ws2016 DBetaispriet Es Don't let us down, we are Portuguese Piss and the Por- like we do in Konkani opari Spanish rule and following tuguese have manyam- and mhonn’neo, have much the Restoration in mid-17th bivalences in their of the folk wisdom that dif century was marked by tense ‘make-up, probablynotunlike fers from the erudite dis- relations with the papacy. ‘mostothers. fone chides the courses of theacademicsand ‘That was also the case during Portuguese, it isbecause they politicians who tend tobe po- the liberal politics that sup- are over-sensitive to criti- litically correct and resort to pressed the Religious Orders, ism, particularly coming cover-ups. starting with the Society of from an outsider: They say: One such proverb says: To Jesus in 1759. “Quem nao sente nao é filho god own all saints give help Very ambivalent was the deboa gente” meaning, ifyou (descer todos os santos aju- First Republic that issued a haveno feelings you can'tbe- dam), meaning that to rise in decree of separation of the long to decent people, They life you have to count upon Church and the Statein 1911, hate being called colonialists, your own efforts. As a histor- but would not hear of drop- and often retort by referring icalendorsement of this pop- _ ping the privileges from the to the stiff-lipped Britishers ular wisdom, all saints did Padroado. Curiously, the ‘who keptthelndians atarm’s net save thousands of Por- fourth centenary of the con- length, while the Portuguese tuguese devotees who were quest of Goa in £910 was cel- ‘mixed easily with the natives. crushed inside the churches _ ebrated by the new Republic ‘The late Prof. Charles R. by the great earthquake of with a special exposition of Boxer, the well-known Eng 1755 that destroyed Lisbon the relics of St Francis Xavier lish historian of the Por- on November 1,the feast day with the usual funfair. tuguese colonial empire, in of All Saints. On that day and ‘The regular expositions of Th his more recent writings the following days the saints _ the relics of St Francis Xavier e opted to refersimply to"mar- truly helped many Por- had become a strategy of po- iti itime" empire to please his tuguese to godown to their litical manipulation of the expositions of Portuguese friends, butnever graves. saint in the face of the grow- the relics Of St stopped dropping hints Another instance ofthena- ing interference of the British is Yayjer abouthis deeper convictions, tional ambivalence is Portu- administration, particularly Francis Xavier ie" as describing misci- gal presentingitselfasavery in Bombay where the Goa acted asa —genation as a cover for the Catholic nation. It earned its. Padroado enjoyed. special ‘outdoor relief of the metro- independence from the Span- privileges among the Goan magnet for the poiitan bastards ish lngdom of Leao by diaspora there. it ‘After winning many acco- promising vassalage to the The expositions of the faithful from lades from the Portuguese Pope in exchange of yearly relics of St Francis Xavier allover India, historians, politicians andin- payment of four ounces of acted as a magnet for the ee stitutions during the early gold, atribute that remained faithful from all over India, Providing fase of Salazar regime, Prot. often unpaid. Again, on the providing thereby an extaor- thereby an Boxer becameaperson anon eve ofthe Portuguese expan- inary display of the P : grata when he dared to ex- sion worldwide, following _tuguese presence in Goa. This extraordinary pose Portuguese racism ina the so-called Discoveries, acted somewhat as ai ivi j series of talks at the Univer- Portugal sought the blessings tant to the British adminis- display of the sity of Virginia in 1962. They of the papacy in exchange of tration in India, which Portuguese were published a year later the so-called Crown patron- reacted strongly once when jn a8 Race Relations in the Por- age of the Church in the the Archbishop of Goa sought PreseNCe in foguese Colonial Empire, newly discovered lands. toappoint miltary chaplains Goa 1415-1825 (Oxford, 1963) The crown patronage, to the military camps in British India in the late 19th century. The British Secre- tary of State for India, Sir Charles Wood, conceded the Portuguese Archbishop's re- ‘quest, but reminded hirm that it was not his right to care for the subjects of the British 12ws2016 and raised a hornet’s nest, and Prof. Boxer was wel- ‘comed again in Portugal only after the end of the Salazar regime in 1974. ‘Among. themselves the Portuguese cultivate the mastery of "loose tongue” (m4 lingua), but tend to dis- play a espirit de corps and unite to confront any non- Portuguese imitating their bards who sang “cantigas de escarnio e maldizer’ satirical folk-songs. containing dou- ble-talk about social mores. ‘The Portuguese proverbs, Detispriet often known as Padroado was a masterly strategy for military and commercial ex- pansion under the guise of, extended crusade to deprive the Ottomans from their in- come of Asian trade, which gave them power to continue holding the Holy places of Christianity in the Middle East. The Portuguese always fought tooth and nail to re= tain the privileges of Padroado, but forgot often their obligations. ‘The Portuguese national politics during the period of empire. To conclude, the former President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, irritated the Por- tuguese no end with his statement in Madrid. last week that the slow academic progress of his country was due to the Portuguese. It raised hackles of the Por- tuguese public, meaning “don't let us down, we are Portuguese’ It reminded me of the former Portuguese archbishop-patriarch of Goa, D. José da Costa Nunes, who stated that if Goans were somebody they owed itto the Portuguese. (Teotonio R. de Souza is the founder-director, Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Goa (1979- 1994).