Henrique Henriques

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.Padre Henrique Henriques, the Father of the Tamil Press On 7 October 1545, he entered the newly founded Society of Jesus in Coimbra (Portugal). He departed for India in 1546.Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions p. 288

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.

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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. Apart from being the first to produce a Tamil-Portuguese Dictionary, he set up the first Tamil press and printed books in Tamil script. The first such book printed in Tamil script was Thambiran Vanakkam (தம்பிரான் வணக்கம்) (1578), a 16-page translation of the Portuguese "Doctrina Christam", printed at Quilon(Kollam).{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/article476102.ece | title=Tamil saw its first book in 1578 | work=The Hindu| date=13 November 2010 | access-date=4 November 2016}} It was followed by Kirisithiyaani Vanakkam (கிரிசித்தியானி வணக்கம்)(1579).Literary Contributions of select list of Tamil Scholars from Overseas 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 ParavarsParavar (Wikipedia article) of Tuticorin who also helped with scholarly assistance.

He also printed Flos Sanctorum in Tamil (1586). This book contains the lives of Saints. By his efforts, Tamil became the first non-European language to be printed on a printing press.Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 2 p.1669Muhammad Shahidullah & His Contribution To Bengali Linguistics Hence, he is sometimes referred to as Father of the Tamil pressMuslim Identity, Print Culture, and the Dravidian Factor in Tamil p.86

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.

Henriques died on 22 February 1600 in a village named Punicale (now Punnaikayal in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu).Jesuits in Ceylon (in the XVI and XVII Centuries) p. 156 According to The Jesuit Annual Letter for 1601 {{cquote|...on the day he died all the Muslims of the neighbouring village Patanam (Kayalpattanam) fasted; the Hindus also of the neighbouring places fasted two days and closed all their shops and bazaars to express their grief over the death of the good and holy old man. So great was the respect and consideration every one had concerning his holiness.}}

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

• 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 ([https://id.lib.harvard.edu/digital_collections/990057347240203941 digital copy])
• 1579: Doctrina Christaã, a maneyra de Dialogo [...]. Em Cochim, no Collegio da Madre de Deos. — Known copies: Sorbonne Université ([https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP981-1-15-54 digital copy], original lost), Bodleian Library
• 1580: Confessionairo. — Only known copy: Bodleian Library, Vet. Or. f. Tam. 1.
• 1586: [Flos sanctorum]. — Known copies: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat.ind.24 ([https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.ind.24 digital copy]), Royal Danish Library

• Printing in Goa
• Printing in Tamil language
• Statue of Our Lady of Miracles, Jaffna patao

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• {{Cite conference

| first = Rajamanickam

| last = S

| title = Padre Henrique Henriques, the Father of the Tamil Press

| book-title = Second International Tamil Conference Seminar

| publisher=International Association of Tamil Research, Madras

| year = 1968

| url = http://www.tamilnation.org/conferences/IATR68_Madras/rajamanickam.htm

| access-date = 27 January 2009}}

• {{Cite book

| last = Anderson

| first = Gerald

| title = Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions

| publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

| year = 1999

| pages = 288

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC

| isbn = 978-0-8028-4680-8}}

• {{Cite book

| last = Perera

| first = Simon Gregory

| title = Jesuits in Ceylon (in the XVI and XVII Centuries)

| publisher=Asian Educational Services

| year = 2004

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/jesuitsinceyloni0000pere/page/156 156]

| url = https://archive.org/details/jesuitsinceyloni0000pere

| isbn = 978-81-206-1843-5}}

• {{Cite book

| last = Various authors

| title = Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 2

| publisher=Sahitya Akademi

| year = 1988

| pages = 1669

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC

| isbn = 978-81-260-1194-0}}

• {{Cite book

| last = Mandal

| first = Ranita

| title = Muhammad Shahidullah & His Contribution To Bengali Linguistics

| publisher=PhD Thesis, University of Calcutta

| year = 2002

| pages = Chapter 3

| url = http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/benling/chapter3.html

}}

• {{Cite web

| last = Kalyanasundaram

| first = K

| title = Literary Contributions of select list of Tamil Scholars from Overseas

| publisher=TamilLibrary.org

| url = http://tamilelibrary.org/teli/tschlr.html

| access-date = 27 January 2009}}

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Category:1520 births

Category:People from Vila Viçosa

Category:1600 deaths

Category:16th-century Portuguese Jesuits

Category:16th-century Indian Jesuits

Category:University of Coimbra alumni

Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in India

Category:Tamil scholars of non-Tamil background

Category:Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries

Category:Jesuit missionaries

Category:Missionary linguists