The triangle is an immense stretch of jungle close to the Chinese border. It is the area enclosed by two big rivers that flow from the ice-capped Himalayas and that gradually meet to form the headwaters of the River Irrawaddy.
Although the British had taken control of Burma in 1826 they made no attempt to enter the Triangle for another 100 years. The Kachins who lived there practiced slavery unmolested. The area seemed too wild and too remote.
However, in 1927 a detachment of military police finally entered the Triangle to try to arrange terms for the liberation of the slave. It met the fierce opposition, and the commander was killed. Eventually, after the several skirmishes, the Kachins agreed to release the slaves on condition that the government would compensate them.
Within the Triangle the British Set up a system of indirect rule. The local chieftains retained their customary authority subject to a native Over-chief who liaised with the authorities in Rangoon.
The system had only been working for a few years when Monsignor Usher decided to push the Columban Mission into the Triangle. In 1939 Frs. McAlindon and Stuart became he first missionaries to enter this wild country. They were to seek out a suitable site for a new mission. Crossing the River Mali they headed north. For twelve days they wandered the jungle paths. They hoped to buy rice along the way, but there was a famine, and their own few provision s soon ran out. They have to make their way back, surviving as the best they could on wild sweets potatoes that lay buried up to four feet under the ground, and whatever else they could find. And they could only manage two miles each hour up and down the steep slopes.
Fr. Stuart and Fr. Doody tried again in December, but return for Christmas still with out success.
After Christmas they set off with even more determination. This time they were prepared for a stay of several months. They took extra mules for the extra food supply, salt medicines, oil for the lamps, as well as the inevitable mass-kit. For four months they wandered through most of the southern part of the Triangle. They found friendly reception in the scattered villages but suspicions from the outsiders.
They finally arrived at Kajihtu. It was not an administrative centre , but La Doi lived there. He was Over- chief appointed by the British. La Doi received them warmly, He even encourage them to make Kajihtu their center, and promised to find them a mission site.
With their first objective accomplish they returned to Myitkyina to bring up provision for a permanent stay. The return of provisions prove extremely difficult. The rivers has swollen and all the bridges had been washed away. In July Fr. Doody fell ill and had to go back. Fr. Stuart was alone for next few months.
He set about making friends in Kajithu. He followed the local custom as carefully as possible and successfully treated small ailments such as fever, wounds and sores. The people responded. The site for the mission schools was given. It was on the mountaintop 3,500 ft. up, with the clear spring nearby, and a magnificent view of the Himalayas. The villager cleared the jungle and built a bamboo house for the priests.
Once again Fr. Stuart made the long journey back to the Myitkyina to bring Fr. Dunlea, who would replace Fr. Doody. Monsignor Usher joined them, anxious to see the new mission. They followed the Mali river gorge for fifteen days plunged westwards into the heart of the wild country, along the rim of the gigantic maze of vast deep canyons dense with tangled green jungle, which hid man-eating tigers, panthers, cobras and vipers. Then it lashed rain for two days and nights. The rivers were impassable so they had to wait for several days in the village for the waters to subside. In the village the three developed typhoid, though the effects did not show until Monsignor Usher had left them to return from Kajithu. Fr. Stuart recovered but Fr. Dunlea grew steadily worse. They took him by a makeshift stretcher to a hospital several days’ journey away. He was far gone to recover. The town people made him a coffin and they buried him on a spot where they could see the hills of China.
“In Death,” wrote Monsignor Usher, ‘he brought the whole village very close to us. Every man, woman and child turned in his funeral in sympathy. A cross-planted among them forever, and they know that it commemorate young life given freely for their good. That ultimate proof of love will not be in vain”. Late Fr. Cooney, who became a superior in Burma, was able to write: “ At the time of his death there were no Catholics in Kajihtu or in the surrounding area. Today there are thousands.”
Fr. Mark Alindon returned to Kajithu. The schools were built and the pupils, the son of the four chiefs and twenty others, put their names on the roll. The first solemn baptism in the Triangle took place on January 29th, 1941.
After enduring hardships, illness, and death, the new mission was established.