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OUR LEGACY
- ARCHDIOCESE OF PONDICHERRY
- The great ancestor of our Archdiocese is the Carnatic Mission, which was started around the year 1700. This Carnatic Mission was known as Missions of the Coromandel Coast and also as the Malabar Mission. Before the establishment of the Carnatic Mission in 1700, the Jesuit Fathers of the Madurai Mission, especially St. John de Britto came into Gingee Kingdom after 1660 and preached the Gospel up to the Palar river, South of Madras. Also, some religious belonging to various religious orders, looked after the spiritual needs of the European communities to a certain extent in their trading centres along the coastal areas like Cuddalore, Porto Novo etc., The French Capuchins first settled in Pondicherry in 1674 and the French Jesuits, expelled from Siam (Thailand) also took refuge in Pondicherry in 1688. While the Capuchins were looking after the Europeans in Pondicherry, the French Jesuits organized the Carnatic Mission for the Indian people. In 1776, the French Jesuit fathers were replaced at the order of Rome by the foreign Mission French Fathers.