CHAP. Death of A. D. 1660. deacon's refusal to restore it, he grew very angry, and that Iti Thomas pacified him with a present of cinnamon and pepper. The credibility of this tale is with reason questioned.3 Enough is known of all the parties for the candid reader to judge, whether, on the one hand, the Archdeacon was capable of such dishonesty; or he and Iti Thomas were likely to attempt to support their cause, by the invention of a tale every way so improbable and so easy of detection: or, on the other, whether the Jesuit prelate, or the Carmelites and the native princes in their interest, would have allowed such a farce to go off so quietly. The whole story is quite in keeping with all the romanists' devices to bring into contempt a body of men, whom they had neither arguments to convince, nor virtue to conciliate, nor power to subdue. 4. About this time, in the year 1659, died Francis Garzia, Archbishop of Cranganore, of whom nothing more is known than what has been recorded above. All other orders of men bear witness to his violence and pride; but the Jesuits have withheld from the public all his acts of tyranny which led to the schism in Malabar. Indeed, as though ashamed of him, or deeming it inexpedient to own him, they have endeavoured to conceal the fact of his belonging to their order; and it has not been ascertained without strict research into all the records extant to which access could be gained. Why all this pains at concealment, if the Jesuits were not deeply involved in the events that soon proved so disastrous to the interests of Portugal and of Rome? The Carmelite Hyacinthe de St. Vincent did 3 La Croze, pp. 395, 396. + Ib. p. 395. not long survive the Jesuit prelate. He died at Cochin, in February, 1660, aged sixty-three years and two months, within two years after his arrival at the scene of his anxious and fruitless labours. His colleague, Marcel de St. Yves, for the present took charge of the mission, but was soon relieved by the arrival of Joseph de St. Maria. A. D. 1660. St. Maria Bishop of His arrival 5. Joseph was consecrated at Rome on the Joseph de 15th December, 1659, and was at this time on consecrated his way to India to take charge of his diocese. at Rome He received the title of, Bishop of Hierapolis, Hierapolis. not Archbishop of Cranganore, as Don Garzia in India. was supposed to be living at the time; and formally to have superseded him must have given umbrage to the Jesuits, whose services were too important to the Roman see to offer them such a provocation. Cardinal Barberini provided the new prelate with the Bull of Plenary Indulgence published in 1607, by Pope Paul V. granting remission of sins for various periods, up to seven years, according to the number of ceremonies performed, as specified in the Bull. This precious document was expected to work wonders in Malabar. The Carmelite Bishop left Rome on the 7th of February, 1660; and travelling, as before, by way of Aleppo and Bassora, he arrived in India towards the end of April, 1661. As he was supplied at Rome with all the necessary credentials, and his mission had been approved in Portugal, he was well received by the Inquisitors at Goa-we say, by the Inquisitors, for almost all the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of India was now in their hands. Notwithstanding this favourable reception, his mind was ill at ease when he found the perilous state to which affairs were reduced in the Serra. The Dutch VOL. II. 2 A A. D. 1661. CHAP. II. Is welcomed the Jesuits submit to him with were still at war with the Portuguese, and had made such progress against them, that it was easy to foresee that Cochin would soon fall into their hands. The Bishop was, therefore, filled with apprehension lest his voyage should prove of no avail, and his uneasiness was greatly increased by the news of Hyacinthe's death. 6. Verapoli, the head-quarters of this Carin Malabar; melite's see,5 is situated in the Cochin dominions, not far from Cranganore. The new reluctance. prelate was well received at Cochin, both by the Christians of his party, and by the Portuguese laity and ecclesiastics: but the Jesuits did not join in the cordiality expressed on the occasion, for they were most unwilling to relinquish the authority which they had so long abused, in oppressing the poor Christians. Don Garzia, when dying, had named a vicar-general for the diocese, who now endeavoured to assert his authority, and refused to submit to the Carmelite Bishop, until overcome by the fear of ecclesiastical censure and the authority of the Inquisition. Joseph de St. Maria was of too haughty a disposition to make any compromise to any person whatever, and he understood too well his own rights and the authority of his Church, not to enforce obedience. In a word, he showed himself capable of keeping at bay even the Jesuits, whom he compelled to submit to his power. 5 When the author visited the college at this place in 1825, it contained fifty students, half of the Latin, and half of the Roma-Syriac rite. The latter, indeed, used the ritual and ceremonies of the Roman Church, but were allowed to retain the Syriac language and the costume of the cattanars. Romish Bishop, an Irishman named Prendergast, and a Vicargeneral, an Italian, were presiding over the institution. The diocese at that time contained between sixty and seventy churches. A A. D. 1661. deacon tries 7. The Jesuits were not the only party whom his arrival and determined character intimidated. The Archdeacon began to feel more than ever The Archthe danger that menaced him, and endeavoured to prejudice to bring discredit upon Joseph's pretensions. against him. the people For this purpose he circulated a report, that he was not come from Rome, but from Goa, where he had kept himself concealed ever since his departure from Malabar: that he was neither Carmelite nor Bishop, but simply a Jesuit monk. But the prelate was not a man to be disconcerted by such a fabrication. He sent pastoral letters to the fifty-two principal parishes of his diocese, who, with very few exceptions, received his epistles with respect. The Portuguese commander wrote to the Rajahs of Cochin and Porca, with whom he was on friendly terms, requesting them to coerce those who had treated the Bishop's letters with contempt. On the whole, this first essay was more successful than might have been expected; and, no doubt, the Archdeacon's ill-advised and false report contributed to this result, for the prelate was shrewd enough to turn it to his own advantage. ments of F. 8. After celebrating a splendid mass in his He with difficulty pontificals, and performing several episcopal obtains posfunctions at Cochin, he sent two Carmelites of session of the episcohis train to Cranganore, with orders to take pal ornapossession of the cathedral in his name. It was Garzia. with great difficulty that he gained possession of the pontifical ornaments which Don Francis Garzia had used. That prelate, just before he died, had intrusted them to a person, not named, but supposed to have been a Jesuit, who refused for some time to part with them. He protested that they belonged to the King of Portugal, or to the deceased Bishop's successor : for the Jesuits still flattered themselves that CHAP. Coercion of refractory churches, and submission of cattanars. Bishop's first visita tion; he another of their order would be promoted to the see, and it will soon appear that they were not mistaken. However, after much entreaty, the man was induced to give up the ornaments in question. 9. The native princes brought the refractory churches to submission by confiscating their revenues; upon which they were in haste to send deputies to Cochin to tender their obedience to the Bishop. They were not satisfied, however, with his mode of proceeding; and nothing offended them more than the oath that he exacted of them, which they considered dishonourable and unnecessary; and they protested against it as a thing hitherto unknown among them. Menezes had administered a similar oath wherever he went, but times and persons were altered now. That was sixty years ago; and probably all the cattanars of his time were dead, and the present race had either forgotten the circumstance, or never heard of it. The Carmelite Bishop, however, by a little manoeuvring, overcame their reluctance; for he first administered the oath in their presence to the Carmelites about him, when the cattanars readily followed their example. In future he always adopted this expedient when he had occasion to tender the oath to cattanars, and other ecclesiastics of the country. 10. The Bishop was detained at Cochin by the violence of the monsoon, or rainy season, justifies its till the 22nd of August, when he set out on a magnificence, which visit to the churches of his diocese. This first visitation was conducted with such magnificence, that he thought it necessary to apologize for it, by appealing to the example of Menezes, is proved to be unnecessary. who," he said, carried the pomp and splendour of his visitations much further. The Arch- |