Storia do Mogor 332.1
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 332.1
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332.1.1
Certificate by the Reverend Father Manuel, Vice-Commissary-General of the Order of Our Seraphic Father Saint Francis, set over all the Friars of that Observance upon the Coast of Choromandal [142]. [September 23, 1650.] I, the undersigned, Father Manuel de St. Joseph, a professed religious of Our Seraphic Father St. Francis in the Province of the Apostle St. Thomas in the East Indies, hereby certify as follows: When I was rector of the church and parish of Our Lady of the Light at San Thome, and Commissary throughout the Choromandal coast set over the friars and Province of the said order, there came to Madras, a fortress of the English, a Capuchin monk, French by nation, named Father Ephraim of Nevers. He was in search of a passage to Pegu upon some English vessel; and his object was to assist there as a missionary sanctioned by His Holiness to aid in the work of one of our fathers then working in that Mission (Pegu).
332.1.2
But the English governor, who is the head of that fort, begged him with great urgency and warmth to remain where he was, and to found there a church for the consolation of all the French — I mean to say, the Roman Catholic Christians living there. These Christians could not enter the jurisdiction of the Portuguese on account of their criminal courts or for other reasons, when they wanted either to get married or to partake of the other sacraments. In addition, those living at Pallacatta, belonging to the Dutch, and about seven leagues from San Thome, could not go there owing to the war between the Dutch and the Portuguese. If Father Ephraim settled in Madras, all these grievances would be remedied. He would render a great service to our Church, and give exceptional succour to forsaken souls. For if his zeal constrained him to undertake such perilous voyages to search for lost souls, and forward the conversion of others already beginning to doubt, right reasoning required that he should still more eagerly seek to gain over souls already converted, who were straying in the paths of perdition, merely from want of a shepherd to gather them within the fold of Holy Church. They needed spiritual pasturage by means of the sacraments, of which they had been so long deprived, to the danger of their salvation. Thus they lived excommunicated, sunk in grossness, and dying in evil state, forfeited both soul and heaven.
332.1.3
Father Ephraim, moved by these reasons, and out of zeal for the salvation of these poor people, also because he was glad to be able to establish a public church within the country of the English and in sight of their fort, decided to take up his abode at Madras. He built a church dedicated to the Apostle St. Andrew, and in it celebrated publicly divine service, carried out the procession of the Blessed Sacrament in the streets, accompanied by many people. There was great reverence and much devotion, not solely by the Catholics of Madras, but by those of San Thome. The latter went to Madras out of devotion, in order to assist in celebrating the festivals with greater solemnity. Even the English fired their cannon when the procession passed in front of the Fort.
332.1.4
During Lent the father preached publicly on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and set forth the mysteries of our Faith with a singular devotion. Thus there were to be seen a crowd of persons from Madras, San Thome, and Puliacat; even the English and their clergyman were present at these representations. In Holy Week he conducted all the offices in his church, sang Matins and Tenebrae with his scholars, the whole after the manner of the Capuchins [143]. On Holy Thursday he decorated the sepulchre and the oratory, where the most Blessed Sacrament was laid. On Good Friday he represented the Passion and preached on it, having displayed an image of Our Lord's body being brought down dead from the cross. We other friars went to help him at the solemn festivals, since the father did not begin until we had finished at San Thome.
332.1.5
At the Christmas festival he represented the mystery of the birth of the Infant Jesus laid in a cradle. He thus excited the devotion of the people, while many Mahomedans and Hindus came during the most solemn festivals to see this father's church. The English gave him every year what he demanded for his decorations. He took no alms for Masses nor for burials; but imitating the example of Tobias, he buried them without fee for the love of God. This he did even when they were poor, and if there were not enough men to carry the dead body he helped in the task. He has never received any gifts for administering Baptism or Marriages, and all the other sacraments were performed gratis.
332.1.6
Neither did he receive pecuniary gifts for the support of his own person; but he took the gifts made to him of a little rice or other things necessary to sustain life. This conduct provoked the admiration of the Catholics, the English, and even of the Mahomedans and Hindus. They saw him acting contrary to other ecclesiastics and the secular priests. He kept up in his dwelling a public school for children, several of whom were English. These children were taught the doctrines of Christianity. At all times he argued against heretics, and convinced them out of their own Bible. By this he showed that he was extremely well read in controversial books, and understood all the errors of these heresies, and could refute them. He did this not only with the English, but the Dutch — an obvious proof that he knew the sacred writings very well and also foreign tongues. He was learned and well read, which was the motive — nay, one of the principal reasons — and the occasion of the troubles and disagreeables which he suffered, and at this moment suffers in the dungeons of the Holy Office. The cause was the extraordinary envy and hatred entertained against him by the Jesuits and the secular priests of San Thome. This was due to the fruits reaped by the labours of this truly apostolic missionary, and the esteem, respect, and veneration felt for him by the Catholics, the heretics, the Hindus, and the Mahomedans.
332.1.7
These all applied to him the name of Apostle, a holy and perfect man, not only by reason of his exemplary life and his practising the evangelical virtues, but also for his eminent doctrine. For it seemed as if Our Lord had led him to this country and these unbelieving kingdoms among Hindus, Mahomedans, and enemies of our Holy Faith, in order that by the saintliness of his life and the excellence of his teaching, he should increase the glory of the Gospel and work for the conversion of souls. He had a special gift for all languages, for in addition to the dead languages which all the learned know, he understood Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Mosarabic, and English. For the greater profit of his people he extracted from the Holy Gospels the mysteries of our faith and salvation, and translated them into Portuguese in the form of a catechism. This he gave to his pupils to read, and made them learn it by heart, so that our holy religion might be imprinted better on their memory. This work was useful not only to children, but to old people.
332.1.8
I also certify that I have always heard evil words about Father Ephraim from the Priest Governor of the San Thome bishopric; his name is Hyeronime de Saa. He showed himself [144] openly the Father's deadly enemy, proclaiming at every turn the ill-will he bore to him for having founded a church without his orders and without his consent. He had wished to establish there one of his priests and eject Father Ephraim, to which he would willingly have consented. But the English would never consent, on account of the scandalous lives of the San Thome fathers. They knew well they were all licentious — a fact quite scandalous and public, each one keeping a mistress in his house. In this accusation was also included this same administrator of the diocese, according to the public voice in the town of San Thome.
332.1.9
Since the women they lived with were poor and subsisted by infamous prostitution of their bodies, they sometimes visited Englishmen in the town [of Madras] and submitted themselves to them. They confided to these men all that passed between them and the fathers of San Thome. This is the reason that the English refused to look at the Portuguese fathers, and in their talk spoke of their evil lives. I have often heard Father Ephraim say that his hardest task was to defend the priests of San Thome against the tongues of the English, and reply to the scandalous accusations made against and stories told about them. These stories were founded on the statements of the public women. It was also the case that they (the priests) went themselves to Madras to collect alms, and there drank with the English to such excess that they always came away drunk; in fact, so drunk that, unable to walk, it was requisite to carry them home. This happened to that same priest-administrator of the diocese and three other of his priests, greatly to the scandal of the public.