Introduction
Kandivli, in days gone by, was a small village (hamlet) surrounded by forests, rice fields and a stream (the so called river flowing behind the church) rising from the Kanheri Caves in the Western Ghats about six miles away and flowing into the Arabian Sea near Marve.
The Bombay Development Department brought fame to Kandivli; to reclaim the Bombay Backbay, stones and earth were taken from Paran, a hillock, East of the Kandivli Railway Station. On this account a number of dwelling houses were constructed for officers and workmen numbering hundreds.During the boom that followed the First World War (1914-1918) and the inauguration of the Kandivli Railway Station on Jan. 10, 1909, a few years earlier, several Gujaratis flocked to thewestern side of the Kandivli Railway Station on account of the healthy climate, good water and rural life.
A Municipal Body known as the Notified Area Committee was established to look after building, sanitation, lighting and roads. Many Catholics from the parish were members of this Committee, including Joseph F. Mendes (the first non official Chairman), Joseph Braz Miranda,Anselm Miranda and Edward Mendes.
Parish Of Our Lady of the Assumption
Our Parish as we know it today, became an independent unit on October 27, 1861; but before that, let us go back into the past for the origins of Our Lady of the Assumption Church.
The existence of a Church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption is very old. Fr. Paulo de Trinidade gives some interesting data in his book, Conquista Espiritual de Oriente – The Spiritual Conquest of the Orient (Lisbon, 1957).
He states, “This Church was part of the Franciscan Rectorate. In 1630, this Rectorate comprised of the following villages: Magatana,Maluana, Candol, Olvem and Charkopa. Besides a number of babies in arms, there are more than 200 children and 560 adults in the Rectorate”.
He further records in his book, “ The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption is bound in the North by the Churches of Nossa Senhora da Piedade (now Immaculate Conception Church), Borivli, and the Holy Magi, Gorai ; in the East by the Parishes of Thana (Thane); in the South by the St. Thomas Church, Goregao (Goregaon),and St. Bonaventure Church, Erangol (Erangal); and in the West by the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Manori”. Malwani was not yet separated from the Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption; this took place somewhere between 1630 and 1680.
Records also indicate that the Portuguese built the first parish at Candolim in 1560 and it already had canonical status in 1595 when Fr. Gaspar Farras was appointed Rector in the Custodial Chapter of that year. Other authors too like Jose Gerson da Cunha (1844-1900) and Fr. Ernest R. Hull, S.J. (1863-1952), too speak of Candolim in their writings.
Kandivli, in days gone by, was a small village (hamlet) surrounded by forests, rice fields and a stream (the so called river flowing behind the church) rising from the Kanheri Caves in the Western Ghats about six miles away and flowing into the Arabian Sea near Marve.
The Bombay Development Department brought fame to Kandivli; to reclaim the Bombay Backbay, stones and earth were taken from Paran, a hillock, East of the Kandivli Railway Station. On this account a number of dwelling houses were constructed for officers and workmen numbering hundreds.During the boom that followed the First World War (1914-1918) and the inauguration of the Kandivli Railway Station on Jan. 10, 1909, a few years earlier, several Gujaratis flocked to thewestern side of the Kandivli Railway Station on account of the healthy climate, good water and rural life.
A Municipal Body known as the Notified Area Committee was established to look after building, sanitation, lighting and roads. Many Catholics from the parish were members of this Committee, including Joseph F. Mendes (the first non official Chairman), Joseph Braz Miranda,Anselm Miranda and Edward Mendes.
Parish Of Our Lady of the Assumption
Our Parish as we know it today, became an independent unit on October 27, 1861; but before that, let us go back into the past for the origins of Our Lady of the Assumption Church.
The existence of a Church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption is very old. Fr. Paulo de Trinidade gives some interesting data in his book, Conquista Espiritual de Oriente – The Spiritual Conquest of the Orient (Lisbon, 1957).
He states, “This Church was part of the Franciscan Rectorate. In 1630, this Rectorate comprised of the following villages: Magatana,Maluana, Candol, Olvem and Charkopa. Besides a number of babies in arms, there are more than 200 children and 560 adults in the Rectorate”.
He further records in his book, “ The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption is bound in the North by the Churches of Nossa Senhora da Piedade (now Immaculate Conception Church), Borivli, and the Holy Magi, Gorai ; in the East by the Parishes of Thana (Thane); in the South by the St. Thomas Church, Goregao (Goregaon),and St. Bonaventure Church, Erangol (Erangal); and in the West by the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Manori”. Malwani was not yet separated from the Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption; this took place somewhere between 1630 and 1680.
Records also indicate that the Portuguese built the first parish at Candolim in 1560 and it already had canonical status in 1595 when Fr. Gaspar Farras was appointed Rector in the Custodial Chapter of that year. Other authors too like Jose Gerson da Cunha (1844-1900) and Fr. Ernest R. Hull, S.J. (1863-1952), too speak of Candolim in their writings.
Map of Salsette by Fr. G. Schurhammer (1956)
The present Church had a predecessor in a Church of the same name built by the native Catholics in 1630 at Magatana, which was situated about half a mile East of the present Railway station of Kandivli, close to Poinsur.
Eryer, who visited the area around 1575, writes, “When we come to the town of Magatana, two separate churches strove to meet us”. These two churches must have been Our Lady of the Assumption and Our Lady of Remedy, Poinser. The former was under the Franciscans and the latter under the Jesuits.
The Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (Volume I, Part 2 : 66) speaks of Magatana in this way : “This part of Salcette must have been a favourite one, as, within a mile of this, there were two large churches of Magathan and Poinser standing within a stone’s throw of each other and within four miles on the other side of Ghodbunder….”
The private building and church at Magatana are no longer traceable, but it continued to be a Franciscan Church until 1739, when they had to leave the island, and it must have probably been destroyed.
The parish then passed into the hands of the secular clergy, but in 1777 it seems to have lost its independence and was joined to the parish of Poinser (Humbert I : 189). From then on,it was under the Vicar of Poinser until about the time of the creation of the parish of Kandivli,when the Magatana church mysteriously disappears from history.
A full century before the coming of the Marathas to these parts, it appears that a chapel also dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption was built in the village of Candolim. The chapel was then filial to the church at Magatana. When in 1777, the Magatana parish was absorbed into the parish of Poinser,Candolim and its chapel also passed under the jurisdiction of the Vicar of Poinser (Humbert II :38).
Thus, during the 1600s/1700s, there was a Church at Magatana and a Chapel at Candolim,both dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. There are no records of the Candolim chapel again until about the year 1853, when Fr. Gabriel Francisco da Silva was appointed Vicar of Candolim (where he remained until his appointment at St. Michael Church, Mahim) on Sept. 04,1857.
We now come to that part of our church history which not very many people are aware of,and which led to the creation of our present independent Church of Our Lady of the Assumption on Oct. 27, 1861. I refer here to the conflict between the “Padroado” and the “Propaganda”.
The meaning of “Padroado” and “Propaganda”
“Padroado” – Padroado is merely the Portuguese word for “Patronage” which essentially consists of nominating a candidate for some ecclesiastical office. Its Spanish equivalent is“Patronato”. The genesis of this “Patronage” system could be traced to Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), a son of Portuguese King John I, who obtained special privileges from Popes to propagate the faith in newly discovered territories. Henry founded and led a mission organization called the Order of Christ.
In the almost feverish rush for new countries which arose in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, Spain and Portugal took the lead by a long way, wherein Spain had already appropriated the whole of Mexico and Central America and the Western part of South America;and the Portuguese, the coasts of Africa, India, Malacca, Siam (Thailand), China and Japan.Though the territories occupied by these countries were exceedingly small, these points of occupation were enough to give them advantage of first possession which, in those times, carried with it a certain right of monopoly against later comers.
“Propaganda” – Shortly after 1600, it became clear that the Portuguese missionary enterprise was exhausting itself and there was not the least likelihood of really adequate measures being taken towards the conversion of the vast countries of the East which had been placed under the diocese of the Royal Patronage of the King of Portugal.
Pope Gregory XV established the Congregation of “ de Propaganda Fide “, after he received several reports about major disorders and abuses in carrying out the mission. The Pope understood that the missions, hitherto left under colonial authorities, functioned inadequately. At the same time he was mindful of the immense sacrifices of countless dedicated Portuguese and Spanish missioners. Hence, the erection (in 1622) of a special congregation “de Propaganda Fide” under which the missionary energies of the various religious orders of other nationalities (i.e. other than Portugal and Spain) could be distributed to all those parts of the pagan world which the existing missionary personnel and resources were unable to reach.
(Note: Regium Placitum – This referred to the claim of the Portuguese Government to exercise censorship on Papal Bulls (documents) Briefs, Decrees or Instructions communicated to the Bishops or the Clergy in such a way that unless they bore the signature or sanction of the King, they could not be legally introduced, accepted, published or put into execution within the kingdom. Thus India and the Colonies were the playground for the Europeans to fight out their rivalries back home. During this time, the Reformation had broken out, and England and Holland had broken away from Rome, with some of the German Princes. The British therefore did not feel obliged to follow the agreements entered into by the Pope).
The present Church had a predecessor in a Church of the same name built by the native Catholics in 1630 at Magatana, which was situated about half a mile East of the present Railway station of Kandivli, close to Poinsur.
Eryer, who visited the area around 1575, writes, “When we come to the town of Magatana, two separate churches strove to meet us”. These two churches must have been Our Lady of the Assumption and Our Lady of Remedy, Poinser. The former was under the Franciscans and the latter under the Jesuits.
The Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (Volume I, Part 2 : 66) speaks of Magatana in this way : “This part of Salcette must have been a favourite one, as, within a mile of this, there were two large churches of Magathan and Poinser standing within a stone’s throw of each other and within four miles on the other side of Ghodbunder….”
The private building and church at Magatana are no longer traceable, but it continued to be a Franciscan Church until 1739, when they had to leave the island, and it must have probably been destroyed.
The parish then passed into the hands of the secular clergy, but in 1777 it seems to have lost its independence and was joined to the parish of Poinser (Humbert I : 189). From then on,it was under the Vicar of Poinser until about the time of the creation of the parish of Kandivli,when the Magatana church mysteriously disappears from history.
A full century before the coming of the Marathas to these parts, it appears that a chapel also dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption was built in the village of Candolim. The chapel was then filial to the church at Magatana. When in 1777, the Magatana parish was absorbed into the parish of Poinser,Candolim and its chapel also passed under the jurisdiction of the Vicar of Poinser (Humbert II :38).
Thus, during the 1600s/1700s, there was a Church at Magatana and a Chapel at Candolim,both dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. There are no records of the Candolim chapel again until about the year 1853, when Fr. Gabriel Francisco da Silva was appointed Vicar of Candolim (where he remained until his appointment at St. Michael Church, Mahim) on Sept. 04,1857.
We now come to that part of our church history which not very many people are aware of,and which led to the creation of our present independent Church of Our Lady of the Assumption on Oct. 27, 1861. I refer here to the conflict between the “Padroado” and the “Propaganda”.
The meaning of “Padroado” and “Propaganda”
“Padroado” – Padroado is merely the Portuguese word for “Patronage” which essentially consists of nominating a candidate for some ecclesiastical office. Its Spanish equivalent is“Patronato”. The genesis of this “Patronage” system could be traced to Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), a son of Portuguese King John I, who obtained special privileges from Popes to propagate the faith in newly discovered territories. Henry founded and led a mission organization called the Order of Christ.
In the almost feverish rush for new countries which arose in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, Spain and Portugal took the lead by a long way, wherein Spain had already appropriated the whole of Mexico and Central America and the Western part of South America;and the Portuguese, the coasts of Africa, India, Malacca, Siam (Thailand), China and Japan.Though the territories occupied by these countries were exceedingly small, these points of occupation were enough to give them advantage of first possession which, in those times, carried with it a certain right of monopoly against later comers.
“Propaganda” – Shortly after 1600, it became clear that the Portuguese missionary enterprise was exhausting itself and there was not the least likelihood of really adequate measures being taken towards the conversion of the vast countries of the East which had been placed under the diocese of the Royal Patronage of the King of Portugal.
Pope Gregory XV established the Congregation of “ de Propaganda Fide “, after he received several reports about major disorders and abuses in carrying out the mission. The Pope understood that the missions, hitherto left under colonial authorities, functioned inadequately. At the same time he was mindful of the immense sacrifices of countless dedicated Portuguese and Spanish missioners. Hence, the erection (in 1622) of a special congregation “de Propaganda Fide” under which the missionary energies of the various religious orders of other nationalities (i.e. other than Portugal and Spain) could be distributed to all those parts of the pagan world which the existing missionary personnel and resources were unable to reach.
(Note: Regium Placitum – This referred to the claim of the Portuguese Government to exercise censorship on Papal Bulls (documents) Briefs, Decrees or Instructions communicated to the Bishops or the Clergy in such a way that unless they bore the signature or sanction of the King, they could not be legally introduced, accepted, published or put into execution within the kingdom. Thus India and the Colonies were the playground for the Europeans to fight out their rivalries back home. During this time, the Reformation had broken out, and England and Holland had broken away from Rome, with some of the German Princes. The British therefore did not feel obliged to follow the agreements entered into by the Pope).