Man on Mission - Life of St. Francis Xavier

By Dr. C. Drago

Francis Xavier is man on mission. He is complex individual with sharply contrasting traits of character. He could spend hours together on the beach praying alone in the stillness of the night and he also moved restlessly from place to place.
He shed tears of devotion at Mass and was raised above the ground. He also advocated the introduction of the infamous inquisition in India as a remedy against the loose morals of the Portuguese. He was deeply attached to some of his companions and also was harsh to others.
He went about in the Fishery Coast in a patched, tattered cassock and in Japan he dressed up in silk and satin. He loved passionately the Society of Jesus and at the same time he advocated placing it under the control of civil authorities.
Francis Xavier was an extremely rich personality, but very human saint who retained some of the features of his Basque character till the very end. The appreciation of the saint should be based on the totality of his person with lights and shadows of his prodigious personality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CreatiVentures Publishing
• Release date: Sep 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502207562

Book preview

Chapter 1

Shadowy Beginnings ....................................... 15

Chapter 2

The Luster of Learning .................................... 18

Chapter 3

The Company of Jesus ..................................... 25

Chapter 4

A Sudden Appointment ................................... 33

II - INDIA

Chapter 5

The Rome of the East ...................................... 39

Chapter 6

Among the Pearl-fi shers .................................. 44

Chapter 7

Rich Harvest, or Hasty Bapti sm? .................... 48

Chapter 8

Discernment and Decision .............................. 53

III - INDONESIA

Chapter 9

Malays and Malacca ........................................ 59

Chapter 10 The Failure of a Loner ..................................... 62

Chapter 11 Cannibals and Consolati ons ............................ 66

Chapter 12 Despondent and Depressed ............................ 74

Chapter 13 The Gathering of the Storm ............................ 78

IV - JAPAN

Chapter 14 The Exoti c Islands of Japan ............................. 85

Chapter 15 Morals in Monasteries .................................... 89

Chapter 16 Freezing Temperatures and Frosty

Recepti ons ...................................................... 95

Chapter 17 Reviled and Rejected ..................................... 101

Chapter 18 Dressed in Silk and Sati n ............................... 104

V - INDIA

Chapter 19 Dictatorial Dismissals .................................... 113

Chapter 20 Ignati us Disagrees ......................................... 120

Chapter 21 Charmed by China ......................................... 124

Chapter 22 Exalted .......................................................... 134

Chapter 23 Lights and Shadows ....................................... 138

INTRODUCTION

Catholicism in India is forever linked with St. Francis Xavier. The church of Bom Jesus where his relics are, is visited by hundred of tourists every day. Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world fl ock to the shrine and pray for favours with great faith.

He is also venerated as the ‘Goencho Saib’, the cardinal protec-tor of Goa.

The best way to know a person is to study his diary, if there is one. Failing this, his private correspondence is the second best.

Francis Xavier left us no journal of his internal struggles. But we have 130 of his lett ers into which he pours out his dreams and sorrows, his disappointments and achievements, his ambiti ous projects and his shocking failures.

In these lett ers he emerges as a matt er of fact, blunt man, who is not much addicted to literary niceti es. In spite of this, his lett ers have known a phenomenal editorial success in all languages. Up to the present, they have had no fewer than 50 separate editi ons. What att racted people to them was the unfeigned report of the missionary success and consequent conversions to Christi anity. Within his Jesuit family, the lett ers had the tremendous eff ect of a veritable earth quake. His infl uence on the Society went beyond his grave.

The enthusiasm for Francis Xavier is also noti ceable in the numerous biographies of the saint, that down the centuries have seen the light of day. The best known in the English speaking world are of J. Brodrick, the famed English Jesuit historian and especially that of G. Schurhammer, the scholarly German son of St. Ignati us. On the life of Francis Xavier, Schurhammer is by far the authority number one.

Francis Xavier is really a fascinati

ng saint provided

we contemplate lovingly the real Xavier, without arti fi cial embellishments and arbitrary suppressions.

This biography does not quite tally with the exalted

concepti on some have of Francis Xavier, which is gradually built up through many years of uncriti cal devoti on to the saint. Some readers may not like it. In fact, these pages may produce in them strong negati ve reacti ons of puzzlement and even annoyance.

They may strongly disagree with this presentati on of the saint.

They are of course perfectly free to hold their opinion and prove me wrong.

My guiding principle in writi ng this biography has been the strictest demands of truth. For, a biography of a saint not based scrupulously on truth is not worth writi ng.

I - EUROPE

CHAPTER 1

SHADOWY BEGINNINGS

The ancestral castle of Loyola is tucked away in a corner of the Basque country in Spain. Loyola is nestled in the middle of a valley and surrounded by a maze of rolling hills and fairly high mountains. In much of the spring and summer a bright emerald green dominates the landscape, whereas in autumn this verdant appearance takes on the pale, golden hue of dry, fallen leaves.

The hills are blanketed by thick groves of chestnut trees and sturdy oaks. Much of the year the skies are laden with clouds, painti ng the enti re landscape with a diff used, ash-grey colour.

That is the country that saw the birth and witnessed the fi rst youthful years of Ignati us of Loyola.

About fi ft y-fi ve miles away to the southeast, as the crow fl ies one comes across another ancestral castle that of Xavier.

It is a formidable structure surrounded much of the year, by a bleak, barren land. If the fi elds around Loyola are emerald green, those surrounding Xavier castle resemble rather an un-ploughed fi eld, with no vegetati on worth the name to break its brown monotony. Green valleys are seen to the north and south of this huge castle, but not in its immediate surroundings.

The castle of Xavier was erected three centuries before the birth of Francis Xavier and very litt le has changed since then.

It is protected by the customary drawbridge and a waterless moat. On approaching the main entrance the visitor would catch sight of the coat of arms carved in stone, with the central panel displaying the half-moon disti ncti ve of the Xavier family.

The fourteen diff erent Basque communiti es living in the valley shared a common pasture and they took pride in paying taxes to no one, not even to the king. They are fi ercely independent, even individualisti c, and endowed with strength of character that even bordered on plain stubbornness.

16 | Man on Mission LIFE of ST. FRANCIS XAVIER

Francis’ mother, Dona Maria, was already forty-two when she gave birth to her fi ft h and last child on 7th April 1506. Francis received deeply conservati ve training. In his youthful, formati ve years he never went to any public school. His mother and the parish priest were his only tutors. His father, Don Juan de Jassu y Atondo was oft en absent from the castle on business, in the capital of the kingdom, Pamplona.

His elder sister, Magdalena was a poor Clare in far away Valencia and his younger sister Anna was given in marriage when Francis was only six. His two brothers, Miguel and Juan, had a fairly hot blood coursing through their veins. This was shown in their military exploits. We know from Francis’ own testi mony that his mother tongue was Basque, not Spanish.

It is recorded that once young Francis, then aged 13, joined his two elder brothers in giving chase to a fl ock of straying sheep.

Marian devoti on was high in the Xavier castle, but nothing could beat the devoti on to the Santo Cristo, the venerable old crucifi x in the chapel of the castle.

Politi cally they were momentous years. Pope Julius III had been at war with France from the ti me Francis was four. When the French king tried to depose the Pope, the latt er dealt him a double retaliatory blow: the interdict of the kingdom and his excommunicati on. He also formed the Holy League of nati ons against France, to which England, Venice and Spain belonged.

In March 1512 Ferdinand, King of Spain declared war on France and demanded free passage through independent and neutral Navarre. Its king, whose sympathies lay with the French, tried to keep a precarious balance between the two warring nati ons and an outer show of neutrality, but the craft y Spanish King, informed of the Navarre’s dealings with the French, invaded and annexed the kingdom.

The Navarrese tried to revolt oft en, but were subdued. In order to quench the revolt of the Communeros of Casti le the occupying Spanish forces had to pull out of Navarre, for they were needed elsewhere. The Navarrese seized the occasion and rose up again, this ti me with the help of French across the Dr. C. Drago S.J. | 17

border.

The French army began the bombardment of the Pamplona citadel on April 20. One of the Spanish defenders happened to be Ignati us of Loyola, at the ti me sti ll dreaming of military exploits and worldly glory. Aft er the bombardment had lasted a good while, he was struck on one of his legs by a canon-ball which smashed it completely and badly damaged the other leg also. When he fell, the garrison on the citadel surrendered to the French. The French treated the wounded man very well.

In just 15 days the whole of Navarre was liberated, but the French invaders ran out of steam. They were halted and eventually routed and thrown back across the border. It had been a bloody batt le. By the end of the day as many as six thousand French and Navarrese bodies covered the batt le fi eld.

Navarre was subdued again, this ti me for good.

The military authoriti es showed no mercy; the property of those who had helped the French was to be confi scated and the rebels sentenced to death. As the result of these severe measures, Francis’ brothers Miguel and Juan, now in their mid-twenti es fl ed to the mountains, to launch from there, a sort of guerrilla warfare. Miguel was caught and thrown into a dungeon in the Pamplona citadel. Eventually he slipped through the guards unnoti ced, dressed as a woman. Three years later a general pardon was granted and the two brothers could return home, their honour intact.

In the meanti me, Francis had entered into early manhood.

He was now 18. His height was fi ve feet and three inches. He was tonsured and thereby became a cleric of the diocese of Pamplona. This committ ed him to nothing, but conferred the advantage of exempti ng him from any military service. He was decidedly ambiti ous but, in order to climb the ladder of success in the clerical world, he needed badly to increase his homespun knowledge which so far was rather limited. And so his ambiti ous eyes turned eagerly towards the famous University of Paris, the renowned center of ecclesiasti cal learning.

CHAPTER 2

THE LUSTRE OF LEARNING

It was someti me in September 1525 that Francis bade farewell to his mother and brothers and left the Xavier castle for good.

His departure marked almost the complete severance of his family ti es, for never in his life would he see his family again.

Aft er a ride of about three weeks he reached Paris, the centre of his ambiti ous dreams. He made straight for the college of Sainte Barbe where students were lodged. For the next eleven years, Paris would be his home.

The dress code of the college was specifi c. University doctors usually dressed in a cassock, cloak, and fur collar; a master of arts in hose, blouse, and a loose own with wings and sleeves pleated at their ends; and a student in secular dress with a feathered cap and slit jacket.

The students’ daily routi ne was quite punishing. Their rosy dreams and sweet slumber was shatt ered by the shrill sound of the rising bell at the inconceivable hour of 4 o’clock in the morning. An older student made the rounds to see that all were on their feet and nobody had sluggishly drift ed back into unconsciousness. Then the second bell was rung at 5 o’clock calling all to class. An hour later, compulsory Mass for all, followed by a very lean breakfast, consisti ng usually of a roll and water or watered wine, taken in perfect silence. From eight to ten, classes and repeti ti ons without break. The University largely followed the medieval method of committi

ng a text to

memory by sheer dint of mental eff ort. Apparently books were not yet in vogue.

At 11 o’clock, aft er the dismissal of all the external students, lunch was served, at the beginning of which the lives of saints were read in the refectory. All ate with their fi ngers. Cutlery was not yet used. Serviett es were changed every two days and table Dr. C. Drago S.J. | 19

cloths once a week. The meals were rather austere. There were classes again from three to fi ve in the aft ernoon then another hour of academic acti viti es usually repeti ti ons. Supper was early, at six o’clock, followed by the review of the class matt er heard during the day.

A bell called everybody to chapel at 8 o’clock for night prayers. All lights were exti nguished at nine, aft er which only an occasional glimmer would be percepti ble from the solitary room of a master or, with special permission, or of a student who had to burn the midnight oil to prepare his impending examinati on.

Not only the daily routi ne, but also the regulati ons concerning the discipline were notoriously rigorous. No student was allowed to go out of the college without permission during the day and all were strictly forbidden to step out of the house at night.

Some mischievous students broke the rules. Fun-loving students, oft en led by their own regent or master, would put on secular garb, contrary to all regulati ons. Armed with swords and daggers and, with a broad hat pulled over their faces to avoid detecti on, they would jump over the wall and noisily make the rounds of the Lati n Quarter plundering passers by. Some even visited taverns and houses of prosti tuti on. As a result of these fairly frequent night prowls, some of the students and masters had contracted the so-called French disease, namely syphilis.

This venereal disease caused fever and ugly, repulsive sores full of pus. They exuded a nauseati ng smell that lasted for months. The rash spread