S63 



XAVIER, FRANCIS, SAINT. 



XAVIER, FRANCIS, SAINT. 



861 



of the faith in the Portuguese colonies of Asia. Influenced by these 

 representations, the king despatched an order to his ambassador at 

 Rome to obtain six members of that society, who might be willing to 

 devote themselves to missionary labours. Two only however could 

 be spared, and Simon Rodriguez, a Portuguese, and Nicholas Boba- 

 dilla, a Spaniard, were selected by Loyola. As he was about to set 

 out on his journey to Lisbon, Bobadilla fell sick, and Francis Xavier 

 joyfully received the command of his chief to become his substitute. 

 Having previously obtained the benediction of the Pope, Paul III., 

 on himself and his holy enterprise, he left Rome in company with the 

 Portuguese ambassador, on the 15th of March -1540. Their journey 

 by land to Lisbon was long and tedious. As they passed through 

 the town of Pampeluna, which was only eight leagues from the castle 

 of Xavier, he was pressed by the ambassador to take leave of bra 

 mother, who was still living, and his other friends and relations, whom 

 it was probable he might never again sec. In the excess however of 

 his zeal for the prosecution of the purpose to which he had devoted 

 himself, he declined availing himself of the opportunity, fearing, as 

 he said, that the transient pleasure of a last farewell might leave too 

 lasting an impression of melancholy on his sacred enterprise. 



Xavier and his companions arrived at Lisbon towards the end of 

 June. After a stay of eight months in Lisbon, on the 7th of April 

 1541, Xavier embarked on board a vessel, which carried Don Martin 

 Alphonso de Souza, governor of the Indies, but unaccompanied by 

 Rodriguez, who had been persuaded by the king to remain in Portugal. 

 After a voyage of five months, they arrived at the coast of Mozambique 

 in Africa, where they wintered, and at Qoa, the Portuguese seat of 

 government in the East Indies, on the 6th of May 1542. 



On landing, the first visit of Xavier was to the hospital ; his next to 

 his spiritual superior, the Bishop of Goa, to whom he presented the 

 briefs of Paul III., and implored his sanction and blessing ou his mis- 

 sionary enterprise. He had scarcely commenced it, when he made the 

 painful discovery that the doctrines in which he was anxious to 

 instruct the infidels, were openly contradicted by the life and 

 example of the greater part of the Christian residents in Goa. To 

 their spiritual reformation therefore he directed bis first endeavours ; 

 going from street to street, with a bell in his hand, he summoned 

 every inhabitant to send him bis children and slaves, in order that 

 they might receive Christian instruction. Having secured his in- 

 fluence over the young, he exerted himself in his ministrations to 

 expose the prevailing vices, and to present the remedies which religion 

 affords. From the Christians, his zeal extended itself to the infidels, 

 whose temples he caused to be destroyed, and churches to be erected 

 on their site. His labours were speedily rewarded in Goa by a marked 

 reformation among the inhabitants. After a residence of six months 

 in that town, he left it to visit the coast of the pearl fishery, which 

 extends from Cape Comorin to the isle of Manar. He there found 

 that, although a large proportion of fishers had been baptised in the 

 Christian faith, they had, for want of instruction, retained the vices 

 and superstitions of heathenism. In order to give them that instruc- 

 tion, he laboured for some time most assiduously in acquiring the 

 Malabar language. His first preaching among them was attended 

 with extraordinary success. After a stay of fifteen months on this 

 station, he returned to Goa for the purpose of procuring assistants to 

 his work ; with them he returned, in 1544, to the fishers of tlft pearl 

 coast, and left several of them in different parts, to prosecute the 

 labours which he had begun. He then proceeded to the kingdom of 

 Travancore, where, in one month, as he states in his letters, he bap- 

 tised ten thousand Indians. 



Xavier then visited Malacca, a place at that time of considerable 

 trade, and to which merchants from every part of Asia were in the 

 habit of resorting. He arrived there on the 25th of September 1545, 

 and, according to his custom, took up his residence at the hospital, 

 where he devoted himself to the service of the sick, without neglecting 

 the principal object of his mission, which was to instruct the people. 

 A large number of converts from among Mohammedans, Jews, and 

 others, was the result of his labours. While at Malacca he was joined 

 by three other Jesuit missionaries, whom Ignatius Loyola had sent to 

 co-operate with him. In company with them, on the 1st of January 

 1546, he set sail for the islands of Banda, and it is said, became the 

 happy instrument of the conversion of the entire crew of the vessel 

 which carried him. From thence he proceeded to the island of Am- 

 boyna, where he baptised a large number of the inhabitants ; he then 

 preached the Gospel in other islands, and, having made a considerable 

 stay in the Moluccas, he brought over great numbers to Christianity. 

 Xavier then returned towards Goa, visiting on his voyage the islands 

 where he had planted the faith : he arrived at Malacca in 1547. After 

 leaving Malacca he made some stay at Manassar, near Cape Cotnorin, 

 and afterwards passed over to tho island of Ceylon, where he converted 

 the King of Candy and several of his subjects; on the 20th of May 

 1548, he returned to Goa. At Malacca, he had met with a Japanese 

 exile, named Auger, of noble birth and high station in his country, 

 whom he had instructed in the faith, and induced to accompany him 

 to Goa. The description given by this Japanese of the state of his 

 native islands determined Xavier on making them the next object of 

 his missionary labours. Having baptised Auger, with two of his 

 domestics, and given him the more Christian name of Paul of the 

 Holy Faith, he set out with him. from Goa on this difficult enterprise. 



After making a short stay at Malacca, h embarked on board a Chinese 

 vessel, and arrived on the 15th of August 1549, at Cangoxima, in the 

 kingdom of Saxuma, in Japan. 



The chief difficulty he had to overcome in this new mission was his 

 ignorance of the Japanese language. Xavier, during his voyage, had, 

 by means of his convert, acquired some little knowledge of it, which 

 was increased by his stay of forty days at Cangoxima, and which was 

 sufficient to enable him to translate into it the Apostles' creed with a 

 short exposition. The little progress however which he made in it 

 proved a serious hindrance to his success, as appears from the letters 

 he sent home. Through his companion, he was introduced to the 

 king of Saxuma, who gave him a favourable reception, but declined 

 hearing him on the subject of religion. In the hope of finding a 

 more suitable field for his missionary exertions, he left Saxuma, and 

 proceeded to Firando, the capital of another small kingdom. He was 

 there allowed freely to exercise his ministry, and numerous conversions 

 were the fruits of it : in that city he baptised more infidels, in twenty 

 days, than he had done at Caugoxima in a whole year. Encouraged 

 by this success, he left these converts under the care of one of the 

 Jesuits who had accompanied him, and set out for Meaco, the capital 

 of the whole empire and the residence of its ecclesiastical chief. On 

 his way thither he visited Amanguchi, the principal town of the king- 

 dom of Naugato, where he was allowed to preach in public and before 

 the king aud his court, but with little success. After a month's stay 

 in that city, he continued to journey towards Meaco. Though it was 

 the depth of winter, and the rugged roads, difficult at all times, were 

 now rendered almost impassable by drifts of snow and mountain 

 torrents, yet, thinly clad and barefoot, he journeyed onwards, resigned 

 and cheerful. He arrived at Meaco in February 1551, having been 

 about two months on his journey. There his mean appearance and 

 wayworn garments proved a subject of offence to the inhabitants ; 

 accustomed to the gorgeous rites and pompous ceremonial of their 

 own religon, the priests, whose influence was paramount in that city, 

 could not see in this humble person the ambassador of the Most 

 High. Though rejected with contumely, Xavier did not abandon his 

 purpose, but returned to Amanguchi, where he provided himself with 

 a rich suit and a retinue of attendants, and thus attired presented 

 himself before the court. This harmless device produced the desired 

 effect ; he obtained the protection of the kin?, and preached with so 

 much success, that he baptised three thousand persons in that city. 

 These converts he left to the care of some Jesuits who had been the 

 companions of his journey; and, accompanied by two Japanese 

 Christians, who, rather than renounce the consolations of the religion 

 he had taught them, had cheerfully suffered the confiscation of their 

 property, he departed from Amanguchi, in September 1551, and, on 

 the 20th of November following, embarked to return to India, having 

 remained in Japan two years and four months. This mission was, for 

 upwards of a hundred years after the death of Xavier, successfully 

 continued by the Jesuits. On his voyage he made some stay at Ma- 

 lacca, chiefly for the purpose of concerting measures with the governor 

 of that place for the prosecution of a mission to China. A serious 

 obstacle to it was the law which forbids strangers, on the severest 

 penalties, to enter'that country. To remove it, it was agreed between 

 Xavier and the governor of Malacca that an embassy should be sent in 

 the name of the king of Portugal to establish a commercial treaty, 

 and that Xavier should join it. On his return however to Malacca, 

 he found the new governor, who had arrived there during his absence, 

 opposed to the projected embassy, aud, after many unavailiug entrea- 

 ties to procure his compliance, he was obliged to embark alone for his 

 intended mission on board a Portuguese vessel bound for the island of 

 Sancian, near Macao, in China, a place where the Chinese were per- 

 mitted to traffic with the Portuguese merchants. On arriving there, 

 the merchants of Sancian endeavoured to dissuade him from his design 

 of prosecuting his journey farther, and strongly represented to him 

 the danger. Xavier however was not to be deterred ; he provided 

 himself with an interpreter, and entered into an agreement with a 

 Chinese merchant to land him by night on some part of the coast. 

 This plan was also frustrated by the Portuguese residents of Sancian, 

 who feared that this attempt to infringe the laws might be visited 

 upon them by the vengeance of the Chinese authorities. While thus 

 disappointed in his fondest hopes, he fell seriously sick. His suffer- 

 ings, which were most acute, were aggravated by the inattention and 

 want of skill of those around him ; in the midst of them however he 

 displayed a cheerful countenance and a pious resignation. He died 

 on the 2nd of December 1552. His remains were brought over to 

 Malacca on the 22nd of March 1553, where they were received with 

 the greatest honour; they were afterwards, transferred to Goa, and 

 deposited in the principal chapel of the church of Paul, on the 15th 

 of March 1554. The memory of Francis Xavier was consecrated 

 by a ceremony known in the Church of Rome by the name of Beatifi- 

 cation, by the Pope Paul V., in 1619, and he was canonised as a Saint 

 by Gregory XV. in 1622. In 1747, John V. king of Portugal, obtained 

 a brief of Benedict XIV., which conferred on him the title of patron 

 and protector of the East Indies. His festival is observed by the 

 Church of Rome on the 3rd of December. 



The following works are all that Francis Xavier has left : 1, A 

 Collection of Epistles, in five book, Paris, 1631, in 8vo; 2, A 

 Catechism ; and, 3, ' Opuscula.' 



