Bishops, priests, religious brothers and nuns were among the 7,000 Catholics who celebrated the arrival of Christianity in East Bengal (now Bangladesh).
Celebratory events were held in Diang, Chittagong in the country’s southeast on Feb. 7-8.
The celebrations coincided with the annual pilgrimage at Our Lady of Lourdes Marian shrine of Diang.
Devotees paid tributes to early Christian martyrs who are believed buried at the old cemetery of Diang. About Portuguese 600 Christians were killed in 1607 by soldiers of the Arakan Kingdom which is now part of Myanmar’s Rakhine State.