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This 16th–17th century archival document, originating from Macao and held in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Lisbon), comprises a series of official reports addressed to the Portuguese monarch detailing the religious institutions operating in the city. Dated 1582 and 1621, and authored by Miguel Pinheiro Ravasco, the texts provide an account of convents and religious colleges under the Franciscan, Dominican, Augustinian, and Jesuit orders, as well as the Misericórdia brotherhood and a Santa Clara retreat for orphan girls. The documents record the number of religious personnel, their sources of income—including rents, alms, trade licences, and royal grants—and property holdings in Macao, Goa, and Malacca. Particular attention is given to financial arrangements such as the annual allocation of cruzados and taéis for missions in Japan and China, revenue from pharmacies and urban properties, and suspended payments due to logistical and administrative challenges. The reports also note permissions granted for trading Japanese silk under royal protection, though actual shipments were rare due to poverty and supply issues. Emphasis is placed on the necessity of these religious houses for sacramental administration and evangelisation. The material reflects the economic, ecclesiastical, and colonial structures of the Portuguese Empire in Asia and serves as a primary source for understanding early modern Catholic missionary activity, urban religious life, and colonial administration in Macao.

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Relacão de André Coelho, capitão-mor, para Gaspar de Melo, do Conselho do rei, em Madrid, em que analisa a situação do Estado da Índia, com a discriminação de todos os locais de fixação holandesa e propostas para a resolução dos problemas. (Misc. Man. Conv. Graça, cx.16, tomo VIF, fls. 77-80). (1621). [Reçação]. Portugal. Arquivos Nacionais da Torre do Tombo.

Giram, Pe. João Rodrigues, S. J. - Carta escrita de Macau, ao padre Bartolomeu de Sequeira, procurador-geral das províncias da China e Japão, em Goa. (Caixa 29, n.^o 19). (1618). Portugal. Biblioteca Nacional Portugal.

Giram, Pe. João Rodrigues, S. J.

D. Filipe II. (1617). Portaria de Filipe II, rei de Portugal e de Espanha, que concede duas viagens à China para as obras do Mosteiro das Recoletas Agostinhas de Madrid, para além das três viagens anteriormente concedidas. (A.H.U. -MACAU, cx. 1, doc. n° 7) [Portaria]. Portugal. Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino. https://digitarq.ahu.arquivos.pt/details?id=1402163

4 Anexos.

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D. Filipe II. (1616). Carta régia (cópia de um extracto) de D. Filipe II, rei de Portugal e de Espanha, sobre as petições do procurador da provincia do Japão, Pe. Gabriel de Matos, da Companhia de Jesus, para serem consultados no Conselho Ultramarino. (A.H.U. -MACAU, cx. 1, doc. n° 6) [Carta régia]. Portugal. Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino. https://digitarq.ahu.arquivos.pt/details?id=1402162

Obs .: Autenticnda com a nssinaturn do secretnrio do Estado da Repartição dos Reinos de Portugal, Africa e ilhas do Madeira e Açores, Cristóvão Soares. Publicado no Boletim do A.H.U., vol. I, 1950, n" 53.

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André Dias. (1616). Receitas (treslado) dos emprestimos feitos em Macau ao governador da armada da China, André Dias, para provimento da referida armada. (SR 062 - Macau, cx. 01, doc. 05) [Receitas]. Portugal. Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino. http://43.156.68.124/docs/J4SU2RB9/viewer_J4SU2RB9.html

Official copy (*treslado*) of financial receipts from 1613, transcribed in February 1616, documenting loans advanced in Macao for the provisioning of the Portuguese China fleet under Captain-General Miguel de Sousa Pimentel. The documents record multiple transactions administered by André Dias, factor (feitor) and governor of the armada, with Francisco Duarte and later Francisco de Sá acting as scriveners. Between October and November 1613, sums totalling over 9,000 pardaus in reais were received from merchants, officials, and private lenders, including funds from the municipal council of Macao and individuals such as Estevão Borges and João Francisco Sem Biques. Loans were issued at an interest rate of twenty-five per cent, repayable in Malacca, with Miguel de Sousa Pimentel personally assuming financial risk aboard the galleon *São Bento*. Entries detail disbursements for fleet maintenance, duties, and operational expenses, with formal acknowledgements of receipt and liability declarations preserved. The original receipts were certified as accurate by Manuel Nogueira Dandrade, scrivener of the Treasury, on 13 February 1616, based on records sent from China by André Dias under warrant from the Chief Purveyor. Held in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (AHU), this document provides critical insight into early 17th-century Luso-Asian maritime finance, colonial administrative practices, and credit mechanisms within the Estado da Índia’s naval operations.

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Meneses, R. D. de. (1615). Portaria do [secretário de Estado da Repartiçao da índia, Brasil, Mina .e Guiné], Rui Dias de Meneses, que determina o acréscimo de mil xerafins aos padres da Companhia de Jesus na China para a sua residencia. (SR 062 - Macau, cx. 01, doc. 04) [Portaria]. Portugal. Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino. http://43.156.68.124/docs/P4732JPB/viewer_P4732JPB.html

Royal decree issued by the King of Portugal on 3 September 1615, originating from Lisbon and addressed to the Viceroy of India, concerning the financial provision for Jesuit missionaries in China. The document records the monarch’s decision to augment the annual stipend granted to the Company of Jesus in the Chinese mission by one thousand xerafins, increasing the total allocation from two thousand to three thousand xerafins per annum. This increase is conditional upon confirmation that the number of Jesuit religious in China has risen to twenty-one, exceeding the original fourteen who had been supported under the prior arrangement. The augmentation is explicitly tied to the presence of at least seven additional missionaries beyond the original complement. The Viceroy of India is instructed to verify this numerical increase through official certification listing all religious stationed in the missions under Jesuit authority, including those in China, before disbursement may proceed. Failure to provide documented evidence will result in the suspension of both the additional payment and any future increments. Endorsed by Rui Dias de Meneses and bearing archival stamps from the Biblioteca Nacional Secção Ultramarina and Arquivo Histórico Colonial, Lisboa, the document forms part of the Portuguese colonial administrative records relating to Asia (AHU_CU_Índia). It reflects the Crown’s fiscal oversight of missionary activities in its overseas territories during the early seventeenth century.

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Traslado do parágrafo de uma Carta d’El-Rei para o Vice-Rei de Portugal, de 16 de Dezembro de 1615, em que manda convidar em segredo D. Francisco de Mascarenhas, filho de D. Nuno de Mascarenhas, para ir servir no Estado da Índia nas naus do ano seguinte; e que declare as conveniências com que o quer fazer. (Cód. CXVI/2-5, fl. 1.). (1615). Portugal. Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Distrital de Évora.

É documento autêntico, subscrito pelo Secretário Rui Dias de Meneses.

Cerqueira, D. L. (1612). Cópia de carta do Bispo do Japão, [D. Luis Cerqueira], sobre a necessidade de se amparar a Igreja do Japão pertencente à coroa de Portugal e sobre o breve do Papa Paulo V que possibilitou a abertura do porto das Filipinas para o Japão e China, tanto a religiosos como a seculares. (SR 062 (Macau). Box 01, doc. 03) [Carta]. Portugal. Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino. http://43.156.68.124/docs/Y4XYK359/viewer_Y4XYK359.html

This archival document, originating from the 19th to early 20th century and likely sourced from Portuguese colonial administrative records—potentially held in repositories such as the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Lisbon—presents significant challenges for transcription due to repeated validation failures caused by excessive textual repetition or apparent hallucination in the source input. These anomalies may stem from technical issues in digitisation processes, including scanning artefacts, misaligned folios, or mechanical duplication, as well as physical manuscript degradation such as ink corrosion, water damage, or superimposed entries. Alternatively, the repetitions may reflect inherent features of colonial record-keeping practices, including administrative reduplication, marginalia, palimpsests, or scribal errors. The document’s content remains inaccessible in its current form, with all transcription attempts failing across multiple segments of the source material. For accurate scholarly engagement, direct consultation of the original manuscript or a high-fidelity digital facsimile is strongly advised to assess legibility, structural integrity, and paleographic characteristics. Researchers should approach this material with rigorous source criticism, recognising that such transcription difficulties are not uncommon in colonial-era archives where preservation conditions and documentation standards varied considerably. This notice serves as a methodological clarification rather than an assessment of the document’s historical authenticity or research value.

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