THE BOMBAY SEMINARY: THE DOUBLE TROUBLE

The long road to Goregaon commenced amidst conflict, confusion and controversies rooted in history and fostered by politics.

It is important to note that up until 1720 the Catholic Churches on the Islands of Bombay, Salsette and Bassein came under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa. The priests serving these territories were either trained in Goa or abroad. The ‘seminaries’ that existed at Bassein, Thane, Bandra, Karanja and Mount Poinsur were far from the modern sense of the word.

The Bombay Island was passed into the hands of British in 1665. On May 24, 1720, the British issued a Decree expelling the Portuguese Franciscans (the sole missionaries) from Bombay Island thus ending the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa. The British then approached the Vicar-Apostolic of the Great Mogul, the Italian Carmelite Bishop Fra Mauritius to take charge of the four churches on the Island namely – Our Lady of Hope, Our Lady of Glory, Our Lady of Salvation and St. Michael’s. This political action was met with great resistance by the pro Portuguese Catholics in Bombay.