CHAPTER VI - Of the Archbishop of Goa, the Inquisition, Ecclesiastics, and Ceremonies observed there, with other Occurrences

Summary

Having spoken of the viceroy and his state, it will be not out of place to say something of the archbishop, the first prelate in the Indies. He who held office while I was at Goa, was of the order of S. Augustin, whose habit he wore; he was aged about fifty years, and had been fifteen or sixteen years in this charge. For charity and alms-giving he had a great reputation. He had built and endowed a large number of monasteries and convents. He gives alms in public to all sorts of needy folk, in like manner as the viceroy; but he gives it oftener, inasmuch as he goes abroad oftener. He is served at table in the same way. For a long while he held both offices of viceroy and archbishop together. He gets the title of lordship like the viceroy; he has power over the clergy in the Indies, and there represents the Pope. He is served with covered dishes, and eats in public. They have a custom to cause a dozen poor folk to eat at their table of the same viands, but seated lower than themselves; but this archbishop causes them to sit at another table opposite his own. That is at dinner and supper. He is served with a dish of silver gilt, and the poor with porcelain.