Henrique Henriques

Early life

Henriques was born into a Sephardi Jewish family in 1520 in Vila Viçosa, Alentejo, Kingdom of Portugal. He joined the Franciscan order but had to leave due to his Jewish ancestry. He later studied Canon Law at the University of Coimbra until 1545. On 7 October 1545, he entered the newly founded Society of Jesus in Coimbra (Portugal).

Missionary in India

Henriques initially lived in Portuguese Goa until 1557 and then moved to the Pearl Fishery Coast or Tuticorin, under orders of St. Francis Xavier, where he worked as a missionary from 1547 to 1549. In 1549, after the death of Antonio Criminali, he was elected superior of this mission, a post which he held until 1576. His progress in the development of the community and his concerns about the problems in the mission are explicit from the regular reports he wrote to his Superior General.

Printing in India

Henriques strongly felt that the mission could only be successful through the use of local languages. To this end he arranged for the printing of books on Christian doctrine in Tamil. It was followed by Kirisithiyaani Vanakkam (கிரிசித்தியானி வணக்கம்)(1579). These were works of catechism, containing the basic prayers of Catholicism. Before this 'Cartilha', a Tamil prayer book printed using Latin script, was printed in Lisbon by command of the Portuguese king and financed by the Paravars of Tuticorin who also helped with scholarly assistance.

He also printed Flos Sanctorum in Tamil (1586). Hence, he is sometimes referred to as Father of the Tamil press

Henriques is the first known European Tamil scholar. Some of his works in the Malabar (Malauar) language (that is, Tamil) are no longer extant, including a work on grammar, a dictionary, a booklet for confession and a religious history from the Creation to the Ascension.

Death

Henriques died on 22 February 1600 in a village named Punicale (now Punnaikayal in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu). According to The Jesuit Annual Letter for 1601

His mortal remains were buried in Our Lady of Snows Basilica in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu.

Works

• 1578: Doctrina Christam en Linga Malauar Tamul / Doctrina Cristaã tresladada em lingua Tamul [...]. Impressa em Coulam no Collegio do Saluador. — Only known copy: Houghton Library, Harvard University, GEN Typ 100 578 (digital copy)
• 1579: Doctrina Christaã, a maneyra de Dialogo [...]. Em Cochim, no Collegio da Madre de Deos. — Known copies: Sorbonne Université (digital copy, original lost), Bodleian Library
• 1580: Confessionairo. — Known copies: Bodleian Library, Vet. Or. f. Tam. 1., Moscow State University Library.
• 1586: [Flos sanctorum]. — Known copies: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat.ind.24 (digital copy), Royal Danish Library

Notes

References

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References

1. Kamil Zvelebil. (1992). "Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature". BRILL.
2. Padre Henrique Henriques, the Father of the Tamil Press
3. He departed for India in 1546.Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions p. 288
4. (13 November 2010). "Tamil saw its first book in 1578". [[The Hindu]].
5. Literary Contributions of select list of Tamil Scholars from Overseas
6. [[Paravar]] (Wikipedia article)
7. Muhammad Shahidullah & His Contribution To Bengali Linguistics
8. Muslim Identity, Print Culture, and the Dravidian Factor in Tamil p.86
9. Jesuits in Ceylon (in the XVI and XVII Centuries) p. 156