s than 250 years old. Compared with hundreds
of the grey-walled or ivy-covered churches in England, St. Mary's at
Madras is prosaically new; but it is of exceeding interest
nevertheless. Madras itself is a great and historic city, which owes
its existence to British enterprise, with Indian co-operation, and St.
Mary's Church, as the oldest British building therein, is the earliest
milestone of progress. It is not a church that is best visited, like
Melrose Abbey, 'in the pale moonlight,' but in the bright daylight,
when the inscriptions on the tomb-stones without and on the monuments
within can be clearly read.

CHAPTER IX

ROMAN CATHOLIC, MADRAS

When the English first came to Madras, there were numerous Roman
Catholic churches in the neighbouring Portuguese settlement of San
Thome, but there were none within the tract of land that Mr. Francis
Day acquired in the Company's behalf. When, therefore, at the
Company's invitation, a number of Portuguese from San Thome, both
pure-blooded and mixed, came and settled down in the Company's White
Town, they were necessarily compelled to resort to the ministrations
of Portuguese priests who belonged to the San Thome Mission; and
within a year of the foundation of Fort St. George, the Portuguese
missionaries built a church in the outskirts of the British
settlement. This was the Church of the Assumption, which stands in
what is still called 'Portuguese Street' in Georgetown, and is
therefore a building of historic note. To the Company's
representatives the ministrations of Portuguese priests to residents
of Madras were objectionable; for the relations between Madras and San
Thome were by no means friendly. It is true that when Mr. Francis Day
was treating for the acquisition of a site, the Portuguese at Mylapore
had furthered his efforts; but such a mark of apparent good will was
no more than the outcome of Portuguese hostility to the Dutch; for
they hoped that the English at Madras would be powerful allies with
themselves against the aggressive Hollanders. As soon, however, as
Madras had begun to be built and English trade to be actively pushed,
jealousies arose and disagreements occurred; and the Company's
representatives chafed at the idea that Portuguese priests should be
the spiritual advisers of residents of Madras.

In 1642, when Madras was in its third year, a certain Father Ephraim,
a French Capuchin, chanced to set foot in Madras. Father Ephraim had
been se