{
  "bookName": "HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS",
  "authorName": "BERNARD DE VAULX",
  "publisherName": "HAWTHORN BOOKS PUBLISHERS",
  "publicationYear": 2026,
  "chapterNumber": 12,
  "chapterName": "The Indian Missions",
  "pageFrom": 154,
  "pageTo": 161,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 154,
      "ocrText": "CHAPTER XII\nTHE INDIAN MISSIONS\nTHE BULL MULTA PRAECLARE AND THE\nGOANESE SCHISM\nAt the beginning of the nineteenth century the Indian missions\nappealed in vain for help. Neither the warning of the co-\nadjutor of Goa, notifying the regent of Portugal that the secular\npriests of the diocese were by no means sufficient in number\nto minister to the spiritual needs of the Christians, nor the\nappeals made by the Government in 1819 and 1831, had per-\nsuaded a single secular or religious to set out for India. The\nfuture looked darker still when the mother country in 1855\nsuppressed the religious Congregations throughout the terri-\ntory of the patronato without however renouncing any of the\nrights attached to the patronato itself.\nAt this date there were still 248 religious in the whole of\nIndia, of whom some twenty were Portuguese. The others, the\n\"Goanese\", although not deserving the severe judgements of\nthe Propaganda missionaries, were for the most part lacking in\nzeal and preferred to remain in Goan territory rather than to\ngo out on the mission. The majority, with insufficient training,\ncould not hope to give a good account of themselves in contro-\nversies with the Protestant ministers who, on the whole, were\ncarefully chosen and increasingly numerous after the British\nconquest. Further, the Portuguese patronato showed less and\nless willingness to honour its obligations. Goa had been with-\nout a bishop since 1831, Cranganore since 1777, Cochin since\n1778, Mylapore since 1804. The Holy See began by begging\nPortugal to make appointments to the vacant sees or else to"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 155,
      "ocrText": "THE INDIAN MISSIONS\n155\nrenounce her rights. Having received no reply, Gregory XVI\nestablished five vicariates apostolic between 1831 and 1834:\nCalcutta, Madras, Ceylon, Pondicherry and Madura. The\nbishops to be appointed would be withdrawn from the juris-\ndiction of the Portuguese ordinaries.\nJustified though these appointments certainly were, they\nproduced a situation pregnant with conflict, since the terri-\ntories of the new dioceses continued to be within the sphere\nof the Padroado, which had not been abolished by any\ndiplomatic instrument. In the meantime, Gregory XVI, with\nthe advice of theologians and jurists, had put into final form the\nBull Multa praeclare (1838) which confirmed the status of the\nvicariates, suppressed explicitly the four dioceses of Cran-\nganore, Cochin, Mylapore and Malacca, handed over their\nterritories to the vicars apostolic and limited Goa's jurisdiction\nto the Portuguese possessions in India. As relations with\nLisbon had been broken in 1833, the Roman decisions were\ncompletely unilateral. Neither the queen of Portugal nor the\nPadroado administration had been warned, except by the\nappeal of 1837, of the restrictions to their power which were\nnow in force. Even the Bull Multa praeclare itself was not\naddressed to them.\nIts publication was a bombshell. After the vicar apostolic\nof Goa, Carvalho, had questioned the Bull's authenticity and\nits obligatory nature, the Goanese clergy in the territories in-\ncorporated in the vicariates refused to take any notice of it,\ninveigled the faithful into rebellion and drove out the Jesuits\nfrom some of the parishes. This was the beginning of what\nhas been called, with a certain amount of exaggeration, the\n\"Goanese schism\". With a few rare exceptions, the resisters\nhad no intention of denying the authority of Rome. In any\ncase, once Carvalho was dead, the resistance decreased and\nsome of the priests made their submission to the vicars\napostolic.\nThere was reasonable hope of peace all round, when the\nappointment of a new archbishop of Goa (vacant since 1831)"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 156,
      "ocrText": "156\nTHE INDIAN MISSIONS\nrekindled the quarrel. The queen, after the resumption of\ndiplomatic relations in 1841, had presented her nominee, Mgr\nSilva Torres, to the Holy See which had accepted him.\nGregory XVI handed two documents to the new archbishop.\nOne was official and declared that no change had been intro-\nduced as regards the right of patronage. It had no difficulty in\nreceiving the royal consent. The other, Nuncium ad te, was\nsecret, and ordered Mgr Silva Torres under oath to obey the\nprovisions of the Bull.\nOn his arrival at Bombay, the warm welcome he received\nfrom the Catholics and the respectful behaviour of the English\nGovernor doubtless went to his head, for he forgot the con-\ntents of the secret letter and conducted himself as though he\nwere the ordinary of the place and this in spite of the protests\nof the vicars apostolic who quoted the Bull Multa praeclare\nagainst him. It was useless for Gregory XVI to remind him\nof the circumstances surrounding his appointment, he persisted\nin his disobedience and took with him almost all the Goanese\nclergy.\nFROM THE SYNOD OF PONDICHERRY TO THE\nEND OF THE CENTURY\nOn their side, the vicars apostolic firmly maintained the\npositions given to them by the Bull and, while continuing to\nstruggle against the dissidents, went on with their work. The\nmost important event during this period was the Synod of\nPondicherry (1845). It was summoned and presided over by\nMgr Bonnand and was attended by his coadjutor elect, twenty-\nthree priests of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, three\nIndian priests and Fr Bertrand, superior of the Madura\nmission. With a view to recruiting a native clergy, a teaching\nprogramme was drawn up. It recommended as a basis the\nestablishment of good primary schools or at least the improve-\nment of those already existing. Secondary education was to be\nundertaken by junior seminaries and its curriculum was to\ninclude Latin, Tamil, French as a cultural language, English to"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 157,
      "ocrText": "THE INDIAN MISSIONS\n157\nfacilitate relations with the administration, and the elements\nof history, geography, arithmetic, astronomy and physics. The\npupils with an attraction towards the priesthood were to con-\ntinue their higher studies at the seminary proper and were to\nspend one year in a missionary post between their philosophy\nand the tonsure, so that their vocation might be tested.\nThe work of the Synod was reported to the Congregation of\nPropaganda in a document entitled Éclaircissement sur le\nsynode (\"The Synod explained\"), the author of which was a\npriest of the Paris Foreign Missions, Fr Luquet. It was wel-\ncomed and was used in giving final form to the Instruction of\nNovember 12th, 1845, a document of capital importance for\nthe problem of a native clergy. One paragraph in it approved\nthe school curriculum mentioned above, and declared its hope\nthat when applied, it would recruit not only priests, but bishops\ntoo. Other paragraphs advised the abrogation of \"the custom\nof reducing the native clergy to the state of an auxiliary clergy,\na situation which they rightly consider distressing\". On the\ncontrary, \"little by little, as far as is possible and prudently,\nthe rule should be introduced that, among those labouring in\nthe apostolate, whether they be natives or Europeans, and all\nother things being equal, promotion should be based on length\nof service in the mission\". Hence, \"honours, duties, ranks\nshould be distributed with reference to seniority alone\".\nThe programme drawn up by the Synod of Pondicherry\ncould only be put into practice slowly and by instalments. The\ngeneral inquiry ordered by Propaganda in 1858 (its findings\nwere only made public in 1862) noted that four vicariates only\nhad seminaries. That of Coimbatore had already produced five\nnative priests for the mission and had seventeen pupils in\ntraining. That of Bangalore numbered twenty-nine seminarists,\nthat of Bombay, about fifteen. The Pondicherry vicariate alone\nhad a junior seminary and a seminary proper. They had\nalready produced fourteen priests. On the Malabar coast,\nwhere there had been communities since the Middle Ages,\nfounded by missionaries from the Near East, the three"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 158,
      "ocrText": "158\nTHE INDIAN MISSIONS\nvicariates of Verapoly, Mangalore and Quilon had possessed\na native clergy for centuries. It was of both Latin and Syrian\nrite. The Syrian clergy was mediocre in quality because its\nmembers became priests since to do so was a family tradition\nrather than because they had genuine vocations. As regards\nseminaries, they were established gradually throughout the\nwhole of India, except in the mountainous northern regions.\nAt the end of the nineteenth century, the Jesuits organized\na system of secondary and higher education. Their oldest\ninstitution, St Joseph's College at Bombay, dating from 1807,\nhad more than 2,000 pupils at the beginning of the twentieth\ncentury. As early as 1835, the Jesuits had founded the St\nFrancis Xavier College at Calcutta. It was given up because\nof Goanese opposition but re-opened in 1859 by the Belgian\nJesuits. In the Madura district, where the French Jesuits, with\nexemplary pertinacity, had succeeded in settling in 1837 in\nspite of Goanese hostility, Fr Canoz established a college at\nNegapatam in 1844. The Goanese set fire to it. Fr Canoz then\nchose Trichinopoly as the site of a new foundation, St Joseph's\nCollege, which, in 1887, already had 1,000 pupils.\nThe University Colleges, fifty-four in number, and open to\npupils of all creeds, have had considerable influence. The\nTrichinopoly college alone has produced 1,000 priests and ten\nbishops. The old pupils, even when they remain pagans or\nBrahmins, retain an esteem for and gratitude towards their\nmasters. As a number of them hold high office in the admini-\nstration and the liberal professions, they help to maintain an\nattitude favourable to Catholicism which counterbalances the\nopposite mentality, based on xenophobia.\nWhile the vicariates apostolic were making progress, the\n\"Goanese\" did not disarm. The appeal or rather the second\nappeal for obedience addressed to them by Pius IX in 1853\nwas considered by the Lisbon Parliament as an attack on the\nage-old rights of Portugal, and Parliament made use of the\noccasion to represent its resistance as an act of good citizenship.\nThe Holy See nevertheless continued to seek for bases for"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 159,
      "ocrText": "THE INDIAN MISSIONS\n159\na Concordat. In 1857 the nuncio at Lisbon worked out a\nscheme which limited the rights of the Padroado to the diocese\nof Goa and the three suffragan sees, Cochin, Mylapore and\nCranganore, but submitted to the approval of Lisbon plans\nfor the creation of new dioceses and annulled the Bull Multa\npraeclare. The vicars apostolic protested so vigorously against\na scheme which gave the victory to Portugal that Pius IX did\nnot ratify it. But in 1861, with a view to promoting a peaceful\nsolution, a brief granted extra-diocesan and delegated juris-\ndiction over the areas which the Bull had withdrawn from\nthe Padroado, to the archbishop of Goa and his successors.\nIn 1886, Leo XIII signed a new Concordat which gave to the\narchbishop of Goa the title of Patriarch of the Indies, but\nrestricted the patronato rights to his diocese and his suffragans.\nNevertheless, he himself continued to enjoy a personal juris-\ndiction outside these areas. New concessions in 1887 and 1890\nin actual fact revived the double jurisdiction. In a word, a\nmember of a diocese in the Padroado who was staying in an\narea under the jurisdiction of a vicar apostolic, ran the risk\nin case of illness of dying without the sacraments since only a\nPadroado priest had the right to administer them to him.\nThe Concordat of 1886 did however remove the last obstacle\nto the establishment of the hierarchy which Mgr Bonnand had\nasked for at the 1845 Synod. India was divided into eight\necclesiastical provinces: Goa, Colombo, Pondicherry, Verapoly,\nMadras, Calcutta, Agra and Bombay and these comprised\nnineteen bishoprics, three vicariates and four prefectures\napostolic.\nTHE EVANGELIZATION OF THE NORTHERN\nPROVINCES\nIn the middle of the nineteenth century the north of India\nwas still almost totally ignorant of Christ's message. When it\nreached the small States of the mountainous area to the west\nof Bengal-Chotanagpur, Jashpur, Surguya and Udaipur-\nthe missionaries who brought it had to endure so many trials"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 160,
      "ocrText": "160\nTHE INDIAN MISSIONS\nand yet introduced such admirable social reforms for the\nnatives that their story reads like an epic. All its heroes were\nfrom Belgium. The first to come, the Jesuits, entered the\ncountry as chaplains to the British troops stationed at Ranchi,\nin 1876. They discovered tribes living in the mountains: the\nKherias, Ouraons, Hos and Mundos who were completely\nanimist, totally outside the sphere of Buddhism and living\nunder the domination of sorcery.\nFurther, they were shamefully exploited by the great landed\nproprietors, the Zemindars and also by usurers. The Jesuits,\nand in particular Fr Lievens who arrived in 1885, took upon\nthemselves the task of defending these victims of oppression.\nIn so doing, they opened people's eyes to the value of\nCatholicism. Once they saw this, some of them asked to\nbecome members of the Church. They proved willing pupils.\nBy 1890 Fr Lievens had baptized 79,000 of them. During a\nvisit to Belgium where he returned to rest, he died of sheer\nexhaustion without seeing India again. But the torch passed\ninto the hands of other Fathers who, inspired by the same\nzeal, were rewarded with similar successes, in spite of the\nsmallness of their numbers.\nThe progress of Catholicism in Jashpur followed a similar\npattern, but by a kind of osmosis. The tribes had heard of the\nbattle for justice waged in Chotanagpur by Fr Lievens and\nthey asked for missionaries to be sent to them. As the rajah\nhad forbidden the latter to enter his territory, they settled on\nthe frontier and there instructed and baptized the small groups\nwho came to them. In 1907, there were already 12,900\nChristians in the north of Jashpur. During this same year,\nFr de Gruyse crossed the frontier to forestall the Lutherans.\nHe soon died, worn out by his labours. He had converted\n12,000 natives. These young Christian communities were to\nreach the fullness of their growth in the second quarter of the\ntwentieth century.\nThe honour of continuing J. Vaz's apostolate in Ceylon\nbelongs to the Goan Oratorians. Towards the middle of the"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 161,
      "ocrText": "THE INDIAN MISSIONS\n161\nnineteenth century, the island numbered some 100,000\nChristians who were distributed at the time between the\nvicariates of Colombo and Jaffna, entrusted to the Oblates of\nMary Immaculate and the Benedictines respectively. Colombo\nbecame an archdiocese in 1886 with suffragan sees at Jaffna,\nKandy and, from 1893 onward, Galle and Trincomalee. The\nOblates were assisted in their ministry by Jesuits, Premon-\nstratensians and a diocesan clergy.\nIn the second half of the nineteenth century, many other\ninstitutes had come to reinforce the missionary personnel;\nSalesians of Annecy and from Don Bosco's community, Mis-\nsionaries of Milan and Mill Hill, Fathers of the Holy Cross\nand the Divine Word, Franciscans, Vincentians, Canons\nRegular of St Augustine, Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny, Tarbes\nand Annecy, catechists of Mary Immaculate, Franciscans of\nMary, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the Holy Cross, Loretto,\nSisters of Charity of Milan and many others. They all helped,\nin their respective spheres, to edify, catechize and to succour\nsuffering humanity, in short to plant the Cross in the citadel of\nHinduism and to earn respect for it there."
    }
  ]
}