Bombay [Mumbai], Archdiocese of

BOMBAY [MUMBAI], Archdiocese of. - The apostolic vicariate of B. originates from the one called of the Great Mogul, entrusted in 1696 to the Discalced Carmelites, whose seat was transferred to B. in 1720. From it was detached (1784) the Capuchin mission of Hindustan.

On 8 March 1854 it was divided into two vicariates: the northern one, or of B., entrusted to the Jesuits following the renunciation of the Carmelites; and the southern one, or of Poona, given to the Capuchins, who were succeeded by the Jesuits in 1858.

By brief of 1 Sept. 1886 it was elevated to an archdiocese, which became metropolitan (7 June 1887), with the addition of Mangalore and Trichinopoly (2 Oct. 1893). It underwent territorial changes: important was the one arranged by the Convention between the Holy See and Portugal, 15 Apr. 1928. Within the territory of the archdiocese were included the missions of Ahmedabad (Jesuits) and Karachi (Friars Minor), whose ecclesiastical superiors were appointed, for the first time, in 1934; that of Karachi (v.) was detached from it with its erection into a diocese (bull of 20 May 1948).

For the two circumscriptions respectively, distinct de facto, the following statistical data are available:

I. BOMBAY (1947)

Area 48,715 sq. km.; population (census 1946-47) 10,000,000 inhabitants; Catholics 178,216, catechumens 112; Oriental-rite dissidents 517; Protestants 120,864; Jews 80,324; Muslims 3,803,231. In the 79 parishes, 7 primary and 14 secondary stations, there are 158 Indian secular priests, 100 Jesuit priests of the religious province of Tarragona, 8 Salesians of St. John Bosco and one Franciscan; 60 scholastics (56 Jesuits, two Salesians); 45 lay brothers (21 Jesuits, two Salesians, 22 Franciscan tertiaries of Mount Poinsur, India); 227 sisters of 11 different congregations, in which the Indian and Eurasian element is conspicuous. Furthermore: 137 catechists, 1,247 lay teachers. There is a seminary with 20 clerics (two others in the Pontifical seminary of Kandy, Ceylon) and 46 gymnasium students.

Schools: 70 elementary (11,132 pupils of both sexes), seven lower secondary (1,644), 31 upper secondary (23,332), two vocational (2,422), five normal (351). Other institutions: two hospitals, 8 dispensaries, 11 orphanages (1,737 orphans), four homes for the aged (89 residents), one leprosarium (60 patients); one printing press: notable are the periodicals published there, namely The Examiner weekly (165,920 copies), The Messenger of the Sacred Heart monthly (43,300), Udentechem Nehetr (80,681). Numerous and flourishing are the confraternities and other religious and charitable-assistance associations, those of Catholic Action and of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith. St. Francis Xavier College is officially recognized as a university school.

II. AHMEDABAD (1948)

Area 138,750 sq. km.; population (approximate calculation 1942) 9,600,000 inhabitants; Catholics 25,880, catechumens 746. In 1939 there were 24,790 Protestants, 342 Jews, 336,920 Muslims, 247,181 Jains, 10,143 Parsis. Missionary personnel distributed (1948) in 12 primary and six secondary stations: three Jesuit priests of the religious province of Eastern Castile, 25 Jesuit scholastics and 10 Jesuit lay brothers; 38 sisters of three different congregations, almost all Indian and Eurasian; 144 catechists; 75 teachers.

Schools: 108 elementary (3,000 pupils of both sexes), three lower secondary (250), two upper secondary (1,441). Other works: two orphanages (231 orphans), 9 dispensaries (34,038 consultations in one year); two cooperative societies; one printing press: notable are the periodicals published there, namely Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Gujarati language (1,715 copies), The Ahmedabad Missionary (850), Ahmedabad in Spanish (1,200).

The preponderance of Hindus and Muslims in the archdiocese, the variety of ethnic groups, languages and social conditions impose a complex and prudent missionary method, to which correspond, in general, satisfactory fruits, visible in the slow but sure fermentation of the Christian leaven even among the higher classes. Catholic institutions, both educational and charitable, enjoy ever greater confidence, all the more so since some of their representatives, religious and lay, occupy important offices in the civil administration.

Giuseppe Monticone