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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 February 2009
The general opinion of historians has been that the East India Company was opposed to the presence of Christian missionaries in India. It is generally held also that when the Charter Act of 813 left the Company with no option but to admit them, its governments in India maintained a fairly consistent posture of religious neutrality. These notions have recently been reinforced by Penelope Carson. But thisignores the Company's policies towards Roman Catholic missionaries. In the eighteenth century the Company welcomed Roman Catholic missionaries. It was at the nvitation of the Bombay government that Italian Carmelite missionaries settled there in 1718. It was at the invitation of the authorities of Fort St George that a French Capuchin mission was established in Madras in 1742. When the Company came into Kerala towards the end of the eighteenth century an Italian Carmelite mission was already established there, with a bishop and two priests. The mission was soon receiving material support from the Company.
1 Penelope, Carson ‘An imperial dilemma: the propagation of Christianity in early colonial India’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 18 (1990), 169–90.Google Scholar
2 Bishop, Luigi (Aloysius) Maria di Gesul, Fr Raimondo and Fr Valentino to governor of Bombay, 3 Mar. 1799, Board's Collection 601/14474. Bishop Luigi was bishop of Ursula in partibus: Ambrosius a S. Teresia, ‘Hierarchia Carmelitana, iv’, Analecta Ordinis Carmelitanum Discalceatorum 18 (1938),212.Google Scholar
3 Public letter from Bombay, 14 Dec. 1799, para. 12.
4 He was also the author of a book on Hinduism: Paulinus a S., Bartholomaeo Systema Brahmanicum Liturgicum Mythologicum Civile, Rome 1791, and another on Roman Catholic missions in India, India Orientalis Christiana, Rome 1794.Google Scholar
5 Bombay public despatch, 18 Mar. 1801, para. 13.
6 Accountant-general, East India House, to Messrs Huddart, Routh and Garland, Leghorn, 23 Jul. 1818, Board's Collection 601/14474.
7 Secretary, East India House, to Huddart, Routh, and Garland, 1 Dec. 1818, ibid.
8 Fr Prospero to Propaganda Fide, 30 Sept. 1814, Archives of Propaganda Fide, SC Ind. Or. 2 (1811–19), 74–5; Prospero to Father-General, 30 Sept. 1814, ibid. 76–81V; Acta CP Sin. & Ind. 20 (1815–21), 52–3; Fr Saverio to Propaganda Fide, 10 Dec. 1818, SC Ind. Or. 2 (1811–19), 206.
9 Cardinal Fontana to secretary, East India Company, 7 Oct. 1820, Board's Collection 601/14474. Francesco Fontana succeeded Lorenzo Litta as cardinal prefect in 1818.
10 Committee of Accounts memo, 15 Dec. 1820, ibid.
11 Public letter from Bombay, 16 June 1814, paras 28–39.
12 Public despatch to Bombay, 8 Apr. 1816, paras 13–16.
13 Public despatch to Bombay, 21 Jul. 1786, para. 18.
14 Memorial from parishioners of St Michael's, Mahim, n.d., Bombay public proceedings, 29 Mar. 1791, 174–7; memorial from parishioners of Salvacao, Mahim, 12 Apr. 1791,Google Scholar ibid. 15 Apr. 1791, 241–5.
15 Archbishop Manuel de Santa Catarina to governor of Bombay, 27 June 1791, ibid. 22jul. 1791, 521–31.
16 Miguel de Lima e Souza to government, 9 Jan. 1792, ibid. 24 Jan. 1792, 55–7.
17 Public despatch to Bombay, 25 June 1793, para. 35.
18 Archbishop Manuel de S. Gualdino.
19 Minutes, 3 Jan. 1817, Bombay Public Proceedings, 8 Jan. 1817, 3–9.
20 Manuel Misquita and others to government, 30 Nov. 1818, ibid. 16 Dec. 1818, 2461–9.
21 Rozario de Quadros and others to Erskine, 25 Oct. 1818, ibid. 31 Mar. 1819, 495–510.
22 Erskine to government, 2 Mar. 1819, ibid. 488–95.
23 Campbell, minute, n.d., Madras Public Proceedings, 30 Oct. 1787, 2752–9.
24 In fact eight laymen were selected by the bishop, and four of these were nominated as syndics by the government: Regulations for the Capuchins, ibid. 3 Mar. 1787, 313–14.
25 Report by bishop and syndics, ibid. 20 Mar. 1792, 85ff.
26 Adrian de Fries and Miguel Joannes to government, 3 Apr. 1792, ibid. 3 Apr. 1792, 97gf. The de Fries brothers were well-known bankers in Madras.
27 Public letter from Bombay, 1 Nov. 1819, para. 91.
28 Judge and magistrate to government, 31 Jan. 1820, Bombay Public Proceedings, 31 Jan. 1820, 185–93.
29 Public letter from Bombay, 12 Aug. 1820, paras 23–7.
30 Public despatch to Bombay, 23 Jan. 1828, paras 33–42.
31 Fran¸ois Xavier to government, 13 Mar. 1821, Board's Collection 20461 (he spelt his name in this way when writing in French to the government.); Harris, J. (Collector) to government, 22 Sept., 22 Nov. 1821; government to Collector, 4 Dec. 1821.Google Scholar
32 Dubois, J. A. to vaccination superintendent, Madras, 1 June 1811, Board's Collection 9625; Judicial despatch to Madras, 2 June 1814, para. 45; Public despatch to Madras, 24 Jul. 1818, para. 4.Google Scholar
33 Dubois to Resident, 28 Sept. 1819; Cole, A. H. Resident, to government, 1 Oct. 1819; Board's Collection 21071; Political despatch to Madras, 26 Apr. 1825, para. 51.Google Scholar
34 Memorial to Alcantara, 2 Oct. 1819, Archives of Propaganda Fide, SC Ind. Or. 2 (1811–19), 596–7; to Pope Pius VII, ibid. 601–2.
35 Ballhatchet, K. ‘Missionaries, Empire and society: the Jesuit mission in Calcutta, 1834–1846’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 7 (1978), 18–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36 Auber to Macaulay, 28 Feb. 1833, letters from Court to Board XII, 62–4.
37 Parliamentary Debates, 19 Jul. 1833, 3rd. ser., xix, 1020–5.
38 Supreme government to Madras government, g Dec. 1835, Madras Ecclesiastical Proceedings, Jan. 1836, 18–20.
39 Government resolution, ibid. 20–1.
40 Beauclair to Lt Col. Dalgairns, 24 Sept, Madras Military Proceedings, 27 Oct. 1835, 14181–2.
41 Dalgairns to Beauclair, 27 Sept. 1835, ibid.
43 Government resolution, ibid.
45 Gamier to government, 25 Jan. 1841, Madras Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 25 Jan. 1841, 118–20.
46 Government to Carew, 4 Feb. 1841, ibid. Feb. 1841, 15.
47 Riddell, Brig. M. to government, 8 Feb. 1841,Google Scholar ibid. 16 Feb. 1841, 146.
48 Government resolution, ibid. 10.
49 Bengal, Hurkaru 7 Mar. 1840.Google Scholar
50 Doyle, P. to GOC, 28 Oct. 1840, Madras Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 24 Nov. 1840, 88–9.Google Scholar
51 Government of India to Madras government, 9 Dec. 1840, ibid. Jan. 1841, 2–3.
52 Carew to Government, 4jan. 1841, ibid. 57–65. Besides the Irish troops in the British army serving in India the Company had its own regiments of British troops, and recruited directly in Ireland. The problem was eventually resolved with the issue of the Douai Bible and The Garden of the Soul to Roman Catholic soldiers in the Queen' Army: Olive Anderson, ‘The growth of Christian militarism in mid-Victorian Britain’, English Historical Review lxxxvi (1971), 46–72.
53 Auckland, minute, 30 Jan. 1841, India Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 10 Feb. 1841, 9.
54 Government of India to Madras government, 9 Feb. 1841, Madras Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 10 Feb. 1841, 14.
55 Ecclesiastical despatch to Madras, 21 Sept. 1842, paras 25–6.
56 Ecclesiastical letter from Madras, 31 May 1853; Ecclesiastical despatch to Madras, 6 Mar. 1844.
57 Ecclesiastical despatch to Government of India, 17 Sept. 1845, paras 6–8. The reference to ‘ignorant individuals and low persons of Portuguese extraction’ was inserted by the Board of Control, whose president was Lord Ripon: Board to Court, 3 Sept. 1845, letters from Board, xiv, 376.
58 Bishop, Manuel de Jesus Maria José Mailapur was near Madras, but the bishop' authority extended to Bengal. In the absence of a bishop authority was exercised by a senior priest termed governor (governador).Google Scholar
59 O'Connor, to government, 13 Aug. 1836, Madras Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 23 Aug. 1836, 292–301; Government of India to Madras government, 19 Oct. 1836,Google Scholar ibid. Nov. 1836, 507–19.
60 Minute, n.d., Auckland Papers, British Library, MS Add. 36474, fos 567–73.
61 Auckland to Elphinstone, 30 Mar. 1838, MS Eur. F87 Box 2 g, 23.
62 Hobhouse to Elphinstone, 24 Nov. 1838, ibid. Box 2 b, 14, 48–55.
63 Ecclesiastical despatch to Madras, 1 Apr. 1840, para. 14.
64 Keating to bishop, n.d., Madras Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 5 Mar. 1839, 151.
65 Sheriff to bishop, 18 Feb. 1839, ibid. 152–3.
66 Sir Robert Comyn to government, 11 Mar. 1839, ibid. Mar. 1839, 203–4.
67 Minute, 21 Dec. 1841,ibid. 2 Jan. 1841, 62–3.
68 Government resolution, ibid. 64–5.
69 Davidson, D. to government, 13 Jan. 1857, Bombay Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 19 Feb. 1857, 130.Google Scholar
70 Corfield, A. K. to government, 21 Feb. 1857,Google Scholar ibid.131.
71 Prospero to Father-General, 3 Sept. 1814, Archives of Propaganda Fide, SC Ind. Or. 2 (1811–19), 76–81V.
72 Archbishop Saverio to government, n.d., SC Ind. Or. 8 (1841–2), 394–9V.
73 After Bishop Alcantara' death, his successor Bishop Fortini was not paid, but Fortini' successor Bishop William Whelan was paid a government stipend of 200 rupees a month initially, later increased to 400 rupees. Bishop Whelan was known to have regularly visited British troops in Bombay after the Sind campaign, in spite of an outbreak of cholera among them.
74 Ecclesiastical despatch to Government of India, 1 Aug. 1852. These were the bishops in Madras and Bombay, and in West and East Bengal.
75 Petition from Persico and Strickland, n.d., Board' Collection 2525/14174.
76 Lucas, speech on 15 Aug. 1853, and Wood' reply, Parliamentary Debates, 3rd. ser., cxxix, 1722–3.
77 Ecclesiastical despatch to Government of India, 28 Feb. 1856.
78 Government of India to Bombay government, 29 May 1856, para. 4, Bombay Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 28 June 1856, 388.
79 Jones, E. C. (Collector, Thana) to government, 10 Dec. 1856, and government to Jones, 18 Dec. 1856,Google Scholar ibid. 31 Dec. 1856, 827–8.
80 Ecclesiastical despatch to Bombay, 11 Aug. 1858, para. 9.
