some manner, lord of the city. At the very first, he rooted out an
established custom, which permitted the young maids to go in the habit of
boys whenever they pleased, which occasioned a world of scandal. He drove
out of doors the concubines, or turned them into lawful wives, according
to his former method. As for the children, who had no knowledge of God,
and who learnt songs of ribaldry and obsceneness as soon as they began to
speak, he formed them so well in a little time, that they publicly
recited the Christian doctrine, and set up little altars in the streets,
about which they sung together the hymns of the Catholic church. But that
in which he was most successful, was to restore the practice of
confession, which was almost entirely lost. But now men and women crowded
the tribunal of holy penitence, and the Father was not able to supply the
necessities of so many.
He laboured in the knowledge of the Malaya tongue, which is spoken in all
the isles beyond Malacca, and is as it were the universal language. His
first care was to have a little catechism translated into it, being the
same he had composed on the coast of Fishery; together with a more ample
instruction, which treated of the principal duties of Christianity. He
learnt all this without book; and, to make himself the better understood,
he took a particular care of the pronunciation.
With these helps, and the assistance of interpreters, who were never
wanting to him at his need, he converted many idolaters, as also
Mahometans and Jews; amongst the rest, a famous rabbi, who made a public
adjuration of Judaism. This rabbi, who before had taken for so many
fables, or juggling tricks, all those wonders which are reported to have
been done by Xavier, now acknowledged them for truths by the evidence of
his own eyes: for the saint never wrought so many miracles as at Malacca.
The juridical depositions of witnesses then living, have assured us, that
all sick persons whom he did but touch, were immediately cured, and that
his hands had an healing virtue against all distempers. One of his most
famous cures, was that of Antonio Fernandez, a youth not above fifteen
years of age, who was sick to death. His mother, a Christian by
profession, but not without some remainders of paganism in her heart,
seeing that all natural remedies were of no effect, had recourse to
certain enchantments frequently practised amongst the heathens, and sent
for an old sorceress, who was called Nai. The witch made her magical
operations on a lace braided of many threads, and tied it about the arm
of the patient. But instead of the expected cure, Fernandez lost his
speech, and was taken with such violent convulsions, that the physicians
were called again, who all despaired of his recovery. It was expected
every moment he should breath his last, when a Christian lady, who
happened to come in, said to the mother of the dying youth, "Why do you
not send for the holy Father? he will infallibly cure him." She gave
credit to her words, and sent for Xavier. He was immediately there:
Fernandez, who had lost his senses, and lay gasping in death, began to
cry out, and make violent motions, so soon as the Father had set his foot
within the doors; but when he came into the room, and stood before the
youth, he fell into howlings and dreadful wreathings of his body, which
redoubled at the sight of the cross that was presented to him. Xavier
doubted not but there was something of extraordinary in his disease, nor
even that God, for the punishment of the mother, who had made use of
diabolical remedies, had delivered her son to the evil spirits. He fell
on his knees by the bed-side, read aloud the passion of our Lord, hung
his reliquiary about the neck of the sick person, and sprinkled him with
holy water. This made the fury of the devil cease; and the young man,
half dead, lay without motion as before. Then Xavier rising up, "get him
somewhat to eat," said he, and told them what nourishment he thought
proper for him. After which, addressing himself to the father of the
youth, "when your son," added he, "shall be in condition to walk, lead
him yourself, for nine days successively, to the church of our Lady of
the Mount, where to-morrow I will say mass for him." After this he
departed, and the next day, while he was celebrating the divine
sacrifice, Fernandez on the sudden came to himself, spoke very sensibly,
and perfectly recovered his former health.
But how wonderful soever the cure of this youth appeared in the eyes of
all men, the resurrection of a young maid was of greater admiration.
Xavier was gone on a little journey, somewhere about the neighbourhood of
Malacca, to do a work of charity when this girl died. Her mother, who had
been in search of the holy man during her daughter's sickness, came to
him after his return, and throwing herself at his feet all in tears, said
almost the same words to him which Martha said formerly to our Lord,
"That if he had been in town, she, who was now dead, had been alive; but
if he would call upon the name of Jesus Christ, the dead might be
restored to life." Xavier was overjoyed to behold so great faith in a
woman, who was but lately baptized, and judged her worthy of that
blessing which she begged. After having lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and silently prayed to God some little space, he turned towards her, and
said to her, with much assurance, "Go, your daughter is alive." The poor
mother seeing the saint offered not to go with her to the place of
burial, replied, betwixt hope and fear, "That it was three days since her
daughter was interred." "It is no matter," answered Xavier, "open the
sepulchre, and you shall find her living." The mother, without more
reply, ran, full of confidence, to the church, and, in presence of many
persons, having caused the grave-stone to be removed, found her daughter
living.
While these things passed at Malacca, a ship from Goa brought letters to
Father Xavier from Italy and Portugal; which informed him of the happy
progress of the society of Jesus, and what it had already performed in
Germany for the public service of the church. He was never weary of
reading those letters; he kissed them, and bedewed them with his tears,
imagining himself either with his brethren in Europe, or them present
with himself in Asia. He had news at the same time, that there was
arrived a supply of three missioners, whom Father Ignatius had sent him;
and that Don John de Castro, who succeeded Alphonso de Sosa, in the
government of the Indies, had brought them in his company. These
missioners were Antonio Criminal, Nicholas Lancilotti, and John Beyra,
all three priests; the two first Italians, and the last a Spaniard:
apostolical men, and of eminent virtue, particularly Criminal, who, of
all the children of Ignatius, was the first who was honoured with the
crown of martyrdom. Xavier disposed of them immediately, commanding, by
his letters, "That Lancilotti should remain in the seminary of holy
faith, there to instruct the young Indians in the knowledge of the Latin
tongue, and that the other two should go to accompany Francis Mansilla on
the coast of Fishery."
For himself, having waited three months for news from Macassar, when he
saw the season proper for the return of the ship, which the Governor of
Malacca had sent, was now expired, and that no vessel was come from those
parts, he judged, that Providence would not make use of him at present,
for the instruction of those people, who had a priest already with them.
Nevertheless, that he might be more at hand to succour them, whenever it
pleased God to furnish him with an occasion, it was in his thoughts to go
to the neighbouring islands of that coast, which were wholly destitute of
gospel ministers.
God Almighty at that time revealed to him the calamities which threatened
Malacca; both the pestilence and the war, with which it was to be
afflicted in the years ensuing; and the utter desolation, to which it
should one day be reduced for the punishment of its crimes. For the
inhabitants, who, since the arrival of the Father, had reformed their
mariners, relapsed insensibly into their vices, and became more dissolute
than ever, as it commonly happens to men of a debauched life, who
constrain themselves for a time, and whom the force of ill habits draws
backward into sin. Xavier failed not to denounce the judgments of God to
them, and to exhort them to piety, for their own interest. But his
threatenings and exhortations were of no effect: and this it was that
made him say of Malacca the quite contrary of what he had said concerning
Meliapor, that he had not seen, in all the Indies, a more wicked town.
He embarked for Amboyna the 1st of January, 1546, with John Deyro, in a
ship which was bound for the Isle of Banda. The captain of the vessel was
a Portuguese; the rest, as well mariners as soldiers, were Indians; all
of them almost of several countries, and the greatest part Mahometans, or
Gentiles. The saint converted them to Jesus Christ during the voyage; and
what convinced the infidels of the truth of Christianity, was, that when
Father Xavier expounded to them the mysteries of Christianity in one
tongue, they understood him severally, each in his own language, as if he
had spoken at once in many tongues.
They had been already six weeks at sea, without discovering Amboyna; the
pilot was of opinion they had passed it, and was in pain concerning it,
not knowing how to tack about, because they had a full fore-wind. Xavier
perceiving the trouble of the pilot, "Do not vex yourself," said he, "we
are yet in the Gulph; and to-morrow, at break of day, we shall be in view
of Amboyna." In effect, at the time mentioned, the next morning, they saw
that island. The pilot being unwilling to cast anchor, Father Xavier,
with some of the passengers, were put into a skiff, and the ship pursued
its course. When the skiff was almost ready to land, two light vessels of
pirates, which usually cruised on that coast, appeared on the sudden, and
pursued them swiftly. Not hoping any succour from the ship, which was
already at a great distance from them, and being also without defence,
they were forced to put off from shore, and ply their oars towards the
main sea, insomuch that the pirates soon lost sight of them. After they
had escaped the danger, they durst not make to land again, for fear the
two vessels should lie in wait to intercept them at their return. But the
Father assured the mariners, they had no further cause of fear: turning
therefore towards the island, they landed there in safety, on the 16th of
February.
The Isle of Amboyna is distant from Malacca about two hundred and fifty
leagues; it is near thirty leagues in compass, and is famous for the
concourse of merchants, who frequent it from all parts. The Portuguese,
who conquered it during the time that Antonio Galvan was governor of
Ternate, had a garrison in it; besides which, there were in the island
seven villages of Christians, natives of the place, but without any
priest, because the only one in the island was just dead. Xavier began to
visit these villages, and immediately baptized many infants, who died
suddenly after they were christened. "As if," says he himself in one of
his letters, "the Divine Providence had only so far prolonged their
lives, till the gate of heaven were opened to them."
Having been informed, that sundry of the inhabitants had retired
themselves from the sea-side into the midst of the woods, and caves of
the mountains, to shelter themselves from the rage of the barbarians,
their neighbours and their enemies, who robbed the coasts, and put to the
sword, or made slaves of all who fell into their hands, he went in search
of those poor savages, amidst the horror of their rocks and forests; and
lived with them as much as was necessary, to make them understand the
duties of Christianity, of which the greatest part of them was ignorant.
After having instructed the faithful, he applied himself to preach the
gospel to the idolaters and Moors; and God so blessed the endeavours of
his servant, that the greatest part of the island became Christians. He
built churches in every village, and made choice of the most reasonable,
the most able, and the most fervent, to be masters over the rest, till
there should arrive a supply of missioners. To which purpose he wrote to
Goa, and commanded Paul de Camerine to send him Francis Mansilla, John
Beyra, and one or two more of the first missioners which should arrive
from Europe: he charged Mansilla, in particular, to come. His design was
to establish in one of those isles a house of the company, which should
send out continual supplies of labourers, for the publication of the
gospel, through all that Archipelago.
While Xavier laboured in this manner at Amboyna, two naval armies arrived
there; one of Portugal with three ships, the other of Spaniards with six
men of war. The Spaniards were come from Nueva Espagna, or Mexico, for
the conquest of the Moluccas, in the name of the emperor Charles the
Fifth, as they pretended; but their enterprise succeeded not. After two
years cruising, and long stay with the king of Tidore, who received them,
to give jealousy to the Portuguese, who were allied to the king of
Ternate, his enemy, they took their way by Amboyna, to pass into the
Indies, and from thence to Europe. They were engaged in an unjust
expedition against the rights of Portugal, and without order from Charles
the Fifth; for that emperor, to whom King John the Third addressed his
complaints thereupon, disavowed the proceedings of his subjects, and gave
permission, that they should be used like pirates.
Yet the Portuguese proceeded not against them with that severity. But it
seems that God revenged their quarrel, in afflicting the Spaniards with a
contagious fever, which destroyed the greatest part of their fleet. It
was a sad spectacle to behold the mariners and soldiers, lying here and
there in their ships, or on the shore, in cabins, covered only with
leaves. The disease which consumed them, kept all men at a distance from
them; and the more necessity they had of succour, the less they found
from the people of the island.
At the first report which came to Xavier of this pestilence, he left all
things to relieve them; and it is scarce to be imagined, to what actions
his charity led him on this occasion. He was day and night in a continual
motion, at the same time administering to their bodies and their souls;
assisting the dying, burying the dead, and interring them even with his
own hands. As the sick bad neither food nor physic, he procured both for
them from every side; and he who furnished him the most, was a
Portuguese, called John d'Araus, who came in his company from Malacca to
Amboyna. Nevertheless the malady still increasing day by day, Araus
began to fear he should impoverish himself by these charities; and from a
tender-hearted man, became so hard, that nothing more was to be squeezed
out of him. One day Xavier sent to him for some wine, for a sick man who
had continual faintings: Araus gave it, but with great reluctance, and
charged the messenger to trouble him no more; that he had need of the
remainder for his own use; and when his own was at an end, whither should
he go for a supply? These words were no sooner related to Father Francis,
than inflamed with a holy indignation, "What," says he, "does Araus think
of keeping his wine for himself, and refusing it to the members of Jesus
Christ! the end of his life is very near, and after his death all his
estate shall be distributed amongst the poor." He denounced death to him
with his own mouth; and the event verified the prediction, as the sequel
will make manifest.
Though the pestilence was not wholly ceased, and many sick were yet
aboard the vessels, the Spanish fleet set sail for Goa, forced to it by
the approach of winter, which begins about May in those quarters. Father
Xavier made provisions for the necessities of the soldiers, and furnished
them, before their departure, with all he could obtain from the charity
of the Portuguese. He recommended them likewise to the charity of his
friends at Malacca, where the navy was to touch; and wrote to Father Paul
de Camerine at Goa, that he should not fail to lodge in the college of
the company, those religious of the order of St Augustin, who came along
with the army from Mexico, and that he should do them all the good
offices, which their profession, and their virtue, claimed from him.
After the Spaniards were departed, Xavier made some little voyages to
places near adjoining to Amboyna; and visited some islands, which were
half unpeopled, and desart, waiting the convenience of a ship to
transport him to the Moluccas, which are nearer to Macassar than Amboyna.
One of those isles is Baranura, where he miraculously recovered his
crucifix, in the manner I am going to relate, according to the account
which was given of it by a Portuguese, called Fausto Rodriguez, who was a
witness of the fact, has deposed it upon oath, and whose juridical
testimony is in the process of the saint's canonization.
"We were at sea," says Rodriguez, "Father Francis, John Raposo, and
myself, when there arose a tempest, which alarmed all the mariners. Then
the Father drew from his bosom a little crucifix, which he always carried
about him, and leaning over deck, intended to have dipt it into the sea;
but the crucifix dropt out of his hand, and was carried off by the waves.
This loss very sensibly afflicted him, and he concealed not his sorrow
from us. The next morning we landed on the island of Baranura; from the
time when the crucifix was lost, to that of our landing, it was near
twenty-four hours, during which we were in perpetual danger. Being on
shore, Father Francis and I walked along by the sea side, towards the
town of Tamalo, and had already walked about 500 paces, when both of us
beheld, arising out of the sea, a crab-fish, which carried betwixt his
claws the same crucifix raised on high. I saw the crab-fish come directly
to the Father, by whose side I was, and stopped before him. The Father,
falling on his knees, took his crucifix, after which the crab-fish
returned into the sea. But the Father still continuing in the same humble
posture, hugging and kissing the crucifix, was half an hour praying with
his hands across his breast, and myself joining with him in thanksgiving
to God for so evident a miracle; after which we arose, and continued on
our way." Thus you have the relation of Rodriguez.
They staid eight days upon the island, and afterwards set sail for
Rosalao, where Xavier preached at his first coming, as he had done at
Baranura. But the idolaters, who inhabited these two islands, being
extremely vicious, altogether brutal, and having nothing of human in them
besides the figure, gave no credit to his words; and only one man amongst
them, more reasonable than all the rest, believed in Jesus Christ.
Insomuch, that the holy apostle, at his departure from Rosalao, took off
his shoes, and shook off the dust, that he might not carry any thing away
with him, which belonged to that execrable land.
Truly speaking, the conversion of that one man was worth that of many.
The saint gave him in baptism his own name of Francis; and foretold him,
that he should die most piously, in calling upon the name of Jesus. The
prophecy was taken notice of, which has recommended the fame of this new
convert to posterity, and which was not accomplished till after forty
years. For this Christian, forsaking his barbarous island, and turning
soldier, served the Portuguese, on divers occasions, till in the year
1588 he was wounded to death in a battle given by Don Sancho
Vasconcellos, governor of Amboyna, who made war with the Saracen Hiamo.
Francis was carried off into the camp; and many, as well Indians as
Portuguese, came about him, to see the accomplishment of the prediction,
made by the blessed Francis Xavier. All of them beheld the soldier dying,
with extraordinary signs of piety, and crying, without ceasing, "Jesus,
assist me!"
The island of Ulate, which is better peopled, and less savage than those
of Baranura and Rosalao, was not so deaf nor so rebellious to the voice
of the holy man. He found it all in arms, and the king of it besieged in
his town, ready to be surrendered, neither through want of courage, nor
of defendants, but of water; because the enemy had cut off the springs,
and there was no likelihood of rain; insomuch, that during the great
heats, both men and horses were in danger of perishing by thirst.
The opportunity appeared favourable to Father Xavier, for gaining the
vanquished party to Jesus Christ, and perhaps all the conquerors. Full of
a noble confidence in God, he found means to get into the town; and being
presented to the king, offered to supply him with what he most wanted.
"Suffer me," said he, "to erect a cross, and trust in the God, whom I
come to declare to you. He is the Lord and Governor of nature, who,
whenever he pleases, can open the fountains of heaven, and water the
earth. But, in case the rain should descend upon you, give me your
promise, to acknowledge his power, and that you, with your subjects, will
receive his law." In the extremity to which the king was then reduced, he
consented readily to the Father's conditions; and also obliged himself,
on the public faith, to keep his word, provided Xavier failed not on his
part of the promised blessing. Then Xavier causing a great cross to be
made, set it up, on the highest ground of all the town; and there, on his
knees, amongst a crowd of soldiers, and men, women, and children,
attracted by the novelty of the sight, as much as by the expected
succour, he offered to God the death of his only son, and prayed him, by
the merits of that crucified Saviour, who had poured out his blood for
the sake of all mankind, not to deny a little water, for the salvation of
an idolatrous people.
Scarcely had the saint begun his prayer, when the sky began to be
overcast with clouds; and by that time he had ended it, there fell down
rain in great abundance, which lasted so long, till they had made a
plentiful provision of water. The enemy, now hopeless of taking the town,
immediately decamped; and the king, with all his people, received
baptism from the hand of Father Xavier. He commanded also, that all the
neighbouring islands, who held of him should adore Christ Jesus, and
engaged the saint to go and publish the faith amongst them. Xavier
employed three months and more in these little voyages; after which,
returning to Amboyna, where he had left his companion, John Deyro,
to cultivate the new-growing Christianity, and where he left him also for
the same intention, embarked on a Portuguese vessel, which was setting
sail for the Moluccas.
That which is commonly called by the name of the Moluccas, is a country
on the Oriental Ocean, divided into many little islands, situated near,
the equator, exceeding fruitful in cloves, and famous for the trade of
spices. There are five principal islands of them, Ternate, Tidor, Motir,
Macian, and Bacian. The first of these is a degree and a half distant
from the equinoctial to the north, the rest follow in the order above
named, and all five are in sight of one another. These are those
celebrated islands, concerning which Ferdinand Magellan raised so many
disputes amongst the geographers, and so many quarrels betwixt Spain and
Portugal. For the Portuguese having discovered them from the east, and
the Spaniards from the west, each of them pretended to inclose them,
within their conquests, according to the lines of longitude which they
drew.
Ternate is the greatest of the Moluccas, and it was on that side that
Father Xavier took his course. He had a gulph to pass of ninety leagues,
exceedingly dangerous, both in regard of the strong tides, and the
uncertain winds, which are still raising tempests, though the sea be
never so calm. The ship which carried the Father was one of those
vessels, which, in those parts, are called caracores, of a long and
narrow built, like gallies, and which use indifferently sails and oars.
Another vessel of the same make carried a Portuguese, called John Galvan,
having aboard her all his goods. They set out together from Amboyna,
keeping company by the way, and both of them bound for the port of
Ternate.
In the midst of the gulph, they were surprised with a storm, which parted
them so far, that they lost sight of each other. The caracore of Xavier,
after having been in danger of perishing many times, was at length saved,
and recovered the port of Ternate by a kind of miracle: as for that of
Galvan, it was not known what became of her, and the news concerning her
was only brought by an evident revelation.
The first saint's day, when the Father preached to the people, he stopped
short in the middle of his discourse, and said, after a little pause,
"Pray to God for the soul of John Galvan, who is drowned in the gulph."
Some of the audience, who were friends of Galvan, and interested in the
caracore, ran to the mariners, who had brought the Father, and demanded
of them, if they knew any certain news of this tragical adventure? They
answered, "that they knew no more than that the storm had separated the
two vessels." The Portuguese recovered courage at those words, and
imagined that Father Francis had no other knowledge than the seamen. But
they were soon undeceived by the testimony of their own eyes; for three
days after, they saw, washed on the shore, the corpse of Galvan, and the
wreck of the vessel, which the sea had thrown upon the coast.
Very near this time, when Xavier was saying mass, turning to the people
to say the Orate Fratres, he added, "pray also for John Araus, who is
newly dead at Amboyna." They who were present observed punctually the day
and hour, to see if what the Father had said would come to pass: ten
or twelve days after, there arrived a ship from Amboyna, and the truth
was known not only by divers letters, but confirmed also by a Portuguese,
who had seen Araus die at the same moment when Xavier exhorted the people
to pray to God to rest his soul. This Araus was the merchant which
refused to give wine for the succour of the sick, in the Spanish fleet,
and to whom the saint had denounced a sudden death. He fell sick after
Xavier's departure; and having neither children nor heirs, all his goods
were distributed amongst the poor, according to the custom of the
country.
The shipwreck of Galvan, and the death of Araus, gave great authority to
what they had heard at Ternate, concerning the holiness of Father
Francis, and from the very first gained him an exceeding reputation. And
indeed it was all necessary; I say not for the reformation of vice in
that country, but to make him even heard with patience by a dissolute
people, which committed, without shame, the most enormous crimes, and
such as modesty forbids to name.
To understand how profitable the labours of Father Xavier were to those
of Ternate, it is sufficient to tell what he has written himself: "That
of an infinite number of debauched persons living in that island when he
landed there, all excepting two had laid aside their wicked courses
before his departure. The desire of riches was extinguished with the love
of pleasures. Restitutions were frequently made, and such abundant alms
were given, that the house of charity, set up for the relief of the
necessitous, from very poor, which it was formerly, was put into stock,
and more flourishing than ever."
The change of manners, which was visibly amongst the Christians, was of
no little service to the conversion of Saracens and idolaters. Many of
those infidels embraced Christianity. But the most illustrious conquest
of the saint, was of a famous Saracen lady, called Neachile Pocaraga,
daughter to Almanzor, king of Tidore, and wife to Boliefe, who was king
of Ternate, before the Portuguese had conquered the island. She was a
princess of great wit and generosity, but extremely bigotted to her sect,
and a mortal enemy to the Christians, that is to say, to the Portuguese.
Her hatred to them was justly grounded; for, having received them into
her kingdom with great civility, and having also permitted them to
establish themselves in one part of the island, for the convenience of
their trade, she was dealt with so hardly by them, that, after the death
of the king, her husband, she had nothing left her but the bare title of
a queen; and by their intrigues, the three princes, her sons, lost the
crown, their liberty, and their lives. Her unhappy fortune constrained
her to lead a wandering life, from isle to isle. But Providence, which
would accomplish on her its good designs, brought her back at last to
Ternate, about the time when Xavier came thither. She lived there in the
condition of a private person, without authority, yet with splendour; and
retaining still in her countenance and behaviour, somewhat of that
haughty air, which the great sometimes maintain, even in their fetters.
The saint gained access to her, and found an opportunity of conversing
with her. In his first discourse, he gave her a great idea of the kingdom
of God; yet withal informed her, that this kingdom, was not difficult to
obtain; and that being once in possession of it, there was no fear of
being after dispossessed. Insomuch, that the Saracen princess, who had no
hopes remaining of aught on earth, turned her thoughts and her desires
towards heaven. It is true, that, as she was endued with a great wit, and
was very knowing in the law of Mahomet, there was some need of
argumentation; but the Father still clearing all her doubts, the dispute
only served to make her understand more certainly the falseness of the
Alcoran, and the truth of the gospel. She submitted to the saint's
reasons, or rather to the grace of Jesus Christ, and was publicly
baptized by the apostle himself, who gave her the name of Isabella.
He was not satisfied with barely making her a Christian. He saw in her a
great stock of piety, an upright heart, a tenderness of mind,
inclinations truly great and noble, which he cultivated with admirable
care, and set her forward, by degrees, in the most sublime and solid ways
of a spiritual life: So that Neachile, under the conduct of Father
Xavier, arrived to a singular devotion; that is to say, she grew humble
and modest, from disdainful; and haughty as she was, mild to others, and
severe to herself, suffering her misfortunes without complaint of
injuries; united to God in her retirements, and not appearing publicly,
but to exercise the deeds of charity to her neighbour; but more esteemed
and honoured, both by the Indians and Portuguese, than when she sat upon
the throne, in all the pomp and power of royalty.
During the abode which Xavier made in Ternate, he heard speak of certain
isles, which are distant from it about sixty leagues eastward; and which
take their name from the principal, commonly called the Isle del Moro. It
was reported to him, that those islanders, barbarians as they were, had
been most of them baptized, but that the faith had been abolished there
immediately after it was introduced, and this account he heard of it.
The inhabitants of Momoya, which is a town in the Isle del Moro, would
never embrace the law of Mahomet, though all the neighbouring villages
had received it. And the prince, or lord of that town, who chose rather
to continue an idolater, than to become a Mahometan, being molested by
the Saracens, had recourse to the governor of Ternate, who was called
Tristan d'Atayda, promising, that himself and his subjects would turn
Christians, provided the Portuguese would take them into their
protection. Atayda receiving favourably those propositions of the prince
of Momoya, the prince came in person to Ternate, and desired baptism;
taking then, the name of John, in honour of John III., king of Portugal.
At his return to Momoya, he took along with him a Portuguese priest,
called Simon Vaz, who converted many idolaters to the faith. The number
of Christians, thus daily increasing more and more, another priest,
called Francis Alvarez, came to second Vaz, and both of them laboured so
happily in conjunction, that the whole people of Momoya renounced
idolatry, and professed the faith of Jesus Christ.
In the mean time, the Portuguese soldiers, whom the governor of Ternate
had promised to send, came from thence to defend the town against
the enterprizes of the Saracens. But the cruelty which he exercised on
the mother of Cacil Aerio, bastard son to King Boliefe, so far
exasperated those princes and the neighbouring people, that they
conspired the death of all the Portuguese, who were to be found in those
quarters. The inhabitants of Momoya, naturally changeable and cruel,
began the massacre by the murder of Simon Vaz, their first pastor; and
had killed Alvarez, whom they pursued with flights of arrows to the sea
side, if accidentally he had not found a bark in readiness, which bore
him off, all wounded as he was, and saved him from the fury of those
Christian barbarians.
The Saracens made their advantage of these disorders, and mastering
Mamoya, changed the whole religion of the town. The prince himself was
the only man, who continued firm in the Christian faith, notwithstanding
all their threatening, and the cruel usage which he received from them.
Not long after this, Antonio Galvan, that Portuguese, who was so
illustrious for his prudence, his valour, and his piety, succeeding to
Tristan d'Atayda in the government of Ternate, sent to the Isle del Moro
a priest, who was both able and zealous, by whose ministry the people
were once more reduced into the fold of Christ, and the affairs of the
infidels were ruined. But this priest remained not long upon the island,
and the people, destitute of all spiritual instructions, returned soon
after, through their natural inconstancy, to their original barbarism.
In this condition was the Isle del Moro when it was spoken of to Father
Xavier; and for this very reason, he determined to go, and preach the
gospel there, after he had stayed for three months at Ternate. When his
design was known, all possible endeavours were used to break it. His
friends were not wanting to inform him, that the country was as hideous
as it was barren: That it seemed accursed by nature, and a more fitting
habitation for beasts than men: That the air was so gross, and so
unwholesome, that strangers could not live in the country: That the
mountains continually vomited flakes of fire and ashes, and that the
ground itself was subject to terrible and frequent earthquakes. And
besides, it was told him, that the people of the country surpassed in
cruelty and faithlessness all the barbarians of the world: That
Christianity had not softened their manners; that they poisoned one
another; that they fed themselves with human flesh; and that, when any of
their relations happened to die, they cut off his hands and feet, of
which they made a delicate ragou: That their inhumanity extended so far,
that when they designed a sumptuous feast, they begged some of their
friends to lend them an old unprofitable father, to be served up to the
entertainment of their guests, with promise to repay them, in kind, on
the like occasion.
The Portuguese and Indians, who loved Xavier, added, that since those
savages spared not their own countrymen and their parents, what would
they not do to a stranger, and an unknown person? That they were first to
be transformed into men, before they could be made Christians. And how
could he imprint the principles of the divine law into their hearts, who
had not the least sense of humanity? Who should be his guide through
those thick entangled forests, where the greatest part of them were
lodged like so many wild beasts; and when, by rare fortune, he should
atchieve the taming of them, and even convert them, how long would that
conversion last? at the longest, but while he continued with them: That
no man would venture to succeed him in his apostleship to those parts,
for that was only to be exposed to a certain death; and that the blood of
Simon Vaz was yet steaming. To conclude, there were many other isles,
which had never heard of Jesus Christ, and who were better disposed to
receive the gospel.
These reasons were accompanied with prayers and tears; but they were to
no purpose, and Xavier was stedfast to his resolution. His friends
perceiving they could gain nothing upon him by intreaties, had recourse,
in some measure, to constraint; so far as to obtain from the governor of
Ternate a decree, forbidding, on severe penalties, any vessel to carry
the Father to the Isle del Moro.
Xavier then resented this usage of his friends, and could not forbear to
complain publicly of it. "Where are those people," said he, "who dare to
confine the power of Almighty God, and have so mean an apprehension of
our Saviour's love and grace? Are there any hearts hard enough to resist
the influences of the Most High, when it pleases him to soften and to
change them? Can they stand in opposition to that gentle, and yet
commanding force, which can make the dry bones live, and raise up
children to Abraham from stones? What! Shall he, who has subjected the
whole world to the cross, by the ministry of the apostles, shall he
exempt from that subjection this petty corner of the universe? Shall then
the Isle del Moro be the only place, which shall receive no benefit of
redemption? And when Jesus Christ has offered to the eternal Father, all
the nations of the earth as his inheritance, were these people excepted
out of the donation? I acknowledge them to be very barbarous and brutal;
and let it be granted they were more inhuman than they are, it is because
I can do nothing of myself, that I have the better hopes of them. I can
do all things in Him who strengthens me, and from whom alone proceeds the
strength of those who labour in the gospel."
He added, "That other less savage nations would never want for preachers;
that these only isles remained for him to cultivate, since no other man
would undertake them." In sequel, suffering himself to be transported
with a kind of holy choler, "If these isles," pursued he, "abounded with
precious woods and mines of gold, the Christians would have the courage
to go thither, and all the dangers of the world would not be able to
affright them; they are base and fearful because there are only souls to
purchase: And shall it then be said, that charity is less daring than
avarice? You tell me they will take away my life, either by the sword or
poison; but those are favours too great for such a sinner as I am to
expect from heaven; yet I dare confidently say, that whatever torment
or death they prepare for me, I am ready to suffer a thousand times more
for the salvation of one only soul. If I should happen to die by their
hands, who knows but all of them might receive the faith? for it is most
certain, that since the primitive times of the church, the seed of the
gospel has made a larger increase in the fields of paganism, by the blood
of martyrs, than by the sweat of missioners."
He concluded his discourse, by telling them, "That there was nothing
really to fear in his undertaking; that God had called him to the isles
del Moro; and that man should not hinder him from obeying the voice of
God." His discourse made such impressions on their hearts, that not only
the decree against his passage was revoked, but many offered themselves
to accompany him in that voyage, through all the dangers which seemed to
threaten him.
Having thus disengaged himself from all the incumbrances of his voyage,
he embarked with some of his friends, passing through the tears of the
people, who attended him to the shore, without expectation of seeing him
again. Before he set sail, he wrote to the Fathers of the company at
Rome, to make them acquainted with his voyage.
"The country whither I go," says he in his letter, "is full of danger,
and terrible to strangers, by the barbarity of the inhabitants, and by
their using divers poisons, which they mingle with their meat and drink;
and it is from hence that priests are apprehensive of coming to instruct
them: For myself, considering their extreme necessity, and the duties of
my ministry, which oblige to free them from eternal death, even at the
expence of my own life, I have resolved to hazard all for the salvation
of their souls. My whole confidence is in God, and all my desire is to
obey, as far as in me lies, the word of Jesus Christ: 'He who is willing
to save his life shall lose it, and he who will lose it for my sake shall
find it.' Believe me, dear brethren, though this evangelical maxim, in
general, is easily to be understood, when the time of practising it calls
upon us, and our business is to die for God, as clear as the text seems,
it becomes obscure; and he only can compass the understanding of it, to
whom God, by his mercy, has explained it; for then it will be seen, how
frail and feeble is human nature. Many here, who love me tenderly, have
done what possibly they could to divert me from this voyage; and, seeing
that I yielded not to their requests, nor to their tears, would have
furnished me with antidotes; but I would not take any, lest, by making
provision of remedies, I might come to apprehend the danger; and also,
because, having put my life into the hands of Providence, I have no need
of preservatives from death: for it seems to me, that the more I should
make use of remedies, the less assurance I should repose in God."
They went off with a favourable wind, and had already made above an
hundred and fourscore miles, when Xavier, on the sudden, with a deep
sigh, cried out, "Ah, Jesus, how they massacre the poor people!" saying
these words, and oftentimes repeating them, he had turned his
countenance, and fixed his eyes towards a certain part of the sea. The
mariners and passengers, affrighted, ran about him. Inquiring what
massacre he meant, because, for their part, they could see nothing; but
the saint was ravished in spirit, and, in this extacy, God had empowered
him to see this sad spectacle.
He was no sooner come to himself, than they continued pressing him to
know the occasion of his sighs and cries; but he, blushing for the words
which had escaped him in his transport, would say no more, but retired to
his devotions. It was not long before they beheld, with their own eyes,
what he refused to tell them: Having cast anchor before an isle, they
found on the shore the bodies of eight Portuguese, all bloody; and then
comprehended, that those unhappy creatures had moved the compassion of
the holy man. They buried them in the same place, and erected a cross
over the grave; after which they pursued their voyage, and in little time
arrived at the Isle del Moro.
When they were come on shore, Xavier went directly on to the next
village. The greatest part of the inhabitants were baptized; but there
remained in them only a confused notion of their baptism; and their
religion was nothing more than a mingle of Mahometanism and idolatry.
The barbarians fled at the sight of the strangers, imagining they were
come to revenge the death of the Portuguese, whom they had killed the
preceding years. Xavier followed them into the thickest of their woods;
and his countenance, full of mildness, gave them to believe, that he was
not an enemy who came in search of them. He declared to them the motive
of his voyage, speaking to them in the Malaya tongue: For though in the
Isle del Moro there were great diversity of languages, insomuch, that
those of three leagues distance did not understand each other in their
island tongues, yet the Malaya was common to them all.
Notwithstanding the roughness and barbarity of these islanders, neither
of those qualities were of proof against the winning and soft behaviour
of the saint. He brought them back to their village, using all
expressions of kindness to them by the way, and began his work by singing
aloud the Christian doctrine through the streets; after which he
expounded it to them, and that in a manner so suitable to their barbarous
conceptions, that it passed with ease into their understanding.
By this means he restored those Christians to the faith, who had before
forsaken it; and brought into it those idolaters who had refused to
embrace it when it was preached to them by Simon Vaz and Francis Alvarez.
There was neither town nor village which the Father did not visit, and
where those new converts did not set up crosses and build churches. Tolo,
the chief town of the island, inhabited by twenty-five thousand souls,
was entirely converted, together with Momoya.
Thus the Isle del Moro was now to the holy apostle the island of Divine
Hope,[1] as he desired it thenceforth to be named; both because those
things which were there accomplished by God himself, in a miraculous
manner, were beyond all human hope and expectation; and also because the
fruits of his labours surpassed the hopes which had been conceived of
them, when his friends of Ternate would have made him fear that his
voyage would prove unprofitable.
To engage these new Christians, who were gross of apprehension, in the
practice of a holy life, he threatened them with eternal punishments, and
made them sensible of what hell was, by those dreadful objects which they
had before their eyes: For sometimes he led them to the brink of those
gulphs which shot out of their bowels vast masses of burning stones into
the air, with the noise and fury of a cannon; and at the view of those
flames, which were mingled with a dusky smoke that obscured the day, he
explained to them the nature of those pains, which were prepared in an
abyss of fire, not only for idolaters and Mahometans, but also for the
true believers, who lived not according to their faith. He even told
them, the gaping mouths of those flaming mountains were the breathing
places of hell; as appears by these following words, extracted out of one
of his letters on that subject, written to his brethren at Rome: "It
seems that God himself has been pleased, in some measure, to discover the
habitation of the damned to people had otherwise no knowledge of him."
[Footnote 1:_Divina Esperanya_.]
During their great earthquakes, when no man could be secure in any place,
either in his house, or abroad in the open air, he exhorted them to
penitence; and declared to them, that those extraordinary accidents were
caused, not by the souls of the dead hidden under ground, as they
imagined, but by the devils, who were desirous to destroy them, or by the
omnipotent hand of God, who adds activity to natural causes, that he may
imprint more deeply in their hearts the fear of his justice and his
wrath.
One of those wonderful earthquakes happened on the 29th of September; on
that day, consecrated to the honour of St Michael, the Christians were
assembled in great numbers, and the Father said mass. In the midst of the
sacrifice, the earth was so violently shaken, that the people ran in a
hurry out of the church. The Father feared lest the altar might be
overthrown, yet he forsook it not, and went through with the celebration
of the sacred mysteries, thinking, as he said himself, that the blessed
archangel, at that very time, was driving the devils of the island down
to hell; and that those infernal spirits made all that noise and
tumult, out of the indignation which they had to be banished from that
place where they had held dominion for so many ages.
The undaunted resolution of Father Xavier amazed the barbarians; and gave
them to believe, that a man who remained immovable while the rocks and
mountains trembled, had something in him of divine; but that high opinion
which most of them had conceived of him, gave him an absolute authority
over them; and, with the assistance of God's grace, which operated in
their souls while he was working by outward means, he made so total a
change in them, that they who formerly, in respect of their manners, were
like wolves and tygers, now became tractable and mild, and innocent as
lambs.
Notwithstanding this, there were some amongst them who did not divest
themselves fully, and at once, of their natural barbarity; either to
signify, that divine grace, how powerful soever, does not work all things
in a man itself alone, or to try the patience of the saint. The most
rebellious to God's spirit were the Javares,--a rugged and inhuman
people, who inhabit only in caves, and in the day-time roam about the
forests. Not content with not following the instructions of the Father,
they laid divers ambushes for him; and one day, while he was explaining
the rules of morality to them out of the gospel, by a river side,
provoked by the zeal wherewith he condemned their dissolute manners, they
cast stones at him with design to kill him. The barbarians were on the
one side of him, and the river on the other, which was broad and deep;
insomuch, that it was in a manner impossible for Xavier to escape the
fury of his enemies: but nothing is impossible to a man whom heaven
protects. There was lying on the bank a great beam of wood; the saint
pushed it without the least difficulty into the water, and placing
himself upon it, was carried in an instant to the other side, where the
stones which were thrown could no longer reach him.
For what remains, he endured in this barren and inhospitable country all
the miseries imaginable, of hunger, thirst, and nakedness. But the
comforts which he received from heaven, infinitely sweetened all his
labours; which may be judged by the letter he wrote to Father Ignatius.
For, after he had made him a faithful description of the place, "I have,"
said he, "given you this account of it, that from thence you may
conclude, what abundance of celestial consolations I have tasted in it.
The dangers to which I am exposed, and the pains I take for the interest
of God alone, are the inexhaustible springs of spiritual joys; insomuch,
that these islands, bare of all worldly necessaries, are the places in
the world, for a man to lose his sight with the excess of weeping; but
they are tears of joy. For my own part, I remember not ever to have
tasted such interior delights; and these consolations of the soul, are so
pure, so exquisite, and so perpetual, that they take from me all sense of
my corporeal sufferings."
Xavier continued for three months in the Isle del Moro; after which, he
repassed to the Moluccas, with intention from thence to sail to Goa; not
only that he might draw out missioners from thence, to take care of the
new Christianity which he had planted in all those isles, and which he
alone was not sufficient to cultivate, but also to provide for the
affairs of the company, which daily multiplied in this new world.
Being arrived at Ternate, he lodged by a chapel, which was near the Port,
and which, for that reason, is called "Our Lady of the Port." He thought
not of any long stay in that place, but only till the ship which was
intended for Malacca should be ready to set out. The Christians, more
glad of his return, because they had despaired of seeing him again,
begged of him to continue longer with them, because Lent was drawing
near; and that he must, however, stay all that holy time, in the island
of Amboyna, for the proper season of navigation to Malacca. The captain
of the fortress of Ternate, and the brotherhood of the Mercy, engaged
themselves to have him conducted to Amboyna, before the setting out of
the ships. So that Xavier could not deny those people, who made him such
reasonable propositions; and who were so desirous to retain him, to the
end they might profit by his presence, in order to the salvation of their
souls.
He remained then almost three months in Ternate; hearing confessions day
and night, preaching twice on holidays, according to his custom; in the
morning to the Portuguese, in the afternoon to the islanders newly
converted; catechising the children every day in the week, excepting
Wednesday and Friday, which he set apart for the instruction of the
Portuguese wives. For, seeing those women, who were either Mahometans or
idolaters by birth, and had only received baptism in order to their
marrying with the Portuguese, were not capable of profiting by the common
sermons, for want of sufficient understanding in the mysteries and maxims
of Christianity; he undertook to expound to them the articles of faith,
the commandments, and other points of Christian morality. The time of
Lent was passed in these exercises of piety, and penitence, which fitted
them for the blessed sacrament at Easter. All people approached the holy
table, and celebrated that feast with renewed fervour, which resembled
the spirit of primitive Christianity.
But the chief employment of Father Xavier was to endeavour the conversion
of the king of Ternate, commonly called king of the Moluccas. This
Saracen prince, whose name was Cacil Aerio, was son to king Boleife, and
his concubine, a Mahometan, and enemy to the Portuguese, whom Tristan
d'Atayda, governor of Ternate, and predecessor of Antonio Galvan, caused
to be thrown out of a window, to be revenged of her. This unworthy and
cruel usage might well exasperate Cacil; but fearing their power, who had
affronted him in the person of his mother, and having the violent death
of his brothers before his eyes, he curbed his resentments, and broke not
out into the least complaint. The Portuguese mistrusted this over-acted
moderation, and affected silence; and according to the maxim of those
politicians, who hold, that they who do the injury should never pardon,
they used him afterwards as a rebel, and an enemy, upon very light
conjectures, Jordan de Treitas, then governor of the fortress of Ternate.
a man as rash and imprudent as Galvan was moderate and wise, seized
the person of the prince, stript him of all the ornaments of royalty, and
sent him prisoner to Goa, in the year 1546, with the Spanish fleet, of
which we have formerly made mention.
The cause having been examined, in the sovereign tribunal of Goa, there
was found nothing to condemn, but the injustice of Treitas: Cacil was
declared innocent; and the new viceroy of the Indies, Don John de Castro,
sent him back to Ternate, with orders to the Portuguese, to replace him
on the throne, and pay him so much the more respect, by how much more
they had injured him. As for Treitas, he lost his government, and being
recalled to Goa, was imprisoned as a criminal of state.
The king of Ternate was newly restored, when Xavier came into the isle
for the second time. King Tabarigia, son of Boleife, and brother to
Cacil, had suffered the same ill fortune some years before. Being accused
of felony, and having been acquitted at Goa, where he was prisoner, he
was also sent back to his kingdom, with a splendid equipage; and the
equity of the Christians so wrought upon him, that he became a convert
before his departure.
Xavier was in hope, that the example of Tabarigia would make an
impression on the soul of Cacil after his restoration, at least if any
care were taken of instructing him; and the hopes or the saint seemed not
at the first to be ill grounded. For the barbarian king received him with
all civility, and was very affectionate to him, insomuch that he could
not be without his company. He heard him speak of God whole hours
together; and there was great appearance, that he would renounce the
Mahometan religion.
But the sweet enchantments of the flesh are often an invincible obstacle
to the grace of baptism. Besides a vast number of concubines, the king of
Ternate had an hundred women in his palace, who retained the name and
quality of wives. To confine himself to one, was somewhat too hard to be
digested by him. And when the Father endeavoured to persuade him, that
the law of God did absolutely command it; he reasoned on his side,
according to the principles of his sect, and refined upon it in this
manner: "The God of the Christians and of the Saracens is the same God;
why then should the Christians be confined to one only wife, since God
has permitted the Saracens to have so many?"
Yet sometimes he changed his language; and said, that he would not lose
his soul, nor the friendship of Father Xavier, for so small a matter.
But, in conclusion, not being able to contain himself within the bounds
of Christian purity, nor to make the law of Jesus Christ agree with that
of Mahomet, he continued fixed to his pleasures, and obstinate in his
errors. Only he engaged his royal word, that in case the Portuguese would
invest one of his sons in the kingdom of the Isles del Moro, he would on
that condition receive baptism.
Father Xavier obtained from the viceroy of the Indies whatever the king
of Ternate had desired; but the barbarian, far from keeping his promise,
began from thenceforward a cruel persecution against his Christian
subjects. And the first strokes of it fell on the Queen Neachile, who was
dispossessed of all her lands, and reduced to live in extreme poverty
during the remainder of her days. Her faith supported her in these new
misfortunes; and Father Xavier, who had baptized her, gave her so well to
understand how happy it was to lose all things and to gain Christ, that
she continually gave thanks to God for the total overthrow of her
fortune.
In the mean time, the labours of the saint were not wholly unprofitable
in the court of Ternate. He converted many persons of the blood-royal;
and, amongst others, two sisters of the prince, who preferred the quality
of Christians, and spouses of Christ Jesus, before all earthly crowns;
and chose rather to suffer the ill usage of their brother, than to
forsake their faith.
Xavier, seeing the time of his departure drawing near, composed, in the
Malaya tongue, a large instruction, touching the belief and morals of
Christianity. He gave the people of Ternate this instruction written in
his own hand, that it might supply his place during his absence. Many
copies were taken of it, which were spread about the neighbouring
islands, and even through the countries of the East. It was read on
holidays in the public assemblies; and the faithful listened to it, as
coming from the mouth of the holy apostle.
Besides this, he chose out some virtuous young men for his companions in
his voyage to Goa, with design to breed them in the college of the
company, and from thence send them back to the Moluccas, there to preach
the gospel. These things being thus ordered, and the caracore, winch was
to carry him to Amboyna, in readiness, it was in his thoughts to depart
by night, in the most secret manner that he could, not to sadden the
inhabitants, who could not hear of his going from them without a sensible
affliction. But whatsoever precautions he took, he could not steal away
without their knowledge. They followed him in crowds to the shore; men,
women, and children, gathering about him, lamenting his loss, begging his
blessing, and beseeching him, with tears in their eyes, "That since he
was resolved on going, he would make a quick return."
The holy man was not able to bear these tender farewells without melting
into tears himself. His bowels yearned within him for his dear flock; and
seeing what affection those people bore him, he was concerned lest his
absence might prejudice their spiritual welfare. Yet reassuring himself,
by considering the providence of God, which had disposed of him another
way, he enjoined them to meet in public every day, at a certain church,
to make repetition of the Christian doctrine, and to excite each other to
the practice of virtue. He charged the new converts to learn by heart the
exposition of the apostles' creed, which he had left with them in
writing; but that which gave him the greatest comfort was, that a priest,
who was there present, promised him to bestow two hours every day in
instructing the people, and once a-week to perform the same to the wives
of the Portuguese, in expounding to them the articles of faith, and
informing them concerning the use of the sacraments.
After these last words, Father Xavier left his well-beloved children in
Jesus, and immediately the ship went off. At that instant an universal
cry was raised on the shore; and that last adieu went even to the heart
of Father Xavier.
Being arrived at Amboyna, he there found four Portuguese vessels, wherein
were only mariners and soldiers, that is to say, a sort of people ill
instructed in the duties of Christianity, and little accustomed to put
them in practice, in the continual hurry of their life. That they might
profit by that leisure which they then enjoyed, he set up a small chapel
on the sea-side, where he conversed with them, sometimes single,
sometimes in common, concerning their eternal welfare. The discourses of
the saint brought over the most debauched amongst them; and one soldier,
who had been a libertine all his life, died with such evident signs of
true contrition, that being expired, Father Xavier was heard to say, "God
be praised, who has brought me hither for the salvation of that soul;"
which caused people to believe, that God Almighty had made a revelation
of it to him.
By the same supernal illumination, he saw in spirit one whom he had left
in Ternate in the vigour of health, now expiring in that place; for
preaching one day, he broke off his discourse suddenly, and said to his
auditors, "Recommend to God, James Giles, who is now in the agony of
death;" the news of his death came not long after, which entirely
verified the words of Xavier.
The four ships continued at Amboyna but twenty days, after which they set
sail towards Malacca. The merchant-ship, which was the best equipped and
strongest of them, invited the saint to embark in her; but he refused,
out of the horror which he had for those enormous crimes which had been
committed in her. And turning to Gonsalvo Fernandez, "This ship," said
he, "will be in great danger; God deliver you out of it." Both the
prediction and the wish of the saint were accomplished; for the ship, at
the passage of the Strait of Saban, struck against a hidden rock, where
the iron-work of the stern was broken, and little wanted but that the
vessel had been also split; but she escaped that danger, and the rest of
the voyage was happily performed.
The Father staying some few days longer on the isle, visited the seven
Christian villages which were there; caused crosses to be set up in all
of them, for the consolation of the faithful; and one of these crosses,
in process of time, became famous for a great miracle, of which the whole
country was witness.
There was an extreme drought, and a general dearth was apprehended.
Certain women, who before their baptism were accustomed to use charms
for rain, being assembled round about an idol, adored the devil, and
performed all the magic ceremonies; but their enchantments were of no
effect. A devout Christian woman knowing what they were about, ran
thither, and having sharply reprehended those impious creatures, "As if,"
said she, "having a cross so near us, we had no expectations of succour
from it; and that the holy Father had not promised us, that whatsoever we
prayed for at the foot of that cross, should infallibly be granted." Upon
this, she led those other women towards a river-side, where Xavier had
set up a cross with his own hands, and falling down with them before that
sacred sign of our salvation, she prayed our Saviour to give them water,
to the shame and confusion of the idol. At the same moment the clouds
began to gather on every side, and the rain poured down in great
abundance. Then, all in company, they ran to the pagod, pulled it down,
and trampled it under their feet; after which they cast it into the
river, with these expressions of contempt, "That though they could not
obtain from him one drop of water, they would give him enough in a whole
river."
A faith thus lively, answered the hopes which the saint had conceived of
the faithful of Amboyna. He compared them sometimes to the primitive
Christians; and believed their constancy was of proof against the cruelty
of tyrants. Neither was he deceived in the judgment he made of them; and
they shewed themselves, when the Javeses, provoked by their renouncing
the law of Mahomet, came to invade their island. While the Saracen army
destroyed the country, six hundred Christians retired into a castle,
where they were presently besieged. Though they were to fear all things
from the fury of the barbarians, yet what they only apprehended was, that
those enemies of Jesus Christ might exercise their malice against a cross
which was raised in the midst of all the castle, and which Father Xavier
had set up with his own hands. To preserve it, therefore, inviolable from
their attempts, they wrapt it up in cloth of gold, and buried it in the
bottom of the ditch. After they had thus secured their treasure, they
opened the gate to the unbelievers, who, knowing what had been done by
them, ran immediately in search of the cross, to revenge upon it the
contempt which had been shown to Mahomet. But not being able to find it,
they turned all their fury upon those who had concealed it, and who would
not discover where it was.
Death seemed to have been the least part of what they suffered. The
Mahometan soldiers cut off one man's leg, another's arm, tore out this
man's eyes, and the other's tongue. So the Christians died by degrees,
and by a slow destruction, but without drawing one sigh, or casting out a
groan, or shewing the least apprehension; so strongly were they supported
in their souls by the all-powerful grace of Jesus Christ, for whom they
suffered.
Xavier at length parted from Amboyna; and probably it was then, if we
consider the sequel of his life, that he had the opportunity of making
the voyage of Macassar.
For though it be not certainly known at what time he visited that great
island, nor the fruit which his labours there produced, it is undoubted
that he has been there; and, in confirmation of it, we have, in the
process of his canonization, the juridical testimony of a Portuguese lady
of Malacca, called Jane Melo, who had many times heard from the princess
Eleonar, daughter to the king of Macassar, that the holy apostle had
baptized the king her father, the prince her brother, and a great number
of their subjects.
But at whatsoever time he made this voyage, he returned to Malacca, in
the month of July, in the year 1547.