Friedrich Bernard Christian Maassen
United Sees of Macerata and Tolentino
Vicariate Apostolic of Mackenzie
Marie-Edmé-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon
Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyria de Mailla
François-Pierre-Gonthier Maine de Biran
Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon
Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre
Marcellinus of Civezza, O.F.M.
Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament
Prefecture Apostolic of Mariana Islands
Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill
Sts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Lucius Perpetuus Aurelianus Marius Maximus
Vicariate Apostolic of Marquesas Islands
Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage
Diocese of Marseilles (Massilia)
Vicariate Apostolic of the Marshall Islands
Diocese of Marsico Nuovo and Potenza
Luigi Ferdinando, Count de Marsigli
Missionaries of the Company of Mary
Servants of Mary (Order of Servites)
Society of Mary (Marist Fathers)
St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus
Richard Angelus a S. Francisco Mason
Devises and Bequests for Masses (United States)
Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
Prefecture Apostolic of Mayotte, Nossi-Bé, and Comoro
Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Abbey and Congregation of Melk
Vicariate Apostolic of Méndez and Gualaquiza
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza
Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode
Delegation Apostolic of Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Armenia
Metal-Work in the Service of the Church
Prince Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich
Francis, Joseph, and Paul Mezger
Military Orders of St. Michael
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola
Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde
Prefecture Apostolic of Misocco and Calanca
Congregation of Priests of the Mission
Congregation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo
Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales of Annecy
Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle
Mission Indians (of California)
Catholic Indian Missions of Canada
Catholic Indian Missions of the United States
François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno
Diocese of Molfetta, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière
Principality and Diocese of Monaco
Canonical Erection of a Monastery
Monophysites and Monophysitism
Monothelitism and Monothelites
Montagnais Indians (Chippewayans)
Charles-Forbes-René, Comte de Montalembert
Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon
Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Anne, First Duke of Montmorency
Alexis-François Artaud de Montor
Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon
Dioceses of Mostar and Markana-Trebinje
Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
Toribio de Benavente Motolinia
Congregations of Mount Calvary
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Karl Ernst, Freiherr von Moy de Sons
Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
St. Clair Augustine Mulholland
Baron Eligius Franz Joseph von Münch-Bellinghausen
Archdiocese of Munich-Freising
As shown in the "Atlas Geographicus S.J.", the ancient Jesuit missions in India under the Portuguese were divided into two provinces — that of Goa comprising the west coast down to Calicut exclusive, and the interior districts of the Deccan and Mysore, while the Malabar province occupied the south of the peninsula, that is the Malabar coast on the west, and the Coromandel coast on the east as far north as the River Vellar, including Cochin, Travancore, Madura, Tanjore, San Thome, and other contiguous districts. The term "Madura Mission" refers to that Jesuit missionary movement which had its starting point at Madura and extended thence over the eastern half of the peninsula. At the outset it may be remarked that the districts comprised under the Madura Mission were totally removed from Portuguese political or state influence, so that even the prestige of the Portuguese name can hardly be regarded as having reached there, to say nothing of the machinery of the State. The fact is a standing refutation of the unhistorical charge that the spread of the gospel in India was due to political influence and the use of coercion, for in no part of the country did the efforts of the missionaries meet with greater success than in Madura.
The Madura mission owes its origin to Robert de Nobili, who commenced at Madura, in 1606, that peculiar method of propagating the faith which has made his name famous.
Shortly afterwards Father Antony de Vico, and Father Manoel Martins began imitating his mode of life and working on the same lines with considerable success. Father Vico died in 1638 and was succeeded by Fr. Sebastian de Maya, who in 1640 was imprisoned at Madura in company with de Nobili, while Father Martins remained at Trichinopoli. In 1640 a new departure was made by Father Balthasar da Costa who began working specially for the lower castes. The success was such that in 1644 the total number of converts in the Madura, Trichinopoli, and Satiamangalam districts rose to 3500, that is to say 1000 of the higher castes, and 2500 pariahs. At that time there were five priests working on the mission. Subsequent progress was still more gratifying, for in 1680 the number of converts altogether was reckoned at no less than 8O,000. The number of workers, however, did not increase in proportion; they generally amounted to seven, eight, or ten, and only as late as 1746 reached to fourteen. Among these the most successful were Father Balthasar da Costa and Manoel Martins already mentioned, Andrew Freyre, Bl. John de Britto, Francis Laynes, Venance Bouchet, Peter Martin, and Father Beschi. The last named, who worked from 1711 to 1740, found himself in conflict with the Lutheran pioneers of Protestant missionary enterprise who started work at Tranquebar in 1706, and against whom he wrote several controversial works.
The expulsion of the Jesuit Order from Portuguese territory in the year 1759 put an immediate check on the supply of missionaries, but the fathers already in the mission, being outside the Portuguese dominions, were able to continue their work though wlth diminishing numbers. The entire suppression of the Order in 1773, however, brought the Jesuit regime to an end. Three years later (1776) a new mission of the Karnatic was established by the Holy See, under the Paris Seminary for Foreign Missions, which, taking Pondicherry as its centre, gradually extended its labours inwards as far as Mysore, and to the old Madura session. Under the Foreign Mission Society the remaining Jesuit Fathers continued to work till they gradually died out. Not much in the way of missionary work was done by the Goan clergy, who took the place the Jesuits in certain stations; and the results previously gained were in prospect of being almost totally lost. In the year 1836 the Karnatic mission was erected into the Vicariate Apostolic of the Coromandel Coast; and as the Foreign Mission Society could not for want of men come to the rescue of Madura, they willingly accepted the appointment of the Jesuits in the same year — the Society having been restored in 1814. In 1846 the Madura Mission was in turn made into a vicariate Apostolic with Mgr Alexis Canoz as its first vicar Apostolic; but the portion north of the Cauvery was retained by Pondicherry. In 1886, on the establishment of the hierarchy, the Madura Vicariate was made the Diocese of Trichinopoly. In 1893 Tanjore was taken away and given to the Padroado Diocese of Mylapore. In the same year the Trichinopoly Diocese was finally made suffragan to Bombay.
BERTRAND, La Mission du Madure, 4 vols. (1847-54); IDEM, Lettres des nouvelles missions du Madure, 4 vols. (1839-47); IDEM, Lettres edifiantes et curieuses de la nouvelle Mission du Madure, 2 vols. (1865); SAINT CYR, Les nouveaux Jesuites dans l'Inde (1865); WHITEHEAD. India. a Sketch of the Madura Mission (London, s.d.); GUCHEN, Cinquante ans au Madure, 2 vols. (1889); LAUNAY, Histoire des Missions de l'Inde. 5 vols. {1898), COUBE, Au pays des Castes (1888): STRICKLAND, The Jesuits in India (Dublin, 1852): IDEM, The Goa Schism (Dublin, 1853); STRICKLAND AND MARSHALL, Catholic Missions in S. India (London, 1865); SUAN, Monseigneur Canoz (1891); DE BUSSIERE, Histoire du Schisme Portuguais dans l'Inde (1856).
Ernest R. Hull.