Gondar - Phi Kappa Psi

Indies, the chief see of the Portuguese dominions in the East; metropolitan to the
province of Goa, which comprised as suffragans the sees of Cochin, Mylapore,
and Damão (or Damaun) in India, Macao in China, and Mozambique in East
Africa. Mozambique was the gateway to Ethiopia.
The archbishop, who resided at Panjim, or New Goa, had the honorary
titles of Primate of the East and (from 1886) Patriarch of the East Indies. He
enjoyed the privilege of presiding over all national councils of the East Indies,
which were originally be held at Goa (Concordat of 1886 between the Holy See
and Portugal, art. 2). The Patronage of the see and of its suffragans belonged to
the Crown of Portugal.
The history of the Portuguese conquests in India dates from the arrival of
Vasco da Gama in 1498, followed by the acquisition of Cranganore in 1500,
Cochin in 1506, Goa in 1510, Chaul in 1512, Calicut in 1513, Damao in 1531,
Bombay, Salsette, and Bassein in 1534, Diu in 1535, etc.
From the year 1500, missionaries of the different orders (Franciscans,
Dominicans, Jesuits, Augustinians, etc.) flocked out with the conquerors, and
began at once to build churches along the coast districts wherever the
Portuguese power made itself felt. In 1534 was created an episcopal see
suffragan to Funchal in the Madeiras, with a jurisdiction extending potentially
over all past and future conquests from the Cape of Good Hope to China. In
1557 it was made an independent archbishopric, and its first suffragan sees were
erected at Cochin and Malacca. In 1576 the suffragan was added; and in 1588,
that of Funai in Japan. In 1600 another suffragan see was erected at Angamale
(transferred to Craganore in 1605) for the sake of the newly-united Thomas
Christians; while, in 1606 a sixth suffragan see was established at San Thome,
Mylapore, near the modern Madras. In 1612 the prelacy of Mozambique was
added, and in 1690 two other sees at Peking and Nanking in China. By the Bulls
establishing these sees the right of nomination was conferred in perpetuity on the
King of Portugal, under the titles of foundation and endowment.
The limits between the various sees of India were defined by a papal Bull
in 1616. The suffragan sees comprised roughly the south of the peninsula and
the east coast, as far as Burma inclusive, the rest of India remaining potentially
under the jurisdiction of the archdiocese and this potential jurisdiction was the
actually exercised even outside Portuguese dominions wherever the Faith was
extended by Portuguese missionaries. Missionary work progressed on a large
scale and with great success along the western coasts, chiefly at Chaul,
Bombay, Salsette, Bassein, Damao, and Diu; and on the eastern coasts at San
Thome of Mylapore, and as far as Bengal etc. In the southern districts the Jesuit
mission in Madura was the most famous. It extended to the Kistna river, with a
number of outlaying stations beyond it. The mission of Cochin, on the Malabar
Coast, was also one of the most fruitful. Several missions were also established
in the interior northwardds, e.g., that of Agra and Lahore in 1570 and that of Tibet
in 1624. Still, even with these efforts, the greater part even of the coast line was