«MULTA PRAECLARE». – Brief of Gregory XVI, 24 Apr. 1838, concerning the dioceses of the Portuguese Patronage in India. The expulsion of the Jesuits from the Portuguese colonies in 1759 and the suppression of the Order in 1773 had fatal consequences for Catholic missionary work in India. The Indo-Portuguese clergy, both secular and regular, proved no longer equal to their tasks. The conquering missionary spirit was almost extinguished. The moral condition of the indigenous clergy was alarming, Christian communities neglected, and the episcopal sees of the Patronage left vacant.
In Europe, with the rise of Romanticism, missionary thought received fresh and vigorous impulses, but in the territories of the Patronage this revival of missionary will was considerably constrained. On 7 Feb. 1832, the Prefect of Propaganda, Carlo Maria Pedicini, proposed to Portugal that the Holy See should be entrusted with the care of the sees of Cochin, Cranganore and Mylapore for the salvation of souls. King Michael of Portugal then, on 27 Mar. 1833, presented the Carmelite Giovanni dell'Ascensione as Archbishop of Goa and the Augustinian Giuseppe dei Dolori as Bishop of Cochin. Soon after, civil war broke out in Portugal, after which the liberal Don Pedro came to power. He took the most rigorous anti-religious measures, diplomatic relations with Rome were severed, and all religious orders in the metropolis and colonies were suppressed. Gregory XVI, formerly Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda, was of the opinion that the Holy See, in view of Portugal’s missionary deficiency and the totally changed circumstances, could and indeed ought to assume, independently of Portugal, the reorganisation of the missions in India. For the care of souls, from 1832 to 1836 he erected in the territory of the Patronage dioceses the apostolic vicariates of Madras, Calcutta, Ceylon and Madura. This act provoked bitter resistance, especially in Calcutta. In 1836 the Portuguese government appointed three bishops for Goa, Cranganore and Mylapore and sent them to India without papal confirmation. They protested in the most absolute terms against the missionary reorganisation in India and forbade their clergy to recognise the apostolic vicars. Rome then responded by publishing the brief M. p., in virtue of the supreme jurisdictional authority competent to the Supreme Pontiff, the dioceses of the Patronage of Cochin, Cranganore, Mylapore and Malacca were not juridically suppressed, but were provisionally deprived of all jurisdiction in disciplinary terms, and their territory was likewise provisionally subjected to the already resident apostolic vicariates. Moreover, the Archbishop of Goa was temporarily stripped of all rights over the said territories. The brief M. p. does not touch the rights of patronage of the Portuguese crown outside the limits of the four dioceses listed. While the brief M. p. constitutes the culminating phase of the so-called Goan schism, it is at the same time the starting point and foundation for the revival of the missions in India.