EIMCE Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries If Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries (JlaiJhvlirism m the €ast miiX (Lite D nurse itf jlabura < 1511 _ 1S80 > iV GAP Oil, BY REV. FR. R. CARDON, M. Ap. OF THE PARIS FOREIGN MISSIONS. Reprinted from The Malaya Catholic Leader Xvias No. 1938. A- Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries H.E. MSGR. ADRIAN DEVALS, BISHOP OP MALACCA. Consecrated on the 15th April, 1934, in the church of the Assumption, Penan by Bishop Perros, Vicar Apostolic of Bangkok. Has established the Gatholi Action in the diocese, in accordance with the directions of Pope Pius XI. 'r ! Redemptorist Fathers, the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Brothers of St. Gabrie and Carmelite Nuns have since been called by him to aid in the^ mission a work of the diocese. Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries LETTER OF H. E. MSGR. A. DEVALS TO THE AUTHOR. Dear Reverend Father Cardon, It is with the greatest satisfaction 1 have heard of your intention to publish an historical sketch of the diocese of Malacca in the supplement of the Malaya Catholic Leader Christmas Number, and I am pleased to know that your pro¬ ject has been carried out. On this fiftieth anniversary of the nomination of the late Right Rev. E. Gasnier as Bishop of Malacca, nothing could be of greater interest, to the readers of the Malaya Catholic Leader than to know the origin and the development of the Catholic Faith in the old historical town and diocese of Malacca under the direction of its Portuguese Bishops. The progress of the Catholic Faith in later times since the coming of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and especially during the fifty years elapsed since the re-establishment of the See of Malacca, cannot fail to rejoice the heart of every Catholic of the diocese. May God bless your strenuous effort to recall the glorious deeds of Catholic missionaries, Portuguese and French, in our land of Malaya; may it be a powerful instrument for the conversion of many souls to our Catholic Faith and thus bring Peace to all souls of good will at Christmas time. With much hearty wishes and fervent blessings, I am, dear Reverend Father, yours most sincerely in Christ. f A. DEVALS. Bishop of Malacca. Cameron Highlands, / Oth Dec*, 19)7. Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries ^ : ' " *■ s . • •■ iSgj ' 'li \\ ' ; •,. f - ■ 'V" -;v: ■:•■: •■-:«■;.-■• ' • : ■ . '? ■■?■■ - ■ -$4«■'1 i ?:i - Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries Catholicism in the East anO Che Oiocese of flDalacca AUR intention in writing this historical sketch is only to give our readers an account as brief and plain as possible of the coming and spreading of the Catholic faith in these countries once known as "as. partes do but' "the regions of the South." These regions, in the time of the Portuguese ascendancy included all the kingdoms bordering the China Sea and Pacific Ocean as far as Japan, and the whole Indian Archipelago. As far as we know this is the first attempt made at a general survey of the history of the Diocese of Malacca; our work, therefore, is imperfect, and necessarily incomplete through lack of space. PART I. THE BEGINNINGS (1511—1545) Afonso de Albuquerque—The Chaplains of the troops—Our Lady of the Annonciation—Our Lady of Grace. • -t*. • i. -t 1 *sl_ • * ' . ' The first Catholic priests landed in Malacca as military Chaplains to the expeditionary corps led by Afonso de Albuquerque to conquer the city. They were eight priests altogether mostly Franciscan Friars; only the names of Frei Domingos de Sousa, a Dominican and confessor General of the fleet, and of Don Aivaro Mergulhao, a secular priest and Frivate Chaplain of the Governor have come down to us. In October of the same year, when de Albuquerque began to build the Fortress, Antonio de Abreu left Malacca in quest of the Spice Islands or Moluccas, having on board a few Franciscans, the first apostles of Oceania. According to the Historia, Seraphica, previous to 1542, when other Religious Orders joined in the preaching of the Gospel in these countries, the Franciscan Friars were "the only missionaries in Solor where Frei Francisco das Chagas died, in Timor, Pahang, Perak, Darse (probably Aru in Sumatra), Japara, the famous island of Borneo, Amboina, the Celebes, the Island of the Mouro and many others." At Malacca, de Albuquerque, through his great devotion to Our Lady, built a church in her honour, calling it Our Lady of the Annunciation. It stood within the palisades protecting the Portuguese camp and Fortress, pending tne com¬ pletion of the latter. The huge 120 feet tower, "a Famosa," could not be finished before Easter 1514, The common belief that de Albuquerque built O. L. of the Annunciation on th7? top of St. Paul's Hill has been denounced by Fr. Schurhammer as erroneous. In a letter to the Rev. Fr. J. Francois, the learned Jesuit brings as evidence in favour of his assertion a quotation from Barros, the great Portuguese historian. Another passage of the same Barros we came upon in our owk researches confirms Schurhammer's thesis. The church on the Hill was built, not by de Albuquerque, in 1511, but ten years later by Duarte Coelho, as a thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin, and named "Nossa Senhora Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries 2 da Graea," "0. L. of Gracs." On account of its site the people used to call it "O. L. of the Mount." That, in 1604, it was also known as 0. L. of the Annunciation can be seen on a plan of Malacca by Emmanuel Godinho de Eredia in his Declaracam. Most of the Portuguese authors, however, and St. Francis j Xavier in his letters, mention the church on St. Paul's Hill as Nossa Senhora do Oteiro and the Hill itself as Our Lady's Hill. No sooner was de Albuquerque back in India than he requested the King to send to the church at Malacca a reredos representing the Annunciation of the Virgin which "ought to be a rich one"; also a set of vestments for Mass I "worthy of Malacca: damasks, silks, and brocades," even an organ "because people will not lack who know how to play it." In 1514, Jorge de Albuquerque, successor of Ruy de Brito Patalim in the captaincy of the Fortress, renewed the request made by his cousin to Hon Manuel, asking the king to send good priests, rich vestments, hymn, books, and an organ and fine bells for the church. The next year Padre Afonso Martins arrived in Malacca where he was to die after a long stay of thirty-four years as parish priest of 0. L. of the Annunciation. All that we know about the evangelisation of the Indian Archipelago till the establishment of the Portuguese in the Moluccas is very fragmentary. On the request of the King of Ternate, then at war with his neighbour of Tidore, Antonio de Brito sailed in 1521 for these islands to find that the Spaniards, who had left Sevilla under the command of Magellan were already there. By the treaty of Tordesillas (22 April 15z9), the King of Spain, Charles V agrepd to • abandon his claim to the Moluccas for a sum of 350,000 gold ducats which were offered him by the King of Portugal, John II. Catholicism in the Spice Islands—Antonio Galvao— The Bishopric of Goa. Catholicism, however, did not make any serious progress in the Moluccas before the coming of St. Francis Xavier. Not many years before "at Amboina there had been a great movement towards the Faith and two kings in particular, one in the island of the Moor and the other in Ternate, had become Christians. The avarice, tyranny and licenciousness of the Portuguese added to their quarrels among themselves, had led the native populations to a general league against them and a massacre known as the Moluccan Vespers. Affairs had been in some measure restored, and religion greatly promoted under the governorship of Antonio Galvao, one of those admirable men who occur from time to time in the history of Portuguese Asia; but a petition sent to King John III by the native princes and people, to continue him in his authority as long as he lived, had not reached Lisbon till long after his successor had arrived, and affairs had fallen back into their former state, to the great detriment of religion." (Coleridge S.J.). We must recall to mind that all the divers missions which were then estab¬ lished in the countries discovered by the Portuguese depended from the Arch¬ bishopric of Funchal in Madeira. Hence a lack of co-ordination among the clergy, regular as well. as secular, in their apostolic work. Funchal could not remain any longer the centre of these far-away missions. Therefore, in 1521, it was decided to make of Goa a Bishopric independent of Funchal. Frei Joao de Albuquerque, formerly Provincial of the Franciscan Friars in Portugal and King's confessor, was chosen by him for the new See. Don Frei Joao de Albuquerque was an old man; his appointment, therefore caused some surprise at Rome. "One of the Cardinals remarked rather cynically that perhaps one reason (for his nomination) was that a religious, who had already renounced everything, should not find it so hard to be buried in India." (M.