BOOK II.

_By what way he passes to the Indies. His employment in the ship. He

arrives at Mozambique, and what he does there. He falls sick himself, and

yet continues to serve the sick. His first prediction Verified by the

success. He arrives at Melinda, and there confers with the Mahometans. He

passes over to Socotora; his opinion concerning that people. He arrives

at Goa. He visits the Bishop of the Indies. The estate of religion in the

India at his arrival. His first work at Goa. The first fruits of his

labours. His industry to gain the Concubinarians. He is told of the coast

of Fishery, and goes thither. This coast is called in the maps La

Pescaria. He works a miracle at Cape Comorin. He labours in the salvation

of the Paravas. His manner of teaching the Christian faith. He

establishes catechists and teachers of the faith to supply ids place. The

fruit of his labours on the coast of Fishery. He makes use of children to

cure the sick. The zeal of the children against idols and idolaters. The

punishment of a pagan, who had despised the admonitions of Father Xavier.

The original and character of the Brachmans. He treats with the

Brachmans. The conference of Xavier with a famous Brachman. He works

divers miracles. He declares himself against the Brachmans. The means

whereby he destroyed idolatry. He returns to Goa, and for what reason.

The beginning and establishment of the seminary of holy faith. The

seminary of holy faith new named the College of St Paul. He returns to

the coast of Fishery; his actions there. He goes to the relief of the

Christians, on the coast of Fishery. He goes to the kingdom of

Travancore, and there labours with great success. God communicates to him

the gift of tongues. He is persecuted by the Brachmans. He goes to meet

the army of the Badages, and puts them to flight. He prevails upon the

king of Travancore to favour the gospel. He raises two from death._

While the Christian religion flourished in Asia, under the emperors of

Constantinople, there were two ordinary passages, and both of them short

enough towards the Indies: the one by Syria, over the Euphrates and the

Persian Gulph; the other by Egypt, over the Arabian Gulph, commonly

called the Red Sea. But after the Saracens had possessed themselves of

those places, the European Christians finding those passages unsecure for

travelling, sought out ways of a larger circuit, to avoid falling into

the hands of their most mortal enemies.

The Portuguese were the first who bethought themselves of coasting all

Africa, and one part of Arabia and Persia; by taking this compass, the

Indies are distant from Portugal about four thousand leagues, and the

passengers are constrained to suffer twice the scorching heats of the

torrid zone, in going under the equinoctial line, which divides Africa

almost in two equal parts.

Don Henry, son of King John I., the most skilful prince of that age in

the mathematics, was he who attempted the discovery of those seas, and

undertook to double the Cape of Good Hope, upon the account of traffic,

which he desired to establish betwixt the crown of Portugal and the

emperor of Ethiopia, commonly called Prester John. This enterprise having

succeeded, the kings of Portugal, Alphonso V., John II., and Emanuel I.,

followed it so happily, that, by little and little, they completed the

passage to the Indies.

This was the course that Father Xavier held with the fleet of Portugal.

He found himself sufficient employment, during the time of the

navigation: his first study was to put a stop to those disorders which

are commonly occasioned by an idle life on ship-board; and he began with

gaming, which is the only recreation, or rather the whole employment,

of the seamen.

That he might banish games of chance, which almost always occasion

quarrels and swearing, he proposed some little innocent diversions,

capable of entertaining the mind, without stirring up the passions. But

seeing that, in spite of his endeavours, they were bent on cards and

dice, he thought it not convenient to absent himself, but became a

looker on, that he might somewhat awe them by his presence; and when they

were breaking out into any extravagance, he reclaimed them by gentle

and soft reproofs. He shewed concernment in their gains, or in their

losses, and offered sometimes to hold their cards.

There were at least a 'thousand persons in the Admiral, men of all

conditions: the father made himself all to all, thereby to gain some to

Jesus Christ; entertaining every man with such discourse as was most

suitable to his calling. He talked of sea affairs to mariners, of war to

the soldiery, of commerce to merchants, and of affairs of state to men of

quality. His natural gaiety, and obliging humour, gained him a general

esteem; the greatest libertines, and most brutal persons, sought his

conversation, and were even pleased to hear him speak of God.

He instructed the seamen daily in the principles of religion, of which

the greater part were wholly ignorant, or had at the best but a

smattering of it; and preached to them on every holiday, at the foot of

the main mast. All of them profited by his sermons, and in little time

nothing was heard amongst them, which was offensive to the honour of God,

or that wounded Christian charity; or touched upon obsceneness, or ill

manners. They had a profound veneration for him; with one word only, he

appeased their quarrels, and put an end to all their differences.

The viceroy, Don Martin Alphonso de Sosa, invited him from the very first

clay to eat at his table; but Xavier humbly excused it, with great

acknowledgments, and during all the voyage lived only on what he begged

about the ship.

In the mean time, the insufferable colds of Cabo Verde, and the excessive

heats of Guinea, together with the stench of the fresh waters, and

putrifaction of their flesh provisions under the line, produced many

dangerous distempers. The most common was a pestilential fever,

accompanied with a kind of cancer, which bred in the mouth, and

ulcerated all the gums; the sick being crowded together, spread the

infection amongst themselves; and as every one was apprehensive of

getting the disease, they had been destitute of all succour, if Father

Francis had not taken compassion on them. He wiped them in their sweats,

he cleansed their ulcers, he washed their linen, and rendered them all

the most abject services; but, above all things, he had care of their

consciences, and his principal employment was to dispose them to a

Christian death.

These were his perpetual employments; being at the same time himself

seized with continued fits of vomiting, and extreme languishments, which

lasted two whole months. For his ease and refreshment, Sosa caused him to

be accommodated with a larger cabin than was first appointed for him: he

accepted of it, but it was only to lodge in it those who were most

desperately ill; as for himself, he lay bare upon the deck, without other

pillow than the tackling.

He received also the dishes which the viceroy sent him from his table,

and divided them amongst those who had most need of nourishment. So

many actions of charity gained him the surname of the Holy Father from

thenceforward, which continued to him all his life, even, amongst

Mahometans and idolaters.

While Xavier employed his time in this manner, the navy following its

course, met with rocks and tempests, and contrary tides. After five

months of perpetual navigation, it arrived at Mozambique, towards the end

of August.

Mozambique is a kingdom situated on the eastern coasts of Africa,

inhabited by negroes; a barbarous people, but less savage than their

neighbours the Cafres, by reason of the trade which they continually

maintain with the Ethiopians and Arabs. There is no port on all the shore

to secure shipping from the winds; only one little island is shaped into

a haven, both convenient and safe.

This isle, which is but a mile distant from the main land, bears the name

of Mozambique, together with the whole kingdom. It was formerly subject

to the Saracens, and a Xeriffe Moor commanded it; but since, the

Portuguese have made themselves masters of it, and built a fort, to

secure the passage of their vessels, and refresh their sea-beaten men,

who commonly stay there for some time.

The army under Sosa was constrained to winter in this island, not only

because the season was far spent, but also because the sick passengers

could no longer support the incommodities of the sea. The place

notwithstanding was not very proper for infirm persons, for the air is

unwholesome; which proceeds from hence, that the sea overflowing the

low-lands of the isle, at the spring tides, the mass of waters there

gathered and inclosed is corrupted by the heats; for which reason, the

inhabitants are commonly short-lived, but more especially strangers;

upon which occasion, Mozambique is generally called the sepulchre of the

Portuguese. Besides the intemperance of the air, at the same time, an

infectious disease was raging in the country.

Being come ashore, Sosa gave immediate orders to carry the sick of every

ship to the hospital, which is in the island, of which the kings of

Portugal are founders. Father Xavier followed them; and, with the

assistance of his two companions, undertook to attend them all. The

undertaking was beyond his strength; but the soul sustains the body of

apostolical men, and charity can do all things.

Animated with this new fervour, he went from chamber to chamber, and from

bed to bed, giving remedies to some, and administering the last sacrament

to others. Every one desired to have him by him; and all acknowledged,

that only the sight of his countenance availed them more than a thousand

medicines.

Having passed the day in continual labour, he watched all night with

dying men, or laid himself down by those who were in most danger, to

steal a short unquiet slumber, which was interrupted almost every moment:

at the least complaint, or even at a sigh, he was awake, and ran to their

relief.

So many fatigues at the length overwhelmed nature, and he fell sick

himself of a fever, so violent, and so malignant, that he was blooded

seven times in a little space, and was three days in a delirium. At the

beginning of his sickness, many were desirous to have withdrawn him from

the hospital, where the contagion was frightful, and offered him their

own lodgings. He constantly refused their offers, and told them, "That,

having made a vow of poverty, he would live and die amongst the poor."

But when the violence of his distemper was somewhat abated, the saint

forgot himself to think on others. Sometimes, not being able to sustain

his body, and burning with his fever, he visited his dear patients, and

attended them as much as his weakness would permit him. The physician

having one day met him, going hither and thither as his charity called

him, in the middle of his fit, after having felt his pulse, plainly told

him, that in all the hospital, there was not one man in more danger than

himself, and prayed him that he would take some small repose, and but

give himself a breathing time until his fever were on the declension.

"I will punctually obey you," replied the father, "when I have satisfied

one part of my duty which calls upon me; it concerns the salvation or a

soul, and there is no time to be lost on such an occasion." Immediately

he ordered to be carried to his own bed a poor ship-boy, who lay

stretched out on a little straw, with a burning fever upon him, without

speech or knowledge. The youth was no sooner placed upon the saint's bed,

but he came to himself: Xavier made use of the opportunity, and laying

himself by the sick person, who had led a most dissolute life, exhorted

him so strongly all that night to abominate his sins, and to rely on the

mercy of Almighty God, that he saw him die in great contrition, mixed

with saving hope.

After this, the father kept the promise which he had made to the

physician, and took a greater care of his own preservation; insomuch that

his fever abated by degrees, and at length left him of itself; but his

strength was not yet recovered, when the navy put to sea again. The

viceroy, who began to find himself indisposed, would make no longer stay

upon a place so much infected, nor attend the recovery of his people, to

continue his voyage. He desired Xavier to accompany him, and to leave

Paul de Camerino, and Francis Mansilla, to attend the sick in the

hospital; where indeed they both, performed their duty as became them.

Thus having made a six months residence on Mozambique, they embarked once

more on the 15th of March, and in the year 1542. But they went not aboard

the St James, in which they came thither, changing her for a lighter

vessel, which made better sail.

It is here proper to observe, that the father, according to the report of

the passengers who came with him from Portugal to Mozambique, began to

manifest that spirit of prophecy, which he had to the end of his days in

so eminent a degree. For hearing those of the St James commend that ship,

as a vessel of the strongest built, and the best equipped of all the

fleet, he said in express words, that she would prove unfortunate. And in

effect, that ship, which the viceroy left behind him at Mozambique, in

the company of some others, pursuing her course afterwards to the Indies,

was driven against the rocks, and dashed in pieces towards the island of

Salseta.

The galeon, which carried Sosa and Xavier, had the wind so favourable,

that in two or three days she arrived at Melinda, on the coast of Africa,

towards the equinoctial line. It is a town of Saracens, on the sea side,

in a flat country, well cultivated, planted all along with palm-trees,

and beautified with fair gardens. It has a large enclosure, and is

fortified with walls, after the European fashion. Though the building is

Moresque, the houses notwithstanding are both pleasantand convenient. The

inhabitants are warlike, they are black, and go naked; excepting only

that they are covered with a kind of an apron of cotton or linen, from

the waist to the mid thigh. And indeed the heat of their climate will

permit them to wear no more; Melinda being distant from the line but

three degrees and some few minutes.

They have always maintained a good correspondence with the Portuguese, by

reason of the commerce established betwixt them. The flag of Portugal was

no sooner seen, but the Saracen king Came down to the port, attended by

the most honourable persons of his court, to receive the new governor of

the Indies. The first object which presented itself to Father Francis

when he stept ashore, drew tears from his eyes; but they were tears of

joy and pity mingled together. The Portuguese having there a constant

trade, and now and then some of them happening to die, are allowed a

burying-place near the town, full of crosses set upon their graves,

according to ihe custom of the Catholics: and above the rest there was a

very large one of hewn stone placed in the middle, and all over gilded.

The saint ran to it, and adored before it; receiving an inward

consolation, to behold it raised so high, and, as it were, triumphing

amongst the enemies of Jesus Christ. But at the same time, he was

sensibly afflicted, that this sign of our salvation served less to edify

the living, than to honour the memory of the dead. And lifting up his

hands to heaven, he besought the Father of all mercies to imprint in the

hearts of the infidels, that cross, which they had suffered to be planted

on their ground.

His next thoughts prompted him to confer of religion with the Moors,

that he might endeavour to shew them the extravagances of the Mahometan

belief, and gain an opportunity of revealing to them the eternal truths

of Christian faith. One of the principal inhabitants, and wonderfully

bigotted to his sect, prevented him, and immediately demanded of him, if

piety were not wholly extinguished in the towns of Europe, as it was in

Melinda. "For, to confess the truth," said he, "of seventeen mosques

which we have, fourteen are quite forsaken; there are but three

remaining, at which we pay our devotions; and even those three are but

little visited, and by few persons.

"This proceeds, without all question," added the Mahometan, "from some

enormous sin, but what it is, I know not: and whatsoever reflections I

can make, I am not able to find what has drawn upon us so dreadful a

misfortune." "There is nothing more clear," replied Xavier; "God, who

detests the prayer of infidels, has permitted a worship to moulder away,

which is displeasing to him; and gives you thence to understand, that he

condemns your sect." The Saracen was not satisfied with this reason, nor

with any other argument which Xavier used against the Alcoran. While they

were thus disputing, a Caciz, or doctor of the law, joined company with

them, having made the same complaint concerning the mosques, how little

they were frequented, and how cold was grown the devotion of the people.

"I have taken my measures," said he, "and if in two years Mahomet comes

not in person to visit the congregations of the faithful, who acknowledge

him for God's true prophet, I will certainly look out for some other

religion." Xavier took pity on the folly of the Caciz, and endeavoured

all he could to convert him at that instant from Mahometanism; but he

could not prevail upon an obstinate mind, blinded with the opinion of its

own reason; and therefore the father acquiesced in the decrees of that

Providence, which has fixed the times and revolutions for the conversion

of infidels and sinners.

Having left Melinda, where they continued but few days, and still

coasting Africa, they cast anchor at Socotora, which is beyond Cape

Guardafu, and over against the Strait of Mecca. The Moors of that country

call it the Isle of Amazons; and the reason they allege is, because it is

governed by women. The inhabitants believe their isle to be the earthly

paradise; which notwithstanding, there is scarcely to be found in all the

world, a spot of ground less deserving that glorious title. The air is in

a perpetual sultry heat, the soil is dry and barren, and, excepting only

for the aoes which is there produced, and is indeed the best which grows

in those eastern parts, even the name of Socotora would not be mentioned.

It is not certainly known what religion they profess, so monstrous is

their belief. They hold from the Saracens the worship of Mahomet, from

the Jews the use of circumcision and sacrifices, and yet give themselves

the name of Christians. The males bear the name of some or other of the

apostles, the most part of the women are called Mary, and yet they have

no knowledge of baptism. They adore the cross, and hang it in little

about their necks. They chiefly venerate St Thomas; and it is an ancient

tradition amongst them, that this holy apostle, in going to the Indies,

was cast by a tempest on their coast; that being come ashore, he preached

Jesus Christ to those of Socotora; and that from the wreck of that ship

which brought him thither, they built a chapel in the middle of their

island.

The condition of these islanders sensibly afflicted Father Xavier; yet he

despaired not of reducing them to a right understanding of the faith,

because, as barbarous as they were, they still preserved some footsteps

of Christianity amongst them. Having no knowledge of their tongue, which

bears not the least resemblance to any of our European languages, and is

also wholly different from the Ethiopian and Arabic, at the first he was

constrained to testify his sorrow to them by dumb signs, for their

ignorance and errors. Afterwards, whether it were that some one amongst

them understood the Portuguese, and served as interpreter to all the

rest, or that counting from this very time he began to receive from

above, the first fruits of the gift of tongues, which was so abundantly

bestowed on him in the Indies on sundry occasions, he spoke to them

concerning the necessity of baptism, and let them know, that there was no

possibility of salvation without a sincere belief in Jesus Christ: but

that the faith allowed of no mixture, and that to become Christians, they

must of necessity cease to be Jews or Mahometans.

His words made a wonderful impression on the souls and hearts of those

barbarians: some of them made him presents of their wild fruits, in token

of their good will; others offered him their children to be baptised; all

promised him to receive baptism themselves, and to lead the life of true

Christians, on condition he would remain with them. But when they beheld

the Portuguese galleon ready to depart, they ran in crowds to the

water-side, and besought the holy man, with tears in their eyes, not to

forsake them.

So moving a spectacle wrought compassion in Xavier; he was earnest with

the viceroy for leave to stay upon the isle, at least till the arrival of

the vessels, which he had left at Mozambique, But he could obtain no part

of his request: and Sosa told him, that heaven having designed him for

the Indies, it was to be wanting to his vocation if he endeavoured this

exchange, and stopped in the beginning of his race; that his zeal would

find a more ample field, wherein to exercise itself, than in Socotora,

and people of better inclination than those islanders, naturally

inconstant, and as ready to forsake the faith, as they were easy to

receive it.

Xavier submitted to these reasons of the viceroy, which on this occasion

seemed to interpret to him the good pleasure of Almighty God. Instantly

they hoisted sail; but the saint was pierced with sorrow to behold those

poor creatures, who followed him with their eyes, and held up their hands

from afar to him; while the vessel was removing into the deep, he turned

his head towards them, breathing out profound sighs, and looking

mournfully upon them. But that he might leave nothing upon his conscience

to upbraid him concerning the Socotorins, he engaged himself solemnly

before Almighty God to return to them, so soon as possibly he could; or

in case he could not, to procure for them some preachers of the gospel,

to instruct them in the way of their salvation.

This last part of his navigation was not long. After having crossed the

sea of Arabia, and part of that which belongs to India, the fleet arrived

at the port of Goa, on the 6th of May, in the year 1542, being the

thirteenth month since their setting out from the port of Lisbon.

The town of Goa is situated on this side of the Ganges, in an island

bearing the same name. It is the capital city of the Indies, the seat of

the bishop and the viceroy, and the most considerable place of all the

East for traffic. It had been built by the Moors forty years before the

Europeans had passed into the Indies; and in the year 1510, Don Alphonso

de Albuquerque, surnamed the Great, took it from the infidels, and

subjected it to the crown of Portugal.

At that time was verified the famous prophecy of St Thomas the apostle,

that the Christian faith, which he had planted in divers kingdoms of the

East, should one day flourish there again; which very prediction he left

graven on a pillar of living stone, for the memory of future ages. The

pillar was not far distant from the walls of Meliapore, the metropolis of

the kingdom of Coromandel; and it was to be read in the characters of the

country, that when the sea, which was forty miles distant from the

pillar, should come up to the foot of it, there should arrive in the

Indies white men and foreigners, who should there restore the true

religion.

The infidels had laughed at this prediction for a long time, not

believing that it would ever be accomplished, and indeed looking on it as

a kind of impossibility that it should; yet it was accomplished, and that

so justly, that when Don Vasco de Gama set foot on the Indies, the sea,

which sometimes usurps upon the continent, and gains by little and little

on the dry land, was by that time risen to the pillar, so as to bathe its

lower parts.

Yet it may be truly said, that the prophecy of St Thomas had not its full

effect, till after the coming of Father Xavier; according to another

prediction of that holy man Peter de Couillan, a religious of the

Trinity, who, going to the Indies with Vasco de Gama, in quality of his

ghostly father, was martyred by the Indians on the seventh of July 1497,

forty-three years before the beginning of the Society of Jesus, who being

pierced through with arrows, while he was shedding his blood for Christ,

distinctly pronounced these following words: "In few years there shall be

born in the church of God, a new religious order of clergymen, which

shall bear the name of Jesus: and one of its first fathers, conducted by

the Spirit of God, shall pass into the most remote countries of the East

Indies, the greatest part of which shall embrace the orthodox faith,

through the ministry of this evangelical preacher."

This is related by Juan de Figueras Carpi, in his history of the order of

the redemption of captives, from the manuscripts of the Trinity Convent

in Lisbon, and the memoirs of the king of Portugal's library.

After Xavier was landed, he went immediately to the hospital, and there

took his lodging, notwithstanding the instances of the viceroy, who was

desirous to have had him in his palace. But he would not begin his

missionary function, till he had paid his respects to the Bishop of Goa;

whose name was Juan d'Albuquerque, of the order of St Francis, a most

excellent person, and one of the most virtuous prelates which the church

has ever had.

The father having informed him of the reasons for which his Holiness and

the king of Portugal had sent him to the Indies, presented to him the

briefs of Pope Paul III., at the same time declaring to him, that he

pretended not to use them without his approbation and good-liking: after

this, he cast himself at his feet, and desired his blessing.

The prelate, edified with the modesty of the father, and struck with that

venerable air of sanctity which appeared in his countenance, took him up

immediately, and embraced him with great tenderness. Having often kissed

the briefs, he restored them to the father, with these words: "An

apostolical legate, sent from the vicar of Jesus Christ, has no need of

receiving his mission from any other hand; use freely that power, which

the holy seat has conferred upon you; and rest assured, that if the

Episcopal authority be needful to maintain, it shall never be wanting to

you."

From that moment they contracted a most sacred friendship, whose union

was so strict, that ever after they seemed to have but one heart and one

soul: insomuch that Father Xavier undertook not any thing without

consulting the bishop first; and the bishop, on his side, imparted all

his designs to Father Xavier: and it is almost incredible, how much this

holy correspondence contributed to the salvation of souls, and exaltation

of the faith.

Before we pass farther, it is of consequence to know the estate of

religion at that time in the Indies. It is true, that, according to the

prophecy of St. Thomas, they who discovered the East Indies, had new

planted Christianity in some parts of them, where all was in a manner

quite forgotten. But ambition and avarice, in short time after, cooled

the zeal of these new conquerors; instead of extending the kingdom of

Jesus Christ, and of gaining souls to him, they thought of nothing more

than of enlarging their dominion, and enriching themselves. It happened

also, that many Indians newly converted to the faith, being neither

cultivated by wholesome instructions, nor edified by good examples,

forgot insensibly their baptism, and returned to their ancient

superstitions.

And if any amongst them kept constant to his Christianity, and declared

himself a believer, the Mahometans, who were uppermost in many places

along the coast, and very wealthy, persecuted him with great cruelty,

without any opposition on the part of the Portuguese governor or

magistrates. Whether the power of Portugal were not yet sufficiently

established, or that interest was predominant over justice and religion,

this cruel usage deterred the new Christians fom professing Jesus Christ,

and was the reason, that, amongst the infidels, all thoughts of

conversion were laid aside.

But what yet appears more wonderful, the Portuguese themselves lived more

like idolaters than Christians. For, to speak somewhat more particularly

of their corrupt manners, according to the relation which was sent to

King John III. of Portugal from the Indies, by a man in power, and worthy

of belief; some few months before the arrival of Father Xavier, every man

kept as many mistresses as he pleased, and maintained them openly in his

own house, even in the quality of lawful wives. They bought women, or

took them away by force, either for their service, or to make money of

them. Their masters taxed them at a certain sum by the day, and, for

fault of payment, inflicted on them ail sorts of punishment; insomuch,

that those unhappy creatures, not being able sometimes to work out the

daily rate imposed on them, were forced upon the infamous traffic of

their bodies, and became public prostitutes, to content the avarice of

their masters.

Justice was sold at the tribunals, and the most enormous crimes escaped

from punishment, when the criminals had wherewithal to corrupt their

judges.

All methods for heaping up money were accounted lawful, how indirect

soever, and extortion was publicly protest. Murder was reckoned but a

venial trespass, and was boasted as a piece of bravery.

The Bishop of Goa, to little purpose, threatened them with the wrath of

heaven, and the thunder of excommunications. No dam was sufficient for

such a deluge; their hearts were hardened against spiritual threatening

and anathemas; or, to speak more properly, the deprivation of sacraments

was no punishment to such wicked wretches, who were glad to be rid of

them.

The use of confessions, and the communion, were in a manner abolished;

and if any one by chance was struck with a remorse of conscience, and

desired to reconcile himself to God, at the foot of a priest, he was

constrained to steal to his devotions by night, to avoid the scandal to

his neighbour.

So strange a depravation of manners proceeded from these causes. Its rise

was taken from the licence of arms, which permit, and almost authorize,

the greatest disorders in a conquered country. The pleasures of Asia, and

the commerce of infidels, aided not a little to debauch the Portuguese,

as starched and regular as they naturally are. The want of spiritual

directors contributed largely to this growing mischief. There were not

four preachers, in all the Indies, nor any one priest without the walls

of Goa; insomuch, that in many fortified places whole years were passed

without hearing a sermon or a mass.

Behold a draught, not unresembling the face of Christianity in this new

world, when Father Xavier arrived in it.

The author of the relation from whence mine is copied, seems to have had

some kind of foresight of his coming; for, in the conclusion of his

memorial, he prays Almighty God, and earnestly desires the king of

Portugal, to send some holy man to the Indies, who might reform the

manners of the Europeans, by his apostolic instructions, and his

exemplary virtues.

As for the Gentiles, the life they led resembled that of beasts rather

than of men. Uncleanness was risen to the last excess amongst them; and

the least corrupt were those who had no religion. The greatest part of

them adored the devil under an obscene figure, and with ceremonies which

modesty forbids to mention. Some amongst them changed their deity every

day; and the first living creature which happened to meet them in the

morning was the object of their worship, not excepting even dogs or

swine. In this they were uniform, that they all offered bloody sacrifices

to their gods; and nothing was more common, than to see bleeding infants

on the altars, slaughtered by the hands of their own parents.

Such manifold abominations inflamed the zeal of Father Xavier. He wished

himself able at the same time, to have applied remedies to them all; yet

thought himself obliged to begin with the household of faith, according

to the precept of St Paul; that is to say, with the Christians: and

amongst them he singled out the Portuguese, whose example was like to be

most prevalent with the baptised Indians. Behold in what manner he

attempted this great enterprise of reformation.

To call down the blessing of heaven on this difficult employment, he

consecrated the greatest part of the night to prayers, and allowed

himself at the most but four hours of sleep; and even this little repose

was commonly disturbed: for, lodging in the hospital, and lying always

near the sick, as his custom had been at Mozambique, his slumber was

broken by their least complaint, and he failed not to rise to their

relief.

He returned to his prayers at break of day, after which he celebrated

mass. He employed the forenoon in the hospitals, particularly in that of

the lepers, which is in one of the suburbs of Goa. He embraced those

miserable creatures one after the other, and distributed amongst them

those alms which he had been begging for them from door to door. After

this he visited the prisons, and dealt amongst them the same effects of

charity.

In coming back, he made a turn about the town, with his bell in his hand,

and gave a loud summons to the fathers of families, that, for the love of

God, they would send their children and their slaves to catechism.

The holy man was convinced in his heart, that if the Portuguese youth

were well instructed in the principles of religion, and formed betimes to

the practice of good life, Christianity, in a little time, would be seen

to revive in Goa; but in case the children grew up without instruction or

discipline, there was no remaining hope, that they who sucked in impiety

and vice, almost with their milk, should ever become sincere Christians.

The little children gathered together in crowds about him, whether they

came of their own accord, through a natural curiosity, or that their

parents sent them, out of the respect which they already had for the holy

man, howsoever vicious themselves. He led them to the church, and there

expounded to them the apostles' creed, the commandments of God, and all

the practices of devotion which are in use amongst the faithful.

These tender plants received easily the impressions which the father made

on them, and it was through these little babes that the town began to

change its face. For, by daily hearing the man of God, they became modest

and devout; their modesty and devotion was a silent censure of that

debauchery which appeared in persons of riper age. Sometimes they even

reproved their fathers, with a liberty which had nothing of childish in

it, and their reproofs put the most dissolute libertines to the blush.

Xavier then proceeded to public preaching, whither all the people

flocked; and to the end that the Indians might understand, as well as the

Portuguese, he affected to speak that language in a gross and clownish

dialect, which passed at that time amongst the natives of the country. It

was immediately seen what power a preacher, animated by the spirit of

God, had over the souls of perverted men. The most scandalous sinners,

struck with the horror of their crimes, and the fear of eternal

punishment, were the first who came to confession. Their example took

away from others the shame of confessing; insomuch, that every one now

strove who should be foremost to throw himself at the father's feet,

knocking their breasts, and bitterly lamenting their offences.

The fruits of penitence accompanying these tears, were the certain proofs

of a sincere conversion. They cancelled their unlawful bonds and

covenants of extortion; they made restitution of their ill-gotten goods;

they set at liberty their slaves, whom they had opprest, or had acquired

unjustly; and lastly, turned away their concubines, whom they were

unwilling to possess by a lawful marriage.

The saint acted with the concubinarians almost in the same manner as our

Saviour dealt with the publicans and harlots. Far from treating them

severely, the deeper they were plunged in that darling vice, the more

tenderly he seemed to use them. On all occasions he declared himself

their friend; he made them frequent visits, without fear of being

upbraided with so infamous a conversation. He invited himself sometimes

to eat with them; and then, assuming an air of gaiety, he desired the

master to bring down the children to bear him company. When he had a

little commended their prettiness, he asked to see their mother, and

shewed her the same countenance, as if he had taken her for an honest

woman. If she were beautiful or well shaped, he praised her, and said

"she looked like a Portuguese:" after which; in private conversation,

"you have," said he to her master, "a fair slave, who well deserves to be

your wife." But if she were a swarthy, ugly Indian, "Good God!" he cried

out, "what a monster do you keep within your doors! and how are you able

to endure the sight of her?" Such words, spoken in all appearance without

design, had commonly their full effect: the keeper married her whom the

saint had commended, and turned off the others.

This so sudden a change of manners was none of those transient fits of

devotion, which pass away almost as soon as they are kindled; piety was

established in all places, and they who formerly came to confession once

a year, to speak the best of it, now performed it regularly once a month.

They were all desirous of confessing themselves to Father Xavier; so

that, writing from Goa to Rome on that subject, he said, "That if it had

been possible for him to have been at once in ten places, he should not

have wanted for employment." His catechising having had that wonderful

success which we have mentioned, the Bishop Don John d'Albuquerque

ordained, that, from thenceforward, the children should be taught the

Christian doctrine, in all the churches of the town. The gentlemen and

merchants applied themselves to the regulation of their families, and

banishment of vice. They gave the father considerable sums of money,

which he distributed in their presence, in the hospitals and prisons.

The viceroy accompanied the saint thither once a week, to hear the

complaints of the prisoners, and to relieve the poor. This Christian

practice was so pleasing to the king of Portugal, John III, that

afterwards he writ to Don John de Castro, governor of the Indies,

expressly ordering him to do that once a month, which Don Martin Alphonso

de Sosa never failed of doing every week; in short, the Portuguese of Goa

had gained such an habitude of good life, and such an universal change of

manners had obtained amongst them, that they seemed another sort of

people.

This was the state of affairs, when Michael Vaz, vicar general of the

Indies, a man of rare virtue, and wonderful zeal for the propagation of

the faith, gave Xavier to understand, that on the Oriental coast, which

lies extended from Cape Comorin to the Isle of Manar, and is called the

coast of Fishery, there were certain people called Paravas, that is to

say, fishers, who had caused themselves to be baptized some time since,

on occasion of succours which had been given them by the Portuguese

against the Moors, by whom they were cruelly opprest; that these people

had nothing more of Christianity than baptism, and the name, for want of

pastors to instruct them; and that it would be a work well-pleasing in

the sight of God to accomplish their conversion. He concealed not from

him, that the land was barren, and so destitute of the conveniences of

life, that no stranger was willing to settle there; that interest alone

drew the merchants thither, in the season of pearl-fishing, and otherwise

the heats were insupportable.

There could not have been made to Xavier a proposition more according to

his heart's desire. He offered himself, without the least hesitation, to

go and instruct that people; and he did it so much the more freely,

because his presence was no longer so necessary at Goa, where piety was

now grown into a habit, by a settled form of five months standing.

Having received the benediction of the bishop, he embarked about the

midst of October, in the year 1542, in a galiot, which carried the new

captain of Comorin; and took with him two young ecclesiastics of Goa, who

had a tolerable insight into the language of the Malabars, which is

spoken in the coast of Fishery. Sosa offered to have furnished him with

money for all his occasions; but apostolic men have no greater treasures

than their poverty, nor any fund more certain than that of Providence. He

accepted only a pair of shoes, to defend him in some measure from the

burning sands upon the coasts; and, at parting, desired the viceroy to

send him his two companions, who were left behind at Mozambique, so soon

as they should arrive at Goa.

The Cape of Cornorin is at the distance of about six hundred miles from

Goa. It is a high promontory, jutting out into the sea, and facing the

isle of Ceylon. The Father being there arrived, immediately fell in with

a village of idolaters. He could bear to go no farther without preaching

the name of Jesus to the Gentiles; but all he could declare, by the mouth

of his interpreters, signified nothing; and those pagans plainly told

him, that they could not change their faith without consent of the lord

of whom they held. Their obstinacy, however, was of no long continuance;

and that Omnipotence, which had pre-ordained Xavier to the conversion

of idolaters, would not that his first labours should be unsuccessful.

A woman of the village had been three days in the pains of childbirth,

and had endured great torments, without being eased, either by the

prayers of the Brachmans, or any natural remedies. Xavier went to visit

her, accompanied by one of his interpreters; "and then it was," says he,

in one of his letters, "that, forgetting I was in a strange country, I

began to call upon the name of the Lord; though, at the same time, I

could not but remember, that all the earth is equally his, and all its

inhabitants are belonging to him."

The Father expounded to the sick woman the principles of our faith, and

exhorted her to repose her trust in the God of the Christians. The Holy

Ghost, who, by her means, had decreed to save that people, touched her

inwardly; insomuch, that being asked if she believed in Jesus Christ, and

if she desired to be baptized? she answered, yes; and that she spake from

the bottom of her heart. Xavier then read the gospel to her, and baptized

her:--she was immediately delivered of her child, and perfectly

recovered. This visible miracle immediately filled that poor cabin with

astonishment and gladness: The whole family threw themselves at the

Father's feet, and asked to be instructed; and, being sufficiently

taught, not one amongst them but received baptism. This news being blown

abroad through all the country, the chief of the place had the curiosity

to see a person so wonderful in his works and in his words. He preached

to them the words of eternal life, and convinced their reason of the

truth of Christianity; but convinced though they were, they durst not, as

they said, become Christians, without the permission of their prince.

There was at that time in the village an officer, sent expressly from the

prince to collect a certain annual tribute. Father Xavier went to see

him, and expounded so clearly to him all the law of Jesus Christ, that

the pagan presently acknowledged there was nothing in it which was ill;

and after that gave leave to the inhabitants to embrace it. There needed

no more to a people, whom nothing but fear withheld from it; they all

offered themselves to be baptized, and promised thenceforth to live in

Christianity.

The holy man, encouraged by so happy a beginning, followed his way with

more cheerfulness, and came to Tutucurin, which is the first town

belonging to the Paravas. He found, in effect, that this people,

excepting only their baptism, which they had received, rather to shake

off the Moorish yoke than to subject themselves to that of Jesus Christ,

were wholly infidels; and he declared to them the mysteries of our faith,

of which before they had not received the least tincture. The two

churchmen who accompanied him served him in the nature of interpreters;

but Xavier, reflecting within himself, that these churchmen frequently

altered those things which passed through their mouths, and that our own

words, when spoken by ourselves, have more vigour in them, bethought

himself of finding some expedient, whereby to be understood without the

assistance of another. The way he took, was to get together some people

of the country, who understood the Portuguese language, and to join them

with the two ecclesiastics who were knowing in the Malabar. He consulted

both parties for many days together, and, drudging at his business,

translated into the Paravas tongue, the words of the sign of the cross,

the apostles' creed, the commandments, the Lord's prayer, the salutation

of the angel, the confiteor, the salve regina, and, in fine, the whole

catechism.

The translation being finished, the Father got, without book, what he

could of it, and took his way about the villages of the coast, in number

thirty, about half of which were baptized, the rest idolaters.

"I went about, with my bell in my hand," says he himself, "and gathering

together all I met, both men and children, I instructed them in the

Christian doctrine. The children learnt it easily by heart in the compass

of a month; and when they understood it, I charged them to teach it their

fathers and mothers, all of their own family, and even their neighbours.

"On Sundays I assembled the men and women, little boys and girls, in the

chapel; all came to my appointment with an incredible joy, and most

ardent desire to hear the word of God. I began with the confessing God to

be one in nature, and trine in Persons; I afterwards repeated distinctly,

and with an audible voice, the Lord's prayer, the angelical salutation,

and the apostles' creed. All of them together repeated after me; and it

is hardly to be imagined what pleasure they took in it. This being done,

I repeated the creed singly; and, insisting on every particular article,

asked, if they certainly believed it? They all protested to me, with loud

cries, and their hands across their breasts, that they firmly believed

it. My practice is, to make them repeat the creed oftener than the other

prayers; and I declare to them, at the same time, that they who believe

the contents of it are true Christians.

"From the creed I pass to the ten commandments, and give them to

understand, that the Christian law is comprised in those ten precepts;

that he who keeps them all according to his duty is a good Christian, and

that eternal life is decreed to him; that, on the contrary, whoever

violates one of these commandments is a bad Christian, and that he shall

be damned eternally in case he repent not of his sin. Both the new

Christians and the pagans admire our law as holy, and reasonable, and

consistent with itself.

"Having done as I told you, my custom is, to repeat with them the Lord's

prayer, and the angel's salutation. Once again we recite the creed; and

at every article, besides the Paternoster and the Ave Maria, we

intermingle some short prayer; for having pronounced aloud the first

article, I begin thus, and they say after me,--' Jesus, thou son of

the living God, give me the grace to believe firmly this first article of

thy faith, and with that intention we offer thee that prayer of which

thou thyself art author.' We add,--' Holy Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus

Christ, obtain for us, from thy beloved Son, to believe this article,

without any doubt concerning it.' The same method is observed in all the

other articles; and almost in the same manner we run over the ten

commandments. When we have jointly repeated the first precept, which is,

to love God, we pray thus: 'O Jesu Christ, thou Son of the living God,

grant us thy grace to love thee above all things!' and immediately after

we say the Lord's prayer; then immediately we subjoin: 'O holy Mary,

mother of Jesus, obtain for us, from thy Son, that we may have the grace

to keep this first commandment.' After which we say the Ave Maria. We

observe the same method through the other nine commandments, with some

little variation, as the matter requires it.

"These are the things which I accustom them to beg of God in the common

prayers; omitting not sometimes to assure them, that if they obtain

the thing for which they pray, even that is a means for them to obtain

other things more amply than they could demand them.

"I oblige them all to say the confiteor, but principally those who are to

receive baptism, whom I also enjoin to say the belief. At every article,

I demand of them, if they believe it without any scruple; and when they

have assured me, that they do, I commonly make them an exhortation, which

I have composed in their own language,--being an epitome of the Christian

faith, and of the necessary duties incumbent on us in order to our

salvation. In conclusion, I baptize them, and shut up all in singing the

salve regina, to implore the assistance of the blessed Virgin."

It is evident, by what we have already said concerning the instruction of

the Paravas, that Xavier had not the gift of tongues when he began to

teach them: But it appears also, that, after he had made the translation,

which cost him so much labour, he both understood and spoke the Malabar

tongue, whether he had acquired it by his own pains, or that God had

imprinted the species of it in his mind after a supernatural manner. It

is at least probable, that, being in the Indies when he studied any

tongue, the Holy Spirit seconded his application, and was in some sort

his master; for it is constantly believed, that in a very little time he

learnt the most difficult languages, and, by the report of many persons,

spoke them so naturally, that he could not have been taken for a

foreigner.

Father Xavier having, for the space of a month, instructed the

inhabitants of one village, in the manner above said, before he went

farther, called together the most intelligent amongst them, and gave them

in writing what he had taught, to the end, that as masters of the rest,

on Sundays and Saints-days, they might congregate the people, and cause

them to repeat, according to his method, that which they had learnt

formerly.

He committed to these catechists, (who in their own tongue are called

Canacopoles,) the care of the churches, which he caused to be built in

peopled places; and recommended to them the ornament of those sacred

buildings, as far as their poverty would allow. But he was not willing to

impose this task on them, without some kind of salary; and therefore

obtained from the viceroy of the Indies, a certain sum for their

subsistence, which was charged upon the annual tribute, payable to the

crown of Portugal, from the inhabitants of that coast.

It is hardly to be expressed, what a harvest of souls was reaped from his

endeavours; and how great was the fervour of these new Christians. The

holy man, writing to the fathers at Rome, confesses himself, that he

wanted words to tell it. He adds, "That the multitude of those who had

received baptism, was so vast, that, with the labour of continual

christenings, he was not able to lift up his arms; and that his voice

often failed him, in saying so many times over and over, the apostles'

creed, and the ten commandments, with a short instruction, which he

always made concerning the duties of a true Christian, before he baptized

those who were of age."

The infants alone, who died after baptism, amounted, according to his

account, to above a thousand. They who lived, and began to have the use

of reason, were so affected with the things of God, and so covetous of

knowing all the mysteries of faith, that they scarcely gave the father

time to take a little nourishment, or a short repose. They sought after

him every minute; and he was sometimes forced to hide himself from them,

to gain the leisure of saying his prayers, and his breviary.

By the administration of these children, who were so fervently devout, he

performed divers extraordinary works, even many of those miraculous

cures, which it pleased God to perate by his means. The coast of Fishery

was never so full of diseases, as when the father was there. It seemed,

as he himself has expressed it in a letter, that God sent those

distempers amongst that people, to draw them to him almost in their own

despite. For coming to recover on an instant, and against all human

appearance, so soon as they had received baptism, or invoked the name of

Jesus Christ, they clearly saw the difference betwixt the God of the

Christians and the pagods, which is the name given in the Indies, both to

the temples and the images of their false gods.

No one fell sick amongst the Gentiles, but had immediate recourse to

Father Xavier. As it was impossible for him to attend them all, or to be

in many places at the same time, he sent there Christian children where

he could not go himself. In going from him, one took his chaplet, another

his crucifix, a third his reliquiary, and all being animated with a

lively faith, dispersed themselves through the towns and villages. There

gathering about the sick as many people as they could assemble, they

repeated often the Lord's prayer, the creed, the commandments, and all

they had learnt by heart of the Christian faith; which being done, they

asked the sick, "If he believed unfeignedly in Jesus Christ, and if he

desired to be baptized?" When he had answered "Yes," they touched him

with the chaplet, or crucifix belonging to the father, and he was

immediately cured.

One day, while Xavier was preaching the mysteries of faith to a great

multitude, some came to bring him word from Manapar, that one of the

most considerable persons of that place was possessed by the devil,

desiring the father to come to his relief. The man of God thought it

unbecoming of his duty to break off the instruction he was then making.

He only called to him some of those young Christians, and gave them a

cross which he wore upon his breast; after which he sent them to Manapar

with orders to drive away the evil spirit.

They were no sooner arrived there, than the possessed person fell into an

extraordinary fury, with, wonderful contortions of his limbs, and hideous

yellings. The little children, far from being terrified, as usually

children are, made a ring about him, singing the prayers of the church.

After which they compelled him to kiss the cross; and at the same moment,

the devil departed out of him. Many pagans there present, visibly

perceiving the virtue of the cross, were converted on the instant, and

became afterwards devout Christians.

These young plants, whom Xavier employed on such occasions, were in

perpetual disputations with the Gentiles, and broke in pieces as many

idols as they could get into their power; and sometimes burnt them,

throwing their ashes into the air. When they discovered any bearing the

name of Christianity, and yet keeping a pagod in reserve to adore in

secret, they reproved them boldly; and when those rebukes were of no

effect, they advertised the holy man, to the end, he might apply some

stronger remedy. Xavier went often in their company, to make a search in

those suspected houses; and if he discovered any idols, they were

immediately destroyed.

Being informed, that one who was lately baptized, committed idolatry

sometimes in private, and that the admonitions which he had received were

useless, he bethought himself to frighten him; and in his presence

commanded the children to set fire to his house, that thereby he might be

given to understand, how the worshippers of devils deserved eternal

burning like the devils. They ran immediately to their task, taking the

command in a literal sense, which was not Xavier's intention. But the

effect of it was, that the infidel, detesting and renouncing his

idolatry, gave up his pagods to be consumed by fire, which was all the

design of the holy man.

Another infidel was more unhappy; he was one of the first rank in

Manapar; a man naturally violent and brutal. Xavier one day going to

visit him, desired him, in courteous words, that he would listen to what

he had to say to him concerning his eternal welfare. The barbarian

vouchsafed not so much as to give him the hearing, but rudely thrust

him out of his house, saying, "That if ever he went to the Christians'

church, he was content they should shut him out." Few days after, he was

assaulted by a troop of armed men, who designed to kill him: all he could

do was to disengage himself from them, and fly away. Seeing at a distance

a church open, he made to it as fast as he could run, with his enemies at

his heels pursuing him. The Christians, who were assembled for their

exercises of devotion, alarmed at the loud cries they heard, and fearing

the idolaters were coming to plunder the church, immediately shut their

doors, insomuch that he, who hoped for safety in a holy place, fell into

the hands of murderers, and was assassinated by them, without question by

a decree of the divine justice, which revenged the saint, and suffered

the wretch to be struck with that imprecation which he had wished upon

himself.

These miracles, which Xavier wrought by the means of children, raised an

admiration of him, both amongst Christians and idolaters; but so

exemplary a punishment caused him to be respected by all the world: and

even amongst the Brachmans there was not one who did not honour him. As

it will fall in our way to make frequent mention of those idol-priests,

it will not be from our purpose to give the reader a description of them.

The Brachmans are very considerable amongst the Indians, both for their

birth and their employment. According to the ancient fables of the

Indies, their original is from heaven. And it is the common opinion, that

the blood of the gods is running in their veins. But to understand how

they were born, and from what god descended, it is necessary to know the

history of the gods of that country, which in short is this:

The first, and lord of all the others, is Parabrama; that is to say, a

most perfect substance, who has his being from himself, and who gives

being to the rest. This god being a spirit free from matter, and

desirous to appear once under a sensible figure, became man; by the only

desire which he had to shew himself, he conceived a son, who came out at

his mouth, and was called Maiso. He had two others after him, one of them

whose name was Visnu, was born out of his breast, the other called Brama,

out of his belly. Before he returned to his invisibility, he assigned

habitations and employments to his three children. He placed the eldest

in the first heaven, and gave him an absolute command over the elements

and mixed bodies. He lodged Visnu beneath his elder brother, and

established him the judge of men, the father of the poor, and the

protector of the unfortunate. Brama had for his inheritance the third

heaven, with the superintendance of sacrifices, and other ceremonies of

religion. These are the three deities which the Indians represent by one

idol, with three heads growing out of one body, with this mysterious

signification, that they all proceed from the same principle. By which it

may be inferred, that in former times they have heard of Christianity;

and that their religion is an imperfect imitation, or rather a corruption

of ours.

They say that Visnu has descended a thousand times on earth, and every

time has changed his shape; sometimes appearing in the figure of a beast,

sometimes of a man, which is the original of their pagods, of whom they

relate so many fables.

They add, that Brama, having likewise a desire of children, made himself

visible, and begot the Brachmans, whose race has infinitely multiplied.

The people believe them demi-gods, as poor and miserable as they are.

They likewise imagine them to be saints, because they lead a hard and

solitary life; having very often no other lodging than the hollow of a

tree, or a cave, and sometimes living exposed to the air on a bare

mountain, or in a wilderness, suffering all the hardships of the weather,

keeping a profound silence, fasting a whole year together, and making

profession of eating nothing which has had life in it.

But after all, there was not perhaps a more wicked nation under the

canopy of heaven. The fruit of those austerities which they practice in

the desart, is to abandon themselves in public to the most brutal

pleasures of the flesh, without either shame or remorse of conscience.

For they certainly believe, that all things, how abominable soever, are

lawful to be done, provided they are suggested to them by the light which

is within them. And the people are so infatuated with them, that they

believe they shall become holy by partaking in their crimes, or by

suffering any outrage from them.

On the other side, they are the greatest impostors in the world; their

talent consists in inventing new fables every day, and making them pass

amongst the vulgar for wonderful mysteries. One of their cheats is to

persuade the simple, that the pagods eat like men; and to the end they

may be presented with good cheer, they make their gods of a gigantic

figure, and are sure to endow them with a prodigious paunch. If those

offerings with which they maintain their families come to fail, they

denounce to the people, that the offended pagods threaten the country

with some dreadful judgment, or that their gods, in displeasure, will

forsake them, because they are suffered to die of hunger.

The doctrine of these Brachmans is nothing better than their life. One of

their grossest errors is to believe that kine have in them somewhat of

sacred and divine; that happy is the man who can be sprinkled over with

the ashes of a cow, burnt by the hand of a Brachman; but thrice happy be,

who, in dying, lays hold of a cow's tail, and expires with it betwixt his

hands; for, thus assisted, the soul departs out of the body purified, and

sometimes returns into the body of a cow. That such a favour,

notwithstanding, is not conferred but on heroic souls, who contemn life,

and die generously, either by casting themselves headlong from a

precipice, or leaping into a kindled pile, or throwing themselves under

the holy chariot wheels, to be crushed to death by the pagods, while they

are carried in triumph about the town.

We are not to wonder, after this, that the Brachmans cannot endure the

Christian law; and that they make use of all their credit and their

cunning to destroy it in the Indies. Being favoured by princes, infinite

in number, and strongly united amongst themselves, they succeed in all

they undertake; and as being great zealots for their ancient

superstitions, and most obstinate in their opinions, it is not easy to

convert them.

Father Xavier, who saw how large a progress the gospel had made amongst

the people, and that if there were no Brachmans in the Indies, there

would consequently be no idolaters in all those vast provinces of Asia,

spared no labour to reduce that perverse generation to the true knowledge

of Almighty God. He conversed often with those of that religion, and one

day found a favourable occasion of treating with them: Passing by a

monastery, where above two hundred Brachmans lived together, he was

visited by some of the chiefest, who had the curiosity to see a man whose

reputation was so universal. He received them with a pleasing

countenance, according to his custom; and having engaged them by little

and little, in a discourse concerning the eternal happiness of the soul,

he desired them to satisfy him what their gods commanded them to do, in

order to it after death. They looked a while on one another without

answering. At length a Brachman, who seemed to be fourscore years of age,

took the business upon himself, and said in a grave tone, that two things

brought a soul to glory, and made him a companion to the gods; the one

was to abstain from the murder of a cow, the other to give alms to the

Brachmans. All of them confirmed the old man's answer by their

approbation and applause, as if it had been an oracle given from the

mouths of their gods themselves.

Father Xavier took compassion on this their miserable blindness, and the

tears came into his eyes. He rose on the sudden, (for they had been all

sitting,) and distinctly repeated, in an audible tone, the apostles'

creed, and the ten commandments, making a pause at the end of every

article, and briefly expounding it, in their own language; after which he

declared to them what were heaven and hell, and by what actions the one

and other were deserved.

The Brachmans, who had never heard any thing of Christianity before, and

had been listening to the father with great admiration, rose up, as soon

as he had done speaking, and ran to embrace him, acknowledging, that the

God of the Christians was the true God, since his law was so conformable

to the principles of our inward light. Every one of them proposed divers

questions to him; if the soul were immortal, or that it perished with the

body, and in case that the soul died not, at what part of the body it

went out; if in our sleep we dreamed we were in a far country, or

conversed with an absent person, whether the soul went not out of the

body for that time; of what colour God was, whether black or white; their

doctors being divided on that point, the white men maintaining he was of

their colour, the black of theirs: the greatest part of the pagods for

that reason being black.

The father answered all their questions in a manner so suitable to their

gross understanding, which was ignorant alike of things divine and

natural, that they were highly satisfied with him. Seeing them instructed

and disposed in this sort, he exhorted them to embrace the faith of Jesus

Christ, and gave them to understand, that the truth being made known to

them, ignorance could no longer secure them from eternal punishment.

But what victory can truth obtain over souls which find their interest in

following error, and who make profession of deceiving the common people?

"They answered," said the saint in one of his letters, "that which many

Christians answer at this day, what will the world say of us if they see

us change? And after that, what will become of our families, whose only

subsistence is from the offerings which are made to the pagods? Thus,

human interest, and worldly considerations, made the knowledge of the

truth serve only to their greater condemnation."

Not long afterwards, Xavier had another conference with a Brachman, who

lived in the nature of an hermit. He passed for the oracle of the

country, and had been instructed in his youth at one of the most famous

academies of the East. He was one of those who was knowing in their most

hidden mysteries, which are never intrusted by the Brachmans, but to a

certain select number of their wise men. Xavier, who had heard speak of

him, was desirous to see him; and he, on his side, was as desirous to see

Xavier. The intention of the saint was to try, in bringing over this

Brachman, if he could gain the rest, who were proud of being his

disciples.

After the first civilities which commonly pass betwixt two men, who

mutually covet an acquaintance, and know each other by reputation, the

discourse fell upon religion; and the Brachman found in himself, at the

very first, so great an inclination for Xavier, that he could not conceal

from him those secrets which a religious oath had bound him never to

disclose to any. He confest plainly to him, that the idols were devils,

and that there was only one God, creator of the world, and that this

God alone deserved the adoration of men: that those who held the rank of

wisdom amongst the Brachmans, solemnized the Sunday in his honour as a

holiday; and that day they only said this prayer, "O God, I adore thee at

this present, and for ever:" that they pronounced those words softly,

for fear of being overheard, and to preserve the oath which they had

made, to keep them secret. "In fine," said he, "it is to be read in our

ancient writings, that all the false religions should one day cease, and

the whole world should observe one only law."

The Brachman having disclosed these mysteries to Father Xavier, desired

him, in his turn, to reveal to him what was most mysterious in the

Christian law; and to engage him to deal the more freely with him, and

without the least disguise, swore, that he would inviolably, and for

ever, keep the secret. "I am so far," said the father, "from obliging

you to silence, that I will inform you of nothing you desire to know, but

on condition that you shall publish in all places what I tell you." The

Brachman having given him his word, he began to instruct him by these

words of Jesus Christ; "He who will believe, and be baptized, shall be

saved." This he expounded to him at large; at the same time, declaring to

him how baptism was necessary to salvation: and passing from one article

of faith to another, he placed the truth of the gospel in so advantageous

a light before him, that the Brachman declared upon the place he would

become a Christian, provided he might be so in secret; and that he might

have a dispensation from some certain duties of Christianity.

This so wicked a disposition made him unworthy of the grace of baptism;

he remained unconverted. Notwithstanding which, he desired to have in

writing the apostles' creed, together with our Saviour's words, which had

been expounded to him.

He saw Father Xavier a second time, and told him he had dreamed he was

baptized, and that afterwards he became his companion, and that they

travelled together preaching the gospel in far countries; but this dream

had no effect, and the Brachman would never promise to teach the people,

that there was one only God, creator of the world, "or fear," says he,

"that if he broke that oath which obliged him to secrecy, the devil

should punish him with death."

Thus the master, though convinced, yet not submitting, the scholars all

stood out; and in the sequel, of so great a multitude of idol-priests,

not one embraced the Christian doctrine from the heart. Nevertheless,

Xavier, in their presence, wrought many miracles which were capable of

converting them. Having casually met a poor creature all naked, and full

of ulcers from head to foot, he washed him with his hands, drank part of

the water wherewith he had washed him, and prayed by him with wonderful

fervency; when he had ended his prayer, the flesh of the diseased person

was immediately healed, and appeared as clean as that of an infant.

The process of the saint's canonization makes mention of four dead

persons, to whom God restored their life, at this time, by the ministry

of his servant. The first was a catechist, called Antonio Miranda, who

had been stung in the night by one of those venomous serpents of the

Indies, whose stings are always mortal. The second was a child, who fell

into a pit, and was drowned. The two others were a young man and a maid,

whom a pestilential fever had carried off after a short sickness.

But these miracles, which gave to the father the name of saint among the

Christians, and caused him to be called the God of Nature amongst the

Gentiles, had no other effect upon the Brachmans than to harden their

hearts, and blind their understandings. Xavier, despairing of their

conversion, thought himself bound to publish all their wicked actions,

and bring them into disrepute. And he performed it so successfully, that

those men, who were had in veneration by the people, came to be despised

by all the world; insomuch, that even the children laughed at them, and

publicly upbraided them with their cheats. They began at first to

threaten the people, according to their custom, with the anger of their

pagods; but seeing their menaces turned to scorn, they made use of

another artifice, to regain their credit.

What malice soever they harboured in their hearts against Father Xavier,

they managed it so well, that, to see their conduct, they might have been

taken for his friends. They made him visits; desired him to have some

kindness for them; they gave him many commendations; they presented

him sometimes with pearls and money. But the father was inexorable; and

for their presents, he returned them without so much as looking on them.

The decrying of those idol-priests contributed not a little to the

destruction of idolatry through all that coast. The life which Xavier

led, contributed full as much. His food was the same with that of

the poorest people, rice and water. His sleep was but three hours at the

most, and that in a fisher's cabin on the ground: for he had soon made

away with the mattress and coverlet, which the viceroy had sent him from

Goa. The remainder of the night he passed with God, or with his

neighbour.

He owns himself, that his labours were without intermission; and that he

had sunk under so great hardships, if God had not supported him. For, to

say nothing of the ministry of preaching, and those other evangelical

functions, which employed him day and night, no quarrel was stirring, no

difference on foot, of which he was not chosen umpire. And because those

barbarians, naturally choleric, were frequently at odds, he appointed

certain hours, for clearing up their misunderstandings, and making

reconciliations. There was not any man fell sick, who sent not for him;

and as there were always many, and for the most part distant from each

other, in the scattering villages, his greatest sorrow was, that he could

not be present with them all. In the midst of all this hurry, he enjoyed

those spiritual refreshments and sweets of heaven, which God only bestows

on souls, who regard nothing but the cross; and the excess of those

delights was such, that he was often forced to desire the Divine Goodness

to moderate them; according to what himself testifies in a letter to his

father Ignatius, though written in general terms, and in the third

person.

Having related what he had performed in the coast of the Fishery, "I have

no more to add," says he, "concerning this country, but only that they

who come hither to labour in the salvation of idolaters, receive so much

consolation from above, that if there be a perfect joy on earth, it is

that they feel." He goes on, "I have sometimes heard a man saying thus to

God, O my Lord, give me not so much comfort in this life; or if, by an

excess of mercy, thou wilt heap it on me, take me to thyself, and make me

partaker of thy glory, for it is too great a punishment to live without

the sight of thee."

A year and more was already past since Xavier had laboured in the

conversion of the Paravas; and in all this time, his two companions, Paul

de Camerine, and Francis Mansilla, were not come to his assistance,

though they had been arrived at Goa some months since. The number of

Christians daily multiplying to a prodigy, and one only priest not being

sufficient to cultivate so many new converts in the faith, or advance

them in Christian piety, the saint thought it his duty to look out for

succour. And besides, having selected some young men, well-natured, and

of a good understanding, qualified for the studies of divinity, and human

sciences, who being themselves well modelled, might return with him to

instruct their countrymen; he was of opinion, that he ought to conduct

them himself, without deferring his voyage any longer.

On these considerations he put to sea, on his return, about the

conclusion of the year 1543; and having got to Cochin by mid-January, he

arrived at Goa not long after. For the better understanding of what

relates to the education of those young Indians, whom Xavier brought, it

will be necessary to trace that matter from its original.

Before the coming of Father Francis to the Indies, Christianity had made

but little progress in those countries; and of an infinite number of

Pagans, inhabiting the isle of Goa, and the parts adjoining, scarce any

man thought of forsaking his idolatry. In the year 1541, James de Borba,

a Portuguese preacher and divine, whom king John III. had sent to India,

searching out the cause of so great a misfortune, found, that it was not

only because the Europeans could not easily learn the Indian tongue, but

also, because if an Indian happened to be converted, they exercised no

charity towards him; and that the children of the faithful, who died

poor, were destitute of succour in their wants.

He gave notice of this to the grand vicar, Michael Vaz, to the auditor

general, Pedro Fernandez, to the deputy-governor, Rodriguez de Castel

Blanco, and to the secretary of state, Cosmo Annez, who were all of them

his particular friends, and virtuous men. These being in the government,

considered of the means to remedy the growing evil, the foundation of

which had been discovered to them by Borba; and he himself excited the

people to be instrumental in so good a work. For, one day preaching, he

passionately bemoaned the damnation of so many Indians, and charged it on

the conscience of his auditory, that the salvation of that idolatrous

people depended, in some sort, on them. "I pretend not," said he, "that

you should go yourselves to the conquest of souls, nor learn barbarous

languages on purpose, to labour in the conversion of Gentiles. What I beg

of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, is, that each of you would

contribute something towards the maintenance of the new Christians. You

will perform by that, what it is not in your power to do by the preaching

of the gospel; and gain, by your temporal goods, those immortal souls,

for which the Saviour of the world has shed his blood."

The Holy Spirit, who had inspired his tongue, gave efficacy to his words,

by touching the hearts of those who heard them. Many of them being joined

together, it was resolved to form a company, which should provide for the

subsistence of those young Indians newly converted; and that society at

first was called, the Brotherhood of St Mary of the Light, (or

Illumination,) from the name of that church where the fraternity

assembled, to regulate that new establishment.

It is true, that, as great works are not accomplished all at once, in the

beginning of this, there was only founded a small seminary, for the

children of Goa, and those of the neighbourhood; but the revenues were

increased so much afterwards by the liberality of Don Estevan de Gama,

governor of the Indies, and by the bounty of John III., king of Portugal,

that all the idolatrous children, who turned Christians, of what country

soever, were received into it.

There was also a fund sufficient for the building a fair house and a

magnificent church in a larger plot: and the seminary, over which Borba

presided, was then called, the Seminary of Holy Faith.

Matters being thus disposed, above threescore children, of divers

kingdoms, and nine or ten different languages, were assembled, to be

educated in piety and learning. But it was soon perceived, that these

children wanted masters, capable of instructing and forming them,

according to the intention of the institute. God Almighty had

pre-ordained the seminary of holy faith, for the Society of Jesus; and it

was by a particular disposition of the Divine Providence, that the same

year, wherein the seminary was established, brought over the sons of

Ignatius to the Indies.

Accordingly, when Xavier first arrived at Goa, Borba offered him the

conduct of this new establishment, and used his best endeavours to engage

him in it. Xavier, who found an inward call to something more important,

and who already was conceiving in his mind the conversion of a heathen

world, would not coop himself up within a town, but in his secret

intentions, designed one of his companions for that employment, which was

presented to himself. In the meantime, Borba wrote into Portugal, to

Simon Rodriguez, and earnestly desired from him some fathers of the new

society, "for whom" he said, "the Almighty had prepared a house in the

new world, before their coming."

During these transactions, Paul de Camerin and Francis Mansilla arrived

at Goa, from Mozambique: Borba retained them both in the seminary, by

permission from the viceroy; and that was the reason why they followed

not Father Xavier to the coast of Fishery.

Xavier put into the seminary those young Indians whom he had brought

along with him; and whatever want he had otherwise of his companions,

he gave the charge of the Seminarists to Father Paul de Camerin, at the

request of Borba, who had the chief authority in the seminary. For it was

not till the year 1548, after the death of Borba, that the company

possest it in propriety, and without dependence. It then received the

name of a college, and was called the college of St Paul, from the title

of the church, which was dedicated to the conversion of the apostle of

the Gentiles. From thence it also proceeded, that the Jesuits were called

in that country, the fathers of St Paul, or the fathers Paulists, as they

are called in that country even at this day.

Father Xavier remained but a little time at Goa; and returned with all

expedition to his Paravas, with the best provision of gospel labourers,

which he could make. He was then desirous of sending a missioner of the

company to the isle of Socotora, not being in circumstances of going

thither in person; for he had not forgotten the promise, which he made to

God in behalf of that people, when he left them. But the small number of

companions which he had, was not sufficient for the Indies; and it was

not till three or four years afterwards that he sent Father Alphonso

Ciprian to Socotora.

Besides Mansilla, who had not yet received the order of priesthood, he

carried with him to the coast of Fishery two priests, who were Indians by

nation, and one Biscayner, called John Dortiaga. When they were arrived

there, he visited all the villages with them; and taught them the method

of converting idolaters to the faith, and of confirming those who were

already Christians, in it. After which, having assigned to each of them a

division at his particular province in the coast, he entered farther into

the country; and, without any other guide than the spirit of God.

penetrated into a kingdom, the language of which was utterly Unknown to

him, as he wrote to Mansilla in these, terms.

"You may judge, what manner of life Head here, by what I shall relate to

you. I am wholly ignorant of the language of the people, and they

understand as little of mine; and I have no interpreter. All I can

perform, is to baptize children, and serve the sick, an employment easily

understood, without the help of an interpreter, by only minding what they

want."

This was the preaching by which he declared Jesus Christ, and made the

Christian law appear amiable in that kingdom. For amongst those

barbarians, who reduce all humanity to the notion of not being inhuman,

and who acknowledge no other duties of charity, than forbearing to do

injuries, it was a thing of admiration, to see a stranger, who, without

any interest, made the sufferings of another man his own; and performed

all sorts of services to the poor, as if he had been their father, or

their slave. The name of the country is neither known, nor the fruits

which these works of charity produced. It is only certain, that the saint

continued not there any long time; and that a troublesome affair recalled

him to the coast of Fishery, when it was least in his intentions to

return.

The Badages, who are a great multitude of robbers, in the kingdom of

Bisnagar, idolaters, and enemies of the Christian name, naturally fierce,

always quarrelling amongst themselves, and at war with their neighbours,

after they had seized, by force of arms, on the kingdom of Pande, which

is betwixt Malabar and the coasts of Fishery, made an irruption into the

said coast, in the absence of Xavier. The Paravas were under a terrible

consternation at the sight of those robbers, whose very name was

formidable to them, not daring so much as to gather into a body, nor to

hazard the first brunt of war. They took flight, and abandoned their

country, without any other thought than of saving their lives. In order

to which, they threw themselves by heaps into their barks, some of them

escaping into little desart islands, others hiding amongst the rocks and

banks of sand, betwixt Cape Comorin, and the Isle of Ceylon. These were

the places of their retreat, together with their wives and children,

while the Badages overran the coast, and destroyed their country.

But what profits it to have escaped the sword, when, they must die of

hunger? Those miserable creatures, exposed to the burning heats of the

sun, wanted nourishment in their isles, and on their rocks, and numbers

of them daily perished.

In the mean time, the news of this excursion of the robbers, and the

flight of the Christians, was spread about, and Xavier heard it in the

country where he then resided. The misfortunes of his dear Paravas

touched him in the most tender part. He made haste to their relief; and,

having been informed that they were pressed with famine, he passed

speedily to the western coast, and earnestly solicited the Portuguese to

supply them in this their extreme necessity. He obtained twenty barks,

laden with all manner of provision, and himself brought it to their

places of retreat, where the poor Paravas, as many as were left alive of

them, were languishing without hope of comfort, and expecting death to

end their misery.

The sight of the holy man, whom all of them regarded as their common

father, caused them to forget some part of their misfortune, and seemed

to restore them to life. He gave them all imaginable consolation; and,

when they had somewhat recovered their strength, he brought them back to

their habitations, from whence the Badages were retired. Those plunderers

had swept all away, and the Christians were more poor than ever; he

therefore procured alms for them, and wrote a letter earnestly to the

Christians of another coast, to supply their brethren in distress.

The Paravas being resettled by degrees, Xavier left them under the

conduct of the missioners, whom he had brought for them, and turned his

thoughts elsewhere. He was desirous to have carried the sound of the

gospel into the more inland countries, which had never heard of Jesus

Christ; yet he forbore it at that time, upon this account, that in

those kingdoms where there were no Portuguese to protect the new

Christians, the idolaters and Saracens would make war on them, or

constrain them to renounce their Christianity to buy their peace.

Returning therefore by the western coasts, which were in the possession

of the Portuguese, he travelled by land, and on foot, according to his

custom, towards the coast of Travancore, which beginning from the point

of Comorin, lies extended thirty leagues along by the sea, and is full of

villages.

Being come thither, and having, by the good offices of the Portuguese,

obtained permission from the king of Travancore to publish the law of the

true God, he followed the same method which he had used at the Fishery;

and that practice was so successful, that all that coast was converted to

Christianity in a little space of time, insomuch, that forty-five

churches were immediately built. He writes himself, "That in one month

he baptized, with his own hand, ten thousand idolaters; and that,

frequently, in one day, he baptized a well peopled village." He says

also, "that it was to him a most pleasing object, to behold, that so

soon as those infidels had received baptism, they ran, vying with each

other to demolish the temples of the idols."

It was at that time, properly speaking, when God first communicated to

Xavier the gift of tongues in the Indies; according to the relation of a

young Portuguese of Coimbra, whose name was Vaz, who attended him in many

of his travels, and who being returned into Europe, related those

passages, of which himself had been an eye witness. The holy man spoke

very well the language of those barbarians, without having learnt it, and

had no need of an interpreter when he instructed. There being no church

which was capable of containing those who came to hear him, he led them

into a spacious plain, to the number of five or six thousand persons, and

there getting up into a tree, that he might the farther extend his voice,

he preached to them the words of eternal truth. There it was also, that

to the end the compass of the plain might serve in the nature of a

church, he sometimes celebrated the divine mysteries under the sails of

ships, which were spread above the altar, to be seen on every side.

The Brachmans could not suffer the worship of the pagods to be abandoned

in this manner; but were resolved to be revenged on the author of so

strange an alteration. In order to execute their design, they secretly

engaged some idolaters to lie in wait for him, and dispatch him

privately. The murderers lay in ambush more than once, and in the silence

of the night endeavoured to shoot him with their arrows. But divine

Providence would not suffer their malice to take place; of all their

arrows, one only wounded him, and that but slightly; as it were rather to

give him the satisfaction of shedding some blood in testimony of the

faith, than to endanger his life.

Enraged and desperate for having missed their aim, they sought him

everywhere; and not finding him, they set fire on three or four houses,

where they thought he might possibly be lodged. The man of God was

constrained one day to hide in the covert of a forest, and passed the

following night upon a tree, to escape the fury of his enemies, who

searched the whole forest to have found him. There was a necessity

sometimes that the faithful should keep guard about him day and night,

and to that purpose they placed themselves in arms about the house where

he was retired.

In the meantime, the Badages, who had ravaged the coast of Fishery the

year before, animated of themselves against the Christians, and perhaps

pushed forward by the devils, who saw their empire decaying day by day,

excited also by the desire of glory, and above all things by the hope of

booty, entered into the kingdom of Travancore, on the side of one of

those mountains-which confine on the cape of Comorin. Their former

success had rendered them so haughty and so insolent, that they flattered

themselves with an imagination that every thing would bend before them.

But not having now to do, as they had before, with simple fishers, they

were come in good order, and well armed, under the conduct of the Naiche,

or lord of Modure, a valiant and experienced captain.

The inhabitants of the maritime villages took fright at the noise of an

hostile army; and retiring, for the most part with great haste and

confusion into the inland country, carried even to the court the news of

the invasion.

The king of Travancore, whom the Portuguese call the Great Monarch,

because indeed he is the most powerful of all the kings of Malabar,

collecting his army with all speed, put himself at the head of it, and

marched towards the enemy. The battle, in all appearance, was likely to

be bloody, and the victory seemed assured to those vagabond robbers, who

were more in number, and better disciplined.

Father Xavier, so soon as he understood that the Badages were drawing

near, falling prostrate on the ground, "O Lord," said he; "remember that

thou art the God of mercies, and protector of the faithful: give not up

to the fury of these wolves that flock, of which thou hast appointed me

the pastor; that these new Christians, who are yet so feeble in the

faith, may not repent their embracing it, and that the infidels may not

have the advantage of oppressing those, who repose their confidence in

none but thee."

His prayer being ended, he arose, and inspired with a more than human

courage, which made him incapable of fear, he takes a troop of fervant

Christians, and, with a crucifix in his hand, runs with them towards the

plain, where the enemies were marching in battalia. When he arrived

within distance of being heard, he stopped and said to them, in a

threatening voice, "I forbid you, in the name of the living God, to pass

farther, and on his part, command you to return the way you came."

These few words cast a terror into the minds of those soldiers who were

at the head of the army; they remained confounded, and without motion.

They, who marched after them, seeing the foremost advanced not, asked the

reason of it; answer was returned from the first ranks, that they had

before their eyes an unknown person habited in black, of a more than

human stature, of a terrible aspect, and darting fire from his eyes. The

most hardy were desirous to satisfy themselves concerning what was told

them; they were seized with amazement at the sight, and all of them fled

with a precipitate confusion.

The new Christians who had followed Xavier, ran to declare to the

neighbouring villages this wonderful event. The fame of it was suddenly

spread abroad, and the king, who was marching towards the enemy with

great speed, heard the report of it on his way. He caused Xavier to be

brought into his presence, and embraced him as the redeemer of

Travancore; and after he had publicly thanked him for so eminent a

service, he said thus to him: "I am called the Great Monarch; and, from

henceforth, you shall be called the Great Father."

The saint gave the king to understand, that it was only Jesus Christ to

whom he ought to pay his acknowledgments; and, as for himself, he ought

only to be regarded as a weak instrument, who could do nothing of his own

power. The Pagan king comprehended nothing of his meaning; and the two

vices which are the common obstacles to the conversion of the great, that

is to say, the concupiscence of the flesh, and pride of heart, hindered

him afterwards from embracing of the faith; which notwithstanding, he

caused an edict to be published throughout his kingdom, whereby all men

were commanded to obey the Great Father, as they would his proper person;

and that whoever desired to be a Christian, might be so without any

apprehension of danger to ensue. He went so far as even to call Xavier

his brother; and bestowed on him large sums of money, all which the

servant of God employed in charities on the poor.

An edict so favourable to the law of our belief, made many Christians

even in the court, though contrary to the example of the prince. But the

miraculous actions of Xavier finished the conversion of the whole

kingdom. Besides his curing all sorts of diseases, he raised four persons

from the dead, two women and two men. The act of canonization relates no

more of the resurrection of the women, but the bare matter of fact,

without any circumstances; but the resurrection of the men is related at

large, of which the substance is in the ensuing account.

Xavier preached in one of the maritime villages of Travancore, called

Coulan, near Cape Comoriu. Some were converted by his first sermons; but

the greater party remained in their ancient superstition, after having

often heard him. The most obstinate, it is true, listened to him with

delight, and found the maxims of the gospel to be most conformable to the

light of reason: but the pleasure which they took in hearing, produced

nothing; and they satisfied themselves with admiring the Christian law,

without troubling themselves to follow it.

The father one day finding, that he spoke to them of God without working

any thing upon their hearts, prayed fervently to the Almighty in their

behalf; and, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, his countenance more than

ordinarily inflamed, and with abundance of tears, besought him to take

pity on those obstinate idolaters. "O Lord," said he, "all hearts are in

thy hands; thou canst bend, as it pleases thee, the most stubborn, and

soften the most obdurate; do that honour, on this day, to the blood and

the name of thy beloved Son." Scarcely had he ended his prayer, when he

was assured it was answered: turning himself to his audience, with the

air of one inspired, "Well," said he, "since you will not believe me on

my word, behold that which will make me be believed. What testimony do

you desire from me, of those truths which I have declared to you?" At the

same instant he recalled to his remembrance, that a man had been there

buried the day before. Then resuming his discourse in the same tone that

he began it, "Open," said he, "the sepulchre which you closed yesterday,

and bring out the body; but observe carefully, whether he who was buried

be truly dead."

The most incredulous ran hastily to take up the corpse; far from finding

any the least sign of life, they perceived it began to putrify with a

noisome scent. They took off the linen in which he was wrapped, and laid

the dead man at the feet of the father, who was come to the place of

burial. The barbarians gazed with astonishment on the dead body, and

impatiently expected the event. The saint fell upon his knees, and, after

a short prayer, addressing himself to the dead, "I command thee," said

he, "in the holy name of the living God, to arise, for the confirmation

of that religion which I preach." At these words, the dead arose of

himself, and appeared not only living, but vigorous, and in perfect

health. All who were present cried out, with a loud voice, "That the God

of the Christians was omnipotent; and that the law which the great Father

preached was true." In consequence of which, they threw themselves at his

feet, desired baptism, and received it on the place.

The other dead person whom the apostle raised to life, was a young man,

and a Christian, who died at Mutan, on the same coast, betwixt Carjapatan

and Alicale. He had been dead above four-and-twenty hours, of a

pestilential fever. Xavier met the corpse by chance, as they were

carrying it to the grave. The parents of the dead man, who were of the

greatest quality in all the country, accompanied the funeral pomp, with

all their kindred, according to the custom of that nation. As comfortless

as they were, yet upon sight of the saint, they recovered courage, and,

embracing his knees, implored him to restore their son to life; being

persuaded, that what was not to be effected by the power of nature, would

cost him only a word speaking. Xavier, moved by their affliction, and

excited by their faith, begged the assistance of the Most High, made the

sign of the cross, and threw holy water on the dead, after which he took

him by the hand, raised him up in the name of the Lord, and restored him

living to his father and mother.

To preserve the memory of an action so wonderful and so authentic, the

parents of the man they raised erected a great cross on the place where

the miracle was done; and were accustomed afterwards to go often thither,

and pray to God before it. These resurrections were so famous through all

the country, and made so great impressions on the souls of the

inhabitants, that the people came thronging from all parts to behold the

great Father, and to receive baptism from his hands; insomuch, that the

whole kingdom of Travancore was Subjected to Christ Jesus in few months;

and the king, with some few of his chief courtiers, were the only

remaining idolaters in the land, by a terrible judgment of Almighty God,

who sometimes abandons princes to their unruly passions, and departs from

the great, while he communicates himself to those of the lowest quality.

THE LIFE OF ST FRANCIS XAVIER.