CHAP. to Europe; his measures ap proved at Rome. 34. Finding them inflexible, and having no other authority in India but in the diocese He proceeds from which he was expelled, Joseph de Santa Maria seemed now to have no alternative but to return to Europe. Accordingly he embarked at Goa, on the 24th of January 1664, for Bassora. Thence he proceeded to Aleppo and Alexandria, where he again took ship for Italy, and arrived at Rome, May 6th 1665, his journey having occupied upwards of fifteen months. His account of his proceedings gave great satisfaction at Rome, the Pope and cardinals expressing their approbation of all that he had done. A. D. 1665. Obscurity of subse tory of Malabar. The 35. After the expedition of Joseph de St. quent his Maria, hardly any thing is known respecting the state of the Malabar Christians. Dutch, entirely devoted to commercial pursuits, are said to have totally neglected them, at least, so far as related to their religious improvement.2 It is thought probable, however, that they defended them, in a great degree, from the attacks of the Jesuits,3 who have been even more silent concerning their proceedings in the country since the Dutch conquest, than they were before. In the Memoirs of Urban Cerri, who has been mentioned above as Secretary of the College for the Propagation of the Faith, a concise account is drawn up of all that is related above. The ruin of the Papal authority in Malabar is there attributed, without reserve, to the dissatisfaction and Britain was compelled to adopt similar precautions against the romanists in Europe. May she never see cause to rue that confidence in their word, which has since led to a different policy. 2 La Croze, p. 419. 3 Lee's History. 4 A brief narration of the same events is given also by J. F. Raulin. De Indor. Orient. Dioces. Diss. V. disgust occasioned in the Christians' minds by the intrigues and violence of the Jesuits. U. Cerri cites the same authorities as have been followed in these pages; and adds, that in his time, that is to say, about the commencement of the pontificate of Innocent XI., who was elected in 1676, they received tidings at Rome of the death of the Archdeacon, Thomas de Campo; and that four Carmelites were sent to Malabar, with authority to name a successor to Alexander de Campo, the Bishop of Megara that had been consecrated by Joseph de St. Maria,5 who had died not long after his rival, Thomas de Campo. The person selected for the dignity was a native, named Raphael Figruedo. His nomination was subsequently confirmed by the Pope, and he is said to have presided over the Roman division of the diocese in a manner that gave general satisfaction. How long he held the office is uncertain; but it seems to be generally admitted that he lived till the year 1694, and that he was then succeeded by Didacus, of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, who is said to have abdicated the see in the year 1701. The cause of his abdication does not appear. A. D. 1665. A. D. 1676. A. D. 1694. A. D. 1701. Tachard's the Syrian there in Churches 1711. 36. Didacus was succeeded by John Ribeiro, Father of the Society of Jesus, by whose elevation the account of Jesuits regained for a time the post from which they had been expelled: but they were not allowed to exercise any jurisdiction where the Dutch authority or influence prevailed. Indeed, their retention of the episcopal office in Malabar would have proved but the shadow of a title, had not the Jesuit Archbishop continued to hold some prerogatives in the dominions of the Za 5 J. F. Raulin. See also, Etat Present de l'Eglise Romaine, p. 17, et suivantes, La Croze, pp. 419, 420. CHAP. A. D. 1711. A. D. 1714. 66 morin of Calicut, and a few other petty princes 66 37. A letter 7 written from the coast of MalaAccount of bar in 1714 informs us, that the Christians of Nestorian, St. Thomas had then two Bishops, the one, Monophy site and Jacobite prelates. 6 Douziéme Recueil des Lettres Edifiantes, pp. 383, 384. La Croze, pp. 420, 421. 7 Quatorziéme Continuation des Lettres des Missionaires Danois de Tranquebar, pp. 71, 72. Mar Thomas, who was of the Monophysite persuasion, and presided over the churches of the South, which had always been the most attached to the Roman communion. This was the smaller division of the diocese, containing only twenty-two churches. The other prelate, Mar Gabriel, was a Nestorian from Syria, who arrived on the coast in 1708, and exercised his jurisdiction over the churches in the North. These two prelates lived in open hostility to each other; which would arise, as well from their different feelings towards the Church of Rome, as from the opposition of their sentiments. The Nestorian prelate maintained, that there were not only two natures, but two persons, in Christ; but the Monophysite asserted, that the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ were so united as to form only one nature and the defence of their respective notions kept them in a state of perpetual contention. 8 It is also said, that about this period they received Bishops from the Jacobite Patriarchs of Antioch. This can be understood only of Mar Thomas, the southern prelate, as it can in no way be reconciled with the Nestorian tenets of Mar Gabriel. But there is no difficulty in accounting for the application of this name to the Monophysite Bishop. For the Monophysites of the East have for many ages been called Jacobites, after Jacob Baradæus, who, in the sixth century, revived this sect, which Justin and succeeding emperors had suppressed.Baradæus was, therefore, regarded as their second founder, Severus, a learned monk of 8 The circumstances which led to this patriarch's adoption of the Jacobite creed have been related in the former volume, b. i. ch. iii. sect. 8. A. D. 1714. СНАР. The Syrians called Euty Jacobites. Palestine, being the first; and to the present day they are denominated Jacobitæ, or Jacobites, in honour of this Jacob, who was Bishop of Edessa, and died A. D. 578.9 38. Another denomination has been given to chians and these Syrians. They are sometimes called Eutychians; which has, no doubt, arisen from the similarity of their tenets, this sect also denying the twofold nature of Jesus Christ, though they hold some other peculiarities that sufficiently distinguish them from the Jacobites. There is, however, sufficient resemblance between the principal dogmas of the two sects to account for the indiscriminate application of these names to the Malabar Christians.1 Two letters of a Jacobite Bishop, with M. remarks upon them. 39. There is another discrepancy in this part of the history which it will be satisfactory to Asseman's investigate. Mar Thomas called himself the fifth Bishop of the Syrian Christians. He, probably, meant, the fifth in succession from Alexander de Campo, who was consecrated by Joseph de St. Maria. In that case, it would be natural to conclude that he also was a native of the country, and as devoted to the interests of Rome as the first Bishop of Megara and his successors. How then can it be conjectured, that he was one of the prelates said to have been sent to India by the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch? There are two letters of this Bishop extant which may tend to reduce this confusion to some order. They were written in Syriac, and addressed to the Jacobite Patriarch, thereby 9 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. cent. 6, part ii. ch. v. sec. 6. Some writers maintain that the Jacobites derive their name from the Apostle James; but this seems to be less probable. 1 The present race of Malabar Christians call themselves Syrian-Jacobites. Mar Dionysius' Letter to Lord Gambier, Missionary Register for 1822, p. 431. |