekānanda and Sarvepalli Rādhākrishnan". ''Religious Hinduism.'' 4th rev. edition. Ed. R. De Smet and J. Neuner. Mumbai: St Pauls, 1997. 357–374.

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fallon, Pierre}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Belgian Jesuits]]
[[Category:Indian Jesuits]]
[[Category:Belgian Indologists]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Belgian emigrants to India]]

Pierre Fallon - Revision history

>Brigade Piron: removed Category:Belgian Jesuits; added Category:20th-century Belgian Jesuits using HotCat