Introduction: Christianity in
the state of Tamil Nadu, India is believed to be 2000 years old by
St. Thomas, the Apostle. Later the colonial age brought a large number of
Portuguese, Dutch, British and Italian Christians to Tamil Nadu. Priests
accompanied also to spread the Christian faith.
Ch
1: Early Chrisitian roots with the works of Francis Xavier
In Pearl Fishery coast
Parava population was dominating, who were fishermen and were constantly,
harassed my Muslims. Portugese general, offers help, provided they, accept
Christianity .In 1535, Portugese drive away Muslims.1536-37 around 20,000
Paravas received baptism. In Oct 1542, Xavier arrived to Tuticorin and baptized several villages of Karaiyas.
Having seen the faith, the Karaiyas of Mannar island to asked to be
baptized.Meantime Raja of Jafna, started persecuting Christians.
Rajas of Quilon were in
good terms with Xavier. At this point becoming christians brought social
security and dignity too.
Ch 2: Madurai Mission – A Microspcopic Story
“Madura Mission’ is
named after the ‘Old Madura Mission’ by the Portuguese (1542-1759)
and the ‘New Madura Mission’ (1838-1952) by the French Jesuits.
Roberto De Nobili, is known as the founder of Madurai mission, who arrived
there in 1606. He also called himself Sanyasi and made clear that Christianity
is not belonging to any particular caste, but open to all.
Madurai mission had
several centres from which Christianity spread to all around. Thiruchanapalli became
the main centre in 1644.1625 onwards conversions mainly targeted Sudra caste,
who had no difficulty to accept Christianity as Brahmins too had accepted
Christianity. By 1678, 70,000 Christians
were in Madurai mission and there were hardly 7-8 priests.17th
century, the main missionaries are, John de Britto, Francis Laynes and Venance
Bouchet.18th century the
notable missionary is Constant Beschi.Serious troubles started when jesuits was
suppressed.
2.1 Portuguese Mission :Old Madurai Mission
1606-1759
It is called as Portuguese
Mission as
the popes of the 15th century were under
Padroado. Missions in India were
Portuguese missions”. Moreover, any European missionary could go to India only
with his permission and that too in Portuguese ships.
In 1605, the
Vice-Province of Malabar was made into a regular Province .
Antony Criminali (1520-1549), Henri Henricus
(1520-1600), Gonzalo Fernandez (1577-1656) and others were sent from Goa to
Tuticorin, Madurai to preach.When Robert de Nobili visited Madurai in 1606
and found it an ideal place for evangelization and
conversion; so he founded a mission known as “Madura
Mission”. After Robert de
Nobili, great personalities like St. John de Britto (1647-1693), Constantine
Joseph Beschi.
2.2
Madurai Mission from 1623 – 1700 – Inside History
2.2.1 The Christian communities in
Tiruchanapalli and in central parts of Tamil nadu:
Christianity entered
Thiruchanapalli in 1616, when Mathuveerappa Nayak of Madurai transferred his
court and army to Thiruchanapalli. There were many converts in that group by De
Nobili.De Nobili also started another 2 Christian centres in Salem and
Moramangalam. In 1640, during the time of persecutions against Christians in
Tiruchi, Fr Baltazar, comes to picture. In 1653, there were 2 priests and six
catechists working in Tiruchi region.1678 says, there were more than 70,000
Christians in Madurai mission. Due to violence and disorder no priest could
stay in tiruchanapalli for several years.
2.2.2Christians
in the kingdom of Thanjavur: Yesu Adriana, a convert, was responsible for the Christians in
Thanjavur. Fr Emmanuel Martins worked tirelessly
here.1647-48 persecution began. The meeting between the captain of the army and
Fr Baltazar, eventually resolved the issue as they became friends.
2.2.3 Christians of
Satyamangalam and Dharmapuri region:
Fr De Nobili introduced
Christianity to Satyamangalam.The death of Nayak of Satyamangalam, brought his
son to power. Hindu Yogis used the opportunity and started persecuting
Christians.
As Christians emigrated,
revenue went low. Thus the Christians and missionaries were again called back.
2.2.4
The Christians of Gingee and the Northern parts of Tamil Nadu:
Christians who fled
from Thanjavur during the war, in 1659-61 fled to this area.People of the place
came to be influenced and converted. Gingee and Thanjavur came under the
influence of Fr John de Britto.Constant attacks from sivaji and the natural calamities,
turned out to be great hurdles in the work of evangelization.
2.2.5
Christians of Marava Country: The life of these
people was filled with hardships and insecurities. These were attracted by the
thoughts of missionaries who spoke of eternal peace. Christians recruited here
were mostly from lower and middle class. In 1669, persecution erupted and it
was impossible to priests to enter the country. 1686 John the Britto entered
Marava where no priest had kept his foot for 18 years. John was arrested and
then expelled from the kingdom by Kumara Pillai, asking him never to step back
again. John the Britto reentered the territory quietly and in 18 months he
baptized 8000 catechumens.
2.2.6
Christians in the southern part of Tamil Nadu:
Most Christians from Madurai mission lay to the north of Madurai. South did not
receive the same attention .
Ch3:
Madurai Mission – A Macroscopic View
In 1759, Mr. Pombal, the Prime Minister of the King of
Portugal, influenced the Kings to terminate the services of the Jesuits .In
1773, Holy See suppressed the Society of Jesus. The mission was handed over to
the foreign missionaries of Paris. Missionary work declined, till late
1830’s.1773 to 1837, the Madurai Mission had a long period of stagnation. But
till 1840, Protestant missionary organizations continuously invaded India. In
1830, a Catholic delegation from various villages went to Pondicherry, about
200 miles, in search of Catholic missionaries. They begged the bishop to send
some missionaries to Madurai and to Marava as many were converting to
Protestantism.
Pope Gregory XVI restored
the Society of Jesus in 1814. The signs of the times made the pope to think of
the Jesuits.The formal request of Mgr. Halicarnasse mentioned, ‘Christians of Madurai who vigorously
demanded their ancient fathers, proposed to the Holy See to entrust this new
mission to the care of the Society of Jesus. The proposal was accepted, and
four members from the Society of Jesus were chosen in 1836’. Rome decided
to entrust the Madurai Mission to the Jesuits .
Pope Gregory XVI
undertook to revive them by establishing the following four apostolic
vicariates: Madras (1832) entrusted to
the Irish secular clergy, Ceylon (1836), with the Indian Oratories, Pondicherry
(1836), with the priests of the Foreign Missionaries, Madurai (1846),
with the French Jesuits".
In 1836, the Pope
appointed Bishop of Pondicherry, Mgr. Hébert, Vicar Apostolic of the Coromandal
Coast. On 23 December, 1836, Madura Mission and the Coromandal Coast were
detached from the Vicariate of Coromandal and became a separate Vicariate which
the Pope entrusted to the Jesuits.
At the request of Pope
Gregory XVI, the Mission was entrusted to the Provincial of Lyons (France),
Father Francis Renault, who at once sent 4 Jesuits to the Madurai Mission in
1837. The first four Jesuit missionaries sent to Madurai were Fathers Joseph
Bertrand (1801-1884), Louis Garnier (1805-1843), Louis du Ranquet (1806-1843),
and Alexander Martin (1799-1840).
(The
New Madurai Mission was under the care of the Provincial of Lyons for 15 years
only (1837-1852).1852, Madurai Mission was entrusted to the care of Toulouse
Province.)
They then divided
themselves into two teams: One group, consisting of Fathers Martin and du
Ranquet started to go to Palamcottah vis
Tanjore and Madurai; Another group consisting of Fathers Bertrand and Garnier
marched towards Trichinopoly. The mission entrusted to them about 6,000,000
souls who do not know Jesus Christ.
The
news of the arrival of the Jesuits at Trichinopoly was received with great joy
by all. Bertrand and Garnier took the road of Madurai where they would have
expected a more enthusiastic welcome. Experience was very much different here. These took control of the church with
the intention of taking care of the Christians who were spiritually poor. Not
only they failed in this project, they were even humiliated by the police and
paraded on the streets of Madurai, at the instigation of the Goan priest who
was then on his way back.
Bertrand
describes their misadventures thus: "We smoke ignominiously, expelled from
the church and the presbytery by agents of the police, and taken through the
streets of Madurai, amidst hue and cry of the crowd, until the bungalow that we
chose for our retirement. God be praised of the humiliation that he provided
us!”
•
In
1844 St, Joseph’s College was started in Nagapatnam; In 1883 it was shifted to
Tiruchy.
•
1886
Tiruchirapalli assumed importance as the first Jesuit Diocese in the Mission.
•
1923
Diocese of Tuticorin was created.
•
1938
Diocese of Madurai
Conclusion: the history of
Christianity in Madurai is a history of ups and downs, of glories and of
struggles and sufferings. Amidst all these, history moves on. The spirits of
the martyrs and missionaries had led Christianity in this land.
.................................................................................................................................................................
Descriptive presentation
Christianity in the state of Tamil Nadu, India is believed to be 2000 years old. It
possibly was introduced to Tamil Nadu by St. Thomas, the Apostle, one of the
Apostles of Jesus Christ who landed in Malabar Coast (modern day Kerala) in AD
52. Later the colonial age brought a large number of Portuguese, Dutch, British
and Italian Christians to Tamil Nadu. Priests accompanied them not only to
minister the colonizers but also to spread the Christian faith among the
millions of non-Christians in Tamil Nadu.
Early Chrisitian roots with the works of
Francis Xavier:
Pearl
fishery coast lies between Kanyakumari and Rameshwaram, where Parava population
was dominating, who were fishermen and were constantly, harassed my Muslims.
Thus they ask the help of Portugese. Portugese general, offers help, provided
they, accept Christianity. In 1535, Portugese drive away Muslims who were
harassing Paravas. Thus in 1536-37 around 20,000 Paravas received baptism, and
were instruction less until Francis Xavier taught them.
In Oct 1542, Xavier arrived to Tuticorin and
remained there for two years giving them faith. Meantime he also baptized
several villages of Karaiyas( fishing tribe). Having seen the faith, the
Karaiyas of Mannar island to asked to be baptized. Few months later, Raja of
Jafna, started persecuting them and killed around 600. But the new faithful
remained faithful to their newly received faith.
Rajas of
Quilon were in good terms with Xavier. Thus they gave freedom for anyone to
become Christians. This brought social security and dignity too. Thus many
converted to Christianity
In 17th century, there were fights
between ecclesiastical authorities and Paravas. Thus for 30 years Pearl fishery
coast, stopped fishing and led to greater poverty. In 1657, Dutch ousted Portuguese
and expelled missionaries and priests.
Madurai Mission
The name from “Madura Mission’ which stands for
two Jesuit Missions, namely, the ‘Old Madura Mission’ by the Portuguese
(1542-1759) and the ‘New Madura Mission’ (1838-1952) by the French Jesuits. The
name Madura is very significant because since its foundation in 1606, all the
European Jesuits, both of the Old and the New Society, continued to keep the
name ‘Madura’ and called their mission ‘Madura Mission’.
Roberto De Nobili, is
known as the founder of Madurai mission, who arrived there in 1606.There was a
bit resistance growing against Portugese. He did not identify himself with
Portugese, but said, he is a Roman with Raja Caste. He also called himself
Sanyasi and made clear that Christianity is not belonging to any particular
caste, but open to all.
By 1611, De Nobili had
made around 108 converts, mostly Nayaks and some Brahmins.
Madurai
mission had several centres from which Christianity spread to all around.
Thiruchanapalli became the headquarters of the whole mission, in 1644. 1625
onwards conversions mainly targeted Sudra caste, who had no difficulty to
accept Christianity as Brahmins too had accepted Christianity.
By 1678, there were as
many as 70,000 Christians in Madurai mission. Number of priests was merely
7-8.Notable missionaries of 17th century are, John de Britto,
Francis Laynes and Venance Bouchet. End of the century, the number was around
one lakh and the missionaries were 10-12.
In the 18th
century the notable missionary was Constant Beschi, recognized Tamil scholar.
The serious troubles started to the missions when the society of Jesus was
suppressed in all territories of
Portugal and her colonies. By then there were 1.5 lakh Christians. It
did not affect Madurai immediately as mission was landed inlands and Portugese
couldn’t arrest the priests
- Portuguese Mission :Old Madurai Mission 1606-1759
It is called Portuguese
Mission because the Popes of the 15th century had given the ‘Right
of Patronage” (Padroado) to the Portuguese Kings to send Catholic missionaries
to the East, namely, India, Japan, China, etc., and also to withdraw them as
and when necessary.
“According to the right of patronage, any
bishop could be nominated for the existing seats, any and new seat could be
created only with the approval and the participation of the Catholic king, who
owned the right of presenting the candidates. Moreover, any European missionary
could go to India only with his permission and that too in Portuguese ships.
Finally, any Bull of the Holy See did have the force of law in India only after
being passed through the hands of the king of Portugal and after having
obtained his approval. Consequently all the missions in India were Portuguese
missions”.
Till 1601, the Society had only one Province in
India, the Goa Province. In 1605, the Vice-Province of Malabar was made into a
regular Province and Fr. Albert Laerzio became its first Provincial
(1605-1611).
• Antony Criminali (1520-1549), Henri Henricus
(1520-1600), Gonzalo Fernandez (1577-1656) and others were sent from Goa to
Tuticorin, Madurai and other parts of Tamil Nadu to preach the Gospel and
baptize those who believed in Christ.
• When Robert de Nobili
visited Madurai in 1606, he found it an ideal place for evangelization and
conversion and so he founded a mission known as “Madura Mission”, dependent on
Goa Province. Robert de Nobili tried to embrace the local culture in order to
evangelise the pagans and convert them to the Catholic Church.
• After Robert de Nobili, great personalities like St.
John de Britto (1647-1693), Constantine Joseph Beschi (1680-1747)and others had
worked in this Mission till 1759.
Madurai
Mission from 1623 – 1700 – Inside History
a) The Christian
communities in Tiruchanapalli and in central parts of Tamil nadu: Christianity
entered Thiruchanapalli in 1616, when Mathuveerappa Nayak of Madurai
transferred his court and army to Thiruchanapalli. There were many converts in
that group by De Nobili. Many catechumens started to spread the faith.
De
Nobili also started another 2 Christian centres in Salem and Moramangalam. In
1640, during the time of persecutions against Christians in Tiruchi, Fr
Baltazar, comes to picture. In less than three years time, he baptized around
2,200people – Pariahs, Vellas and other middle class.
In
1653, there were 2 priests and six catechists working in Tiruchi region. This
was too less a number of guides, given the increasing conversions. The annual
letter in 1678 says, there were more than 70,000 Christians in Madurai mission.
Due
to violence and disorder no priest could stay in tiruchanapalli for several
years. The priest in charge used to stay in Kendalur. When quarrels began
there, in 1687, he finally came back to Tiruchi. The old church was turned in
to a temple by a Hindu yogi. Later they manage to get it back with the
influence of Locals.
b) Christians in the
kingdom of Thanjavur:
Yesu Adiyana convert,
and one of the first catechists of Madurai mission, was responsible for the
nucleus of Christians in Thanjavur. He was of vellala community. Fr Emmanuel Martins worked tirelessly here. Till
the middle of the 17th century Christians in Thanjavur were
peaceful.1647-48 persecution began as more and more Christian influential
people from the army were imprisoned. The meeting between the captain of the
army and Fr Baltazar, eventually resolved the issue as they became friends. In
1653, new churches were erected in the different regions of Thanjavur. Constant
violence and trouble was part and parcel of the life of missionaries and Christians here.
c) Christians of
Satyamangalam and Dharmapuri region:
The credit of
introducing Christianity to Satyamangalam, Erode, Dharmapuri goes to Fr De
Nobili. Fr Baltazar and Fr Emmanuel
Martins too worked tirelessely here. In 1644, in Satyamangalam, in a
single month, Fr Da costa baprtized six hundred persons.
The death of Nayak of
Satyamangalam, brought his son to power. Hindu Yogis used the opportunity to
win over him and started persecution against Christians. In 1649, Fr Martins
and his followers were chased out of Satyamangalam. As the Christians
emigrated, revenue went low. Thus the Christians and missionaries were again
called back.In 1686, according to the report of the Mysore Mission, there were
4000 Christians in Satyamangalam.
d)
The
Christians of Gingee and the Northern parts of Tamil Nadu:Christianity
came to this region much later.Christians who fled from thanjavur during the
war, in 1659-61 fled to this area. Eventually people of the place came to be
influenced by these Christians and in this way Christian community found its
way.Fr Freire is one of the noteworthy names here.about 60 people from this
region had received baptism, during their visit to Madurai.. there were around
1700 christians in thses regions in 1676.Slowly gingee and thanjavur came under
the influence of Fr John de Britto.constant attacks from sivaji and the natural
calamities , turned out to be great hurdles in the work of evangelization.
The letter of 1683
reports the existence of fervent communities at Vellaiyur and Kureipatti.
e)
Christians
of Marava Country: The life of these people was
filled with hardships and insecurities. They were attracted by the thoughts of
missionaries that spoke of life of eternal peace. The missionaries residing in
Madurai and in other places slowly managed to form Christian communities here.
Christians recruited mostly from low and middle class.
By 1669, there were
more than thousand Christians. 1669, persecution erupted against Christians. It
was impossible to priests to enter the country. Thus people use to go outside
the territory to receive the sacraments.
1686 John the Britto
entered Marava territory, where no priest had kept his foot for 18 years. He
remained there for more than 2 months baptizing 2070 people and taking care of
their spiritual needs.Fr John was arrested and then expelled from the kingdom
by Kumara Pillai, asking him never to step back again. His successor, Luis De
Mello too was arrested and later he died.(not in the prison). John the Britto
reentered the territory quietly and in 18 months he baptized 8000 catechumens.
1701 letter of Fr Luis Fernandes speaks
of the work of Fr Laynes, making almost 9,000 converts.
f)
Christians
in the southern part of Tamil Nadu: Most Christians from
Madurai mission, lay to the north of Madurai. South did not receive the same
attention as the north received. Wars, famines etc, too curtailed the
missionary visits to this area. In 1653, there was a church and 115 Christians
at Kattayar. Catechumens were often beaten to death here. In sixties,
Christianity spread to places like Tenkasi, Tirunalveli, Marandei,
Kamanaykanapetti, Pannikullam, and Kuttapalayam.
1699, there was serious
persecution of Christians here. Fr Bernard de Sa was arrested, beaten and
exiled from Vadakkanakullam. Many apostatized during this period due to fear,
which later came back to the church.
Wider
History
• In 1759, Mr. Pombal, the Prime Minister of the King of
Portugal, was not happy with the approaches and achievements of the Jesuits in
South America, Europe and other parts of the world. He, therefore, influenced
the King to terminate the services of the Jesuits in all the Portuguese
territories all over the world. All the Jesuits working in the Portuguese
territories including India were arrested and deported to Portugal in 1759.
• When
in 1773, Holy See passed the decree to suppress the Society of Jesus, the
mission was handed over to the foreign missionaries of Paris, who were too few
in number. Thus priests from the archdioceses of Goa and Cranganore were sent
to the mission. These lacked the missionary enthusiasm as Jesuits. Thus
missionary work declined, till late 1830’s.
From
1773 to 1837, the Madurai Mission had a long period of stagnation due to lack
of priests. Between 1797 and 1832, not a single Catholic European missionary
had entered the mission. On the contrary, in the early years of the 19th
century until 1840, Protestant missionary organizations continuously invaded
India. Invasion of Protestant Organizations: The London
Missionary Society arrived in Calcutta in 1798 and Travancore in 1806.
Congregationalists (Americans) came to Bombay in 1812. American Baptists in
1813,The Wesleyans in South India and Ceylon and English Baptists in Benares in
1816. The Methodists in 1816, The Anglican Church Missionary Society in 1820.
In 1825, 'The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel' progressed towards
Ramnad. The Church of Scotland, with Alexander Duff arrived in Calcutta in
1829.
• Since
1834, the Congregational Mission of Boston worked in the districts of Madura
and Ramnad. Finally, from the 1836 Evangelical Lutheran Leipzig Mission and
other groups were able to establish themselves.
• In
1830, a Catholic delegation from Sarugani, Calladithidal and twenty other
villages went to Pondicherry, about 200 miles, in search of Catholic
missionaries. In 1830, affected Christians, came to Pondicherry to describe
that at Trichinopoly itself five hundred Catholics were made to become
Protestants. They begged the bishop to send some missionaries to Madurai and to
Marava.
• Due
to the strong presence of Protestants, apostasies among the Catholic
multiplied. Mgr. Louis C. A. Hebert sent them three priests of the Foreign Missionaries of Paris,
Fathers Mahey, James and Mousset.
• M.
Tesson wrote on the advice of the Propagation of the Faith: "During the
ten years I spent in India, I did not think it has passed three consecutive
months without seeing the arrival at Pondicherry, deputations of Christians,
sometimes on one side, then the other, to engage Bishop of Halicarnasse,
superior of our mission, to take care of them and to send them
missionaries".
• Pope
Gregory XVI hastened to restore the Society of Jesus in 1814. It seems that the
needs of the hour and the signs of the times called for the return of the
Jesuits. We do not know exactly how the Christians from Madurai, Marava and the
Fishery Coast found themselves entrusted to the Jesuits. Mr. Launay refers to
many letters of Mgr. Hebert to the Congregation of Propaganda, where he asks
for missionaries for the Madura Mission.However, there is no doubt that these
repeated requests prompted Rome to look for a religious order to help the
Mission. In all probability, the Jesuits were declared available for any area
that required missionaries. As he received repeated requests from the
Pondicherry mission, the Pope thought of the Jesuits.
• The
formal request of Mgr. Halicarnasse mentioned, however, the Jesuits: "Mgr.
Halicarnasse, touched by the evils of religion and pressed by the entreaties of
the Christians of Madurai who vigorously demanded their ancient fathers,
proposed to the Holy See to entrust this new mission to the care of the Society
of Jesus. The proposal was accepted, and four members from the Society of Jesus
were chosen in 1836 to go to take back the heritage of their fathers, that is
to say, to rebuild the great building in ruins, constructed amidst the gentiles
by the ancient mission”.
• Rome
decided to entrust the Madurai Mission to the Jesuits who had left so good a
memory. The Sovereign Pontiff Pope Gregory
XVI asked Very Reverend Father J. Roothan, the General of the Society of Jesus
to provide Jesuits.
• Pope
Gregory XVI, former Prefect of Propaganda, was well aware of the lethargic
state of the churches in India and he undertook to revive them by establishing
the following five apostolic vicariates:
1.
Madras (1832) entrusted to the Irish secular clergy,
2. Ceylon (1836), with the Indian Oratories,
3. Pondicherry (1836), with the priests of
the Foreign Missionaries
4. Madurai (1846), with the French
Jesuits".
In 1836, the Pope
appointed Bishop of Pondicherry, Mgr. Hébert, Vicar Apostolic of the Coromandal
Coast. On 23 December, 1836, Madura Mission and the Coromandal Coast were
detached from the Vicariate of Coromandal and became a separate Vicariate which
the Pope entrusted to the Jesuits.
• The
Apostolic Vicariate was canonically erected and Joseph Bertrand was proposed as
the Vicar Apostolic. The Propaganda then wrote to Bishop Bonnand that no Jesuit
could become Vicar Apostolic of Madurai and therefore he should continue to
exercise in the Madurai Mission the same jurisdiction as its mission proper,
with the Jesuits of Madurai working under the direction of Bertrand, as their
religious superior.
• At
the request of Pope Gregory XVI, Rev.
Father J. Roothan, General of the Society of Jesus, entrusted the Mission to
the Provincial of Lyons (France), Father Francis Renault, who at once sent 4
Jesuits to the Madurai Mission in 1837. The first four Jesuit missionaries sent
to Madurai were Fathers Joseph Bertrand (1801-1884), Louis Garnier (1805-1843),
Louis du Ranquet (1806-1843), and Alexander Martin (1799-1840).
• Fr,
Joseph Bertrand, who had refused to accept the title 'Apostolic Vicar' was
appointed Superior of the new Mission of Madurai.
• The
New Madurai Mission was under the care of the Provincial of Lyons for 15 years
only (1837-1852). When the Toulouse Province in the South of France was created
in 1852, Madurai Mission was entrusted to the care of Toulouse Province.
• In
a letter to one of his companions, Father Bertrand evokes the warmth of the
Bishop, Mgr Hebert: "You are in your home, tells us the Monseigneur while
receiving us; this house is that of your fathers; You are welcome!”.
• Before
they begin their mission, the first four Jesuits spent a large part of their
time to tasks of discovery and preparation, as they had to learn everything:
the land and its climate, people and their language and culture, the mission
itself with its problems.
• Father
Bertrand in his letter to the General wrote that they spent four months in Pondicherry to acclimatize themselves and
also to learn the language and customs of the place. They spent more time to
understand the population and the diversity of castes and cultures to be used
directly in the conversion of the natives and the consolidation of the mission.
• On
27 February, 1838, they went towards Karaikal, where they stopped for seventeen
days.
• They
then divided themselves into two teams:
One group, consisting of Fathers Martin and du Ranquet started to go to Palamcottah vis Tanjore and
Madurai; Another group consisting of Fathers Bertrand and Garnier marched
towards Trichinopoly.
• The
mission entrusted to them is equal in size to ten or twelve dioceses of France
and contains about 6,000,000 souls who do not know Jesus Christ.
• "Their
field of apostolate, a little larger than Switzerland, has for its limits,
River Cauvery on the North, which passes through Trichinopoly, chief town of
the Mission, the Western Ghats on the West, the Indian Ocean on South and on
the East".
• The
news of the arrival of the Jesuits at Trichinopoly was received with great joy
by all.
After the warm
reception of the Christians at Trichinopoly, Bertrand and Garnier took the road
of Madurai where they would have expected a more enthusiastic welcome.
• Unfortunately,
this is an experience very much different that awaited them in Madurai.The two
Jesuits, who knew that the Goan priest was absent for a long time at Madurai
and that the Christians were abandoned, took control of the church with the
intention of taking care of the Christians who were spiritually poor. Not only
they failed in this project, they were even humiliated by the police and
paraded on the streets of Madurai, at the instigation of the Goan priest who
was then on his way back. Bertrand describes their misadventures thus: "We
smoke ignominiously, expelled from the church and the presbytery by agents of
the police, and taken through the streets of Madurai, amidst hue and cry of the
crowd, until the bungalow that we chose for our retirement. God be praised of
the humiliation that he provided us!”
•
In
1844 St, Joseph’s College was started in Nagapatnam; In 1883 it was shifted to
Tiruchy.
•
1886
Tiruchirapalli assumed importance as the first Jesuit Diocese in the Mission.
•
1923
Diocese of Tuticorin was created.
•
1938
Diocese of Madurai
No comments:
Post a Comment