The Jesuit father Francisco Lopes arrived to the fortress of Kollam – Coulão in the Portuguese sources – in the middle of the 1560s. Located at the beginning of the Malabar Coast387, it was not his first stay in the Portuguese factory, but that time he could count on the support of a strong ally – then captain-major of the fortress Bernardo de Sousa. The excitement felt by the priest with the official’s liberality towards the missionaries’ activities was surpassed only when a visitor arrived: vice-provincial father Melchior Nunes Barreto. Famous for his travels around the Portuguese empire and its surroundings, Barreto personally knew most of the intricacies and vicissitudes of the missions. But that was no social visit. Barreto spent 1566 on a tour to announce the First Provincial Council in Goa, which would take place in the following year. The local Keralan Christian community rejoiced with the news, leaving both visitor and host Jesuits anxious and excited for the gathering388.
Nevertheless, the prospect of the council left all missionaries walking on eggshells.
They knew that the meeting would put to the test local determinations and practices, which the priests were used to decide independently. It was, after all, an effort to unify religious practices and curtail those which were understood as unnecessary or in disagreement with central decrees. Even an experienced missionary as father Henrique Henriques, who at that time had already been in India for 20 years, felt uneasy about the event. Henriques was in Kollam recovering from a disease, and received Barreto during his visit to the fortress. The convalescent Jesuit and his peers in the area were working hard to follow the rules and set a good example for others. According to Henriques, they had started an exercise aiming at moral and spiritual improvement. In such sessions, the missionaries would gather and write lists of shortcomings they would take note about each other. Those who infringed the items on the list would be called out. However, Henriques was careful to explain in his letter to the Jesuits in Europe that the exercise had not been started before informing the visiting vice-provincial. Barreto answered that such practice could be done from time to time, until they received proper authorization from the provincial, Antonio de Quadros, in Goa389.
The visiting father published the news about the council in settlements around India, making use of sermons and formal processions in the churches he visited390. The announcements were followed by public demonstrations of punishment. In Ceylon, for
387 Or its end, “como for mais a vomtade dos matematicos” [depending on the will of the mathematicians].
See WICKI, José. “Duas relações sobre a situação da Índia Portuguesa nos anos de 1568 e 1569. In:
Separata de Stvdia, N. 8, July 1961. Lisbon: Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos, 1961, p. 154.
388 DHMPPO, Vol. 10, p. 9.
389 DHMPPO, Vol. 10, pp. 24-5.
390 DHMPPO, Vol. 10, p. 196.
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example, father Barreto promoted sessions of public shaming in 1567, a few months before the council took place. One black woman was covered in honey and feathers, after having been accused of owning a brothel. A Portuguese man had his alcoholism exposed publicly at the church’s door – a bottle hanging from his neck left no doubt about his vice to those passing by. From local slaves to Portuguese cristãos-velhos [old-Christians], the number of individuals targeted for adultery, blasphemy, perjury, and other crimes was high. Most received public sentences or pecuniary fines, and a few were even condemned to exile. Everything was done out of a single purpose – establish the gravity of the council and set good examples for local Christians, both Asians and Portuguese391. Trent would have a heavy impact on the Estado da Índia.
Distorted mores among Christians and new codes of conduct were being discussed by the clergymen in Goa since at least mid-1560s. At that time, the Archbishop Dom Gaspar de Leão had started drafting his Constituições do Arcebispado de Goa [Constitutions of the Archbishopric of Goa]. These were to become the first diocesan constitutions of Catholic Christianity in the Portuguese padroado, gathering legal, disciplinary, liturgical and doctrinal dispositions, based on canon law, traditions of the Church and local consuetudinary practices, imposed by the prelates on clerics and laymen392.
His method to write the first draft was to visit three times each prelacy in India, where there were no valid Constitutions, and each vicar used his own laws. The First Provincial Council was convoked after these visits. According to Leão, the convocation was prompted by the Council of Trent – “o principal sol humano, que a Igreija na terra tem, com o qual he alumiada, & reformada, & gloriosa” [the main sun of humankind, that the Church has on Earth, with which it [the Church] is enlightened, reformed and glorified]393. The Tridentine text had been concluded in 1563, approved and confirmed by the Pope in the following year, and arrived in India between 1565 and 1567394. In Lisbon, the crown readily adopted the decrees, and required its prelates to discuss as
391 DHMPPO, Vol. 10, pp. 196-7.
392 The definition of diocesan constitutions is given by Paiva. PAIVA, José Pedro. “Constituições Diocesanas”. In: AZEVEDO, Carlos Moreira (dir.). Dicionário de História Religiosa de Portugal C-I. Lisbon:
Círculo de Leitores; Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2000, p.
9
393 LEÃO, Gaspar de; and ASENSIO, Eugenio (ed.). Desengano de Perdidos. Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra, 1958, p. 67.
394 XAVIER, Ângela Barreto. “Gaspar de Leão e a Recepção do Concílio de Trento no Estado da Índia”. In:
GOUVEIA, Antonio Camões; BARBOSA, David Sampaio; PAIVA, José Pedro (eds.). O Concílio de Trento em Portugal e nas suas conquistas: olhares novos. Lisbon: Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa, 2014, p. 145; FARIA, Patricia Souza de. Os concílios provinciais de Goa:
reflexões sobre o impacto da "Reforma Tridentina" no centro do império asiático português (1567-1606).
Topoi (Rio J.) [online]. 2013, vol.14, n.27 [cited 2015-09-04], pp. 218-238. Available from:
<http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2237-101X2013000200218&lng=en&nrm=iso>. ISSN 2237-101X. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2237-101X014027002, p. 221.
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swiftly as possible the introduction of the new rules in Portugal and their overseas territories395. Goa prelates readily decided to gather religious authorities for the First Provincial Synod, also known as the First Goa Council. The discussions on the Tridentine Council’s determinations resulted in a review of Leão’s Constitutions and new guidelines for ecclesiastical justices in Asia. It was the discussions during the First Goa Council that established what Ângela Barreto Xavier has called the dialogue the Tridentine text had to have with unexpected social and cultural situations, beyond those geographies that constituted traditional Christianity396. Nonetheless, Trent was not the only motivation behind such changes – Leão’s initiative aimed to address the enormous variety of Catholic practices that took place in the Asian missions. Priests and missionaries under the Portuguese crown jurisdiction were used to decide alone what suited best their cases, creating disparities not only in liturgy but also in religious definitions and contexts as well. Leão and the other priests’ efforts aimed at introducing unified religious practices in all parts where the Portuguese “padroado” made its presence felt397.
The First Provincial Synod was officially opened by the archbishop Dom Gaspar de Leão after Easter, in 1567.398 Attending the event were high-ranking ecclesiastical authorities, heavy weights such as Dom Jorge Themudo, bishop of Kochi; Manoel Coutinho, administrator of Mozambique; and Vicente Viegas, representing the bishop of Malacca, Dom Jorge de Santa Luzia. Superiors from the Society of Jesus, the Dominicans, Franciscans, as well as doctors of Theology, Canon and Secular Law also attended the meetings399. In September, with the arrival of the fleet from Lisbon, Archbishop Dom Gaspar de Leão received authorization to resign office, which was handed over to Jorge Dom Themudo, declared new Archbishop of India. After more than 7 months of debates the Synod ended on All Saints Day, November 1st. Jesuit priest Francisco Rodrigues was chosen to make the sermon when the Council was declared officially closed400.
The Jesuits participation in the Council was extensive. Fathers Antonio de Quadros, Jesuit Provincial, Francisco Rodrigues, rector of the Jesuit Goa College, and Melchior Nunes Barreto, actively took part in the meetings. The latter, writing in 1568, complained to the General of the order that they became responsible for most of the hard work. Not only they discussed issues and drafted decrees, they also ended up having to write and compile the official manuscripts. In the end, the Jesuit Provincial, father
395 CRUZ, Maria Augusta Lima. D. Sebastião. Lisbon: Círculo de Leitores e Centro de Estudos dos Povos e Culturas de Expressão Portuguesa, 2009, p. 126.
396 XAVIER, Ângela Barreto. Op. cit., p. 133.
397 FARIA, Patricia Souza de. Op. cit., pp. 225-6; DHMPPO Vol. X, p. 484.
398 DI VII, p. 488. In 1567, Easter was March 30th.
399 SOUSA, Francisco de. Oriente Conquistado a Jesu Christo pelos padres da Companhia de Jesu da Provincia de Goa, Segunda Parte. Lisbon: Officina de Valentim da Costa Deslandes, 1710, p. 29;
GONÇALVES, Sebastião; and WICKI, José (ed.). Primeira Parte da Historia dos Religiosos da Companhia de Jesus. Coimbra: Atlantida, 1962, p. 196; and XAVIER, Ângela Barreto. Op. cit., p. 146.
400 DI VII, p. 381.
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Antonio de Quadros, fell ill from fatigue401. The effort allowed the Society of Jesus to greatly influence all the texts related to the conversion of Asians, included in the second act of the decrees, accordingly to their plans402. Nevertheless, there was concern among the Jesuits, because of ambiguities and setbacks that could result from how the decisions were to be put into practice403.
The minutes of the Provincial Council, as well as the revised text of the Constitutions, were finally sent to the presses in 1568404. Among the many themes discussed, slavery was high in the agenda of the priests405. By analyzing the decisions and decrees of the First Goa Council we may have a glimpse of the challenges faced by missionaries when dealing with the various issues related to slavery and related practices in India and other parts of Asia.
Baptism and slavery
The Goa decrees of 1567 are divided in 4 parts, or Acts, in the following order:
Profession of Faith and Presentation; Conversion of the Infidels and new-converts;
Reform of the Church; and Reform of the Mores. Mentions to enslavement and related practices are spread throughout the decrees. The theme appears early in Act number 2, on the 3rd decree. This section offers guidelines related to the theme of conversion and treatment dispensed to new-converts. The 3rd decree deals with the problem posed by
401 DI VII, p. 488.
402 DI VII, p. 380.
403 Melchior Nunes Barreto to Jacobo Miron, Kochi, 25 January 1568. DI VII, p. 496.
404 The First Province Council decrees were published the first time in Goa, June 21st of 1568: O Primeiro Concilio Prouinçial çelebrado em Goa, no anno de 1567. Goa: João de Endem, 1568. Extant copies can be located in the following institutions: the Public Library of Évora, Portugal; the Collection of Dom Manuel II, in Vila Viçosa, Portugal; the Lilly Library, at the University of Indiana Bloomington; and the library of the Lincoln Cathedral, in the United Kingdom. The decrees would be printed again three times after that, along the Constitutions of the Archbishopric of Goa: Constitvic,oes [sic] do Arcebispado de Goa Aprouadas pello primeiro Prouincial. Lisbon: [printer unknown], 1592; Constituições do Arcebispado de Goa Approvadas pelo primeiro Concilio Provincial. Goa: Collégio de S. Paulo Novo da Companhia de Jesus, 1643; and Constitviçoens do Arcebispado de Goa Approvadas pello Primeiro Prouincial. Goa: Collégio de Sam Paulo Nouo da Companhia de Iesvs, 1649 (apparently, the only known extant copy is in the Rio de Janeiro National Library). For more information, see: LIMA, Manuel de. “Prefácio” in: MASTRILLI, Marcelo Francisco. Relacam de Hvm Prodigioso Milagre. Lisbon: Biblioteca Nacional, 1989, p. XIII; FERNANDES, Leão Cristóstomo. “O Livro e o Jornal em Goa” in: Boletim do Instituto Vasco da Gama, N. 33. Goa:
Tipografia Rangel, 1937, pp. 95-6; and FERNANDES, Leão Cristóstomo. “Ainda a Monografia ‘O Livro e o Jornal em Goa’” in: Boletim do Instituto Vasco da Gama, N. 39. Goa: Tipografia Rangel, 1938, pp. 64-8.
Modern transcriptions and prints of the text are available in: APO Fasc. 4; Bullarium…; and DHMPPO, Vol.
10.
405 FARIA, Patricia Souza de. Op. cit., p. 223, for a table with the themes for each of the six editions of the Provincial Council, from 1567 to 1606.
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fathers and masters who impede the conversion of their children or slaves. The text reads as follows:
“Tãobem determina, que aos pays ou senhores infieis, não se tomem contra sua vontade os filhos, ou escravos, antes do tempo da discipção pera serem baptizados, mas chegando o tal tempo (querendo elles ser Christãos) se baptizarão contra a vontade de seus pays, ou senhores infieis; os quaes se tirarão logo do seu poder, pera se porem em caza de pessoas virtuosas e tementes a Deos, que os possam instruir na fé; e o tempo da discripção pera poder receber o Baptismo, he o em que o menino pode peccar. Porque impia couza seria dizer que se podem entregar ao demonio, e condenar, e que não se podem entregar a Christo persa se salvar. E se ouvesse duvida, se o minino em o tempo de discripção, então se baptizará sempre em favor da fé, do que conhecerão o Vigairo ou Cura.406”
[The Synod] also determines that, children or slaves of infidel fathers or masters must not be taken away against their [parents or masters’] will before the proper time for baptism. But when the time is arrived (them [children or slaves]
willing to become Christians) they shall be baptized against their infidel fathers or masters’ will. They [children or slaves] will readily be taken away from their [fathers or masters] power to be put in houses of God fearing and virtuous peoples that may instruct them in the faith. And the proper time for the baptism is when the boy may sin. Because it would be an ungodly thing to say that they may be given to the Devil, and condemned, [rather than] given to Christ to be saved. And if there is doubt, if the boy [is] in the age of reason, then one shall always favor the faith and baptize [him], which shall be decided by the Vicar or Priest.]
The first thing we may notice here is that young children and slaves, whether young or not, were dealt in the text as a single legal entity. That can be explained by how political power and dominance was organized in the colonial societies. Fathers were central for the most basic organizational unity of a society, the family. They had power over members of their group, but especially over their children. This relationship is recreated between the master and his or her slave – the master (dominus) assumes control (dominium) over his slave407. The most basic notion of dominance over a slave comes from the Roman ius gentium (law of nations), used to explain that the winning part in a just war had the right to kill subjugated enemies. The winner also could choose, instead, a less drastic punishment, by enslaving the defeated. In that sense, victory in a just war
406 DHMPPO, Vol. 10, p. 343.
407 To Aquinas, a master’s dominance over his slave, or dominium, is what defines slavery. EISENBERG, José. “A escravidão voluntária dos índios do Brasil e o pensamento político moderno”. In: Análise Social, vol. XXXIX (170), 2004, p. 15.
conferred the winner real control over life and death of defeated individuals408. This right could be sold by the winner, who would also surrender his dominance over the slave to the buyer, even if the buyer had not been the original winner in the just war.
The issue of dominium over a slave is further complicated by the religious dynamics of the slave-master relations existent in Portuguese Asia. The prelates were giving their opinion in regard to a long-standing dilemma that tormented canonists and theologians since at least the twelfth century – were baptized Christian servants held by pagans and Jews superior to their masters? “To assert he is, constitutes a challenge to the divinely instituted authority, yet to deny superiority questions the efficacy of baptism.”409 Here, they reiterate the preeminence of Christian and ecclesiastical authority, by confirming the power of Christians to detract infidel masters and fathers of their slaves and children. The only problem is timing – when could the dominium of infidels over their children and slaves be subverted? The answer given by the Council was what has been referred to as “tempo de discripção” [age of reason, age of discretion, or years of discretion], a term originated in the canons of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215.
According to the Canon XXI Omnius utriusque sexus, every faithful of both sexes, “who has attained the age of reason is bound to confess his sins at least once a year to his own parish pastor with his permission to another, and to receive the Eucharist at least at Easter”410. The idea is reiterated by the Tridentine Council, in their 13th session, of 11 October 1551411. The prelates and priests understood that the age of reason was 14 years-old for males and 12 years-years-old for females412. The decision thus allowed sons and
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daughters, as well as male and female slaves, to be taken away from their fathers and masters, subverting then the dominium rules. That was possible when the child or slave was older than 14 or 12 years-old – if there was any doubt about the child or slave’s real age, the missionaries should evaluate the situation and decide whether it was appropriate or not to baptize the individual. The justification given is that, if it worked for the benefit of the Christian faith, that is to say, to the expansion of the religion and the Christian community, then this subversion of authority would be allowed.
After conversion, the child or slave would be put under tutelage of a recognized Christian individual, to receive instruction and be properly educated as a faithful convert.
The necessity to instruct and indoctrinate properly an orphan had been stated before, by the Ordenações Manuelinas. The legal code determined that those who were not Christians should receive indoctrination in the Christian faith, be well educated and taught
“bons costumes” [good customs], accordingly to their qualities (that is to say, according to their faith) and inherited properties. Those who worked for the well-being of such orphans would be recognized by royal authority as good servants to the king and God413. In practice, however, the level of dedication to the instruction of these individuals could vary, and the knowledge one had to acquire to be considered a proper baptized convert was very different if we compare slaves to children of certain important local families414.
“(...) e os que d’outra qualidade forem, se sam doutrinados, e postos ao ensino, e bons costumes que deuem teer, segundo as qualidades de que forem, e as fazendas que teuerem; porque fazendo-o assi bem, como se delles espera, aalem do seruiço que a Nosso Senhor faram, e o merecimento que ante elle por isso teram, Nós os Receberemos delles em seruiço.415”
[And to those who are of a different quality, if they are indoctrinated, and put to study, and learn the good manners they ought to have, according to the qualities they have, and the properties they have. Because doing good to them this way, as we may expect from them as well, besides Our Lord’s mercy, and
and twelve for females. See DHMPPO Vol. 10, p. 526. For Aquinas’s text and translation, see http://www.dhspriory.org/thomas/Serm08PuerIesus.htm, accessed on September 13th 2015
413 Ordenações Manuelinas, Book 2, Title XXXV, § 39.
414 The issue was even more complicated regarding infidel orphans, whose dominium was unclear. A royal decree determined that orphans could be taken by missionaries until they achieved the age of reason, that is to say, 12 years-old. In 1559, a law enacted by the Vice-Roy determined that such measures should be allowed until the children were 14 years-old. The 2nd Act, 13th decree, of the First Provincial Council asks the Portuguese king to confirm the Vice-Roy’s law, as well as to extend the jurisdiction to include orphans until 25 years-old, following the definition of orphan given by the Portuguese law. See DHMPPO Vol. X, p. 350; the Vice-Roy’s law is in APO Fasc. 5, parte 1, p. 385-6; the definition of orphan can be found in Ordenações Manuelinas, Livro I, Título LXVII, par. 3. See also GONÇALVES, Sebastião; and WICKI, Josef (ed.). Primeira Parte da História dos Religiosos da Companhia de Jesus, Vol. II. Coimbra: Atlântida, 1960, p. 357-8.
415 Ordenações Manuelinas, Book 2, Title XXXV, § 39.