Celebrating a Great Pioneering Missionary: Jordan de Catalani of Severac, OP († circa 1332)
Published in Dominican Ashram, Vol. 3 Issue 3 (September 2021), pp. 117-121. Reproduced with permission.
In the year 1321, seven centuries ago, a zealous
Dominican missionary, Jordan de Catalani of Severac, together with four Franciscan
companions, arrived in India, having left from Tabriz in Persia and sailing
along the coast to reach Thane (off present-day Mumbai) on the shores of the
West Coast of India. They were not the first friars to visit the country. About
thirty years earlier, the Franciscan Giovanni da Monte Corvino and the
Dominican Nicolo di Pistoia had arrived in South India en route to their
mission in China. However, due to the promising prospects of missionary work in
India, Nicolo was asked to stay on in South India to care for the small
Christian community in the Mylapore region. Unfortunately, his plans came to an
abrupt end with his untimely sickness and death. So, Jordan and his companions
had stepped in to fill this vacancy, hopeful of reaping an abundant harvest of
souls in this then largely unknown land.
Jordan de Catalani was born in France, probably at
Severac-le-Chateau[1]
and became a member of the Dominican Order’s Societas Peregrinantium pro Christo, which was recently founded to
serve the Order’s missionary work in the East, especially among the Oriental
Christians. In 1318, Pope John XXII had divided the mission territories of the
East among the Dominicans and Franciscans, assigning them the Middle East and
the Far East respectively. In 1320, when Jordan was serving in the Middle East,
in Tabriz, Persia (present-day Iraq), he heard of the four Franciscans who were
passing through the city on their way to India, and seized this opportunity to
accompany them on their noble mission endeavour to China. It is important to
note that this was a purely missionary expedition, with no royal patronage or
protection, quite unlike the later waves of evangelization in the East, under
the Portuguese and Spanish rulers. By the end of the year they were at Hormuz,
and from there they set sail for India, intending to land at Quilon, but found
themselves instead at Thane, near Mumbai (Bombay). Since Jordan’s first letter
from India was written in April 1321, it is reasonable to assume that he and
his companions arrived in India in the early part of that year.
At Thane, they were received by a Nestorian family,
and soon engaged themselves in the work of evangelization among the Christian
communities surrounding Thane. Jordan, because of his knowledge of Persian, was
sent to Broach and Sopara (Christianity had come to these places earlier),
busying himself with preaching, catechizing and baptizing. On 10 April 1321,
while at Sopara, he learned of the capture of his Franciscan companions and was
urged by the Christians to flee from there. Returning immediately to Thane, he found
that the Christian community there had gone into hiding; he also received the
tragic news of the martyrdom of his Franciscan companions. Thereafter, he
continued to stay with the Christians at Thane, and had a rather successful
apostolate. Pope John XXII had appointed him Vicar Apostolic for India on 29
May 1321.[2] However, Jordan was well
aware that he could not be very effective all by himself, and therefore, wrote
to the Dominicans at Persia in January 1324[3], entreating them to join
him on the mission field. The picture he paints of the Indian mission is a
promising one, most likely aimed at encouraging his friars to respond to his
request. He writes: “I have baptised in the last days more than one hundred and
thirty heathens, and many more could be baptised if more missionaries could
come to this country, with hearts prepared for patience and martyrdom… As for
the journey I assure you, it is an easy one, and one can reach here at very
little expense, and it is really a glorious field for the propagation of our
holy Faith.”[4]
Lest we think that Jordan exaggerated and glorified
the successes of his work, his letter also presents an account of his
afflictions, which give us a glimpse into the sufferings that were intermingled
with his apostolic fruitfulness: “And how can I tell all that I had to suffer
since: I have been captured by pirates at sea, imprisoned by the Mahomedans,
accused, maledicted, insulted, despoiled of the holy habit of my Order, so that
I have only a tattered shirt to hide my nakedness. I have suffered hunger,
thirst, cold, heat, insults and maledictions, infirmities of the body, perverse
persecution, the treachery of false Christians, the inclemency of the weather,
and every sort of evil…”[5] This passage brings to
mind St. Paul’s account of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11. However, a
careful reading of Jordan’s letter shows us that his sufferings were not
principally physical in nature; rather, it appears that he was undergoing deep
interior sufferings of a very emotional nature, as can be gathered from the
following lines: “And I live here abandoned, a pilgrim in this land of errors,
as in the solitude of an immense desert. Cursed be the hour when, urged by the
zeal for the salvation of others, I lost my companions… Who will give me
torrents of tears to weep over my solitude and my desolation.”[6]
Jordan’s letter resulted in the arrival of five
Dominican friars, who were dispersed in different parts of the country.
According to Jordan, they were instrumental in converting about 10,000 people
to the faith. However, due to the persecution that followed them everywhere,
his five companions, too, received the martyr’s crown. Alone once again, Jordan
decided to have recourse to Pope John XXII at Avignon, and he thus set out for
Europe in 1328. Pope John XXII had been supportive of Jordan from the very
beginning of his mission in India. Being convinced of the needs of the Indian
mission, as well as of the zeal and aptitude of his petitioner, he established
the Diocese of Quilon (the first diocese to be created in India) on 9 August
1329 and named Jordan as its first Bishop through the bull Venerabili Fratri Jordano of 21 August of the same year. The Pope’s esteem for Jordan’s work is
evident in the letter of Jordan’s Episcopal appointment, as well as in the
letters he entrusted him with for presentation to the kings of Delhi and Quilon
and to the Christians of Malabar. Jordan was consecrated a Bishop on 31 August
1329 by the Franciscan Cardinal Bertrand Augier de la Tour, the Bishop of
Tusculum. On his return to India, Jordan, at the commission of Pope John XXII, was
accompanied by another newly consecrated Dominican Bishop, Thomas of Mancasola
(the Bishop of Semiscat, later identified as Samarkhand in Uzbekistan), to take
the pallium to the newly-appointed Bishop of Sultania, Giovanni di Cori, O.P.
(both the dioceses of Quilon and Semiscat were created as suffragan dioceses of
Sultania in 1329). Jordan also visited Toulouse to enlist the help of more
Dominican friars, and returned to India with a certain friar Telaimonot.
Jordan also wrote a descriptive account of the Eastern
lands that he visited. This work, entitled Mirabilia
Descripta (literally, ‘Wonders Described’) treats of the lands of Armenia,
Persia, Africa, Arabia, the Mediterranean, and what he calls ‘India the Lesser’
(corresponding to the North Western part of the country) and ‘India the
Greater’ (the Southern part). The purpose of this work was not merely
informative, but was an attempt to kindle a missionary interest towards these
lands. Thus, while speaking of their Christian converts, he says: “[A]s God is
my witness, I can say that those who have been converted to our faith by the
Friars Preachers and Friars Minor are ten times better and more charitable than
those who live [in Christendom]… [I]f there were two hundred or three hundred
brethren who were willing to preach, faithfully and fervently, the Catholic
faith, not less than ten thousand people would be converted annually to our
true faith.”[7]
Unfortunately, history would soon take a different
course. Fuelled by resentment at the many conversions to Christianity, it is
said the Muslims[8]
stoned him to death at Thane, the place where he had begun his mission in
India. An account of his death was given
to Pope John XXII (who died in December 1334), so we could conclude that
Jordan’s martyrdom took place between 1330 and 1334. His companions, too, most
probably, met a similar fate. With Jordan’s martyrdom, the mission in India
suffered a sudden setback, and would resume in full swing only with the arrival
of the Portuguese a few centuries later.
“A red rose has sprung up in the garden of the Order
of Preachers,” wrote Pope Innocent IV in the Bull of Canonization of St. Peter
of Verona, the Order’s first canonized martyr. Jordan of Severac was another
such rose adding to the beauty and fragrance of this garden. Was Jordan a
successful missionary? The answer is both yes
and no. While he evangelised and
baptised a large number of people, and established a diocese in India, almost
all his efforts were undone in the years subsequent to his death. Was he a
faithful missionary? Undoubtedly yes. Jordan’s life and martyrdom bear witness
to the great zeal that he had for the Lord and for the salvation of souls, in
keeping with the charism of the Dominican Order. Indeed, martyrdom is perhaps
the greatest mode of preaching, wherein one preaches by something greater than
words and even actions, namely by pouring out one’s very life itself.
While the martyrdom of Jordan and many of his
companions and contemporaries often goes unnoticed in the annals of history, it
is indeed precious in the eyes of the Lord, who has seen their labour of love.
Though they have not been raised to the honours of the altar,[9] we can be quite sure that
the fruitfulness of later missionaries and missions has much to attribute to
the merits and intercession of these early martyrs. Today, when the Indian
Dominican Province can boast of a good number of friars, convents, ministries
and vocations, it is quite appropriate for us to remember those footsteps that
have made smooth the path for us. Most importantly, we must not forget our own
vocation to be martyrs, ‘witnesses’ of the Gospel, each in our own way.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
ARNALD OF SARRANT. Chronicle
of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor. Trans. by Noel Muscat O.F.M. Malta: TAU
Franciscan Communications, 2010.
BONNIWELL, William R. A History of the Dominican Liturgy. New York City: Joseph F. Wagner, Inc., 1944.
JORDAN OF SEVERAC. Mirabilia
Descripta: The Wonders of the East. Ed. by Peter Lobo, O.P. Trans. by Noel Molloy, O.P. Nagpur:
Dominican Publications, 1993.
MORAES, George Mark. A History of Christianity in India: From Early Times to St. Francis Xavier: A.D. 52-1542. Bombay: P. C.
Manaktala and Sons Private Ltd, 1964.
ROCHE, Simon O.P. The
Dominicans in India. (no date)
SURIA, Carlos S.J. History
of the Catholic Church in Gujarat. Anand: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1990.
Journals
MOULE, A. C. “Brother Jordan of Severac.” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 2 (1928)
349-376.
RYAN, James D. “Missionary Saints of the High Middle
Ages: Martyrdom, Popular Veneration
and Canonization.” The Catholic
Historical Review, 40 (2004) 1-28.
[2] Streit, Bibliotheca Missionum, 50-51. Quoted by Carlos Suria, History of the Catholic Church in Gujarat
(Anand: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1990), 6.
[3] Different authors give
different dates for this letter. Moraes - January 1324, Suria - 28 of January
1324. Simon Roche (quoting Zaleski) - February 1323. Perhaps
the most authoritative date is that given by A.C. Moule, who collated the
various manuscripts of the letters of Jordan of Severac in a critical
transcription. In Moule’s translation, Jordan’s letter is dated, “in the year
of the Lord, m.ccc.xxiii.in the month of January on the Feast of the holy
martyrs Fabian and Sebastian”, i.e., 20 January 1323.
[7] Jordan of Severac, Mirabilia Descripta: The Wonders of the
East, Ed. by Peter Lobo O.P., Trans. by Noel Molloy O.P. (Nagpur: Dominican
Publications, 1993), 75.
[8] During
those times, Thane, and much of Northern India, was under an Islamic Empire,
the Delhi Sultanate.
[9] It is
interesting to know that Jordan’s four initial Franciscan companions: Thomas of
Tolentino, James of Padua, Peter of Siena and Demetrius of Tifliz have been
unofficially recognized as ‘blessed’ since the 14th century, due to
public devotion. Jordan himself worked
hard for the ecclesiastical recognition of these companions of his, writing an
account of their martyrdom in a letter dated 12 October 1321, and supporting
their cause at the Papal Court in Avignon while he was there in 1329-1330. He
had buried them after their martyrdom, and had on one occasion, used a tooth of
Thomas to heal the dysentery of a young man from Genoa called Lanfrancino. He
also sent some of their relics to his friend, fr. Francis of Pisa O.P. However,
their beatification did not take place at that time, most likely due to the
conflicts in the Franciscan Order on the subject of poverty, which made their
requests to the Pope rather untimely. It was only in 1894 that Pope Leo XIII
beatified Thomas of Tolentino and his companions. Their commemoration in the
Franciscan Martyrology was on 9 April. On 24 October 1914, the Sacred
Congregation of Rites approved the Office and the Mass of Bl. Thomas of
Tolentino for the liturgical use of the Indian diocese of Goa and Daman.
Why
was no effort made to raise Jordan to the honours of the altar? There are
several reasons. First of all, the Dominicans were known to be reticent in
initiating the causes of their brethren for sainthood. Up until the seventeenth
century (when the Order decided to appoint a Procurator General to promote
these causes), most of the Dominican Saints and Blesseds were set on their path
to sainthood at the initiative of people outside the Order. Jordan,
unfortunately, had no one to champion his cause as his few remaining companions
were most probably martyred as well. Consequently, he did not enjoy any public
acclaim or devotion, a factor of great importance in those days. James D. Ryan
writes that, despite the great acclaim and veneration of missionary martyrs in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as well as the efforts of their
confreres in Europe to have them canonized, the Papal indifference towards
their causes was a detrimental factor. He states that the Church not only
insisted on a close scrutiny before endorsing their cults, but also refused to
open proceedings that might lead to their canonizations.
Moreover,
(as recounted by Bonniwell, A History of
the Dominican Liturgy) around the time of Jordan’s death, the relations
between the Order and Pope John XXII were embittered by the Pope’s unjust
treatment of Thomas Waleys, a Dominican Master of Theology, who had challenged
the Pope’s erroneous personal theological opinions on the Beatific Vision. John
XXII’s death offered but a short respite, as his successor, Benedict XII, who
was quite disapproving of the Dominican Constitutions, forced the then Master of
the Order, Hugh de Vaucemain, to change the Dominican manner of making
profession, the Rule and Constitutions. Upon the latter’s refusal, the Pope
kept him and his counsellors as virtual prisoners at Avignon. In the light of
such turbulent relations, it comes as little surprise that the Order made no
effort to approach the Holy See with requests for canonizations. Jordan, is
therefore, only one among a large number of friars to have his cause neglected,
ironically at a time when the Church was glorifying martyrdom and the missions.
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