_He sends out missioners to divers places. He endeavours an embassy to
China. He appoints Barzæus rector of the college of Goa. The form by
which Barzæus was made rector of the college, &c. He himself
acknowledges Barzæus for superior. In what manner Barzæus receives the
offices of rector and vice-provincial. The new instructions which he
gives to Barzæus. He makes choice of his companions for China and Japan.
He writes to the king of Portugal concerning his voyage to China. He
assembles the fathers of Goa by night, and upon what account. He departs
from Goa, and what happens him in the way. Before his arrival at Malacca,
he knows the plague is in the town. He employs himself in succouring the
sick. He raises a young man to life. The embassy of China is crossed by
the governor of Malacca. Xavier endeavours all he can to gain the favour
of the governor for the embassy. Endeavours are used in vain to get the
governor's consent. The governor flies out into fury against the Father.
The Father resolves to excommunicate the governor; and what he does in
order to it. The grand vicar excommunicates the governor in the name of
Xavier. The saint imputes the overthrow of the embassy to his own sins.
In writing to the king of Portugal, he makes no complaint of the governor
of Malacca. He takes up the design of going to the isle of Sancian, and
from thence into China. He departs from Malacca without seeing the
governor; and what he does in going out of the town. He embarks, and what
happens afterwards. He changes the salt-water into fresh. He restores to
a Mahometan his son, who was fallen into the sea. He appears of an
extraordinary height, and muck above his own stature. He reassures the
captain of the Santa Cruz, and the mariners. He arrives at the isle of
Sandan. What passes betwixt Xavier and Veglio. He foretels to Veglio,
that he shall be advertised of the day of his death. The prediction of
the saint is accomplished in all its circumstances. Other wonderful
illuminations. He raises up a dead man, and drives the tygers out of the
island. Endeavours are used in vain, to dissuade him from the voyage of
China. He takes his measures for the voyage of China. The Portuguese of
Sancian traverse the design of Xavier. He defers his voyage, in
consideration of the Portuguese merchants. He writes divers letters to
Malacca, and to Goa. He gives orders to Father Francis Perez, and to
Father Caspar Barzaeus. He foretels the unhappy death of a merchant. He
is reduced to an extreme want of all necessaries. The means fail him for
his passage into China. He is still in hope, and the expedient which he
finds. He falls sick again, and foreknows the day of his death. The
nature of his sickness, and how he was inwardly disposed. He entertains
himself with God in the extremity of his sickness. He denounces to a
young Indian, the unhappy death which was attending him. The Death of the
Saint. His age and person. Of the duties which were paid him immediately
after his decease. They inter him without any ceremony. The miraculous
crucifix in the chapel of the castle of Xavier. He is disinterred, and
his body is found without the least corruption. The body of the saint is
put on ship-board, to be transported into India. How the body is received
at Malacca. The punishment of the governor of Malacca. The town of
Malacca is freed from the pestilence at the arrival of the holy body. In
what manner the body of the saint is treated in Malacca. They consider of
transporting the holy corpse to Goa. The body is put into a crazed old
ship, and what happens to it in the passage. How the body is received at
Cochin, and the miracle which is wrought at Baticula. They come from Goa
to meet the corpse. How the corpse of the saint is received at Goa. The
miracles which are wrought, during the procession. The body is placed in
the church of Saint Paul. New miracles are wrought in presence of the
body. The informations of the saint's life are gathered in the Indies.
The people invoke him, and venerate his images. They build churches in
honour of him, in divers parts of the East. The praises which are given
him by infidels, and the honour they perform to him. How much he is
honoured at Japan. His gift of prayer. His love of God. His charity
towards his neighbour. His zeal of souls. The various industry of his
zeal. The condescendance of his zeal, and how dear the conversion of
people costs him. The extent of his zeal. His intrepidity in dangers, and
his confidence in God. His humility. His maxims on humility. His
submission to God's good pleasure. His religious obedience. His maxims on
obedience, and his love for the Society. His poverty, and his
mortification. His purity of soul and body. His devotion to the blessed
Virgin. His canonization is solicited, and what is done in order to it,
by the king of Bungo. He is had in veneration through all Asia. Miracles
are wrought in all places through his intercession. Three remarkable
cures. The perpetual miracle of the saint's body. He is beatified, and in
sequel canonized. The contents of the bull of his canonization. The
veneration of the saint is much increased since his canonization. New
miracles are wrought, and chiefly in Italy. What may be concluded from
these testimonies, and from all the Book_.
The affairs of the Society being accommodated in this manner, Xavier
thought on nothing more than how to supply the missions of the Indies
with good labourers; or rather to increase the number of the missioners,
who were not sufficient for the common needs. He therefore sent Melchior
Nugnez to Bazain, Gonsalvo Rodriguez to Cochin, John Lopez to Meliapor,
and Luys Mendez to the Fishery, where he confirmed Henry Henriquez for
superior, whom the missioners of that coast had already chosen instead of
Antonio Criminal.
After this, he bent his whole endeavours to procure an embassy to China.
The viceroy, Don Alphonso de Norogna, with great willingness, granted
to James Pereyra that employment which Xavier had desired for him. He
promised even to favour it, in all things depending on him; and gave
wherewithal to furnish out presents for the emperor of China.
Notwithstanding the most magnificent were made at the charges of the
ambassador, he had prepared cloth of gold, ornaments for an altar of
brocard pictures of devotion, in rich frames, made by the best hands of
Europe, with copes and other magnificent church-stuff, all proper to
represent to the Chinese the majesty of the Christian religion. The
bishop, Don Juan d'Albuquerque, was not less favourable to the designs of
the Father than the viceroy; and being willing to write to the emperor of
China, thereby to give an honourable testimony to the holy law of God, he
ordered his letter to be written in characters of gold, and bordered
about with curious painting. Nothing more was wanting than only to make
choice of such missioners as were to accompany Xavier to China, and to
provide others for Japan; for, besides that the saint himself had his
dear Japonians always in his memory, the ambassador of the king of Bungo,
who was come with him to Goa, requested some evangelical preachers in his
master's name. The man of God had enough to do, to content all those, who
were desirous of that employment. There were at that time thirty of the
Society in the college of Goa. Some of them had been in the Indies from
the first years of Xavier's arrival in those ports; others were either
new comers, or had been lately admitted; all of them were of approved
virtue, and well worthy of that vocation, which they so earnestly
desired; but there was none amongst them who sought it with more
eagerness, nor who more signally deserved it, than Caspar Barzaeus.
Xavier, before his voyage to Japan, had recalled him from Ormuz, with
design of sending him to that country, or else of taking him with himself
to China. Yet he altered both those intentions; for, after many serious
debates within himself, he thought it most convenient to leave Barzaeus
at Goa, where, since his return from Ormuz, he had laboured in the
ministry with great success; but his principal reason was, the necessity
of the college of St Paul, which had not yet shaken off all the ill
symptoms of the government of Gomez, and which stood in need of a
superior, whose conduct should be regular. On these considerations, he
made him rector of the college of Goa, and also vice-provincial of the
Indies, by the authority which he had received from the general of the
order. For the saint, at his return from Japan, found two patients
waiting for him, which had been expedited from Rome in the year 1549, one
bearing date the 10th of October, the other the 2nd of December, as the
minutes which are kept in the archives of the Society declare. By the
first, Ignatius constitutes Father Xavier provincial of the Indies, and
of all the kingdoms of the East, of which he made a particular province,
distinct from that of Portugal; by the second, he endows him with all the
privileges which the popes have granted to the head of the order, and to
those members of it to whom the general shall please to impart them. For
what remains, see here the form of Barzaeus's establishment, which is
preserved in the archives of Goa, and written by the hand of Father
Xavier.
"Master Gasper, I command you, in virtue of holy obedience, as superior
of the company of Jesus in these countries of the Indies, to take the
government of this college of Santa Fe, in quality of rector; persuaded,
as I am, of your virtue, your humility, your prudence, and of all those
qualities which make you proper for the governing of others.
"I will, that all the fathers and Portuguese brothers of the Society of
Jesus, who are spread over this new world from the Cape of Good Hope, as
far as Malacca, the Moluccas, and Japan, be subject to you. I will, in
like manner, that all those who shall come from Portugal, or from any
other country of Europe, into the houses of the Society under my
obedience, should acknowledge you for their superior; if it happen not,
that our Father Ignatius name some other rector of this college of Goa,
as I have already requested him by my letters; informing him at large of
the necessity of sending hither some experienced person, in whom he much
confides, to govern this college, and all the missions of our Society
depending on it. If then any of the Society sent by Father Ignatius, or
by any other general of the Society of Jesus, with patents signed in due
form, shall arrive at Goa, to take the government of this house, and of
those who are subjected to it, I command you, in the same virtue of holy
obedience, to resign the government into his hands forthwith, and to be
obedient to him in all things."
Xavier having thus declared Barzæus superior in a full assembly of the
college, kneeled down, and acknowledged him for such, thereby giving a
public example of submission. After which, he commanded all of them, in
virtue of holy obedience, to be subject to him, and ordered him to expel
from the society, all such as should enterprize ought against his
authority, or refuse obedience to his orders. He ordered him, I say,
positively to expel them, without consideration of their capacity, their
eloquence, or any other gifts of nature; adding, that whatever excellent
qualities they had, they wanted those which were essential, namely,
humility and obedience.
Barzaeus replied not one word when it was intimated to him, that he
should not go to China, how desirous soever he were of that voyage; and
it may be said, that, on this occasion, he made a noble sacrifice of all
his fervent zeal to his obedience. But when he was nominated both rector
and vice-provincial, confounded at the mention of those dignities, he
said aloud, "That he was not endued with the spirit of government." He
was ready to die of shame, when he saw the saint upon his knees before
him; and, with great precipitation, fell also on his knees, and humbly
begged of him, with tears in his eyes, that he would consider his
infirmities. The saint, who had a perfect insight into his integrity,
would not hearken to him, and judged him to be so much the more worthy of
those two employments, as he judged himself to be incapable. As Barzaeus
was the desire of all in all places, and yet his presence was necessary
at Goa, not only for the due regulation of the college, but also for the
good of missions, Xavier forbade him, in virtue of holy obedience, to
depart out of the isle of Goa during the space of three years ensuing;
and for this reason, that Barzaeus having this tie of prohibition upon
him, might be privileged to refuse any towns which might desire him
amongst them; and that if his refusal should displease them, yet at least
the unkindness might not rest on him.
After all these punctual orders, Xavier gave in writing, to the new
rector, such instructions as he was to use in the government of his
inferiors, and in reference to the conduct of himself; according to what
all of them had proposed to themselves, to have no design, save only _ad
majorem Dei gloriam;_ to God's greater honour. Those instructions are
very ample, and I shall give you only the most material.
"Have before your eyes continually your own nothingness; and endeavour,
above all things, to have your mind so possessed with it, that the
contempt of yourself may never leave you. Always treat the fathers of the
Society with great mildness and respect; as well those who inhabit with
you, as those who live in other places at a distance. Let not the least
roughness, or haughty carriage, appear in you, if it be not when your
moderation and humility are turned into contempt; for on such occasions,
having nothing in your intentions but the good of your interiors, and not
making the contempt of your authority the object of your vengeance, you
are to make the guilty somewhat sensible of your power. But you shall
only punish them so far as need requires, and for their amendment, and
the edification of our brethren, who were witnesses of their fault. All
the offences which shall be committed, either by the fathers or the
brothers, against the rule of obedience, ought to be punished by some
correction; and in so doing, the character of priesthood must be no
privilege to the offender. If any of your inferiors act presumptuously
against you, and, full of self-opinion, resist you with stubbornness,
raise yourself in opposition to their pride, and speak magisterially to
them. Let your behaviour towards them have more of severity than of
mildness. Impose some public penance on them; and beware, of all things,
that they may not observe in you the least remissness, which they will be
sure to interpret fear; for nothing more encourages the untractable and
haughty to rebellion, than the softness and fearful spirit of a governor.
And it is not credible, how assuming, proud, and peremptory, they will
grow, when once they find the reins are slackened, and that their
pusillanimous superior is afraid of punishing their want of due respect.
Impunity hardens that sort of people in their insolence; or rather, it
makes them more and more audacious; which disturbs the peace of religious
houses. Execute then my orders, without fearing the opinion or speech of
people; and let no consideration, no regard of persons, hinder you from
the performance of your duty. Amongst your inferiors, you will find some
who are neither obstinate nor disobedient, but who are weak; who are
forgetful of what is enjoined them, who indeed despise not the orders of
their superiors, but sometimes neglect them, either out of
faintheartedness, or want of sense. Reprehend such men with more
gentleness and moderation, and temper your reproof with the mildness
of your countenance; and if you find it necessary to punish them, impose
but an easy penance on them. Never admit into the Society such as are not
endued with judgment, and good natural parts; nor those who are of a weak
constitution, and proper for no employment, or of whom you may reasonably
suspect, that they would enter into religion for secular respects, rather
than out of a sincere devotion of serving God. When they shall have ended
their exercises, you are to employ them in the service of the sick in the
public hospitals, and in the meanest offices of the house. You shall
cause them to give you an account of the endeavours they have made, to
acquit themselves well of their ordinary meditations, according to the
form prescribed. If you are assured, that they are lukewarm and faint at
their devotions, you will do well to dismiss them, and turn them out of
the Society betimes; or if there be any hope of their amendment, you
shall withdraw them for some days from those interior exercises;
depriving them, by way of penance, of an honour which their negligence
has made them unworthy to enjoy; and such indeed is that of communicating
with God in prayer, to the end, that, being ashamed to stand excluded
from that celestial commerce, they may desire more ardently to be
re-admitted to it. I recommend extremely to you, that you pay an
extraordinary respect to my lord the bishop; and that you be obedient to
him. Beware of doing any thing which may displease him; endeavour, on the
contrary, to serve him in all things according to your power; and
acknowledge, by all manner of good offices, those infinite obligations
which we have to so charitable a father and benefactor. Command those
fathers who are out of Goa, to write to him from time to time, but not
too prolixly; and to give him an account of the fruit of their labours.
That they mention in their letters, as far as truth will give them leave,
the commendation of his vicars; and omit not the other good actions of
the religious; and if they can say no good of them, let them be silent of
them; for we are not to imagine that our duty obliges us to complain to
the bishop, of the ill conduct of his vicars, or of other
gospel-labourers; there will never be wanting those who will ease us
of that trouble. Beware, not to trouble yourself with the management of
worldly business; nor even to encumber your inferiors with it, on any
occasion whatsoever. When secular men shall desire to engage you in the
employments of civil life, return this answer, 'That the time which
remains free to you from preaching, and the administration of the
sacraments, is scarce sufficient for your studies and devotions, which
are yet necessary to you before you go into the pulpit, or appear in the
tribune of penance; that you cannot prefer the care of worldly things,
before the cure of souls, without perverting the order and rule of
charity.' By this means you shall disengage yourself from all those sorts
of encumbrances; and without this circumspection, you will do great
prejudice to the Society; for you ought to understand, that the world
often enters by this door into religious houses, to the extreme damage
both of the religious, and of religion.
"In the visits which are made to you, endeavour to find out the bottom
and end of their design, who come to see you. For some there are, the
least part of whose business is to be instructed in spirituals; it is
only temporal interest which brings them to you: there will even be some,
who will come to confession, on no other motive, than to acquaint you
with the necessities of their family. The best counsel I can give you, is
to stand upon your guard with such; and, to be rid of them, let them know
from the very first, that you can neither furnish them with money, nor
procure them any favour from other men. Be warned to have as little
discourse with this sort of people as possibly you can; for most commonly
they are great talkers, and if you trouble yourself with giving them the
hearing, you are almost certain to lose your time. For what remains,
disquiet not yourself with what they think or say of you; let them murmur
on, and do you take up a resolution of standing out so firmly, that they
may not find the least concernment in you; for the shew of any natural
sensibility would discover that you are not enough disengaged from the
world, as if you were wavering what part to take betwixt the world and
Christ. Remember, that you cannot covet popular approbation without
betraying your ministry, or becoming a deserter of your sacred colours,
in going back from that evangelical perfection, which you are obliged to
follow, with an unrelenting ardour."
After this, Xavier gave Barzaeus sundry particular orders, relating to
the persons and houses of the Society.
And now he chose for his companions, Balthazar Gago, Edward Silva, and
Peter Alcaceva, with Francis Gonçalez, and Alvarez Ferreyra de Monte
Major; without reckoning into the number a young secular Chinese, named
Antonio, who had been brought up in the seminary of Sainte Foy. Some
of these were intended for China, and others for Japan. Father Ignatius
had written to Father Xavier, that it was of great importance to send
from the Indies into Europe one of the Society, well versed in the
eastern affairs, who might render an exact account of all things to the
king of Portugal, and the Pope; as a means of procuring temporal supplies
from the one, and spiritual favours from the other; both which were
necessary for the further increase of Christianity in Asia. Father
Francis did not receive those letters till after his voyage of Japan. He
had thought of these very things formerly, but now seeing that the
judgment of Ignatius concurred with his, he deputed into Italy and
Portugal, Andrew Fernandez, a man of parts and probity, who was not yet
in priest's orders. He not only gave him ample informations concerning
the present condition of the Indies, but also wrote large letters on the
same subject, to the king of Portugal, to Father Ignatius, and to Simon
Rodriguez. Being now ready to go for the voyage of China, he gave notice
of his intentions to king John, in this ensuing letter.
"I shall depart from Goa within the compass of five days, intending first
for Malacca; from whence I shall take the way of China, in the company of
James Pereyra, who is named ambassador. We carry with us the rich
presents, which are bought partly at the cost of your majesty, and partly
at the proper charges of Pereyra: but we carry also a far more precious
present, and such an one as no king, at least to my knowledge, has made
the like to another prince, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ; and if
the emperor of China once knew its value, I am confident he would prefer
that treasure before all his own, how immense soever they may be. I hope,
that at length Almighty God will look with eyes of pity on that vast
empire, and that he will make known to those great multitudes, who are
all made after his own image, their Creator, and the Saviour of mankind,
Christ Jesus.
"We are three in company, who go to China with Pereyra; and our design
is, to free from prison those Portuguese who are there languishing in
chains; to manage the friendship of the Chinese in favour of the crown of
Portugal; and, above all things, to make war with the devils, and their
adherents: on which occasion, we shall declare to the emperor, and, in
sequel, to all his subjects, from the King of Heaven, the great injury
which they have done him, to give the devils that adoration which is only
payable to the true God, creator of mankind, and to Jesus Christ, their
judge and master. The undertaking may seem bold, to come amongst
barbarians, and dare to appear before a mighty monarch, to declare the
truth to him, and reprehend his vices: but that which gives us courage
is, that God himself has inspired us with these thoughts; that he has
filled us with the assurance of his mercy; and that we doubt not of his
power, which infinitely surpasses that of the emperor of China. Thus our
whole success being in the hands of God, what cause of distrust or fear
is it possible for us to have? for certain it is, that our only
apprehension ought to be of offending him, and of incurring those
punishments which are ordained for wicked men. But my hopes are
incomparably greater when I consider, that God has made choice of such
weak instruments, and such sinners, as we are, for so high an employment,
as to carry the light of the gospel almost, I may say, into another
world, to a nation blinded with idolatry, and given up to vice."
While they were fitting out the ship, which was to carry the missioners
of China and Japan, Xavier assembled the fathers of the college by night,
not being able to do it by day, because they were in continual employment
till the evening. He discoursed with them concerning the virtues
requisite to the apostolic vocation, and spoke with so much ardency and
unction, that the congregation was full of sighs and tears, according to
the relation of some who were present, and have left it to us in writing.
But the instructions which he gave, in taking his last farewell of them,
are very remarkable. And I cannot, in my opinion, report them better,
than in the very words of the author, who took them from the mouth of the
apostle: "The Father, Master Francis," says he, "embracing his brethren
before his departure for China, and weeping over them, recommended
constancy in their vocation to them; together with unfeigned humility,
which was to have for its foundation, a true knowledge of themselves, and
particularly a most prompt obedience. He extended his exhortation on this
last point, and enjoined them obedience, as a virtue most pleasing to
Almighty God, much commended by the Holy Spirit, and absolutely necessary
to the sons of the Society."
The apostle went from Goa on holy Thursday, which fell that year, 1552,
on the 14th of April. The sea was calm enough, till they came to the
height of the islands of Nicubar, which are somewhat above Sumatra,
towards the north. Thereabouts the waves began to swell; and presently
after, there arose so furious a tempest, that there scarcely remained any
hopes of safety. That which doubled their apprehension, was, that two
foists, which bore them company, unable to sustain the fury of the waves,
sunk both by one another. The ship, which carried Xavier and his
companions, was a royal vessel, very large and deep laden, so that her
unwieldy bulk and heavy freight hindered her sailing and her steering. It
was thought necessary to ease her, and the merchandizes were ready to be
cast overboard, when Father Francis desired the captain not to be too
hasty. But the sailors saying, that the tempest increasing, as usually it
does towards evening, the vessel could not so conveniently be disburdened
in the dark, he bid them not disturb themselves about it, for the storm
should cease, and they should make land before sun-set. The captain, who
knew how certain the predictions of Xavier were, made not the least
scruple of believing him, and the event verified the prophecy. The sea
grew calm, and land appeared before the setting of the sun.
But while every one was rejoicing at the nearness of the port, the holy
man had sadness in his countenance, and often sighed. Some of them
enquired the cause, and he bade them pray to God for the city of Malacca,
which was visited with an epidemical disease. Xavier said true; for the
sickness was so general, and so contagious, that it seemed the beginning
of a pestilence. Malignant fevers raged about the town, which carried off
the strongest constitutions in a little space, and the infection was
caught almost at sight. In this condition the ship found Malacca; and
never was the sight of the holy man more pleasing to the inhabitants.
Every one promised himself ease of body, and consolation of mind from
him; and they were not deceived in their expectation.
So soon as he was set on shore, he went in search of the sick, and found
employment enough amongst them for the exercise of his charity. Not a man
of them, but desired to confess to Father Francis, and to expire in his
arms; according to the popular opinion, that whoever died in that manner,
could not fail of being saved. He ran from street to street with his
companions, to gather up the poor, who lay languishing on the ground for
want of succour. He carried them to the hospitals, and to the college of
the Society, which on this occasion he changed into an hospital. And when
both the college and the hospitals were full, he ordered cabins to be
built along the shore, out of the remainders of rotten vessels, for
lodgings, and necessary uses of those distressed creatures. After which
he procured them food and medicines, which he begged from the devouter
sort, and himself attended them both day and night. That which appeared
most wonderful, was, that though the sick could not be served, nor the
dying assisted, nor the dead buried, without taking the infection, and it
was death to take it, yet Xavier and his companions enjoyed their perfect
health in the midst of such dangerous employments. This indeed was
wonderful, but there was also an undoubted miracle, which it pleased
Almighty God to work by the ministry of his servant, on a young man, whom
at that time he restored to life.
This young man, named Francis Ciavus, the only son of a devout woman, who
had long been under the conduct of Xavier, having put into his mouth,
without thinking of it, a poisoned arrow, such as are used in those
eastern parts, died suddenly, so subtile and so mortal was the venom.
They were already burying him, when Xavier came by chance that way. He
was so moved with the cries and lamentations of the mother, that, taking
the dead by the hand, he revived him with these words: "Francis, in the
name of Jesus Christ, arise." The youth thus raised, believed from that
moment, that he was no more his own, and that he was obliged to
consecrate that life to God, which was so miraculously restored: In
effect he did it, and out of acknowledgment to Xavier, took the habit of
the Society. When the mortality was almost ceased, the saint pursued his
design of the embassy to China, and treated with Don Alvarez d'Atayda,
the governor of Malacca, on whom the viceroy had reposed the trust of so
important an affair Don Alvarez had much approved this enterprize, when
Xavier had first opened it, at his return from Japan, and had even
promised to favour it with all his power. But envy and interest are two
passions, which stifle the most reasonable thoughts, and make men forget
their most solemn protestations.
The governor had a grudging to Pereyra, who, the year before, had refused
to lend him ten thousand crowns; and could not endure, that a merchant
should be sent ambassador to the greatest monarch in the world. He said,
"That certainly that Pereyra, whom the viceroy had empowered by his
letters, was some lord of the court of Portugal, and not James Pereyra,
who had been domestic servant to Don Gonsalvo de Cotigno," But that which
most disturbed him, was, that, besides the honour of such an embassy, the
merchant should make so vast a profit of his wares, which he would sell
off at an excessive rate in China. The governor said, "That in his own
person were to be considered the services of the count his father; and
that those hundred thousand crowns, which would be gained at least by
Pereyra, were a more suitable reward for the son of Atayda, than for the
valet de chambre of Cotigno." With such grating thoughts as these, he
sought occasions to break off the voyage; yet he Would not declare
himself at first; and the better to cover his design, or not to seem
unthankful to Father Xavier, he fed him with fair promises. For the holy
man had procured him the command of captain-major of the sea, and himself
had brought him the provisions for that place: because when first the
Father had opened his purpose of going into China, Atayda seemed to have
espoused the project with great affection, and engaged himself to make it
succeed, in case the ports and navigations of the Portuguese were once
depending on him. To oblige him yet farther, the saint had procured from
the viceroy, and brought along with him, certain extraordinary
privileges, which had not been comprised in the provisions of the
command. And, lastly, that he might wholly gain him at his arrival,
finding the governor very sick, he attended him with great diligence, and
made himself at once both his nurse and his chaplain, watching by him all
the night, and saying mass for him in the morning. But all these offices
of friendship wrought nothing on a heart, where jealousy and avarice were
predominant.
What care soever Don Alvarez took to conceal his ill intentions, Xavier
quickly discovered them; and at the same time wrote to Pereyra, who was
yet at Sunda, advising him to come without any equipage, and to affect
nothing of magnificence, that he might not farther exasperate an
interested and jealous soul. But all the modesty of the ambassador
could not hinder the governor from breaking out. At the first noise of
his arrival, he sent officers of justice, and soldiers, to the port, with
orders to make seizure on the ship called Santa Cruz, to take away the
rudder, and give it into his hands. This was the first act of
jurisdiction, which was exercised by Don Alvarez, as captain of the sea;
employing against Xavier himself, that authority which had been procured
him by Xavier, and pushing his ingratitude as far as it could go. In the
mean time, to cover his passion with the pretext of public good,
according to the common practice of men in power, he protested loudly,
that the interests of the crown had constrained him to act in this
manner; that he had received information from his spies, that the Javans
were making preparations of war, to come upon Malacca once again; that he
could not have too many ships in readiness, against such formidable
enemies; and that the Santa Cruz was of absolute necessity to the king's
service. This fable, which was the product of his own brains, was soon
exploded by the arrival of some other Portuguese vessels, who, coming
from the isles of Java, made oath, that these barbarians, being engaged
amongst themselves in civil wars, had no thoughts of any foreign
conquest. Don Alvarez not being able any longer to support the credit of
his tale, pulled off the mask, and stood upon no farther ceremonies.
Xavier perceiving that the love of lucre was his governing passion, made
offers to him, by Pereyra, of thirty thousand crowns in pure gift; but
the desire of engrossing all the gain, was the reason which prevailed
with Atayda to refuse it.
The treasurer, with the rest of the crown-officers, being come to
remonstrate to him, that the king's orders were positive, not to stop the
navigation of those merchants, who had paid the duties of the port, he
threatened them with his cane, which he held up against them, and drove
them out of his chamber with great fury, saying, "That he was too old to
be counselled; that, as long as he continued governor of Malacca, and
captain of the seas, James Pereyra should not go to China, either
as ambassador, or merchant; and if Father Xavier was intoxicated with the
zeal of converting heathens, he might go to Brazil, or to the kingdom of
Monomotapa."
Francis Pereyra, who was auditor-royal, and who had great credit in the
town, not being able, either by his intreaties, or his arguments, to
oblige Don Alvarez to restore the rudder of the Santa Cruz, would have
forced it from him; but this was opposed by Xavier, who foresaw, that the
soldiers, who kept the rudder, would defend it with the hazard of their
lives, and that this affair would have ill consequences.
The way which was taken by the holy man, was to send to the governor the
grand vicar John Suarez, attended by the most considerable persons of the
town, to shew him the letters of King John III., which expressly made out
his intentions, that Father Xavier should extend the faith, as far as he
was able, through all the kingdoms of the East, and that the governors
should favour him on all occasions. Suarez read also to the governor, the
letter of the vice-king Don Alphonso de Norogna, in which he declared
criminal of state, whosoever should hinder or oppose this particular
voyage of the saint. That which ought to have reduced Don Alvarez to
reason, or at least to have terrified him, served only to make him more
unreasonable, and more audacious. He rose from his seat, with the action
of a madman, and stamping with his foot, sent back the grand vicar, with
this dutiful expression: "The king's interest, you say, requires this to
be performed; and I will not suffer it to be performed: Here I am, and
will be master."
These outrageous dealings of the governor were not confined to those, who
made these remonstrances to him from the Father; they extended even to
the saint himself, whom he looked on as the author and head of the
enterprize. It is incredible what injurious words he gave him, and how
rudely he treated him on several occasions; insomuch, that it was the
common talk of Malacca, that this persecution might pass for the
martyrdom of Father Xavier. The servant of God resented nothing which was
done to his own person. He blessed God continually, for giving him
occasions of suffering; but he was extremely sensible of what religion
and the progress of the gospel suffered, and was often seen to weep
abundantly.
He ceased not for a month together to solicit the governor; sometimes
beseeching him by the wounds of a crucified Saviour, sometimes urging
him with the fatal consequences of a miserable eternity, and endeavouring
to let him understand, what a crime it was to hinder the publication of
the gospel; but these divine reasons prevailed as little with Don
Alvarez, as the human had done formerly. This strange obduracy quite
overwhelmed the Father, when he saw that all these ways of mildness were
unsuccessful, and the season of navigation passed away; after he had well
consulted God upon it, he concluded, that it was time to try the last
remedies. Ten years were now expired since his coming to the Indies, and
hitherto no one person, excepting only the bishop of Goa, was made privy
to his being the apostolic Nuncio. He had kept this secret in profound
silence, and had not once exercised his power; but now he thought himself
obliged to own it, in a business of so great consequence, and to strike
with the thunders of the church, if occasion were, the man who made open
war against the church.
Which notwithstanding, he would not dart the thunderbolt himself, but
used the hand of the grand vicar. Having sent for him, he began with
shewing him one of the briefs of Paul III., which constituted him his
Nuncio in all the kingdoms of the East. After this, he requested Suarez
to shew this brief to Don Alvarez, and to explain to him the censures
which were incurred by those, who should oppose the pope's legates in
matters of religion, and to exhort him, by what was most holy in the
world, to suffer the embassy to proceed. In case of refusal, to threaten
him with ecclesiastical punishments from the vicar of Jesus Christ, and
to adjure him at the same time, by the death of the Saviour of mankind,
to take compassion on himself.
Xavier had always hoped, that the governor would open his eyes; and in
that writing which he gave the vicar to engage him in that nice
commission, there were these following words: "I cannot believe that Don
Alvarez can be so hardened, but that he will be mollified, when he shall
know the intentions and orders of the holy see." He desired the grand
vicar, in the same writing, to send that very paper back to him, together
with the answer of Don Alvarez, that both the one and the other might be
an authentic evidence to the bishop of Goa, that he had omitted nothing
for advancing the embassy; and that if it succeeded not, the fault lay
not at his door. Suarez proceeded with the governor, according to all the
directions which had been traced out to him by the Father. But nothing
could work upon Alvarez. He laughed at the threatenings, and broke out
into railing language against the person of Xavier, saying loudly, "That
he was an ambitious hypocrite, and a friend of publicans and sinners."
The grand vicar not being able any longer to endure so outrageous and
scandalous an impiety, at length excommunicated the governor, according
to the agreement betwixt himself and Father Xavier. He also
excommunicated all his people, who basely flattered the passion of their
master, and spoke insolently of the holy see. This excommunication
signified little to a man, who had no principles, either of honour, or of
religion. Without giving himself the least disquiet for the wrath of
heaven, or talk of men, he made himself master of the ship Santa Cruz,
and placed in her a captain, with 25 mariners, all of them in his
interests, to go and trade at Sancian, where the Portuguese had
established a wealthy traffic. The ill success of the negociation,
betwixt the grand vicar and the governor, was very afflicting to Father
Xavier; his heart was pierced with sorrow, and he acknowledged to Father
Francis Perez, that he never resented any thing with greater grief. The
deplorable condition of Don Alvarez in the sight of God, the ruin of his
friend Pereyra, the embassy of China utterly destroyed,--all these made
him sigh from the bottom of his soul; and so much the more, because he
imputed these so great misfortunes to himself; as he gave Pereyra to
understand, who lay hidden at Malacca, and to whom he expressed himself
in writing, because he knew not with what face to see him.
"Since the greatness of my sins," says he, "has been the reason why God
Almighty would not make use of us two for the enterprize of China, it is
upon myself that I ought, in conscience, to lay the fault. They are my
offences, which have ruined your fortunes, and have caused you to lose
all your expences for the embassy of China. Yet God is my witness, that I
love him, and that I love you also; and I confess to you, that if my
intentions had not been right, I should be yet more afflicted than I am.
The favour which I desire of you, is, that you would not come to see me;
for fear, lest the condition to which you are reduced, should give me too
much trouble; and that your sorrow might be the occasion of increasing
mine. In the mean time, I hope this disgrace of yours may be of advantage
to you; for I doubt not but the king will reward your zeal, as I have
requested of him by my letters. As for the governor, who has broken our
voyage, I have no farther communication with him: God forgive him, I pity
him, and lament his condition; for he will soon be punished, and more
severely than he thinks."
But though Father Xavier wrote very pressing letters to the king of
Portugal in favour of Pereyra, he wrote nothing against Don Alvarez; and
Alvarez himself was witness of it, having intercepted the letters of the
Father. In effect, he found not the least expression of complaint against
him, at which he was wonderfully surprised. The man of God daily offered
the sacrifice of the mass for him, and shed many tears at the foot of the
altar, to the end he might obtain for him the favour of a sincere
repentance. He said one day, he should lose at once, his estate, his
honour, and his life; and added, I beseech God that he lose not his soul
also.
For what remains, though the door of China seemed to be shut upon him,
since all hopes of the embassy were vanished, which had facilitated his
entrance into that kingdom, yet the saint despaired not of preaching the
gospel to the Chinese; and a thought came into his head, that if he could
get to an isle, which was neighbouring to Canton, he might from thence go
privately over into the continent; that if he were stopped and put in
prison, he should at least preach to the prisoners; that from the
prisons, the Christian doctrine might spread into the towns, and possibly
might reach the court; that perhaps also the great men of the empire, and
even the emperor himself, might have the curiosity to see a man who
published so new a faith; and then he might gain an opportunity of
declaring the whole law of Jesus Christ.
With these considerations, he took up the design of embarking on the
Santa Cruz, which the governor of Malacca was sending out for Sancian.
But seeing that the entry of China could not be attempted by that way
which he had proposed without great hazard, he would be the only priest
who should expose himself to those dangers; and retaining with him only
one brother of the Society, the Chinese, Antonio de Sainte Foy, and
another young Indian, he sent Balthazar Jago, Edward Silvia, and Peter
Alcaceva, to several employments; the first to the kingdom of Bungo, and
the two others to Amanguchi.
During these passages, it happening that John Beyro came from the
Moluccas, to desire some more assistance, for the farther propagation of
the faith in those islands, Xavier received from him the comfortable news
of the great spreading of Christianity, and sent him to Barzæus, with
orders that more companions should be joined to him; and that he should
be remanded thither with all expedition.
The Santa Cruz being now upon the point of setting sail, he retired into
the church of our Lady of the Mount, to recommend his voyage to the
protection of the blessed Virgin. He continued his devotions till the
evening; and had also passed the night in prayer, if they had not come to
give him notice that the ship had already weighed anchor.
The grand vicar, John Suarez, who bore him company to the ship, asked him
by the way, if he had taken leave of the governor; adding, that if he
failed in that point of ceremony, the weaker Christians might be
scandalized; that it would be a proof of his resentment, and an occasion
of public murmur. The saint, who was willing to shew by his example, how
excommunicated persons ought to be treated, replied immediately, "Don
Alvarez shall never see me in this life; I expect him at the
judgment-seat of God, where he will have a great account to answer."
Having walked on a little farther, he stopped at a church door, which was
near the sea; and, in a transport of spirit, lifting up his eyes to
heaven, he prayed aloud for the salvation of the unhappy Don Alvarez.
Then he prostrated himself, and was silent for some time, praying from
the bottom of his heart to God, with his face to the ground. Soon after
he rose up with a vehement action, which had somewhat of a holy disdain
in it; he took off his shoes, beat them one against another, and
afterwards against a stone, saying, "that he would not bear away the dust
of an accursed place." He then foretold, with circumstances at large, and
more than formerly, the punishment which heaven had prepared for the
governor of Malacca; and going on board, left the people, who had
followed him thus far, astonished at his prophecies, and afflicted at his
departure.
Immediately they set sail, and there were in the vessel above five
hundred persons, counting in the passengers and servants. They were
already forward on their voyage, when the wind fell on the sudden; and in
a moment the waves were laid, and the face of the ocean grew so smooth,
that the Santa Cruz stood still, and moved no more than if she had been
at anchor. During this becalming, which lasted fourteen days together,
their water failed them, and some died from the first want of it. They
rowed on every side with their chalop, to make discovery of some coast
where they might find fresh water. Being far at sea, they could discern
nothing, but the island of Formosa, at least they believed it so to be.
They endeavoured to gain the shore; but in seven days time,
notwithstanding all their attempts, they could not reach it.
In the meantime, the ship was full of sick people, who were burnt up with
a deadly thirst; and they had all perished, without hope of succour, if
one of them, reflecting within himself, that Father Xavier had been
always prevalent with God, had not hinted this notion to the rest;
whereupon all of them coming on their knees before him, besought him,
with more tears than words, to obtain from heaven either wind or water
for them.
Xavier bade them address themselves to God in their own behalf; caused
them to recite the litany on their knees, at the foot of a large
crucifix; and then ordered them to retire, but to have confidence in
Jesus Christ. He himself withdrew also into a chamber; from whence coming
out some time after, he went down into the chalop with a little child,
and having caused him to taste of the sea water, asked him whether it
were fresh or salt? The child answering that it was salt, he commanded
him to taste again, and the child told him that it was fresh. Then the
Father, returning into the ship, ordered them to fill all their vessels;
but some amongst them, being eager to drink, found the water salt. The
saint made the sign of the cross over the vessels, and at the same moment
the water, losing its natural saltness, became so good, that they all
protested it was better than that of Bangar, of which the seamen make
their ordinary provision, and which is esteemed the best water in all the
Indies.
This miracle so struck some Saracen Arabs, who were transporting their
whole families into China, that, throwing themselves at the feet of the
holy man, they acknowledged the God of the Christians, and desired
baptism. The faithful, on their side, admired Father Francis; and all of
them, in a body, owned the preservation of their lives to him. But the
Father told them, that it was to God, and not to such a sinner as he was,
that they were obliged to pay their thanks. The greatest part of the
mariners and passengers kept, out of devotion, some of this water, at the
first as a testimony of the miracle, afterwards as a celestial remedy:
for the water, being carried to the Indies, cured great numbers of sick
people; and infusing some small quantity of it into any sort of drink,
was sufficient to restore their health.
During the navigation, a child of five years old happened to fall into
the sea; the vessel, which had a fore-wind, pursuing its course. The
father of this child was not to be comforted, and his grief so
overwhelmed him, that he kept in private for three days. He was a
Mahometan, and the miracle of the water had not converted him. At length
he appeared in public, but all in tears, and never ceasing to lament the
loss of his only son. Xavier, who knew nothing of this misfortune, asked
him the reason of his sorrow? Having learnt it, he stood recollected in
himself a little time, and then said, "Supposing that God should restore
your son to you, would you promise me to believe in Jesus Christ, and to
become a sincere Christian?" The infidel promised him; and three days
after this, before sun-rising, they saw the child upon the hatches. The
child knew not what had become of him for those six days, and only
remembered his falling into the sea, not being able to give any account
how he returned into the ship. His father was ready to die with joy when
he received him; and Xavier had no need of putting him in mind of his
engagement: he came of his own accord, accompanied by his wife, his son,
and his servant; all of them were baptized, and the child was named
Francis.
Those of the vessel having been witnesses of these two miracles, spoke of
them to the inhabitants of an isle called Cincheo, by which they passed,
and which was a place of great traffic, full of merchants from several
parts. The desire of seeing so admirable a man, caused about sixty
persons, some Ethiopians, other Indians, all Idolaters or Mahometans,
to come into the ship: Xavier took the occasion, and preached the gospel
to them; withal, instructing them in the holy practices of Christianity.
He had no sooner ended his exhortation, than they acknowledged Jesus
Christ, and received baptism.
While he was christening them, he appeared of a stature much higher than
his own; insomuch, that those who were upon the shore near the vessel,
believed he had been standing on some bench; but seeing him coming and
going, and always appearing of the same height, they thought there might
possibly be some miracle in the matter, and were desirous to be satisfied
concerning it: Stephen Ventura went into the ship on purpose, and
approaching Father Xavier, saw that with his feet he touched the hatches,
and yet his head was higher than the tallest there, on whom he sprinkled
the sacred waters of baptism. Ventura likewise observed, that, after he
had baptized the company, he returned to his natural proportion.
From Cincheo the ship pursued her voyage towards Sancian, which is but
six leagues distant from the continent, over against Canton, a town of
China. They had sailed far beyond Canton, and the mariners believed they
were still on this side of it. Xavier endeavoured to undeceive them, but
they adhered to their first opinion, and they had gone much further out
of their way, if the captain, upon the word of the saint, had not struck
sail, and cast anchor till the return of the chalop, which he had sent
out to discover the neighbouring coast. She was three days before she
came back, and all the ship's company imagined that she had been
overtaken by some hurricane; but Xavier assured them that she should
suddenly return, with refreshments sent them by the Portuguese of
Sancian; and that also she should be followed by some vessels, which
should come to meet them on their way, and conduct them into the port.
All happened as the Father had foretold; and the Santa Cruz, guided by
the vessels of Sancian, arrived at that island, twenty-three days after
her departure from Malacca.
There are three islands so little distant from each other, that they
appear but one; for which reason the Chinese, in their language, call
them Samceu; a word composed of _sam_, which signifies three, and _ceu_,
which is to say an island. The chief of these islands, which the
Portuguese have named Sancian, has a convenient and safe port, all
crowned with mountains, and forming a semicircle on that side, which
looks towards Macao. It has few inhabitants who are natives, almost no
provisions, and is so barren of itself, so uncultivated and so wild, that
it seems rather a place of banishment than of commerce. The Chinese had
permitted the Portuguese to trade thither, to buy their commodities, and
sell their own to them, without breaking their fundamental law, of
suffering no stranger to set foot within their country; so that the
Portuguese durst come no nearer the main land, for fear of hazarding
their lives, or at least their liberty. Neither was it permitted them to
build solid houses in the isle; they were only allowed to set up slight
cabins, covered with mats, and dressed about with boughs of trees, that
they might not always be shut up within their vessels.
Amongst these merchants there was one who was very rich, and infinitely
charitable, but of a gay humour, and pleasant in conversation, addicted
to all pleasure which decency permits, and loving not to deny himself any
thing which will make life comfortable;--for the rest, most affectionate
to Father Xavier: his name was Peter Veglio, the same Veglio who was with
the saint at Japan, and who returned in his company. Xavier being very
desirous of his friend's salvation, exhorted him, from time to time, to
mortify his natural inclinations, even sometimes to chastise his body for
the expiation of his sins. Veglio understood not that Latin; whether he
was too tender of his own person, or thought his sins were not of a
nature to deserve such severities, he could never find in his heart to
take up the discipline; but instead of macerations and penances, he gave
great alms; and Father Francis received from him very large supplies,
for the relief of such as were in want. One day, the Father having need
of a certain sum of money, to marry a young orphan virgin, who was
poor and handsome, and consequently in danger of being ruined, had
recourse to Veglio, according to his custom. He found him engaged in play
with another merchant; but the business being urgent, he forbore not to
request his charity. Veglio, who loved to be merry, made as if he were
angry with him, and answered thus; "Father Francis, when a man is losing,
he is in no condition of giving alms; and for a wise man as you are, you
have made a very gross mistake in this unseasonable demand." "It is
always in season to do good," replied Xavier; "and the best time for
giving money, is when a man has it in his hand." The merchant continuing
in the same tone, and seeming to be displeased with the Father's company,
added, as it were to be rid of him, "Here, take the key of my chest; take
all my money if you will, and leave me to play my game in quiet." In the
merchant's chest were thirty thousand taes, which amount to forty-five
thousand crowns of gold. The Father took out three hundred crowns, which
were sufficient to marry the orphan maiden. Some time afterward, Veglio
counting over his money, and finding the sum was still entire, believed
the Father had not touched it, and reproached him with want of friendship
for not making use of him; whereupon Xavier protested to him, that he had
taken out three hundred crowns. "I swear to you," said Veglio, "that
not one of them is wanting; but God forgive you," added he, "my meaning
was to have parted the whole sum betwixt us; and I expected, that of my
forty-five thousand crowns, you should at least have taken the one
moiety."
Xavier, finding that Veglio had spoken very sincerely to him, and out of
a pure principle of charity, said, as a man transported out of himself by
the spirit of God; "Peter, the design you had, is a good work before the
eyes of Him, who weighs the motions and intentions of the heart; He
himself will recompence you for it, and that which you have not given,
shall be one day restored to you an hundred-fold. In the meantime, I
answer for Him, that temporal goods shall be never wanting to you; and
when you shall have misfortunes to put you backwards in the world, your
friends shall assist you with their purses. I farther declare to you,
that you shall not die without being first advertised of the day of your
death." After these predictions, Veglio was quite changed into another
man, applying himself wholly to exercises of piety; and in the condition
of a merchant, lived almost the life of a religious. What had been
foretold him, that he should have warning of his death, came frequently
into his remembrance; and he could not hinder himself one day from asking
the saint, at what time, and in what manner, it should be? The saint told
him, without pausing, "When you shall find the taste of your wine bitter,
then prepare yourself for death, and know that you have but one day more
to live."
The merchant lived in opulence and splendour, even to an extreme old age.
He had several losses in his trade, according to the chance of things
which are depending on the sea; but his friends continually relieved him
in his necessities, and gave him wherewithal to set up again. At length,
being one day at a great entertainment, and more gay than ever, having
asked for wine, he found the taste of it was bitter. Immediately
remembering the prophecy of Father Xavier, he was seized with an inward
horror; which beginning from the soul, spread over his body, as if death
had been pronounced against him, or the image of death presented to his
eyes. Nevertheless, somewhat recovering his spirits, for his farther
satisfaction in the point, he desired his fellow-guests at the table to
taste the wine out of his glass. All judged it to be excellent, besides
himself, who made divers trials of it on his palate. He called for other
wines, and another glass; but always found the same bitterness. Then, no
longer doubting but that his last hour was coming, after he had made an
interior sacrifice of his life to God, he related to the company that
prediction, which was now accomplished; and arose from the table with the
thoughts of a Christian, who is disposing himself for death. Having
distributed his goods betwixt his children and the poor, he went to see
his friends, and to give and take the last farewell;--notwithstanding his
great age, he was in perfect health. It was thought he doted, and they
endeavoured to persuade him out of his melancholy apprehensions. But
their arguments prevailed so little on his mind, that he gave orders for
his own funeral, and invited his friends to do him the last kind office,
of accompanying his corpse to burial. To content him, and to make
themselves merry at his folly, they attended him into the church: in
their presence he received the viaticum, and the extreme unction, without
being sick; afterwards he laid himself upon the bier, and caused them to
sing the mass for the dead. The people gathered in a crowd at the
strangeness of the report; some drawn by the novelty of the sight, the
rest to be eye-witnesses how the prediction of Father Xavier would
succeed. Mass being ended, the priest, attended by his inferiors,
performed all the ceremonies of the church about the grave, and, at
length, sung the last words belonging to a Christian burial over the old
man, who was alive, and bore his part in the responses. There now
remaining no more to do, the servant of Veglio coming to help his master
off the bier, he found him dead. All the assistants were witnesses of the
matter of fact, and every one went home full of admiration of God's mercy
towards this merchant, who had been so charitable, and blessing the
memory of the holy apostle of the Indies.
This was not the only prophetical light, which Xavier had in the isle of
Sancian. A ship, which went from Macao to Japan, appeared in sight of
Sancian, to be overtaken by a dreadful hurricane. The Portuguese, who had
great concernments in that vessel, being alarmed at so inevitable a
danger, came running for comfort to Father Xavier; but the Father assured
them, they had no cause of fear, and that the ship was safely arrived at
her port. They kept themselves quiet, upon the assurance of his word,
till finding that the ship made no return, which was to stay at Japan but
some few days, they gave her for lost. Xavier reproved their want of
faith, and positively told them, that she should come back before the
week were ended. In effect, she returned two days afterwards, laden with
rich merchandizes, and proud of her escape from the fury of the
hurricane.
At the same time, Xavier was inspired with the knowledge of the quarrel
betwixt Don Alvarez de Atayda, governor of Malacca, and Don Bernard de
Sosa, who was newly arrived from the Moluccas; and told the circumstances
of it to the Portuguese, who, having afterwards the particulars of it
from some of Malacca, were astonished to find them the very same which
the Father had related.
This miraculous foreknowledge was accompanied by actions as surprising;
and without speaking of a dead infant, which Xavier restored to life, but
whose resurrection is without circumstances in the acts of the saint's
canonization, he cleared the country of the tygers, which laid it waste.
These furious beasts came in herds together out of the forests, and
devoured not only the children, but the men also, whom they found
scattered in the fields, and out of distance from the entrenchments which
were made for their defence. One night the servant of God went out to
meet the tygers, and when they came near him, he threw holy water upon
them, commanding them to go back, and never after to return. The
commandment had its full effect, the whole herd betook themselves to
flight, and from that time forward no tygers were ever seen upon the
island.
The joy which the Portuguese had conceived at the arrival of Father
Xavier, was immediately changed to sadness, when they understood that he
had only taken Sancian in his way to China. They all endeavoured to
dissuade him from it, and set before his eyes the rigorous laws of that
government; that the ports were narrowly observed by vigilant and
faithful officers, who were neither to be circumvented nor bribed with
presents; that the Mandarins were cruel to all strangers; that, the year
before, some Portuguese seamen being cast by tempest on the coast of
Canton, had been severely whipped, and afterwards inclosed in dark
dungeons, where, if they were not already dead, they were still exercised
with new punishments; that, for himself, the least he could expect was
perpetual imprisonment, which was not the business of an apostle, who
designed to run from place to place, and propagate the faith through all
the East. These arguments made no impression on the saint; he had
fortified his resolution with more potent reasons, and answered the
merchants in the same tenor in which he had written to Father Francis
Perez, that he could not distrust the Divine Goodness, and that his
distrust would be so much the more criminal, because the powerful
inspiration of the Holy Spirit pushed him forward to teach the Chinese
the gospel of the living God. "I am elected," said he, "for this great
enterprize, by the special grace of heaven. If I should demur on the
execution, or be terrified with the hardships, and want courage to
attempt those difficulties, would it not be incomparably worse than all
the evils with which you threaten me? But, what can the demons and their
ministers do against me? Surely no more than what is permitted them by
the sovereign Lord of all the world; and that in giving up myself in this
manner, I shall obey my Lord Jesus, who declares in his gospel, 'That
whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whoever will lose it for
my sake, shall find it.' Our Saviour also says, 'That he who, having put
his hand to the plough, shall look behind him, is not fit for the kingdom
of heaven.' The loss of the body being then without comparison less to be
feared than that of the soul, according to the principles of Eternal
Wisdom, I am resolved to sacrifice a frail and miserable life for
everlasting happiness. In fine, I have set up my rest, I will undertake
this voyage, and nothing is capable of altering my resolution. Let all
the powers of hell break loose upon me, I despise them, provided God be
on my side; for if he be for us, who shall be against us?" The Portuguese
being of opinion, that this fixed intention of the man of God was partly
grounded on his ignorance of the dangers, which he believed they
magnified to him beyond their natural proportion, sent some Chinese
merchants, with whom they traded, to discourse the business calmly with
him; but the matter went otherwise than they had imagined. Those Chinese,
to whom Xavier failed not to speak of Christianity, and who were men of
understanding, advised him to the voyage, instead of dissuading him. They
counselled him only to carry books which contained the Christian
doctrine; and added, that, not long since, the emperor had sent some
learned men into the neighbouring kingdoms, to inform themselves of such
religions as were different from the received opinions of the Chinese;
that they believed the Christian doctrine would be well received at
court; and that it seemed probable to them, that the novelty of so
reasonable a belief would make his way who was the first bearer of it.
Xavier was overjoyed to find a passage opened for the gospel, to the most
polite nation of the world; and doubted not but that the Christian
religion, coming to be compared by judicious men with the other opinions
of the East, would have the advantage. Being thus encouraged to pursue
his purpose, his first business was to provide himself of a good
interpreter. For Antonio, the Chinese, whom he had brought from Goa, was
wholly ignorant of the language which is spoken at the court, and had
almost forgotten the common idiom of the vulgar. He found out another
Chinese, who had a perfect knowledge of the language of the Mandarins,
and who could also write excellently well, in which consists the
principal knowledge of China. For the rest, he was a man well shaped, of
a good presence, of great natural parts, of a pleasing conversation, and,
which was above all, he seemed entirely devoted to the Christians: he
promised all possible good offices,--whether he hoped to make his
fortune, by presenting to the emperor one who published a new law, or
that God had inspired him with those pious thoughts.
There was more difficulty in finding seamen to transport the Father; for
there was no less venture than that of life, for any one who undertook
that business. But interest gives him courage to hazard all, who values
money more than life itself. A Chinese merchant, called Capoceca, offered
himself to carry Xavier into the province of Canton, provided he might be
well paid; and asked the value of two hundred pardos[1]in pepper. The
Chinese promised to take Xavier into his barque by night, and to land him
before day on some part of the coast, where no houses were in view; and
if this way was thought uncertain, he engaged to hide the Father in his
own house, and four days after to conduct him, early in the morning, to
the gates of Canton. But he would have Xavier oblige himself also, on his
side, to go immediately to the Mandarin, with the letters which the
viceroy of the Indies, and the bishop of Goa, had written to the emperor;
for the Father had still reserved by him those letters which related to
the embassy, though the design had been ruined by the governor of
Malacca. The Chinese also exacted an oath of secrecy from the saint, that
no torments, however cruel, should bring him to confess either the name
or the house of him who had set him on shore.
[Footnote 1: A pardo (says Tavernier) is of the value of twenty-seven
sous, French money; ten of which make about a shilling English.]
Xavier made as solemn an engagement as he could desire, not without
knowledge of the hazard which he ran, as himself related to one of his
dearest friends. "I perceive," said he, "two dangers, which are almost
inevitable in this affair; on the one side, there is great cause of
apprehension, lest the idolatrous merchant, having received the price
of my passage, should throw me overboard, or leave me on some desart
isle; on the other side, lest the governor of Canton should discharge his
fury upon me, and make me an example to all strangers, by putting me to a
cruel death, or condemning me to perpetual imprisonment. But in case I
follow the voice which calls me, and obey my Lord, I count my life and
liberty at nothing."
When the voyage of China was on these terms, and that all things seemed
to favour it, the Portuguese of Sancian put an obstacle in the way, of
which Xavier had never thought. The appetite of gain made them apprehend,
lest his zeal should bring them into trouble; and they said to one
another, that the Mandarin governor of Canton would certainly revenge on
them the boldness of their countryman: That he would commission his
officers to pillage their ships, and confiscate their effects, and that
their lives were not in safety. In this general affrightment, which was
not ill grounded, and which increased daily, the wealthier sort addressed
themselves to Father Xavier, and desired him to take compassion on them,
and on their wives and children, if he would have no compassion on
himself.
Xavier, who was no less careful for the interests of others, than he was
negligent of his own, found an expedient to satisfy them. He engaged his
word, that he would not pass over into China, till they had ended all
their business, and were gone from Sancian. This gave opportunity to the
Chinese merchant, with whom he had treated, to make a short voyage, under
promise, notwithstanding, to return at a time which was prefixed. While
these things were thus managed, the Father fell sick of a violent fever,
which continued on him fifteen days. The Portuguese took occasion from
thence to tell him, that heaven had declared against the voyage of China;
but being recovered, he followed his design with more warmth than ever.
While the merchants were lading their ships, he entertained himself day
and night with the prospect of converting China; and all his pleasure was
to think, how happy he should be, in dispossessing the devil of the
largest empire in the world. "If yet," said he, "it shall please Almighty
God to employ so vile an instrument as I am, in so glorious an
undertaking." Taken up with these and such-like meditations, he often
took his walk along the shore, and turning his eyes towards that desired
country, sent out ardent sighs. He said sometimes amongst his friends,
that his only wish was to be set down at the gates of Canton, and
troubled not himself with what might happen afterwards: happy he, if he
could once declare the Son of God to the Chinese, and more happy, if, for
his sake, he might suffer martyrdom.
In the mean time, all the Portuguese vessels, excepting only the Santa
Cruz, which had not yet her whole lading, set sail from Sancian for the
Indies. Xavier gave many letters to the merchants, to be delivered both
at Malacca and at Goa. He wrote to his friend James Pereyra, in terms
which were full of acknowledgment and charity. "Almighty God," said he in
his letter, "abundantly reward you, since I am not able of myself to do
it; at least, while I continue in this world, I shall not fail to implore
the Divine Goodness to confer on you, during your life, his holy grace,
accompanied with perfect health, and after your death eternal happiness.
But as I am persuaded, that I cannot acquit myself, by these my prayers,
of the great obligements which I have to you, I beg all those of our
Society in the Indies, to desire of God the same blessings in your
behalf. For what remains, if I compass my entrance into China, and if the
gospel enter with me, it is to you, next to Almighty God, to whom both
the Chinese and myself shall be owing for it. You shall have the merit of
it in the sight of God, and the glory in the sight of men. Thus, both the
Chinese, who shall embrace the faith, and those of our Society, who shall
go to China, shall be obliged, to offer, without ceasing, their vows to
heaven in favour of you. God grant us both the happiness once to meet in
the court of China! As for myself, I am of opinion if I get into that
kingdom, and that you come thither, you will either find me a prisoner at
Canton, or at Pequin, which is the capital city of that empire; and I
beseech the Lord, out of his infinite mercy, that we may be joined
together either in the kingdom of China, or at least in the kingdom of
immortal glory."
He wrote by the same conveyance to Father Francis Perez, superior of
Malacca. He commanded him, in virtue of holy obedience, to depart with
the soonest out of that unhappy town, and to conduct his inferiors to
Cochin, where he established him rector of the college, in the place of
Antonio Heredia, whom he sent to Goa. Though Father Xavier deplored anew,
the wretched condition of Don Alvarez, it hindered him not from enjoining
Father Barzæus, in his letter to him, that he should work the bishop to
send his orders to the grand vicar of Malacca, therein declaring the
governor to be excommunicated. And he took this way, not only because
hardened and scandalous offenders, such as Don Alvarez, ought to incur a
public dishonour, by that means to induce them to a serious consideration
of their own estate, and that others might take warning by them; but
also, that succeeding governors might fear, by the example of his
punishment, to set themselves in opposition to any intended voyage of the
missioners, who should be sent hereafter to the Moluccas, Japan, or any
other places.
He desired Father Barzæeus, in the same letter, to receive few persons
into the Society, and to make an exact trial of those whom he should
receive: "For I fear," said he, "that many of them who have been
admitted, and daily are admitted, were better out of our walls than
within them.
"You ought to deal with such people, as you have seen me deal with many
at Goa; and as I have lately treated my companion, whom I have dismissed
from the Society, not having found him proper for our business." He meant
Alvarez Pereyra, whom he had brought with him from the Indies, and whom
he sent back from Sancian with the Portuguese vessels.
Amongst those merchants who went off from Sancian, there was one who made
more haste than any of the rest; without giving notice of his departure
to the Father, whom he had lodged in his cabin, or without waiting for a
Chinese vessel, which he had bought at the port of Canton. One morning
while the Father was saying mass very early, this merchant had put off
from shore, and fled with as much precipitation as if the island was
ready to be swallowed by the sea. After mass was ended, he looked round
him, and not seeing him for whom he searched, "What is become of my
host?" said he, with the looks and gesture of a man inspired. Being
answered, that he was already in open sea; "What could urge him,"
continued he, "to so prompt a resolution? why did he not expect the ship
which comes from Canton? And whither is he dragged by his unhappy
destiny?" That very evening the Chinese vessel was seen to arrive: as for
the fugitive merchant, he was no sooner landed at Malacca, when, going
into a wood to seek materials for the refitting of his ship, he was
poniarded by robbers.
All the Portuguese vessels being gone, saving only that which belonged to
the governor of Malacca, or rather of which the governor had possessed
himself by violence, Xavier was reduced to so great a want of all
necessaries, that he had scarcely wherewithal to sustain nature. It is
certainly a matter of amazement, that they, whose lives he had preserved
by changing the salt sea-water into fresh; should be so hard-hearted as
to abandon him to die of hunger. Some have thought that Don Alvarez
had given orders, that all things should be refused him; but I rather
think, that Providence would try him in the same manner, as sometimes God
is pleased to prove those whom he loves the best, and permitted that
dereliction of him for the entire perfection of the saint.
That which most afflicted him, was, that the Chinese interpreter, who had
made him such advantageous offers, recalled his word, either of himself
for fear of danger, or at the solicitation of those who were devoted to
the governor of Malacca. Yet the Father did not lose his courage; he
still hoped that God would assist him some other way; and that, at the
worst, Antonio de Sainte Foy might serve his turn for an interpreter. But
for the last load of his misfortunes, the merchant, who had engaged to
land him on the coast of China, returned not at the time appointed, and
he in vain expected him for many days.
Despairing of any thing on that side, he still maintained his resolution,
and another expedient seemed to promise him success. News was brought
him, that the king of Siam, whose dominions are almost bordering on
Malacca, and who also was in league with Portugal, was preparing a
magnificent embassy to the emperor of China for the year following.
Whereupon Xavier resolved on returning to Malacca by the first
opportunity, and to use his best endeavours, that he might accompany the
ambassador of Siam to China.
But the Eternal Wisdom, which sometimes inspires his servants with great
designs, does not always will the performance of them; though he wills
that on their side nothing be omitted for the execution. God was pleased
to deal with Xavier as formerly he had dealt with Moses, who died in view
of that very land whither he was commanded to conduct the Israelites. A
fever seized on Father Francis on the 20th of November; and at the same
time he was endued with a clear knowledge of the day and hour of his
death; as he openly declared to the pilot of the vessel, Francis
D'Aghiar, who afterwards made an authentic deposition of it by solemn
oath.
From that moment he perceived in himself a strange disgust of all earthly
things, and thought on nothing but that celestial country whither God
was calling him. Being much weakened by his fever, he retired into the
vessel, which was the common hospital of the sick, that there he might
die in poverty; and the Captain Lewis Almeyda received him,
notwithstanding all the orders of his master Don Alvarez. But the tossing
of the ship giving him an extraordinary headach, and hindering him from
applying himself to God, as he desired, the day ensuing he requested that
he might be set on shore again. He was landed and left upon the sands,
exposed to the injury of the air, and the inclemency of the season,
especially to the blasts of a piercing north wind, which then arose. He
had there died without relief, had not a Portuguese more charitable than
the rest, whose name was George Alvarez, caused him to be carried into
hiscabin; which yet was little different from the naked shore, as being
open on every side.
The indications of his disease being an acute pain in his side, and a
great oppression, Alvarez was of opinion that they ought to breathe a
vein; and the Father was consenting to it, by a blind submission to the
judgment of his host, though he knew beforehand that all manner of
remedies were in vain. A chirurgeon of the ship, who was awkward at his
work, and of small experience in his art, bled him so unluckily, that he
hurt the nerves, and the patient fell immediately into swooning
convulsions; yet they drew blood from him a second time; and that
operation had all the ill accidents of the former. Besides which, it was
attended with a horrible nauseousness; insomuch, that he could take no
nourishment, at least the little which he took, consisted only of some
few almonds, which the captain of the vessel sent him out of charity. The
disease increased hourly, and he grew weaker every day; but his
countenance was still serene, and his soul enjoyed a perpetual calmness.
Sometimes he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and at other times fixed them
on his crucifix, entertaining divine conversation with his God, and not
without shedding abundant tears. He remained in this condition till the
28th of November, when the fever mounted into his head. During this
delirium he talked of nothing but of God, and of his passage into China,
but in terms more tender and ardent than ever formerly.
At length he lost his speech, and recovered not the use of it till three
days afterwards: his strength then left him all at once, so that it was
expected every moment that he would pass away; which notwithstanding, he
once more recovered, and having the free exercise both of his reason and
his speech, he renewed his entertainments with his Saviour in an audible
manner. Nothing was to be heard from him but devout aspirations, and
short ejaculations of prayer, but those full of life and of affection.
The assistants understood not all he said, because he continually spoke
in Latin; and Antonio de Sainte Foy, who never left him, has only
reported, that the man of God made frequent repetition of these words,
_Jesu, fili David, miserere mei!_ and these also, which were so familiar
to him, _sanctissima Trinitas_! Besides which, invoking the blessed
Virgin, he would say, _Monstra te esse Matrem!_ He passed two days
without taking any food; and having ordered his priestly habits, and
the other church-stuff which he used in saying mass, to be carried aboard
the ship, together with those books which he had composed for the
instruction of the Eastern people, he disposed himself for his last hour,
which was near approaching.
Besides Antonio de Sainte Foy, he had near his person a young Indian,
whom he had brought with him from Goa. The saint, dying as he was, cast
his eyes on the young man, and appeared discomposed in looking on him;
afterwards, with a compassionate regard, he twice pronounced these words,
"Ah miserable man!" and afterwards shed tears. God, at that moment, was
pleased to reveal to Xavier, the unhappy death of this young Indian, who,
five or six months afterwards, falling into most horrible debauches, was
killed on the place by the shot of an arquebuse. So that the spirit of
prophecy accompanied the holy man, even to his last breath.
At last, on the 2d of December, which fell on Friday, having his eyes all
bathed in tears, and fixed with great tenderness of soul upon his
crucifix, he pronounced these words, _In te, Domine, speravi, non
confundar in aeternum_; and at the same instant, transported with
celestial joy, which appeared upon his countenance, he sweetly gave up
the ghost, towards two of the clock in the afternoon, and in the year of
God 1552.
He was six-and-forty years of age, and had passed ten-and-a-half of them
in the Indies. His stature was somewhat above the middle size; his
constitution strong; his air had a mixture of pleasingness and majesty;
he was fresh-coloured, had a large forehead, a well-proportioned nose;
his eyes were blue, but piercing and lively; his hair and beard of a dark
chesnut; his continual labours had made him gray betimes; and in the last
year of his life, he was grizzled almost to whiteness. This without
question gave occasion to his first historians to make him five-and-fifty
years old, before the certain proofs of his age came at length to be
discovered.
When it was known that Father Francis was expired, many of the ship, and
even the most devoted to the governor, ran to the cabin. They found the
same fresh colour on his face as he had when living, and at the first
sight could hardly persuade themselves that he was dead. When they had
looked on him at a nearer distance, piety began to be predominant over
all their other thoughts: they kneeled down by him, and kissed his hands
with reverence, recommending themselves to him, with tears in their eyes,
as nothing doubting but that his happy soul was perfectly enjoying God in
heaven.
His corpse was not laid into the ground till Sunday towards noon. His
funerals were made without any ceremony; and, besides Antonio de Sainte
Foy, Francis d'Aghiar, and two others, there were not any more
assistants. An historian of the Indies has written, that the
unsupportable coldness of that day, was the occasion of it. But in all
probability, the apprehension which the ship's company had of drawing on
themselves the displeasure of the governor, Don Alvarez, had at least as
great a share in it as the sharpness of the season. They took off his
cassock, which was all in tatters; and the four, who had paid him those
last duties, divided it amongst them, out of devotion; after which they
arrayed him in his sacerdotal habits.
George Alvarez took upon himself the care of bestowing the body in a
large chest, made after the Chinese fashion; he caused this chest to be
filled up with unslaked lime; to the end that, the flesh being soon
consumed, they might carry the bones in the vessel, which within some few
months was to return to India.
At the point of the haven there was a little spot of rising ground, and
at the foot of this hillock a small piece of meadow, where the Portuguese
had set up a cross. Near that cross they interred the saint: they cast up
two heaps of stones, the one at his head, the other at his feet, as a
mark of the place where he was buried.
In the mean season, God made manifest the holiness of his servant in the
kingdom of Navarre, by a miraculous accident, or rather by the ceasing of
a miracle. In a little chapel, at the castle of Xavier, there was an
ancient crucifix made of plaster, of about the stature of a man. In the
last year of the Father's life, this crucifix was seen to sweat blood in
great abundance every Friday, but after Xavier was dead the sweating
ceased. The crucifix is to be seen even at this day, at the same place,
with the blood congealed along the arms and thighs, to the hands and
sides. They, who have beheld it, have been informed by the inhabitants of
the neighbourhood, that some persons of that country having taken away
some of the flakes of that clotted blood, the bishop of Pampeluna had
forbidden any one from henceforward to diminish any part of it, under
pain of excommunication. They also learnt, that it had been observed,
according; to the news which came from the Indies, that at the same time
when Xavier laboured extraordinarily, or that he was in some great
danger, this crucifix distilled blood on every side; as if then, when the
apostle was actually suffering for Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ was
suffering for him, notwithstanding that he is wholly impassible. The
ship, which was at the port of Sancian, being at the point of setting
sail For the Indies, Antonio de Sainte Foy, and George Alvarez, desired
the captain, Luys Almeyda, not to leave upon the isle the remainders of
Father Francis.
One of the servants of Almeyda opened the coffin, by the order of his
master, on the 17th of February, 1553, to see if the flesh were totally
consumed, so that the bones might be gathered together; but having taken
the lime from off the face, they found it ruddy and fresh-coloured, like
that of a man who is in a sweet repose. His curiosity led him farther to
view the body; he found it in like manner whole, and the natural moisture
uncorrupted. But that he might entirely satisfy all doubts and scruples,
he cut a little of the flesh on the right thigh, near the knee, and
beheld the blood running from it. Whereupon he made haste to advertise
the captain of what he was an eye-witness; and carried with him a little
piece of flesh, which he had cut off, and which was about a finger's
length. All the company ran immediately to the place of burial, and
having made an exact observation of the body, found it to be all entire,
and without any putrefaction. The sacerdotal habits, with which he had'
been vested after his disease, were nowise damaged by the lime. And what
was most amazing to them all, was, that the holy corpse exhaled an odour
so delightful, and so fragrant, that, by the relation of many there
present, the most exquisite perfumes came nothing near it, and the scent
was judged to be celestial.
Then those very people, who, basely to comply with the brutality of
Alvarez, had misused Father Xavier in his life, after his decease did
honours to him; and many of them asked his pardon with weeping eyes, that
they had forsaken him so unworthily in his sickness. Some amongst them
exclaimed openly againt Alvarez, without fearing the consequence; and
there was one who said aloud, what was said afterwards by the viceroy of
the Indies, Don Alphonso de Norogna, "That Alvarez de Atayda had been the
death of Father Francis, both by his persecutions at Malacca, and by the
cruelties of his servants at Sancian." With these pious meditations,
having laid the unslaked lime once more upon the face and body, the
sacred remains were carried into the ship; and not long after they set
sail, esteeming themselves happy to bear along with them so rich a
treasure to the Indies.
They arrived at Malacca, March 22, without meeting in their passage any
of those dreadful whirlwinds which infest those seas; as if the presence
of this holy corpse was endued with virtue to dispel them. Before they
had gained the port, they sent in their chalop to give them notice in the
town of the present which they were about to make them: though none of
the Society were in Malacca, and that the plague was there violently
raging, yet the whole nobility, and all the body of the clergy, came with
James Pereyra to the shore, to receive the blessed body, each with a
waxen taper in his hand, and carried it in ceremony to the church of Our
Lady of the Mount, followed by a crowd of Christians, Mahometans, and
Idolaters, who on this occasion seemed all to be joined in the same
religion.
Don Alvarez was the only person who was wanting in his reverence to the
saint: he was then actually at play in his palace, while the procession
was passing by; and, at the noise of the people, putting his head out at
the window, he miscalled the public devotion, by the names of silliness
and foppery; after which, he set him again to gaming. But his impiety did
not long remain unpunished, and the predictions of the man of God made
haste to justify their truth.
The viceroy of the Indies, upon the complaints which were brought against
Don Alvarez for his tyrannical proceedings, deprived him of the
government of Malacca; and causing him to be brought to Goa as a prisoner
of state, sent him to Portugal under a sufficient guard. There all his
goods were confiscated to the king's exchequer; and for himself, he was
condemned to perpetual imprisonment Before his departure from the Indies,
he had gotten an obscene disease, which increased to that degree in
Europe, that he died of it at last in a shameful manner, no remedy
availing to his cure; the stench of his polluted body having first made
him insupportable to all the world. As for Pereyra, who had sacrificed
his whole estate for the benefit of souls, and propagation of the faith,
though the governor had so unjustly made a seizure of his fortunes, yet
King John III. restored him all with interest, and heaped his royal
favours on him in succeeding years, according to the prediction of the
Father.
But the devotion of the people failed not of an Immediate reward. The
pestilence, which for some weeks had laid waste the town, as the saint
had foretold not long before his death, in his letter to Father Francis
Perez, on the sudden ceased; insomuch, that no infection was from
thenceforward caught; and they, who had been infected, were cured,
without taking any remedy. Besides this contagious disease, the famine
raged to that degree, that multitudes of people daily died of hunger.
This second judgment was likewise diverted at the same time; for,
together with the vessel, which bore the sacred body, there came in a
fleet of ships, which were laden with all manner of provisions, to supply
the necessities of the town.
These so considerable favours ought to have obliged the inhabitants to
have honoured the body of their benefactor with a sepulchre which was
worthy of him. In the mean time, whether the fear of their governor
withheld them, or that God permitted it for the greater glory of his
servant, having taken the body out of the chest, they buried it without
the church, where the common sort of people were interred; and, which was
yet more shameful, they made the grave too scanty; so that crushing the
body to give it entrance, they broke it somewhere about the shoulders,
and there gushed out blood, which diffused a most fragrant odour. And
farther, to carry their civility and discretion to the highest point,
they trampled so hard upon the earth, which covered the blessed corpse,
that they bruised it in many parts; as if it had been the destiny of that
holy man to be tormented by the people of Malacca, both during his life,
and after his decease. The sacred corpse remained thus without honour,
till the month of August, when Father John Beyra came from Goa, in his
return to the Moluccas, with two companions whom Gaspar Barzæus, the
vice-provincial, had given him, pursuant to the orders of Father Xavier.
This man, having always had a tender affection for the saint, was most
sensibly afflicted for his death; and could not think of continuing his
voyage to the Moluccas, till he had looked upon the body, of which so
many wonders were related. Opening himself on that subject to James
Pereyra, and two or three other friends of the dead apostle, they took up
his body privately one night. The corpse was found entire, fresh, and
still exhaling a sweet odour; neither had the dampness of the ground,
after five months burial, made the least alteration in him: they found
even the linen which was over his face tinctured with vermilion blood.
This surprising sight so wrought upon their minds, that they thought it
their duty, not to lay it again into the ground, but rather to contrive
the means of transporting it to Goa. Pereyra ordered a coffin to be made
of a precious wood, and after they had garnished it with rich China
damask, they put the corpse into it, wrapping it in cloth of gold, with a
pillow of brocard underneath the head. The coffin was afterwards bestowed
in a proper place, known only to the devoted friends of Father Xavier;
and it pleased the Almighty to declare, by a visible miracle, that their
zeal was acceptable to him: For a waxen taper, which they had lighted
up before the coffin, and which naturally must have burnt out within ten
hours, lasted eighteen days entire, burning day and night; and it was
observed, that the droppings of the wax weighed more than the taper
itself at the beginning.
In the mean time an occasion offered for the voyage of the Moluccas,
while they were waiting for an opportunity of passing to Goa. Beyra,
therefore, put to sea, more inflamed than ever with the zeal of souls;
and filled with a double portion of an apostolic spirit, which the sight
of the saint had inspired into him. But of the two companions which had
been assigned for the mission of the Moluccas, he left one behind him at
Malacca, to be a guardian of that holy treasure, and this was Emanuel
Pavora. Peter de Alcaceva at the same time returned from Japan, whither
he had been sent from Goa, for the affairs of that new Christianity.
And both of them, not long after, carried the holy corpse along with them
in the vessel of Lopez de Norogna.
The ship was so old and worn, and out of all repair, that none durst
venture to embark upon her. But when once it was divulged, that it was to
carry the corpse of Father Francis, every one made haste to get a corner
in her, not doubting but there they might be safe. And the passengers had
no cause to repent them of their confidence; for, in effect, God
delivered them, more than once, miraculously from shipwreck.
A furious tempest, almost at their first setting out, cast them upon
banks of sand, and the keel struck so far into it, that they could not
get her off; when, against all human appearances, the wind coming about,
and blowing full in their faces, disengaged the vessel; and, that it
might manifestly appear to be the hand of God, the blast ceased that very
moment when the keel was loosened from the sands.
Not long after, at the entry into the gulph of Ceylon, they struck
impetuously against some hidden shelves, the rudder flying off with the
fury of the stroke, the keel stuck fast within the rock; and it was a
miracle that the vessel, being so crazy, did not split asunder. The
mariners did that on this occasion, which is commonly put in practice in
extremity of danger: They cut the masts with their hatchets, but that
being of no effect, they were going to throw all their lading overboard,
to ease the ship; but the fury of the waves, which beat upon her on every
side, and outrageously tossed her, suffered them not to perform what they
desired. Then they had their last recourse to the intercession of that
saint, whose corpse they carried. Having drawn it out of the pilot's
cabin, they fell on their knees about it with lighted flambeaux; and,
as if Father Xavier had been yet living, and that he had beheld and heard
them, they begged succour of him from that eminent destruction.
Their prayer was scarcely ended, when they heard a rumbling noise from
underneath the vessel; and at the same time, perceived her following her
course in open sea: from whence they concluded, that the rock was cleft
in pieces, and had left a free passage for the ship.
They pursued their voyage cheerfully; and turning towards the cape of
Comorine, landed at Cochin. The whole city came to pay their last duty to
their instructor and beloved Father; and it is incredible what
demonstrations of piety the people gave. From Cochin they set sail for
Baticula. The wife of Antonio Rodriguez, one of the king's officers, who
had long been sick, was in hope to recover, if she could see Father
Francis. She caused herself to be carried to the ship, and at the sight
of the dead saint, was restored to her health at the same moment. Not
satisfied with this, she was desirous to have a little piece of the cope,
with which the Father was habited; and it is wonderful what cures she
effected by that precious relique.
The ship being now within twenty leagues of Goa, and being unable to make
any farther way, because of the contrary winds, the captain went into the
chalop, with some of his people, and got to the town by the help of oars,
that himself might have the honour of bearing the first news to the
viceroy, and the Fathers of the Society, that the blessed corpse was
coming to them. Father Caspar Barzæus was already dead, and Father
Melchior Nugnez declared his successor in his two offices, of rector of
the college, and vice-provincial of the Indies, in virtue of the letter
which Father Xavier had left sealed behind him when he went for China,
and which was opened after the death of Gaspar, according to the orders
of Xavier himself.
The viceroy immediately ordered a light galley for Nugnez; upon which he
and three others of the Society embarking, together with four young men
of the seminary, they set sail towards the vessel, to bear off the body
of the saint. They received it with the honourable discharge of all the
cannon, not only from the ship of Lopez, but from six other vessels which
were in company, and which had been wind-bound towards Baticula. On the
15th of March, in the year 1554, the galley landed at Rebendar, which is
within half a league of Goa; she remained there the rest of that day, and
all the night; while they were making preparations in the town, for the
solemn reception of the holy apostle of the Indies. The next morning,
which was Friday in Passion week, six barks were seen to come, which were
all illuminated with lighted torches, and pompously adorned, wherein was
the flower of the Portuguese nobility. Twelve other barks attended them,
with three hundred of the principal inhabitants, each of them holding a
taper in his hand; and in every one of these barks, there was
instrumental music of all sorts, and choirs of voices, which made an
admirable harmony. The whole squadron was drawn up into two wings, to
accompany the galley, which rowed betwixt them. The body of the saint was
covered with cloth of gold, which was the present of Pereyra, and was
placed upon the stern, under a noble canopy, with lighted flambeaux, and
rich streamers waving on both sides of it,
In this equipage, they rowed towards Goa, but very softly, and in
admirable order. All the town was gathered on the shore, in impatient
expectation of their loving and good Father. When they perceived the
vessel from afar, there was nothing to be heard but cries of joy, nothing
to be seen but tears of devotion. Some, more impatient than the rest,
threw themselves into the sea, and swimming up to the galley, accompanied
it to the shore in the same posture.
The viceroy was there waiting for it, attended by his guards, the
remaining part of the nobility, the council royal, and the magistrates,
all in mourning. At the time when the holy corpse was landing, a company
of young men, consecrated to the service of the altars, sung the
_Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel._ In the mean while, they ordered the
ceremony of the procession after this ensuing manner:--
Ninety children went foremost, in long white robes, with chaplets of
flowers on their heads, and each of them holding in his hand an olive
branch. The Brotherhood of Mercy followed them, with a magnificent
standard. The clergy succeeded to the Brotherhood, and walked immediately
before the corpse, which was carried by the fathers of the Society.
The viceroy, with his court, closed up the ceremony, which was followed
by an innumerable multitude of people. All the streets were hung with
tapestry; and when the blessed corpse appeared, flowers were thrown upon
it from all the windows, and from the tops of houses.
But nothing rendered the pomp more famous, than the miracles which at
that time were wrought; for there seemed to breathe out from this holy
body, a saving virtue, together with a celestial odour. Many sick
persons, who had caused themselves to be carried out into the streets,
were cured with only seeing it; and even some, who were not able to leave
their beds, recovered their health with the bare invocation of his name.
Jane Pereyra was of this number; after a sickness of three months, being
almost reduced to a despair of life, she had no sooner implored the
assistance of the saint, but she found herself in a perfect state of
health.
Another young maiden, who was just at the point of death, and held the
consecrated taper in her hand, having been recommended by her mother
to the patronage of the saint, came suddenly to herself, and rose up well
recovered, while the procession was passing by the house.
After many turns and windings, at last they proceeded to the college of
St Paul; and there set down the coffin, in the great chapel of the
church. A retrenchment had been made before the chapel, to keep off the
crowd; but it was immediately broken down, notwithstanding the opposition
of the guards, which were placed on purpose to defend it. To appease the
tumult, they were forced to shew the saint three times successively, and
to hold him upright, that he might more easily be seen by the longing
multitude. It was also thought convenient to leave the body exposed to
view, for three days together, for the comfort of the inhabitants, who
were never weary with gazing on it; and who, in gazing, were pierced with
a sensible devotion.
New miracles were wrought in presence of the holy body. The blind
received their sight, those who were taken with the palsy recovered the
use of their limbs, and the lepers became clean as babes. At the sight of
these miraculous cures, the people published aloud all those wonderful
operations, which they knew to have been performed by Father Xavier; and
his old companion John Deyro, at that time a religious of the order of St
Francis, related, with tears of tenderness and devotion, what the saint
had prophesied of him, which was now accomplished. In the mean time, on
that very day, which was Friday, the canons of the cathedral solemnly
sung the high mass of the cross. The clay following, the religious of St
Francis, whom the man of God had always honoured, and tenderly affected,
came to sing the mass of the blessed Virgin, in the church of the
Society.
When in this manner the public devotion had been accomplished, on Sunday
night the coffin was placed on an eminence near the high altar, on the
gospel side.
In this place I ought not to omit, that the vessel which had borne this
sacred pledge to Goa, split asunder of itself, and sunk to the bottom, so
soon as the merchandizes were unloaded, and all the passengers were come
safe on shore; which was nothing less than a public declaration of
Almighty God, that he had miraculously preserved her in favour of that
holy treasure; and that a ship which had been employed on so pious an
occasion, was never to be used on any secular account.
As soon as it was known in Europe that Father Xavier was dead, they began
to speak of his canonization. And on this account, Don John the Third,
King of Portugal, gave orders to the viceroy of the Indies, Don Francis
Barreto, to make a verbal process of the life and miracles of the man of
God. This was executed at Goa, at Cochin, at the coast of Fishery, at
Malacca at the Moluccas, and other parts; and men of probity, who were
also discerning and able persons, were sent upon the places, heard the
witnesses, and examined the matters of fact, with all possible exactness.
It is to be acknowledged, that the people took it in evil part, that
these informations were made; being fully satisfied of the holiness of
the saint, and not being able to endure that it should be doubted in the
least; in like manner, neither would they stay, till all the
ecclesiastical proceedings were wholly ended, nor till the Holy See had
first spoken of rendering him the worship due to saints; they invoked him
already in their necessities, and particularly in all sorts of dangers.
Some of them placed his picture in their oratories; and even the
archbishop of Goa, Don Christopher de Lisbonne, (for the episcopal see
had been erected into an archbishopric,) the archbishop, I say, wore on
his breast an image of Xavier in little, which he often kissed with a
reverent affection: and his devotion was not without reward; for, having
been cruelly tormented with the stone, for a month together, he was freed
immediately from it, and felt not any farther pains.
It also happened, that in many places of the Indies the new converts
built churches in honour of Father Francis, through a precipitate and
indiscreet devotion, which their good meaning and their zeal are only
capable of excusing. Amongst those churches, there was one much
celebrated, on the coast of Travancore. The Saracens having demolished
it, together with eleven other ancient structures of piety, the
Christians, who, by reason of their poverty, were not able to rebuild
them all, restored only this one church, which was dearer to them than
any of the rest.
For what remains, in what place soever any churches were dedicated to the
Father, there never failed a wonderful concourse of people to honour
the memory of the holy man; and, according to the relation of Francis
Nugnez, vicar of Coulan, they were obliged to sink a well for the relief
of poor pilgrims near the church, which was built in honour of him at
that town. Nugnez also reports, "That those which had been consecrated to
the apostles, and other saints, in a manner lost their titles, when once
the image of St Xavier was there exposed; and that the people, turning
all their devotion towards him, were wont to call them the churches of
Father Francis."
But what was most to be admired, even the professed enemies of Jesus
Christ paid him reverence after his decease, as well as during his life;
calling him, "the man of prodigies, the friend of heaven, the master of
nature, and the god of the world." Some of them undertook long voyages,
and came to Goa, expressly to behold his body exempted from corruption,
and which, only excepting motion, had all the appearance of life. There
were amongst the Gentiles, who spoke of raising altars to him; and some
people of the sect of Mahomet did, in effect, dedicate a mosque to him,
on the western coast of Comorine. The king of Travancore, though a
Mahometan, built a magnificent temple to him; and the infidels had so
great a veneration for that place, where the great Father was adored,
that they durst not spit upon the ground, if we may believe the testimony
of those who were natives of the country.
The Pagans had a custom, that, in confirmation of a truth, they would
hold a red-hot iron in their hands, with other superstitions of the like
nature; but after that Father Francis came to be held in so great
veneration through the Indies, they swore solemnly by his name; and such
an oath was generally received for the highest attestation of a truth.
Neither did any of them forswear themselves unpunished after such an
oath; and God authorized, by many proofs, this religious practice, even
by manifest prodigies. Behold a terrible example of it: An Idolater owed
a Christian a considerable sum of money; but as he denied his debt, and
no legal proof could be made of it, the Christian obliged him to swear in
the church, upon the image of St Francis: the Idolater made a false oath
without the least scruple; but was scarcely got into his own house, when
he began to void blood in abundance at his mouth, and died in a raging
fit of madness, which had the resemblance of a man possessed, rather than
of one who was distracted.
Neither was his memory less honoured in Japan than in the Indies. The
Christians of the kingdom of Saxuma kept religiously a stone, on which he
had often preached, and shewed it as a precious rarity. The house wherein
he had lodged at Amanguchi, was respected as a sacred place; and was
always preserved from ruin, amidst those bloody wars, which more than
once had destroyed the town. For what remains, the Indians and Japonians
were not the only people which honoured Father Xavier after his decease;
the odour of his holy life expanded itself beyond the seas into other
Heathen countries where he had never been. And Alphonso Leon Barbuda, who
has travelled over all the coasts of Afric, reports, that in the kingdoms
of Sofala, beyond the great river of Cuama, and in the isles about it,
the name of Father Francis was in high repute; and that those Moors never
mentioned him, but with the addition of a wonderful man So many
illustrious testimonies, and so far above suspicion, engaged the king of
Portugal anew to solicit the canonization of the saint; and in that
prospect there was made an ample collection of his virtues, of which I
present you with this following extract.
No exterior employments, how many, or how great soever, could divert the
Father from the contemplation of celestial things. Being at Goa, his
ordinary retirement, after dinner, was into the clock-house of the
church, to avoid the interruption of any person; and there, during the
space of two hours, he had a close communication with his God. But
because he was not always master of himself on those occasions, so as to
regulate his time, and that he was sometimes obliged to leave his
privacy, he commanded a young man of the seminary of Sainte Foy, whose
name was Andrew, to come and give him notice when the two hours, to which
he was limited, were expired. One day, when the Father was to speak with
the viceroy, Andrew, being come to advertise him, found him seated on a
little chair, his hands across his breast, and his eyes fixed on heaven.
When he had looked on him a while attentively, he at length called him;
but finding that the Father answered not, he spoke yet louder, and made
a noise. All this was to no purpose, Xavier continued immovable; and
Andrew went his way, having some scruple to disturb the quiet of a man,
who had the appearance of an angel, and seemed to enjoy the pleasures of
the souls in paradise, He returned, nevertheless, about two hours after,
and found him still in the same posture. The young man fearing that he
should not comply with duty, if, coming the second time, he should not
make himself be heard, began to pull the Father, and to jog him. Xavier
at length returning to himself, was in a wonder at the first, that two
hours should so soon be slipped away; but coming to know, that he had
remained in that place beyond four hours, he went out with Andrew, to go
to the palace of the viceroy. He had scarcely set his foot over the
threshold, when he seemed to be ravished in spirit once again. After he
had made some turns, without well knowing whither he went, he returned as
night was beginning to come on, and said to his attendant, "My son, we
will take another time to see the governor; it is the will of God, that
this present day should be wholly his."
Another time, walking through the streets of the same city, his thoughts
were so wholly taken up with God, that he perceived not a furious
elephant, who, being broken loose, caused a general terror, and every man
made haste out of his way. It was in vain to cry out to the Father, that
he might avoid him; he heard nothing, and the enraged beast passed very
near him without his knowledge.