Dr Michael Lobo
Camelot, Bijey Church Road
Mangalore 575 004, India
the 31st of December, 1878 – and marked the arrival of the Italian Jesuits,
who had been entrusted by Pope Pius IX and his successor Pope Leo XIII with the
administration of the Apostolic Vicariate of Mangalore.
An Apostolic Vicariate was a term employed by the Vatican for ecclesiastical
units in countries which were regarded as missionary areas. In the 19th
century almost all ecclesiastical units in India were ‘vicariates’, but by a
decision taken in the Vatican in the year 1886, under Pope Leo XIII, eighteen
Indian vicariates, including Mangalore, were elevated to the status of
‘diocese’.
The Jesuit mission from Naples arrived at Bombay in time for Christmas and then
proceeded south to Goa on board a Portuguese steamship. A large number of young
Mangaloreans had travelled as far north as Goa to meet the incoming Jesuits and
escort them back to Mangalore by the British-India steamship SS Khandalla –
they landed in Mangalore on December 31st.
The reception accorded to this Italian Jesuit mission was conducted on a scale
that was unprecedented in the history of Mangalore. In the words of the
diocesan history by the American Jesuit Fr John Moore: “A gaily decorated
launch came out to take the Fathers ashore. A splendid shamiana had been
erected on the Bunder, where Father Victor, accompanied by a large assemblage
of clergy and laity, Catholics and Hindus, received them when they landed. Mr.
Alexander E.C. Vas read an address, which was then presented in a handsome
sandalwood case to the Pro-Vicar, who responded in fitting terms. The Fathers
then entered carriages that were waiting, and preceded by the Confraternities
and people on foot, went in procession to the Cathedral, where the formal
handing over of the Mission took place.”
There is no doubt that the arrival of the Italian Jesuits in Mangalore on the
31st of December, 1878, was one of the most important events in the history of
Mangalore. The major Catholic institutions with which Mangalore is indelibly
associated – Fr. Muller’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Inter-diocesan Seminary and
Industrial Workshops, the Codialbail Press, and - of course - St. Aloysius
College, all owe their existence to these Jesuit pioneers.
The Apostolic Carmel is celebrating a double jubilee this year and the next.
The 19th of November 2020 will mark 150 years since their arrival at Mangalore
and 2021 will mark the centenary of the foundation of the historic St Agnes
College.
The first of these two events was far less spectacular. The ship that landed
was a simple sailing vessel. The crew comprised of six young men from leading
families of the time. They sailed south from Mangalore to Verapoly (near
Cochin), where they attended the consecration of Monsignor Bernardin, who had
just been appointed by Pope Gregory XVI to assume charge of the newly created
Apostolic Vicariate of Mangalore. From Verapoly, with the newly consecrated
bishop now on board, they sailed north for home, landing at Mangalore on the
8th of November. The bishop was solemnly led to Rosario Cathedral and a
pontifical high mass was celebrated.
That was the 8th of November of the year 1845. It is one of the most important
events in the history of Catholic Mangalore. This is not merely because this
date marks the foundation of the Diocese of Mangalore – then known as an
Apostolic Vicariate. The dramatic historical setting involving the rivalry
between the Crown of Portugal and the Papacy in Rome, the sequence of events
leading up to November 1845, and the romantic episode of the first bishop being
escorted on a sailing ship, together make up a story that is truly
unforgettable.
The foundation of the diocese of Mangalore was not a prosaic splitting from its
parent diocese – such as, for example, the creation of Calicut diocese in 1923
by the simple process of carving it out of the diocese of Mangalore and a
peaceful transfer of power. Paul Perini, the Italian Jesuit bishop of
Mangalore, assumed charge of the newly created diocese of Calicut, paving the
way for Mangalore to be administered by its own native clergy.
By contrast, the creation of the Apostolic Vicariate of Mangalore nearly 100
years earlier took the form of a struggle for independence from the
jurisdiction of its parent diocese (Goa), whose loyalties were to the Crown of
Portugal and not to Rome.
Today, the Roman Catholic religion in India and around the world is organized
in a systematic hierarchy, eventually ascending to the Vatican and the Papacy.
But the power and authority of the papacy in India was not really established
till the late 19th century. Despite the fact that Christianity in India has a
history spanning at least five centuries, the country has had little by way of
direct interaction with the papacy until the 19th century. Till then, the
responsibility for the spread of Catholicism in India was in the hands of the
so-calledPadroado, a term that will be explained below.
Padroado is a Portuguese word meaning ‘patronage’; the expression arose
because, in the 16th century, the Pope granted the Crown of Portugal a monopoly
of the patronage of the missions in India and the East Indies. In other words,
it was up to the King or Queen of Portugal to select and sponsor bishops and
other ecclesiastics for the Catholic missions in these areas; vice versa,
missionaries in these areas were expected to obtain permission from the Crown
of Portugal, and in practice permission was only granted to Portuguese
subjects. These privileges were justified in the 16th century, when the
Portuguese were the paramount power in the East, but as its power waned, the
Crown of Portugal was no longer able to do justice to the missions that it had
founded. In India, the three oldest bishoprics were Goa (1534), Cochin (1557),
and Mylapore (1606), but the Crown of Portugal was only able to provide support
for Goa. Cochin fell to the Dutch, who destroyed the Portuguese churches in
the mid 17th century – and the Holy See (the papacy) founded a new bishopric at
Verapoly, a little to the north. It was India’s first bishopric of
non-Portuguese origin – and was known as a ‘vicariate’.
ThePropaganda Fide (Propagation of the Faith) was the Papal Department
concerned with mission activity. Dissatisfied with thePadroado, it began
sending its own missionaries to India – notably Carmelites, Capuchins, and
Jesuits. The 1830s saw the foundation of three new vicariates: Madras (1832),
Calcutta (1834), and Ceylon (1836). The Apostolic Vicariate of Madras replaced
the older diocese of Mylapore that had fallen into disuse. By the mid 19th
century, the Archdiocese of Goa was the last stronghold of thePadroado.
Now to return to the story of the foundation of the Apostolic Vicariate of
Mangalore.
Following the return of the captives from Seringapatam in the year 1799, the
Mangalorean Catholics slowly rebuilt their lives . . . and by the year 1840,
its leading members felt that the time was now ripe for Mangalore to be
independent of Goa and be erected into an Apostolic Vicariate in its own right
– under the jurisdiction not of the Portuguese king but of the Church in Rome.
Several leading Mangaloreans of the era took up the cause in earnest, including
Fr Joachim Pio Noronha (the first native Mangalorean priest), Boniface
Fernandes (the first Mangalorean to attain the position of Deputy Collector;
one of his grandsons was the famous Dr L.P. Fernandes), John Joseph Saldanha (a
subjudge in North Kanara; his youngest son was the famous Joseph Saldanha, poet
and editor of the Christian Purana), and Martin Basil Coelho, head of the
illustrious Falnir Coelho family of timber merchants. Some of the
correspondence between John Joseph Saldanha and Martin Basil Coelho with
ecclesiastical authorities in Rome and India has been preserved (not the
originals, unfortunately). And when Bishop Bernardin was appointed to assume
charge at Mangalore in 1845, he was escorted from the older diocese of Verapoly
in a sailing ship, the St Antony, belonging to the Falnir Coelho family (built
from the family’s own timber industry). Six young men formed the bishop’s
escort, headed by Peter Venantius Coelho, eldest son of Martin Basil Coelho.
The others were Ignatius Britto, Lawrence Adrian Coelho, Francis Mascarenhas,
Augustine Tellis and Clement Vas.
Bishop Francis Xavier, Vicar Apostolic, Verapoly
8 April 1845
Another point worthy of note is that when the Apostolic Vicariate of Mangalore
was created in 1845, it extended north as far as Karwar (on the border with
Goa) and also incorporated the entire district of the Malabar down to the
border with the Kingdom of Travancore. On the east it extended into the
Western Ghats.
And by a decision taken at the Vatican in 1886, the District of North Kanara
was ‘returned’ to Goa, while, ironically, Mangalore was now ‘promoted’ as a
Diocese. So too were 17 other Apostolic Vicariates in India, including Bombay,
Calcutta, and Madras.
Dear friends on this forum, there are so many memorable anecdotes about the
early years of the Apostolic Vicariate of Mangalore that are almost completely
forgotten today. Let me mention just one celebrated incident that took place
in the year 1854 during the tenure of Bishop Michael Anthony, who succeeded
Bishop Bernardin as Vicar Apostolic, or Bishop of Mangalore, in 1853.
Dear friends on this forum, today – the 8th of November 2020 – marks the 175th
anniversary of that truly historic day, whenthe sailing shipSt Antony docked at
Mangalore, and the Italian Bishop Bernardine, was solemnly led to Rosario
Cathedral, where he celebrated a pontifical high mass.
Michael Lobo
