Liberius Pieterse
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Liberius Pieterse | |
---|---|
Born | Wageningen, Holland | 12 February 1905
Died | 24 September 1973 Campo Verano, Rome | (aged 68)
Nationality | Dutch |
Other names | Azad |
Citizenship | Pakistani |
Alma mater | Conservatorium of Music, Rotterdam |
Occupation | Franciscan priest |
Years active | 1929–1973 |
Known for | his gift with languages |
Notable work | translation of the Bible into the Urdu language |
Liberius Pieterse (12 February 1905 – 24 September 1973) was a
Early life
Pieterse was born in
He was talented especially in languages, mathematics, music and art. He learned Konkani language, Tamil and Punjabi to get in touch with the working people in society.
Religious career
He started work as assistant in
In July 1941, he was made Parish Priest of
Following holidays in Australia, he decided to work in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Multan. He worked for four years in Multan, spending most of his time in liturgical work, translations, and assistance to the priests there in parish work. Here work was started on the Dictionary of Christian Terminology in Urdu in cooperation with the non-catholic churches.[citation needed]
In 1971 he was back in Karachi at Christ the King Seminary (Pakistan) to work with Fr. John Joseph, on a new ecumenical translation of the Bible and the New Roman Missal.[citation needed]
In 1973, he was working full-time for three churches, St. Francis Xavier's, Qayyumabad, St. Theresa's in Korangi Township, and Stella Maris church at Korangi Creek.[citation needed]
He was the only missionary to become a Pakistani citizen.[citation needed]
Publications
As Editor of "Saint Anthony in India", Fr. Liberius wrote many of the articles, especially about the early developments of the Church in Sind and Baluchistan. He also published articles on the establishment of the churches up-country in St. Thomas' Chronicle, a communication paper for the friars in Pakistan and India. In 1947, on the Independence of Pakistan, he published a history of the Church in Sind and Baluchistan entitled: In the Land of the Sindhi and Baluchi.[1]
The work which really made Fr. Liberius known all over the country was the translation of the Bible into Urdu. In the last few years he felt the need to work together with the Bible Society for a new translation of the Bible. He did this with another priest, Fr. John Joseph.[2]
In 1955 he published a hymnal: HAMD-ULLAH (Praise God). This was a book of about 200 pages of hymns in Persian script. In 1972, the book was completely revised and published with the help of G. M. Felix under the name NAYA GEET GAO (Sing a new song).[3]
One important contribution that Fr. Liberius made to the Church in Pakistan is the translation of the Second Vatican Council documents into Urdu. As a member of the Institute for Religious and Social Studies, Karachi, he was mainly responsible for the complete translation of these Documents.[1]
A final work is the Dictionary of Christian Terminology in Urdu. In 1960 Fr. Liberius, together with Fr. Tovias Bastiaanse O.F.M., published a first edition in mimeographed form. The work was progressed with the collaboration of the Christian Study Centre in Rawalpindi and the Institute for Religious and Social Studies in Karachi.[4]
He wrote Urdu poetry under the name of Azad.[5]
On 24 September 1973 he died at
References
- ^ a b c NEWSLETTER O.F.M. a monthly publication of the Franciscan Custody of St. John the Baptist, PAKISTAN 5 August 2006 Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Pieterse, L., et al. Kalam-i-Muqaddas, Paulist Publications, Rome 1958.
- ^ INFO Lacombe Volume 3, Number 14, May 12, 2006 Archived March 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Liberius Pieterse: English-Urdu dictionary of Christian terminology. Edited by Jan Slomp. (Christian Study Centre Series, No. 10.) xxviii, 108 pp. Rawalpindi: Christian Study Centre, 1976 Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Emmanuel Zafar, A concise history of Pakistani Christians. Lahore: Humsookhan Publication, 2007.