Storia do Mogor 338.10
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 338.10
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338.10.1
Most Exalted Lord, We, the president, et cetera, officers of the ancient confraternity of Our Lady of the Rosary at San Thome, at present transferred to this church of Madras, where we are its unworthy members, obeying the command of your Excellency as humble servants and obedient sheep of the Catholic flock, produce the information you ask from us about the said confraternity. We rely upon your Excellency's benignity to pardon us for the faults of style which we are sure to commit before your tribunal, not only in our own remarks, but in the use of judicial terms. Thus, though unlearned, we shall obtain from your Excellency's benevolence special excuse for our admitted ignorance, being in our intentions humble, sincere, and obedient. We set forth as follows :
338.10.2
The legitimate and veritable title of our confraternity is the same as that of the ancient city of San Thome. It was founded with all the necessary requirements, and the permission of the Very Reverend the Vicar-General of Goa. After the loss of the above city it was transferred to that of Madras, whither all, or at any rate the majority of the brothers, removed, and there settled. Some of those, by grace of the Virgin, are still alive. With a view to their general consolation, they prayed the Reverend Father Friar Ephraim of Nevers, vicar of this [Madras] church at that time, to draw up a petition to the said Vicar-General for the issue of his license. This we obtained, and still hold, as is proved by the said petition and the order of the Vicar-General of Goa, which we produce along with it. Thereby your Excellency will see that we are still the same confraternity of San Thome.
338.10.3
The Reverend Father Friar Diogo do Sacramento, out of caprice, has founded a confraternity at his own church. Granted that this is at the place which was formerly the city of San Thome, still, it is not the [same] city of that name. To this confraternity he gave the name of the Rosary [of San Thome]. He should not have acted thus, since his church is not at a convenient distance, as provided by the statutes. Simply from this one fact it ought not to receive the name of a confraternity. But to secure his object the said reverend father collected some of our brothers who happened to be dwellers there, men who were lovers of novelty. By various promises he started the said confraternity and began to dispute with ours, endeavouring to extinguish it by threats of interdicts. He disparaged it by the use of names so ignominious that modesty compels us not to report them here to your Excellency.
338.10.4
Seeing these things, we had recourse to the tribunal of the Lord Bishop for a decision as to what might be just. The said reverend father [Diogo] declined to submit himself to him, giving him out for suspected. Thus we were forced to have recourse to the judgment-table of the Sacred Congregation and the tribunal of his Holiness, where at this moment the case is pending. We hope it will be decided in our favour, for on the same occasion we wrote to the Most Reverend the Master of the Order of Preachers [i.e., the Dominicans] at Rome, praying him to deliver us from the scruples and doubts propounded to us by the Reverend Father Friar Diogo do Sacramento. This dignitary was good enough to do us the kindness of sending us a patent, of which a copy is hereto appended. From it your Excellency will see that he approved our devotion and admitted our confraternity to be that same ancient one of San Thome, subject to the condition that when there shall be in this place [Madras] a church of San Domingo, we shall transfer ourselves thereto. In this there never will be on our part any objection, whenever our Lord shall so permit.
338.10.5
As for the property demanded by the inhabitants of San Thome, jointly with the Reverend Father Friar Diogo do Sacramento, we are ignorant of the right by which they make this claim. For, besides being legally ours, created by the efforts and devotion of our predecessors, it was a second time redeemed, after the loss of San Thome city, from the hands of Jacomo Cardozo Barreto, into whose possession it was pledged by the vicar, who at that time was of our confraternity, the Father Friar Luis Fragozo, who also disposed surreptitiously of various jewels and ornaments, as may be seen from the affidavits of witnesses, which we also present herewith. All these things were lost by our confraternity, we not knowing to whom they were sold. As for the pledging of the remainder, which came to our notice, those things were bought back at our instance by a devout lady, who afterwards was made a sister and our manager. This embezzlement was one of the motives which caused our predecessors to submit the above-mentioned petition to Goa by the intermediary of the Reverend Father Ephraim, and was the chief reason for securing at Goa that order in our favour with the indulgences and privileges we still enjoy, for our consolation, as will appear from the said document itself.
338.10.6
As for the requisition in which they claim the return of this remainder of things to the confraternity of San Thome, on the pretext that it was founded in that place, there is no reason by which it can prevail against us. We are ourselves the ancient confraternity, as proved by the petition, together with the order thereon of the Vicar-General of Goa, and the patent from the Most Reverend Father the Master of the Order of Preachers at Rome, as we said above. Although the said claimants cannot sue us under the pretext of place — for in this respect there is wanting to them now all the chief circumstances of then — we make no attempt to dispute on that head (since, for the security of our confraternity the papers we possess are sufficient), and we beg to be excused from entering into it. Here we will solely point out a few details, from which your Excellency can obtain evidence of the small reason with which they are perturbing and molesting us.
338.10.7
Anciently the city of San Thome belonged to the King of Portugal, who governed it by his officials absolutely without the slightest dependence on anyone. The churches and inhabitants enjoyed rents and privileges, which were all lost through various faults when the Mahomedans took the country, which to this day has not been restored, those now living there no longer enjoying that ancient freedom [178]. On the contrary, they are subject to the government of the Mahomedans, being continually troubled and molested by them. For this reason we contend that there is no one who can compel us to forsake this place of safety, where we execute in the Virgin's service all that our strength can accomplish without the least trouble, molestation, or hindrance; or force us to go elsewhere and involve ourselves in that labyrinth, thereby laying ourselves open to a thousand disagreeables.
338.10.8
Finally, we make known to your Excellency that the Reverend Father Friar Diogo do Sacramento, not having succeeded in his designs by means of our brothers, who had returned to live at San Thome as already stated, has expelled all of them as unworthy, and has admitted Portuguese gentlemen into his confraternity. This is contrary to the directions of the ordinances, bulls, et cetera, all of which set forth that the confraternity of the Rosary must be constituted out of natives of the soil, a phrase known and customary throughout India. This is inevitably one of the principal reasons for asserting that the confraternity of the Reverend Father Friar Diogo is not, and cannot be, the ancient one of San Thome, for it differs from it as black from white. By all this your Excellency will perceive the great reason we have on our side, and the little with which we are molested and disturbed. With this we take shelter under the protection of your Excellency, from whom with all submissiveness we entreat, for the love of God and for the increase of His kingdom whose cause this is, that we be defended for His greater glory. For what those of the other party demand is to be inferred as evidence of their wish to diminish that glory, without regard to the scandal they are causing throughout this congregation and the stimulus they are giving to the adversaries of our religion. Therefore, since we continue assured of your Excellency's zeal, we wait for justice. Madras, this 28th of April, 1704.
338.10.9
With the above petition and all the papers in its support the brothers of Madras sent one of their number to Pondicherry, becoming sureties for his expenses. He was to plead their cause there. As his protector and their procurator, they elected the Very Reverend Father Joaõ Baptista Sidotte, a person among those who accompanied his Excellency, and one of much influence. He worked fairly well in the negociation, and had almost succeeded in it, according to the advices received from Pondicherry. He proposed an amicable compromise between the two confraternities for the greater praise of the Virgin and contentment of the brethren. But where selfwill reigns reason has no esteem.