This book attempts to trace the rise and establishment of the Portuguese and the rise of the Catholic Mission that followed their establishment. The book is divided into five parts. The first discusses the Portuguese in Europe and Asia; the second concerns the Portuguese Missions in Southern India; the third describes the subjugation of the Syrian Church; the fourth deals with the subsequent missions in Southern India with special reference to the Syrians; and finally part 5 notices the Portuguese Missions with special reference to the modern missionary efforts in South India. The book was first published in 1893.
Alexander James Donald D'Orsay (1812-1894) was Chaplain to the English church, knight Commander of the Portuguese, order of Christ, Professor in King's College, London.
THERE are some subjects which, at first sight, seem to present little difficulty, and to demand but a very moderate amount of research. When, however, the student has commenced his investigations, he sees new fields opening up on every side; and the difficulty is not to find materials for his work, but to select from the vast mass before him such elements as are solely, or chiefly, suitable for his enterprise. This has been our principal embarrassment in the preparation of the following Essay; for it was soon discovered that the volumes bearing upon our subject would have furnished matter for a history, instead of contributing to the pages of a monograph.
In writing an account of "The Portuguese Missions in Southern India in the XVIth Century, with Special Reference to the Syrian Christians, and to Modern Missionary Efforts in that Quarter," the Author must obviously depend more upon industry in research, accuracy in quotation, and judgment in selection, than on the more brilliant qualities of intellect and imagination. He must make up his mind not to trust to second-hand authorities, ordinary compilations and translations, often indifferently rendered, but to go at once to the fountain head, examine care- fully for himself, compare conflicting statements, verify citations, reconcile discrepancies, and out of chaos, as far as possible, produce order. He will, of course, have to study many a ponderous folio in mediaeval Latin, in singularly quaint and difficult Portuguese, in Spanish, Italian, French, and English, all more or less differing from those of the present day. He must be prepared to encounter various, and sometimes contradictory, versions of the same trans- action, according to the national or political bias of the writers whom he consults. And above all, he will find himself perplexed by the strong party colouring given by antagonistic religious factions to events which are made to tell for or against a theory, in proportion to the light in which they are represented. To all which must be added the subjective difficulty, for, unless perpetually on his guard, he will be prone to follow the example of those Procrustean writers who allow their own predilections to influence their manner of recording facts, and who sometimes so far forget what is due to truth as to diminish, magnify, or suppress, as may best suit the party they wish to serve.¹
In the particular case before us the first duty was to divide the general theme into such portions as would enable the reader to form a clear idea of the whole question. The next object was to obtain from public libraries, from official reports, political and religious, and from private information, such authentic details as would fill in this outline, selecting such portions as are calculated by their shape, size, and colour, to combine for the production of a faithful and harmonious picture. The third part of our task, subordinate, but still important, was to indicate, by constant reference, the sources from which we derived our information, not only to steer clear of any suspicion of plagiarism, but to afford anyone interested in our subject the means of verifying our quotations, or of following up the stream to its fountain-head.
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