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MAPPING THE SACRED MISSION: GIROLAMO PETRI’S VATICAN MANUSCRIPT MAPS OF COLONIAL INDIA, C.1860

Originally published in 'L'orbe Cattolico ossia Atlante geografico storico ecclesiastico / [Opera del commendatore Girolamo Petri]. Roma: Tipografia della Reverenda Camera Apostolica' .

These two rare manuscript watercolour maps by Girolamo Petri, cartographer to the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, represent one of the earliest... MAPPING THE SACRED MISSION: GIROLAMO PETRI’S VATICAN MANUSCRIPT MAPS OF COLONIAL INDIA, C.1860

Originally published in 'L'orbe Cattolico ossia Atlante geografico storico ecclesiastico / [Opera del commendatore Girolamo Petri]. Roma: Tipografia della Reverenda Camera Apostolica' .

These two rare manuscript watercolour maps by Girolamo Petri, cartographer to the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, represent one of the earliest visual records of Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdictions in colonial India. Produced c.1860 in Rome under the auspices of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, the maps are derived from Petri’s larger 1867 atlas Hierarchia Catholica and related works documenting global Catholic organisation in the age of missionary expansion.

a) The first map, Provincia Ecclesiastica di Goa Vicariati Apostolici nel Dekkan, traces the patriarchate of Goa, the former Portuguese stronghold, and the expanding apostolic vicariates across the Deccan Plateau, including Hyderabad, Vizagapatam, Madras, and Bombay.

b) The second, Vicariati e Prefetture Apostoliche nell’Indostan, extends the view across the broader Indian subcontinent, mapping the territories governed directly by the Vatican via apostolic prefectures and vicariates, including Agra, Lahore, Bengal, Ceylon, and beyond.

Petri’s cartographic work is marked by precision, ecclesiastical hierarchy, and theological geography. Each territory is colour-coded to reflect its status—metropolitan see, vicariate apostolic, or prefecture—and often annotated with founding dates or Latin designations.

These manuscript maps reflect the shifting balance between Portuguese Padroado authority and Vatican Propaganda Fide control, a core issue in 19th-century Indian Catholic politics. They also offer insight into how Rome envisioned its missionary reach in an increasingly Anglicised and Protestant-dominated colonial landscape.

Petri’s maps are held in institutional collections, including the Vatican Library, Archivio Storico di Propaganda Fide, and select missionary archives. As manuscripts rather than printed items, they were typically produced in very limited quantities — likely for internal curial circulation or presentation to senior ecclesiastical officials and visiting bishops.

In both content and format, they align with the geopolitical intentions of Pope Gregory XVI and Pius IX, who, in the mid-19th century, sought to reassert Papal jurisdiction in regions historically controlled by colonial Catholic empires (Portugal and France). These maps functioned not merely as geographic tools but as instruments of ecclesiastical diplomacy, delineating Rome’s missionary ambition against the backdrop of imperial competition.

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