Goa, a former Portuguese colony and, at present, a state of the Republic of India,
located on the west coast of the subcontinent, has an interesting history of commercial
and cultural contacts with Ceylon that were nurtured through the maritime route,
especially during the colonial period.
Portuguese Goa enjoyed thriving trade relations with the Ilha de Ceilão. It also
participated in the Christianisation of this island both under the Portuguese and later,
in the seventeenth century, when the Goan priest, Fr. Joseph Vaz, and other Oratorians,
made a bid to revive Roman Catholicism there. In 1885, Msgr. Sebastião Rodolfo
Dalgado was deputed to Ceylon as its Vicar-General. He served there for two years
and with the surrender of their mission of Ceylon by the Portuguese, he returned to
Goa in 1887. And in the very same year, 1887, another Goan priest, Padre Alvares,
journeyed to Ceylon to contribute to its religious history: initially, to rally the Goan
clergy posted there in their fight against the Concordat of 1886, and later to perform
his episcopal duties as the Archbishop of Ceylon, Goa and India.
Alvares Mar Julius, also known as Padre Alvares, was an editor, writer, founder of
educational and social institutions, patriot and, above all, a dedicated social worker.
In the pursuit of the spiritual and socio-political uplift of his people, Padre Alvares
was branded seditious by the colonial Government of Goa, ex-communicated by the
Roman Catholic Church, and elevated to episcopal stature by the Syrian Orthodox
Church in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
The present article focuses on the socio-political contributions of Alvares Mar Julius
both before he joined the Syrian Orthodox Church and after. It examines the ideology
of economic nationalism espoused by Padre Alvares, the “swadeshi” (nationalist)
ideology, and attempts to situate this revolutionary priest in the context of local
resistance to colonial hegemony in nineteenth century Goa. Further, it reviews the
contributions of Alvares Mar Julius to the Syrian Orthodox Church which have
been many-fold, with a special focus on his activities in Ceylon in the context of
The Padroado Defence Association, the Independent Catholic Mission, and as his
mission-field.
“I have fought the Good Fight
I have finished the race
I have kept the faith.”1
--- 2 Timothy 4:7-8
Goa, a former Portuguese colony and, at present, a state of the Republic of India,
located on the west coast of the subcontinent, has an interesting history of commercial
and cultural contacts with Ceylon that were nurtured through the maritime route,
especially during the colonial period.
Portuguese Goa enjoyed thriving trade relations with the Ilha de Ceilão. It also
participated in the Christianisation of this island both under the Portuguese and later,
in the seventeenth century, when the Goan priest, Fr. Joseph Vaz, and other Oratorians,
made a bid to revive Roman Catholicism there. In 1885, Msgr. Sebastião Rodolfo
Dalgado was deputed to Ceylon as its Vicar-General. He served there for two years
and with the surrender of their mission of Ceylon by the Portuguese, he returned to
Goa in 1887. And in the very same year, 1887, another Goan priest, Padre Alvares,
journeyed to Ceylon to contribute to its religious history: initially, to rally the Goan
clergy posted there in their fight against the Concordat of 1886, and later to perform
his episcopal duties as the Archbishop of Ceylon, Goa and India.
Alvares Mar Julius, also known as Padre Alvares, was an editor, writer, founder of
educational and social institutions, patriot and, above all, a dedicated social worker.
In the pursuit of the spiritual and socio-political uplift of his people, Padre Alvares
was branded seditious by the colonial Government of Goa, ex-communicated by the
Roman Catholic Church, and elevated to episcopal stature by the Syrian Orthodox
Church in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
The present article focuses on the socio-political contributions of Alvares Mar Julius
both before he joined the Syrian Orthodox Church and after. It examines the ideology
of economic nationalism espoused by Padre Alvares, the “swadeshi” (nationalist)
ideology, and attempts to situate this revolutionary priest in the context of local
resistance to colonial hegemony in nineteenth century Goa. Further, it reviews the
contributions of Alvares Mar Julius to the Syrian Orthodox Church which have
been many-fold, with a special focus on his activities in Ceylon in the context of
The Padroado Defence Association, the Independent Catholic Mission, and as his
mission-field.
“I have fought the Good Fight
I have finished the race
I have kept the faith.”1
--- 2 Timothy 4:7-8
