- Roman Catholicism in India
The Roman Catholic Church in India is part of the worldwide
Roman Catholic Church , under the leadership of thePope and curia inRome . AlthoughChristianity in India dates to the 1st century AD, Catholicism was introduced much later in the 16th century by the Portuguese.There are over 17.3 million Catholics in India, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4243727.stm Factfile: Roman Catholics around the world] on BBC news.] which represents less than 2% of the total populationMegan Galbraith [http://www.globalhealth.org/reports/text.php3?id=232 Catholic Church of India Responds with Leadership] Field note on Glocal Health Council website.] and is the largest Christian Church within India. There are 157 ecclesiastical units in India comprising 29 archdioceses and 128 dioceses. Of these, 127 are
Latin Rite , 25 Syro-Malabar Rite and 5 Syro-Malankara Rite.All the
bishop s in India, both Western and Eastern, form theCatholic Bishops' Conference of India , which was founded in 1944. [ [http://www.cbcisite.com/who%20we%20are.htm Catholic Bishops Conference of India] on CBCI website.] TheHoly See 's representative to the government of India and to the Church in India is theApostolic Nuncio to India . Thediplomatic mission was established as the Apostolic Delegation to the East Indies in 1881. It was raised to anInternunciature byPope Pius XII in 1948, and to a fullApostolic Nunciature byPope Paul VI in 1967. [ [http://www.indiancatholic.in/apostolic.asp Apostolic Nunciature] on Indian Catholic website.]History of Roman Catholicism in India
Early Christianity in India
Christianity in India is reputed to have been introduced by
Thomas the Apostle in52 AD.Stephen Andrew Missick. [http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v14n2/missick.pdf Mar Thoma: The Apostolic Foundation of the Assyrian Church and the Christians of St. Thomas in India.] Journal of Assyrian Academic studies.] These Saint Thomas Christians wereNestorians at least by530 AD. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14678a.htm#X Were these Christians infected with Nestorianism before 1599?] on Catholic Encyclopedia entry on St.Thomas Christians.] This community were governed by the Bishops fromPersia andBabylonia .Early Missionaries
John of Monte Corvino , was a Franciscan sent to China to become prelate of Peking about the year l307.He traveled from Persia and moved down by sea to India, in 1291, to theMadras region or “Country of St. Thomas” .There he preached for thirteen months and baptized about one hundred persons. From there Monte Corvino wrote home, in December 1291 (or 1292).That is one of the earliest noteworthy account of the Coromandel coast furnished by any Western European. Traveling by sea from Mailapur, he reached China in 1294, appearing in the capital “Cambaliech” (now Beijing) [ Odoric of Pordenone (Nendeen, Liechenstein, 1967), Henry Yule, trans. Cathy and the Way Thither vol. II ,P-142. ]Friar Odoric of Udine who arrived in India in 1321. He visited Malabar, touching at Pandarani (20 m. north of Calicut), at Cranganore, and at Kulam or Quilon, proceeding thence, apparently, to Ceylon and to the shrine of St Thomas at Maylapur near Madras. He writes he had found the place where Thomas was buried.Father
Jordanus , a Dominican, followed in 1321-22. He reported to Rome, apparently from somewhere on the west coast of India, that he had given Christian burial to four martyred monks.Jordan Catalani a French Dominican missionary and explorer in Asia. He is known for his “Mirabilia” describing the marvels of the East. In 1329, he furnished the best account of Indian regions and the Christians , the products, climate, manners, customs, fauna and flori given by any European in the Middle Ages - superior even to Marco Polo’s.In 1347,
Giovanni de’ Marignolli visited the shrine of St Thomas near the modern Madras, and then proceeded to what he calls the kingdom of Saba, and identifies with the Sheba of Scripture, but which seems from various particulars to have been Java. Taking ship again for Malabar on his way to Europe, he encountered great storms.Another prominent Indian traveler was Joseph, priest over Cranganore. He journeyed toBabylon in 1490 and then sailed to Europe and visited Portugal, Rome, and Venice before returning to India. He helped to write a book about his travels titled The Travels of Joseph the Indian which was widely disseminated across Europe.
Arrival of the Portuguese
Introduction of Catholicism in India started with arrival of
Vasco da Gama , who was seeking pre-existing Christian nations with which to form anti-Islam ic alliances. The lucrative spice trade was further temptation for the Portuguese crown. [ [http://www.lib.umich.edu/area/sasia/dagama.htm Vasco da Gama collection on University of Michigan] ]With the
papal bull Romanus Pontifex the patronage of the mission was granted to the Portuguese and they were remunerated with a trade monopoly.cite book
last =Daus
first =Ronald
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Die Erfindung des Kolonialismus
publisher =Peter Hammer Verlag
date= 1983
location =Wuppertal/Germany| pages =p.33
id =ISBN 3-87294-202-6de icon] After four decades of prosperous trading they started the proselytization around 1540. Missionaries of the newly foundedSociety of Jesus were sent to Goa and the Portuguese colonial government supported the mission with incentives for baptized Christians. They offered rice donations for the poor, good positions in the Portuguese colonies for the middle class and military support for local rulers and hence these Christians were dubbedRice Christian s who even practiced their old religion. At the same time manyNew Christian s from Portugal migrated to India as a result of the inquisition in Portugal. Many of them were suspectedCrypto-Jew s, because they were forcibly converted to Catholicism. Both was considered a threat to the immaculateness of the Christian belief.cite book
last =Daus
first =Ronald
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Die Erfindung des Kolonialismus
publisher =Peter Hammer Verlag
date= 1983
location =Wuppertal/Germany| pages =p. 61 - 66
id =ISBN 3-87294-202-6de icon] SaintFrancis Xavier , in a 1545 letter toJohn III of Portugal , requested aninquisition to be installed in Goa which would spell the end of Portuguese domination in the Christian dominance.When the Portuguese came into India, they set themselves to the task of removing this Nestorianism and bringing the community into union with the Catholic Church. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07722a.htm India] on Catholic Encyclopedia.]
Latin isation of St Thomas Christians started in the early 16th century. [http://www.synodofdiamper.com/synod.php Synod of Diamper] on Synod of Diamper Church website.] TheSynod of Diamper was convened by the Portuguese between 20 and26 June 1599 , which led most Indian Nestorians to acknowledge the authority of thePope inRome . Most of the Christians in theCoramandel coast accepted the Catholic faith, but some St Thomas Christians of theMalabar still stayed with the Assyrian Church or stayed independent.Later conversions
Other than the St Thomas Christians, people of other faiths were converted zealously by the Portuguese. This started with
Goa , then spread to fishery coast of Cape Comorin, inland districts ofMadurai and the western coast of Bassein, Salcette,Bombay , Karanja, and Chaul. With the advent of suppression of Jesuits in 1773 the missionary expansion declined in India [ [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Missionary+Tropics:+The+Catholic+Frontier+in+India,+16th-17th...-a0152010918 The Catholic Frontier in India; 16-17th century] from The Free library.] along with the need for organisations within the Church in India. Especially when the "Vicar Apostolate of Bombay" was erected in 1637 [ [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dbomb.html#details Archdiocese of Bombay] on Catholic Herarchy website.] which was under the direct ruling from Rome, caused misunderstanding between the Portuguese missionary and the Apostolate. The inquisition of Goa had caused strained relationship and mistrust with the Hindus of IndiaPaul Axelrod, Michelle A. Fuerch [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-749X(199605)30%3A2%3C387%3AFOTDHR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0 Flight of the Deities: Hindu Resistance in Portuguese Goa] Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2 (May, 1996), pp. 387-421] The strained relations between the Church and the Portuguese missionaries reached a climax when in 1838 the Holy See cancelled the jurisdiction of the three suffragan Sees of Crangaqnore, Cochin, and Mylapur and transferred it to the nearest vicars Apostolic, and did the same with regard to certain portions of territory which had formerly been under the authority of Goa itself. Finally in 1886 another concordat was established, and at the same time the whole country was divided into ecclesiastical provinces, and certain portions of territory, withdrawn in 1838, were restored to the jurisdiction of the Portuguese sees.Catholic Church and social works
Concern with charity was common to Catholics and Protestants, but with one major difference: whilst the former could obtain salvation through faith and good works and might be relatively sure that forgiveness of sins could be aided through charity, the latter could not rely on such a possibility, since God alone could save believers, without the agency of the individual or intermediaries.Isabel dos Guimarães Sá [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Portuguese_Brazilian_Studies/ejph/html/Summer04/html/igsa_main.html Catholic Charity in Perspective: The Social Life of Devotion in Portugal and its Empire (1450-1700)] Journal of Portuguese History. Vol.2, number 1, Summer 2004.] In Portuguese India, for instance, Saint
Francis Xavier and his fellow missionaries were especially careful to help the local charitable institutions by tending to the sick, both spiritually and physically, and performing other works of mercy. The Jesuits' educational institutions, although never succeeding in missionary activities, had left a prestigious impact through their education institutions. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9F01E6DE123CE433A25755C0A9609C94669ED7CF&oref=slogin Catholic education in India] "The New York Times", June 6, 1887.] Education has become the major priority for the Church in India in recent years with nearly 60% of the Catholic schools situated in rural areas. [ [http://new.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=9416&geo=2&size= Card. Toppo: “Education is the Churches priority mission and key to Indian development”] Asia News.] Even in the early part of the 19th century, Catholic schools had left its emphasis on poor relief and welfare. [J. Hutching [http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a746515466~db=all THE CATHOLIC POOR SCHOOLS, 1800 to 1845: Part 1 The Catholic Poor-relief, welfare and schools] Journal of Educational Administration and History, Volume 1, Issue 2 June 1969 , pages 1 - 8.]The Church provides an estimated 22 percent of all health-care services, operating 5,000 facilities, and employs 33 percent of Indian health-care workers, including 40,000 Catholic nurses.
Ecclesiastical Provinces
The provinces covered by the Church include 31 provinciates, which are broken down into 23 Roman Catholic, 6 Syro-Malabar and 2 Syro-Malabar provinces.
tatistics
;Statistics for 2003
*Total number of diocesan priests: 14,000
*Religious Priests: 13,500
*Religious Brothers: 4,300
*Religious Sisters: 90,000
*Total no. of Religious Congregations: 300 (Men, 70; Women, 230);Educational Institutions:
*Kindergartens/Nursery Schools: 3,785
*Primary Schools: 7,319
*Secondary Schools: 3,765
*Colleges: 240
*Medical/Nursing Schools/Colleges: 28
*Engineering Colleges: 5;Social Welfare Activities:
*Technical Training Schools/Polytechnics: 1,524
*Hostels/Boarding Houses: 1,765
*Orphanages: 1,085
*Creches: 228
*Hospitals: 704
*Dispensaries/Health Centres: 1,792
*Leprosaria: 111
*Rehabilitation Centres: 102
*Homes for Aged, Destitutes & Physically challenged: 455References
External links
* [http://www.gcatholic.com/dioceses/data/countryIN.htm Giga-Catholic Information]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07722a.htm Catholic encyclopedia - India]
* [http://www.cbcisite.com Catholic Bishop's Conference of India]
* [http://malankara.net/ Syro-Malankara Church]
* [http://www.syromalankara.org/ Syro Malankara Catholic Church International Homepage]
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