CALICUT, DIOCESE of. — It is a suffragan diocese of Bombay in India: it comprises almost the whole of Malabar, with an area of 8,500 km² and a population of approximately 3,000,000; the territory is almost entirely flat and rich in plantations (tea, coffee, rubber): about one third of the population are «Moplas», a hybrid Muslim race, originating from the Arab immigrations of the ninth century; the remainder are indigenous people of Malayoli race and language, divided into three classes: nambudiri, or bramāni, landowners; nayars, devoted to military service; and tijans, coconut cultivators, originally from Ceylon. There are also approximately 2,000 aboriginal hunters. The history of the diocese of C., until 1923, Mangalore (v.) Coimbatore (v.) Mysore (v.), from whose territories it was formed in that year. At that time the new diocese—administered by the Italian Jesuits—had 7,200 Christians, distributed among several mission stations, some of them dating back to the period of Portuguese rule; the three largest—C., Cannanore, and Tellicherry—came to it from Mangalore, evangelized by the Jesuits; the other five from the two other missions, directed by the Fathers of the Foreign Missions of Paris. The principal difficulties were, and in part still are: the dispersion and mobility of the population, the resistance of the Moplas’ Islam, and the family-social system of property, which restricts the spiritual freedom of its members.
During this first twenty-year period, the activity of the missionaries was directed both toward providing the city’s youth with schools of the various levels and toward penetrating the peripheral regions by establishing permanent missionaries in the old residences and opening new ones. The Italian Jesuits of the Veneto-Milanese province are assisted, for women’s institutions and charitable works, by the indigenous Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel, by the Sisters of Charity of the b. Capitanio, by the Ursulines of Mary Immaculate, and by the Bridgettines for the work of Perpetual Adoration, as well as by others.
According to the statistics of 1947, the personnel consists of 29 Jesuit priests, 8 Carmelites, and 32 diocesan priests, as well as 25 Jesuit brothers and 29 Carmelites. There are 206 sisters, of whom only 22 are Italian and one Swiss, the others being indigenous. Indigenous Catholics number 32,031; foreigners, 53; those of mixed descent, 1,486; Eastern dissidents, 5,456; Protestants, 12,800; Muslims, 1,002,000; pagans, 1,946,000. There are 21 parishes,
20 primary stations, and 58 secondary stations. There are 24 elementary schools with 2,467 pupils; 19 middle schools with 5,052 pupils; 11 secondary schools with 5,189 pupils; 3 vocational schools with 81 pupils; and 3 teacher-training schools with 87 female pupils. The following periodicals are published there: The Eucharistic Crusade, with a circulation of 3,700 copies; Leaders' Bulletin, with 475 copies; and Shrine Visitor, with 800 copies. Catholic associations and charitable works are also highly developed.
Giovanni B. Tragella