«MULTA PRAECLARE». – Brief of Gregory XVI, dated 24 April 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 a fatal outcome for Catholic missionary work in India. The Indo-Portuguese clergy, both secular and regular, no longer proved equal to its responsibilities. The conquering missionary spirit was almost extinguished. The moral condition of the indigenous clergy was disturbing, the Christian communities neglected; the episcopal sees of the Patronage vacant.
In Europe, with the rise of Romanticism, missionary thought received new and powerful impulses, but in the territories of the Patronage this revival of missionary zeal was considerably constrained. The prefect of Propaganda, Carlo Maria Pedicini, on 7 February 1832 proposed to Portugal that it leave to the Holy See the responsibility of providing for the sees of Cocino, Cranganore, and Mylapore in the interests of souls. The king of Portugal, Michele, then, on 27 March 1833, presented the Carmelite Giovanni dell'Ascensione as archbishop of Goa and the Augustinian Giuseppe dei Dolori as bishop of Cocino. Shortly thereafter civil war broke out in Portugal, after which the liberal Don Pedro came to power. He adopted the most rigorous antireligious measures; diplomatic relations with Rome were severed, and all religious Orders in the metropolis and the colonies were suppressed. Gregory XVI, formerly cardinal prefect of Propaganda, was of the opinion that the Holy See, in view of Portugal’s missionary deficiencies and considering the circumstances, which had completely changed, could, indeed had to, assume responsibility, independently of Portugal, for reorganizing the missions of India. In the interest of the care of souls, from 1832 to 1836 he erected in the territory of the dioceses of the Patronage the apostolic vicariates of Madras, Calcutta, Ceylon, and Madura. This fact provoked fierce resistance, especially in Calcutta. In 1836 the Portuguese government appointed 3 bishops for Goa, Cranganore, and Mylapore and sent them to India without pontifical confirmation. They protested in the most absolute terms against the missionary reorganization in India and forbade their clergy to recognize the apostolic vicars. Rome then responded by publishing the brief M. p. By virtue of the supreme jurisdictional authority proper to the Supreme Pontiff, the dioceses of the Patronage of Cocino, Cranganore, Mylapore, and Malacca were not juridically suppressed, but, as a disciplinary measure, were provisionally deprived of all jurisdiction, and their territory was likewise provisionally placed under the already resident apostolic vicariates. Moreover, the archbishop of Goa was deprived of all rights over the aforesaid territories, likewise provisionally. M. p. does not affect the patronage rights of the Portuguese crown outside the boundaries of the 4 dioceses listed. If, on the one hand, the brief M. p. constitutes the culminating phase of the so-called Goan schism, on the other it is the point of departure and the foundation of the revival of the missions in India.