Goan Catholic literature
16th-century Roman Catholic Church literature
Goan Catholic literature is diverse.
Missionary literature
The indigenous population of the erstwhile overseas Portuguese colony of Goa underwent a large scale conversion to Roman Catholicism after its conquest and occupation by the Portuguese Empire, which was led by the famous voyager and adventurer Afonso de Albuquerque on 25 February 1510. It was necessary for Catholic missionaries to learn the local Konkani language in order to carry out evangelic activities. Hence, during the 16th and 18th century, Catholic missionaries and priests contributed a lot for Goan Catholic literature by composing and publishing books in Konkani, as manual of devotion for converts.
The origin of their literature dates to 1563 when the first Konkani grammar was published by Fr.Andre Vaz at St.Paulo College at Old Goa. Konkani language had its first Konkani-Portuguese dictionary in 1567. Missionary priests of Rachol Seminary compiled the first ever dictionary in any Indian language giving 15000 Konkani words and their vocables in Portuguese. Konkani was known as Canarim in early Portuguese writings on Goa. In 1622, Thomas Stephens (1549–1619) an English Jesuit published Doutrina Christam em lingoa Bramana Canarim, ordenada a maneira de dialogo, pera ensinar os mininos, por Thomas Estevao, Collegio de Rachol 1622 (Christian Doctrines in the Canarese Brahmin Language, arranged in dialogue to teach children, by Fr. Thomas Stephens, College of Rachol, 1622) which was the first book in Konkani and any Indian language.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Goan Catholic literature” as 16th-century Roman Catholic Church literature. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as 16th-century Roman Catholic Church literature. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5575233. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1510, 1563, 1567 and 1622.
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This entry incorporates text from “Goan Catholic literature” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.