St. Paul's College was a
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
school, and later college, founded circa 1542 by
saint Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December ...
, at
Old Goa
Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa.
Th ...
. It was once the main Jesuit institution in the whole of Asia. It housed the first
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...
in India, having published the first books in 1556. The original building, however, was abandoned progressively after the outbreak of plague in 1578, and went into disuse as the college moved to new building known as the New College of Saint Paul. It is an
ASI protected
Monument of National Importance in Goa.
The ruins were demolished in 1832. The only vestige of the original college and of the collegiate church consecrated on 25 January 1543 is the Gate of the College of St. Paul, that can be seen south of St. Cajetan's church. The arch with a niche at the top and a cross crowning it, is built of
laterite and flanked by
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
columns. The legacy of St. Paul's College endures until today in the
Rachol Seminary
The Rachol Seminary, also known today as Patriarchal Seminary of Rachol, is the diocesan major seminary of the Primatial Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman in Rachol, Goa, India.
Historical outline
The edifice that presently houses the sem ...
.
History
In 1542 the first Jesuits arrived at India headed by
Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December ...
, co-founder of the new
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
. They were sent by
King John III of Portugal
John III ( pt, João III ; 7 June 1502 – 11 June 1557), nicknamed The Pious (Portuguese: ''o Piedoso''), was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1521 until his death in 1557. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the th ...
to help on religious issues in the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
, under the
Padroado
The ''Padroado'' (, "patronage") was an arrangement between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Portugal and later the Portuguese Republic, through a series of concordats by which the Holy See delegated the administration of the local churches and gr ...
agreement. In Goa, then capital of
Portuguese India
The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...
they established, at first temporarily, in the Seminary of the Holy Faith (Santa Fé) started by Miguel Vaz and Franciscan friar Diogo de Borba, under the patronage of governor
Estevão da Gama in 1541. Soon they renamed it "St. Paul's College" as it became the Jesuit' headquarters in Asia. The college had classes in
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
,
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
, and lectures on classical authors. It had also a school for 450 local students, teaching reading and writing, and an hospital. On 10 March 1554 the college got a grant from king John III of Portugal entitling it to the rents of the temples in Goa and nearby islands. It was also entitled to the gifts from local chiefs to the king.
The French traveler
François Pyrard de Laval
François Pyrard de Laval (; 1578 – ca. 1623) was a French navigator who is remembered for a personal written account of his adventures in the Maldives Islands from 1602 to 1607, which was part of a ten-year sojourn (1601–1611) in South Asia, ...
, who visited Goa c.1608, described the College of St Paul, praising the variety of the subjects taught there free of charge. Like many other European travelers who visited the College, he recorded that at this time it had 3000 students, from all the missions of Asia. Its Library was one of the biggest in Asia, and the first Printing Press was mounted there.
The first Printing Press
The art of
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...
first entered
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
through St. Paul's College in Goa. In a letter to
St. Ignatius of Loyola, dated 30 April 1556, Father Gasper Caleza speaks of a ship carrying a
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...
, setting sail from
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
to
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
(current-day Ethiopia) via Goa, with the purpose of helping
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
work. Circumstances prevented this printing press from leaving India, and consequently, printing operations began in Goa in 1556, established at the Jesuit College of St Paul in Old Goa.
That year, D. João Nunes Barreto, who had been appointed
Patriarch of Abyssinia, and his coadjutor
Belchior Leitão stood residing in Goa, offering his episcopal services till the appointment of the first Archbishop of Goa, D.
Gaspar de Leão Pereira in 1560. He introduced the printing press to Goa. The individual responsible for the initiation of printing in India was
Joao De Bustamante. Bustamante, an expert printer sent accompanying the printing press, along with his Indian assistant set up the new press and began to operate it. Among others, four books are known to have been printed by Bustamante: The first book published that year was called ''Conclusiones Philosophicas''. A year later, the printing press published its second book, Catecismo da Doutrina Christã, five years after the death of its author, St.
Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December ...
. This was followed by the printing of
Garcia da Orta’s ''
Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia'' on 10 April 1563 by Joao de Endem. In 1568, the first illustrated cover page (the illustration being done with the relief technique of woodblock) was printed in Goa for the book Constituciones Do Arcebispado De Goa. The earliest, surviving printed book in India is the Compendio Spiritual Da Vide Christaa (Spiritual Compendium of the Christian life) of Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira, the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa.
Notable alumni
*Blessed
Miguel de Carvalho
Miguel de Carvalho, SJ also known as Michael Carvalho, (1579 – 25 August 1624) was a Roman Catholic missionary from Portugal. He was beatified in July 1867 by Pope Pius IX.Fros SJ, Henryk ''Book of names and saints'', pp. 423–437, 2007
Bi ...
(1579-1624),
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
, and
Martyr of Japan
*Saint
Joseph Vaz
Joseph Vaz ( Konkani: ''San Zuze Vaza''; pt, São José Vaz; kn, ಪವಿತ್ರಾ ಯೋಸೆಫ್ ವಾಸ್ ಸಂತರು ''Pavitra Yoseph Vaz Santaru''; ta, புனித யோசேப் வாஸ் முனிவர் ...
(1651-1711),
Oratorian priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
and 'Apostle of Ceylon'.
See also
*
Printing in Goa
*
Printing in Tamil language
The introduction and early development of printing in South India is attributed to missionary propaganda and the endeavours of the British East India Company. Among the pioneers in this arena, maximum attention is claimed by the Jesuit mission ...
*
Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December ...
*
Henrique Henriques
Henrique Henriques (also known as Anrique Anriquez) (1520–1600) was a Portuguese Jesuit priest and missionary who spent most of his life in missionary activities in South India. After his initial years in Goa he moved to Tamil Nadu where he mast ...
*
St. Paul's College, Macao
*
List of Jesuit sites
This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association.
Nearly all these sites have bee ...
References
Further reading
*Charles J. Borges
The economics of the Goa Jesuits, 1542-1759: an explanation of their rise and fall Concept Publishing Company, 1994,
External links
{{Commons category, Saint Paul's College, Goa
Colonial Goa
Defunct universities and colleges in India
Jesuit universities and colleges in India
Christianity in Goa
Jesuit Asia missions
Educational institutions established in the 1540s
1540s establishments in Portuguese India