Art. IV.—Note on Manrique's Mission and the Catholics in the Time of Shán Jahán

Extract

In A.D. 1653 was published at Rome a small quarto of 470 pages, containing the “Itinerary of Missions in the East Indies, made by P. Maestro Fra Sebastian Manrique, an Eremite Monk of S. Augustine.” The first fifty-six chapters describe the travels of the missionary in Burma, Bengal, and Bahar; but, in chapter fifty-seven, we find him going to Hindustan; and the next ten chapters are devoted to an account of the cities of Agra and Lahore and of the Court of “the Mogul.” Then follows a journey to Multan, then one to Candahar; after which is a fresh description of the Mogul system, wealth, power, etc. Then comes a relation of the fall of Hughli some years before; and of the imprisonment and sufferings of the Catholic Priests of that place, especially of Prior Antonio de Christo, whose liberation the author undertook with success. The remainder of the book shows how the enterprising Father returned to Rome through Persia and the Levant.