Storia do Mogor 338.8.2

338.8.2

Thus, it was notified to the Very Reverend Father Provincial of Madura that he must appear at Pondicherry before his Excellency. But the notification was in forma juris, and worded with the urbanity customary between ordained persons. The Provincial did not comply, nor to this moment is it known with certainty what reasons he alleged about his not going. Only it is talked of that the said Reverend Father Provincial replied in writing to the notification, saying that he had orders from the Lord Primate [i.e., of Goa] not to obey his Excellency until the powers he brought from his Holiness as Visitor-General of India were made patent and public; and it had been proved that they were registered in the Chancery of His Majesty the King of Portugal, in accordance with the privileges conceded by different Supreme Pontiffs to that crown. Be that as it may, it is certain that the said Reverend Father Provincial, though able to go, failed to appear. Yet the Lord Patriarch did not proceed against him as he did against the unhappy Capuchins of Madras. The latter, detained by the gentlemen of the government there, were unable to execute the order they received to present themselves in person at Pondicherry; but in their case he chastised the fault in a way for which there is no comparison to be found, nor has anything similar ever been seen.