Pictures of Bhopal Cathedral where Pax is buried

The Cathedral Church of St Francis of Assisi, Bhopal

 Here's what I've been able to find out about the Cathedral where Pax is buried.

The history of the Catholic Church in Bhopal goes back to 1785, when Salvador Bourbon, a descendant of the French Royal Catholic Family of Bourbons, came to Bhopal to work for the reigning Begum Mamola at Bhopal. 

We meet Salvador Bourbon's direct descendants when we went to the Sunday evening mass. The gentleman was very friendly, beaming, and quite delighted when Simon made balloons for the girl who I think was his daughter. He told us that he's off to Spain soon to meet the king.  

(Update: Actually he is allegedly the first in line to the French throne!! See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/03/india.france
So I finally met a king, kind of...)

And here's one of the Bourbon's tombstones, in the floor of the Cathedral.

History continues: 

It was Bishop Hartmann OFM,Cap., who is in a very real sense the founder of the Church of Bhopal. In 1873 he acquired a plot of land from the Muslim ruler of Bhopal and built the first little church, which, in 1964 became the Cathedral of the newly erected Archdiocese of Bhopal.

The church is located in old Bhopal, which--at least as far as we could see--is still a Muslim area. 

This is the St Francis shrine at the front, in what is now the parking lot.

Here's the original entrance, now bricked up. This small entrance was what Joaquim remembered, and what initially confused him about whether this could be the right church or not. We didn't notice this until later.

Here we are inside the church, on the first day that we realised that this WAS the place where Pax was buried. I'm there with my head covered--I'd been told earlier that women covered their heads in churches here so I played it safe. Joaquim is on the left. I love the picture behind the altar; Jesus is on the cross, but he is also risen. Yes, that's the hope of faith; that we will rise also.

A detail from the altar--the porcelain angels. They are beautiful. I've become so fond of angels since I lost Catherine. I think they are such universal spiritual creatures. Their existence is accepted by most traditional religions and even some of the non-conventional ones. They can't all be wrong, can they!? God's little messengers to just give us a little more hope...

And finally, yours truly. I was invited to read a scripture portion when we attended the Sunday evening mass. This was unexpected and I felt this was a real privilege. God bless the dear Fathers and staff at the St Francis Cathedral. They welcomed us so warmly and treated us so hospitably.