{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 40,
  "chapterName": "1604. Letter of Pimenta to the General of the Society of Jesus",
  "pageFrom": 44,
  "pageTo": 44,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 44,
      "ocrText": "44\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nThe king and the Bishop with a great following immediately reached\nthe spot and saw the Apostle in a pool of blood with the fatal wound\nfresh and spear stuck to his side. Bishop Mar Poulose removed\nthe spear, and as they were about to take the Apostle in their car\nfor treatment, Mar Thoma spoke to them in a faint voice: 'No\ntreatment is necessary for me now. The day of my great happiness\nis come.' He then spoke to the people who stood near him weeping,\nand three Nalikas (A Nalika is a time division of Malabar equivalent\nto twenty-four minutes) before sunset, the great Mar Thoma, alas!\npassed away.\n40. LETTER OF PIΜΕΝΤΑ ΤΟ THE GENERAL OF THE\nSOCIETY OF JESUS (1604 A.D.)\nThis letter indicates the value to Portuguese political interests that\nPimenta saw in the Romanisation of the Syrian Christians under\nArchbishop Menezes. In his letter he cites a letter he had received\nfrom the Archbishop. The original letter is in the British Museum\nin a collection of letters written by Jesuit missionaries on the Malabar\ncoast. In translation it can be seen in Mackenzie, Christianity in\nTravancore, p. 70. Cited in J. N. Ogilvie, The Apostles of India, pp.\n158-159.\nHow important was the step (the (the Romanising of the Syrian\nChurch) and how greatly in the furure it was to promote the\ninterests of the Portuguese Crown one can gain say who is aware\nof the fact of binding this race, which from the days of St. Thomas\nhad alone in India held the faith, and could place in array thirty\nthousand armed men to the cause of Portugal, and of bringing them\nunder the obedience of the Roman See. What greatly helped in\neffecting this, were the zeal displayed and the exemplary life of this\nprelate (Archbishop Menezes). He in the space of nine months\ndid more, as our (Jesuit) Fathers attest, to promote the spiritual\nwelfare of these people than had been done from the Apostle's time\nto our days by those who have occupied that See. How well\ndisposed this Prelate is towards ours, who labour in that section\nof the Lord's vineyard, is shown by what he writes in the following\nletter which is addressed to me:-\n'The visitation through the Serra has often left me exhausted:\nbut I keep in mind what the Holy Ghost has said, Et bene patientes\nerunt ut annuntient (Ps. XCI. 15-16). In what state I was able to\nleave the affairs of these (Syrian) Christians, the (Jesuit) Fathers\nmust have written you, so I say nothing. One thing I will say to\nyour Reverence-had I spent the winter here in Goa, those churches\nwould have been lost nor would I have saved my conscience,",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}