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 INDIA

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INDIA

are called on account of their liturgy — still flourish and are governed by three vicars Apostolic at Ernakulam, Trichur, and Changanacherry respectively.

Portuguese missionary enterprise, which began shortly after 1500, partly followed the progress of conquest, but also extendetl beyond it, so that large communities were f ormeil in the south of the peninsula and as far as Madras on the east coast, and Damao on the west, while sporadic efforts were made from time to time further northwards, as far as Bengal, Agra, and even Tiliet. The chief successes were, first, within the strictly Portuguese territory of Goa, where the fullest influence of the State lay at the back of the missionaries; secondly, on the Fishery Coast about Cape Comorin; thirdly, in the inland districts of Madura; fourthly, in the districts of Bassein, Salsette, Bombay, Karanja, and Chaul on the western coast, north of Goa. The Franciscans and Dominicans were the first orders in the field, soon to be followed by the Jesuits and Augustinians, and later on by the Carmel- ites, Theatines, Hospitallers of St. John, and Orator- ians. The tide of enterprise reached its highest soon after a. d. 1600, by which time vast numbers had been enrolled in the mem- b e r s h i p of the Church. The work of attending to the wants of such large communities natur- ally placed a limit on further mission- ary extension. More- over, as the power of Portugal itself began to decline, there was a falling oft' in the supply of mission- aries, and after the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773 it may be said that mission- ary progress under Portuguese patron- age came practically Al-ld-deens (_. to a standstill. Mean- time the Holy See, recognizing the inadequacy of the Portuguese resources to deal with so vast a country, began to provide indepentlently for the spread of the Gospel by appointing vicars Apostolic, under Propa- ganda, the first being that of the Deccan, afterwards called the ^'icar Apostolic of the Great Mogul, and finally the Vicar Apostolic of Bombay. This appoint- ment, made about 16:!7, was followed by others ilown to recent times, till the whole of the country outside the actual sphere of Portuguese ministrations was in some waj' provided for. It soon happened that where the vicars Apostolic came into contact with the Portu- guese clergy there arose a conflict of jurisdiction — the vicars Apostolic resting their claims on the direct dele- gation of the Holy See, while the Portuguese party took their stand on the ancient prerogatives of the patronage as well as the prescriptive right of posses- sion. The policy of Rome throughout this conflict was to support unequivocally the position of the vicars Apostolic, at the same time recommending them to use caution and thereby avoid dissension where possi- ble. The strained relations between the two parties reached a climax when in 1S3S the Holy See cancelled the jurisdiction of the three suffragan Sees of Cranga- nore. Cochin, and Mylapur and transferred it to the nearest vicars Apostolic, and did the same with regard to certain portions of territory which had formerly been under the authority of Goa itself. The struggle,

which was most fierce in the districts of Bombay, Madras, and Madura, continued till 1S57, when a con- corilat was drawn up which gave comparative peace to the churches, but left the two conflicting jurisdictions almost in statu quo. Finally in ISSG another concor- dat was established, and at the same time the whole country was divided into ecclesiastical provinces, and certain portions of territory, withdrawn in 1S3S, were restored to the jurisdiction of the Portuguese sees. The delineations made in 1SS6 were afterwards supple- mented by adjustments and subdivisions down to 1S99, since when the ecclesiastical distribution has been stalile. The following lists will summarize the main facts thus described; (1) The old foundations of the Portuguese Padroado: — Goa, 1534; Cochin, 1557; Cranganore, 1600; San Thome (Mylapur), 1606. (2) Vicariates founded before 1800; — Great Mogul, 1637; Malabar, 1659; Bombay and Tibet, 1720, Ava and Pegu (Burma), 1722. (3) Vicariates founded from 1800 to 1886:— Tibet, 1826; Bengal, Madras, and Cey- lon, 1834; Madura and Coromandel, 18156 ; Agra and

Patna. 1.S45; Jaffna,

1S47 ; East and West Bengal, Vizagapa- tam, Pondicherry, Coimbatore, and My- sore, 1850; Hytlera- bad (Deccan), 1851; Mangalore, Quilon, and Verapoly, 18.53; Poona, 18.34; Central Bengal, North and South Burma, 1870; Punjab and Kash- mir, 1880; Kandy, 1883; East Burma, 1886. (4) The hier- archy as established in 1886 consisted of eight archbishops bearing the titles of Agra, Calcutta, Mad- ras, Bombay, Goa, Pondicherrj', Vera- poly, and Ceylon, each having his suli- ject dioceses, vica- ATEw.iY, Delhi riates, and prefect-

ures Apostolic. (5) The following new subdivisions were made after 1886: — Kashmir, Nagpur, Trichur, and Kottayam, 1887; Assam, 1889; Ernakulam. and Changanacherry, 1890; Rajputana. 1891; Bettiah, 1892; Galle and Trincomalee, 1893; Kumbakonam, 1899. To these must be added the three vicariates Apostolic of Burma. Catholic Statistics. — The ecclesiastical organiza- tion connected with Intlia does not by any means coincide with the political divisions of the country. India consists of eight ecclesiastical provinces, seven of which are in the peninsula and the eighth in Ceylon. The Provinces of Agra, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Verapoly are entirely in the Indian Empire. The Province of Goa comprises Portuguese India and some portion of British India, besides the suffragan sees in Africa and the Far East. The Province of Pondi- cherry comprises French India and some portion of British India, as well as the Diocese of Malacca in the Straits Settlements. The Province of Colombo is entirely in Ceylon and so outside the Indian Empire. On the other hand, the three vicariates of Burma, which at present belong to the Indian Empire, are not part of ecclesiastical India proper, and lie outside the Apostolic Delegation of the East Indies. The same is true of Aden, which belongs politically to the Bom- bay Presidency. Our best course, therefore, in giving ecclesiastical statistics, will be to take the general group just described, indicating certain subtractions