required to use it in all contracts which were made in Portuguese territories. The penalty for violations of this law would be imprisonment. The decree was confirmed by the king on 17 March 1687. According to the Inquisitor António Amaral Coutinho's letter to the Portuguese monarch João V in 1731, these draconian measures did not meet with success. With the fall of the Province of the North (which included Bassein, Chaul and Salsette) to the Marathas in 1739, the Portuguese renewed their assault on Konkani. On 21 November 1745, Archbishop Lourenço de Santa Maria decreed that applicants to the priesthood had to have knowledge of and the ability to speak in Portuguese; this applied not only to the pretendentes, but also for their close relations, as confirmed by rigorous examinations by reverend persons. Furthermore, the Bamonns and Chardos were required to learn Portuguese within six months, failing which they would be denied the right to marriage. In 1812, the Archbishop decreed that children were to be prohibited from speaking Konkani in schools and in 1847, this ban was extended to seminaries. In 1869, Konkani was completely banned in schools. As a result, Goans did not develop a literature in Konkani, nor could the language unite the population, because several scripts (including Roman, Devanagari and Kannada) were used to write it. Konkani became the lingua de criados (language of the servants), while the Hindu and Catholic elites turned to Marathi and Portuguese, respectively. Since India annexed Goa in 1961, Konkani has become the cement that binds all Goans across caste, religion and class; it is affectionately termed Konkani Mai (Mother Konkani). The language received full recognition in 1987, when the Indian government recognised Konkani as the official language of Goa. Persecution of St Thomas Christians In 1599 under Aleixo de Menezes, the Synod of Diamper forcefully converted the East Syriac Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Syrian Christians or Nasranis) of Kerala to the Roman Catholic Church. He stated that they needed to be converted to Catholicism because they were practicing Nestorianism, a Christological position which was declared heretical by the Council of Ephesus. The synod imposed severe restrictions on their practice of their faith and it also imposed severe restrictions on their practice of using Syriac/Aramaic. They were politically disfranchised and their Metropolitanate status was discontinued by the blocking of bishops from the East. The persecution continued to operate on