COCHIN
77
COCHIN
torn. I, 147 sqq. ; see also "Subsidium ad Bull. Patr.
Port.", Alleppi, 19():<). In December, 1502, the
Nestorian or Syrian Christians (they used the Syrian
language in their liturgy) presented to Vasco da
Gama, who had arrived at Cochin, the sceptre of their
former kings, and applied to him for assistance against
their Mohammedan neighbours. Gama formally ac-
cepted the sceptre in the name of the King of Portu-
gal. The Syrian bishop of those Christians promised
obedience to the pope through the Franciscan mis-
sionaries, and two Nestorian priests accompanied
Gama to Lisbon en route for Rome. Thus began the
protectorate of the Portuguese over the Syrian Chris-
tians, a protectorate which lasted for 160 years (cf.
Joao de Barras, "Asia", Dec. I, bk. V, ch. viii; also
" Historia Serafica "). Till 1542 the Franciscans were
the only regular missionaries in India, though they
had the co-operation of some secular priests, as Father
Pedro Gonsalves, Vicar of Santa Cruz church in the
city of Cochin, and Father Miguel Vaz, a zealous
preacher of the Faith, as well as of some isolated mem-
bers of other religious communities, who had come
out as chaplains to the fleets ("Commentaries do
Grande Affonso d'Albuquerque", 3d ed., 1774, I, ch.
V, 19-20, and "Ethiopia Oriental", II, bk. II, ch. i).
Among the pioneer priests of Cochin mention should be made of the Franciscans Joiio d'Elvas and Pedro d'Amarante, who till 1507 preached the Gospel at Vypeen, Palliport, Cranganore, and other impor- tant places; Father Manuel de S. Mathias, with his eleven companions, who laboured for the conversion of the pagans at Porrocad, Quilon, Trivellam, and elsewhere; Father Vincent de Lagos, who in 1540 established the college of Cranganore to train the Nestorian Christians in the purity of Catholic Faith, a college highly praised by St. Francis Xavier, and the first built in India. In 1542 it had eighty students (Amado, Hist, da Egreja em Portugal e colonias, Vol. VII, Pt. II, 117-21).
After St. Francis Xavier's arrival in India, 6 May, 1542, the Society of Jesus quickly spread over India, and the members were always most successful in the missions under their charge. St. Francis often visited Cochin, where the citizens gave him the church of Madrede Deus, and asked him to establish in the city a residence of the Society. It was accordingly founded by Father Balthazar Gago, S. J., in 1550. In the same year Father Nicolao Lancelot, S. J., built the residence and college of Quilon, and Affonso Cipriano, S. J., the residence of Mylapore; soon after the residence and college of Punicail were established, and the residence of Manar. In 1560 the King of Portugal built for the Society of Jesus the college of Cochin, and in 1562 a novitiate of the Society was established there. In 1601 the Jesuit Province of Malabar was founded, and Cochin was made the resi- dence of the provincial. Among the early Jesuits must be mentioned in addition to St. Francis Xavier, foremost of missionaries. Fathers Mansilha, Criminal, B. Nunes, H. Henriques, F. Peres, F. Rodrigues; Brothers Adam Francisco, N. Nunes. Later, the Dominicans, Augustinians, and other orders followed the Society of Jesus to India. The Dominicans built their monastery and college at Cochin in 1553; some years later their example was followed by the Augus- tinians, and still later by the Cajiuchins. Cochin thus became the stronghold of the Faith, and it was the missionaries of Cochin who carried the Gospel through- out all Southern India and Ceylon, everywhere estab- lishing missions, and building churches, charitable and educational institutions, all of which were endowed by the kings of Portugal.
Apart from the heroic zeal of the priests, the most powerful clement in the propagation of the Faith was the protection the Portuguese Government always accorded to the converts. It provided them with good situations, employing them in civil offices, freed
them from the molestations of their masters, elevated
them in the social scale, exempted them from the
operation of Hindu law, appointed for them a judicial
tribunal composed of Catholics, which in rural dis-
tricts was presided over by the local priest. It in-
duced the rajahs to treat the converts kindly, and
obliged them to allow their converted subjects all the
civil rights, e. g. of inheritance, which their Hindu
relatives enjoyed. (" CoUecijao de Tractados ", treaties
made with the rajahs of Asia and East Africa, passim
in the first thirteen vols.; also "Archivo Portuguez
Oriental", Nova Goa, 1861, Fasc. Ill, parts I and II
passim; "Oriente Conquistado ", Bombay reprint,
1881, I, II; P. Jarric, S. J., "Thesaurus Rerum Indi-
carum", Cologne, 1615, 1, III, on the Malabar Missions
of the Society.)
The above-mentioned Bull of Paul IV, by which the diocese was constituted, raised the collegiate church of the Holy Cross (Santa Cruz), the parish church of Cochin, to the dignity of cathedral of the diocese, and established therein a chapter consisting of five dignitaries and twelve canons. At the same time the pope gave the patronage of the new diocese and see to the kings of Portugal (Bull. Patr. Port. Reg., 1, 194).
Until 1506 Hindu law, which was rigorou.sly ob- served, forbade the use of lime and stone in other constructions than temples. Hence the early Portu- guese, to avoid displeasing the rajah, built their houses of wood. Finally the viceroy, Francisco de Almeida, induced the Rajah of Cochin to permit him the use of lime and stone, and on 3 May, 1506, the first stone for the fortress and city was laid by the viceroy with great pomp. It was the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross, which thus became the patronal feast of the city, and gave to the parish church its title. The church of the Holy Cross (Santa Cruz) was begun in, or rather before, 1506, for in 1505 we find Portuguese soldiers contributing towards the construction of the church of Cochin 1000 xerafins (.about $150, a large sum four hundred years ago), the result of an auction of the rich booty of a naval combat (Gaspar Correa, "Lendas da India", I, .522; II, 182). Some years later this church was raised to collegiate rank, endowed by the king, and provided with a ■vicar and six beneficed ecclesiastics. It was a magnificent building, the mother church of the ancient Diocese of Cochin, which the Malabar, Coro- mandel and Fishery Coasts, and Ceylon once obeyed, and under whose teaching and discipline they flour- ished. There are now not less than eleven bishoprics in the territory of the original Diocese of Cochin. The first Bishop of Cochin was the Dominican, Father Jorge Themudo, an illustrious missionary on this coast. The Brief "Pastoralis officii cura nos admonet" of Gregory XIII, 13 Dec, 1572, permitted the Bishop of Cochin, on occasion of the vacancy of the See of Goa, to take possession of that see and administer it till the Holy See provided for the vacancy. This is why many bishops of Cochin were appointed archbishops of Goa.
In 1577 Brother Joao Gonsalves, S. J., engraved at Cochin, for the first time, the Malealam type, from which was printed the first Malealam book, "Out- lines of Christian Doctrine", written in Portuguese by St. Francis Xavier for the use of children. In 1578 Fr. Jo.ao de Faria, S. J., engraved at Punicail the Tamil type, with which the "Flos Sanctorum" was printed in Tamil for the Fishery Coast (Paulinus a S. Bar- tholomso, "India Orient. Christiana", Rome, 1794, 179 sqq.; "Oriente Conquistado", Vol. I, Pt. I, Cong. I, Div. I, § 23).
Cochin was taken, 6 Jan., 1663, by the Dutch, after a siege of six months. The city was reduced in size; the clergy were expelled; the monasteries and col- leges, bishop's palace and 2 hospitals, 13 churches and chapels, were razed to the groimd. The church of St. Francis of Assisi, belonging to the Franciscan
