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BERNAD, SJ KAVLER UNIVERSITY - ATENEO DE CAGAYAN 2006 >. AS um aaST. FRANCIS XAVIER 1506-1552 I the northeast sector of Navarre in northern Spain, there stands today a picturesque castle, the birthplace of St. Francis Xavier, one of the greatest missionaries that the Christian world has known. This castle has had to be reconstructed, rebuilt stone by stone, because it had been demolished when Francis Xavier was ten years old, His full name was Francisco de Jassu y de Javier (also spelt Xavier), and when he was born (on 7 April 1506) Navarre was still an independent kingdom. His father, Dr. Juan de Jassu, held the degree of doctor of laws *24 THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS from the University of Bologna and was president of the royal council that held its sessions in the kingdom’s capital, Pamplona. Francisco’s mother, Maria de Azpilcueta, was an heiress who had inherited both the palace of Azpilcueta and the castle of Xavier where the family resided and from which the family took its name. The Castle The castle must have been a wonderful place for a growing boy to roam in. Ithad a drawbridge and a moat, and high stone walls surmounted by battlemented parapets. There were three towers, of which the central one was the oldest and the tallest, dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, patron of Christian warriors. (By tradition, the oldest boy in the family was called Miguel in honor of the Archangel.) From that central tower the family standard flies today: a red flag displayinga silver crescent-moon but upside down, an allusion to the bloody bates in past centuries when the members of this family had helped to defeat the Crescent of Islam This family was of old lineage and this castle was old: parts of it were already 400 years old when Francis was born. Its first stones were haid in the 12" century. In those early days when the castle was still new, the builders called it “Exabiere”, meaning New House. Whence the family name. Over the gothic arch of the castle’s main entrance were sculpted three stone shields held up by angels, showing the arms of the families to which Francis’s father and mother belonged: Jassu-Atondo on his father’s side, Azpilcueta-Aznares on his mother’s. (Sec descriptions in the Appendix, below.) From the castle parapets, one could look out on vast plains and disant mountains. Nearby was the upper Aragén River which divided the kingdom of Navarre from that of Aragén. Beyond the river was the village of Sos, where Ferdinand “the Catholic” was born. (He became King of Aragén and his wife, Isabella, became Queen of Castille and Leon, their marriage joined mest of Spain under a united crown.) These lands had once been conquered by the Mohammedan Moors, but through the centuries the Christians had gradually reconquered them, pushing back the invader farther and farther to the south, until only one section was lefe under Muslim rule ~ the litde kingdom of Granada, And even that ‘was wrested from them by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1491 — only 15 years. before Francis Xavier was born.THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS 25 He was the youngest of five children, The eldest, a girl, had become a nun and_ was to become superior of her convent and would die a holy death. There was another sister, and two brothers — Miguel and Juan ~ several years older than Francis In the castle, life was austere but pleasant. There were no luxuries, butthere was no lack of money or the necessities of life, for they had flocks and lands, and their father had a salary as president of the royal council. Francis as a boy had a tutor to teach him his lessons. For recreation, there were the fields and the woods to roam in, and his two older brothers would sometimes take him out hunting It was also a pious houschold, well supplied with priests and chapels. The nearby parish church (where Francis was baptized) was served by three priests who lived in the castle. In the castle itself there were two. chapels: one was in the basement of the central tower, dedicated to San Miguel. ‘The other chapel was nearer the family living quarters and was undoubtedly more ofien used. It was dominated by a large crucifix in which the face of the crucified Christ seemed to smile. There is a legend that when Francis Xavier was dying on an island off the coast of China, this image of Christ crucified was seen weeping, Behind that crucifix and all around the walls were murals which Francis must have often seen in childhood. ‘The mural behind the great crucifix portrayed the instruments of the Passion: the scourge with which Christ was flogged; the lance that pierced His side; the ladder they used to take down His dead body. And on the walls on both sides of the small oratory were murals unique in Spain, although common elsewhere in Europe: the “dance macabre” ~ panels showing human skeletons performing the dance of death. Who knows what influence upon our later years is exerted by the pictures we often see in childhood? Such murals as these must have served to make Francis’s mind familiar with Chrise’s suffering on one hand, and on the other with the certainty of death. There was one other image which could not have failed to exercise an influence upon Francis’s growing mind. In the parish church adjoining the castle was a beautiful gothic polychrome statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary dating from the 13" century. She was seated, with the child Jesus onher lap. She was holding Him with her left hand. In her right hand, delicately held with three fingers, was an apple. The Boy also was holding an apple in His right hand. (Did the apple perhaps represent a globe, indicating that Jesus and Mary were rulers of the entire world?) Both26 THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS Mother and Child were smiling. In front of this statue, the Xavier family and the people of the surrounding villages would gather on Saturdays for the singing of the Salve Regina: Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. ‘This tender devotion to the Mother of God, learned from childhood, remained with life. favier all ‘The Castle Demolished When Francis was ten years old, something terrible happened to this castle. It was demolished by order of Cardinal Ximénez. de Cisneros. This was in 1516, To understand that event, we must go back four years to 1512, Up to that time Navarre had been an independent kingdom ruled by its own king. But in 1512 it was invaded by Ferdinand, widower of Isabela, and king of the united kingdoms of Castille, Leon and Aragon. With the Castillian-Aragénese armies victorious, the king of Navarre fled into exilein France. Three years later (1515) Ferdinand annexed Navarre to his crown. Navarre, the proud little kingdom that had fought so bravely in the wars against the Moors, had thus lost its independence. Not all the Navarrese nobles were willing to accept this loss of independence: they fought to regain it. To punish them, Cardinal Ximénez de Cisneros (regent after Ferdinand’s death) ordered their casties destroyed. ‘The ten-year-old Francis with his mother and their family and their numerous household retinue had to warch helplessly as the wreckers demolished the castle, stone by stone, Te had taken four centuries to build this castle: it took only eleven days to demolish it. They destroyed the drawbridge, filled up the moat, tore down part of the walls. Two of the towers were razed to the ground; the central tower of San Miguel was truncated to half its former size. Only the living quarters and the houschold offices were left untouched. Fortunately for him, their father, Dr. Juan de Jassu, had died shorly before, and therefore did not see this terrible event. The eldest son, Miguel (now lord of Javier and of the other domains of the family), and his brother Juan continued the fight for independence. In 1521 (five years after the demolition of the castles) the exiled king ‘of Navarre came back with a French army, and the Navarrese nobles allied tohisstandard. They captured the capital, Pamplona. (One of the wounded ‘on the Castillian side was a Basque knight named Inigo Lopez de Loyols) But the Nayarrese-French victory was short lived. In the succeeding battle of Noain they were badly beaten by the Castillian-Aragénese forces, SixTHE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS thousand Navarrese and Frenchmen lay dead in the field. Many nobles of Navarre were captured and imprisoned; among them, Miguel de Xavier and his brother Juan. They remained in a Castillian prison for three years. Francis (then 15 years old) and his sister and a reduced household were left to take care of their mother in the ruined castle, Francis quietly continued with his lessons and waited till his imprisoned brothers came home. They at last returned in 1524. The following year Francis went off to France to study at the University of Paris. He was 19 years old. Previous to his departure, he had gone to the bishop of Pamplona to be tonsured as a cleric, for he intended to come back to Navarre as a priest. Paris ‘The University of Paris was one of the oldest and greatest in the world. The professors (or masters, as they were called) were divided into the four “faculties” of arts, theology, medicine, and law. The students were grouped into four “nations.” They lived with the masters int numerous “colleges” or residences, each with its own lecturers and tutors. Francis Xavier was fortunate to belong to one of the better, more progressive colleges, that of Sainte Barbe He was also fortunate in his two roommates. One was a teacher of philosophy, Master Pefta. The other was a student from Savoy named Pierre Favre (Peter Faber in English). These swo young men were of the same age, but their backgrounds were different: Francis Xavier was from a noble family; Peter Faber was a peasant who had spent his boyhood tending sheep. He owed his education to the generosity of two priests of Savoy. In 1529 when Faber and Xavier were in their last year of philosophy, a fourth man came to share the room with them. He was 15 years older than they, but he was just beginning his study of philosophy when they were ending theirs. His name was Ifigo (later changed to Ignatius) of Loyola, the same who had been wounded by a cannon-ball in the battle of Pamplona cight years before. Tr is interesting to note that of the four occupants of that tower- room in Sainte Barbe, three have been raised to the altars: St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, Blessed Peter Faber. The fourth, Master Pena, has not been canonized: but what a privilege to have taught thice saints, and to have lived in the same room with them!28. cca THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS In 1530 Francis Xavier left that room at Sainte Barbe, and took up lodgings eewhere. He had graduated with the degree of master of arts, which conferred on him the jus ubique docendi (the “right to teach anywhere”). He now exercised that right by becoming a “regent” (ie.an instructor) in Aristotelian philosophy at the College of Beauvais wherehe now lodged. The custom at that time was for an instructor to teach the same group of students the entire course in philosophy, going up with them from year to year for three years and a half, Meanwhile, Xavier attended lectures in theology, for (as we have said) his intention was to become a priest: Ambitions But his intention was not to become a humble parish priest in some country parish. Much less did he intend to become a missionary. His ambitions were different. He was of noble birth, from a distinguished family; he was also a scholar, with a degree from one of the most famous universities in the world; these assets should be enough to open the doors, t0 ecclesiastical preferment. He might become perhaps a canon of the cathedral at Pamplona; or a bishop or archbishop. He might even (ifhe played his cards right) become a cardinal. Alternatively, he could remain at Paris and perhaps become a famous teacher and scholar, known all over the academic world. He might even become (if he pulled the right strings) a powerful minister of state or of church. When Xavier was a student, Cardinal Woley was all-powerful in England. Cardinal Ximénez had governed Spain. Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht had also governed Spain and then became Pope. If these cardinals could attain power, why not Cardinal Xavier? Whether or not Francis Xavier actually indulged in such day-dreams we do not know. We do know that he had ambitions, and the proof of it is the fact that he asked for and obtained from the authorities in Nayare a notarized dotument affirming that he was of noble birth. Except for this little human ambition (a foible, understandable under the circumstances) Francis Xavier led a blameless life, He was devour and he was pure, unsullied by the corruption that often existed (then and now) among students of great universities.THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS Intrusion Into these pleasant day-dreams there came an intrusion, subtle at first, but becoming progressively more insistent. It was the presence in Paris (and for one year in the same room with Xavier) of Ignatius of Loyola. Loyola had been raised up in the family of the royal treasurer in the castle at Arévalo and later a gentleman in the service of the viceroy of Navarre; and in the battle of Pamplona in 1521 his leg had been shattered bya cannon-ball. In the Jong convalescence at his family castle of Loyola, he had been converted from a worldly life and had dedicated himself to the service of Christ.. Now he was in Paris to study. The nearness of such a man who had given. up his worldly ambitions, served as an irritant to Xavier who still cherished his. Ignatius did not have to talk. His very manner of life was a sermon, and its burden was a reminder of what the Gospel said: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Xavier did not like to listen to these inner promptings, inyiting him to give up his hopes for fame and wealth and dedicate his life to the service of God and the poor. He held out for along time. Later on, Ignatius was to say that among his companions whom he had won over to follow his manner of life, “the toughest nut to crack” was Francis Xavier. Xayier, while not yet ready to give in to Ignatius’s invitation to a life of poverty and service, was ready enough to follow Ignatius’s advice in one important respect. The theological world was then alive with controversy and new ideas. First, Erasmus, then Luther and the Protestants, later Calvin and the Puritans, were gaining adherents everywhere, At Paris several lecturers, supported by the king of France and by his sister (queen of the former kingdom of Navarre), were giving exciting lectures which were drawing crowds. Xavier, on Loyola’s advice, avoided those lectures. Instead he went (again on Loyola's advice) to the Dominicans and followed 4 more systematic and more solid course based on the Summa theolagica of St. Thomas Aquinas. Montmartre For three and a half years Xavier taught the Aristotelian corpus of philosophy to his students of the College of Beauvais, But all that time the nagging thoughts, injected into his mind by Loyola, bothered him, Eventually he surrendered, He was one of the six companions who joined.THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS Ignatius of Loyola in a vow which they made in the chapel of St. Denys at Montmartre in Paris on the feast of the Assumption, 15 August 1534. The vow was twofold: perpetual poverty, and a pilgrimage to the Holy Land after the completion of their studies ‘This second vow was conditional. After all of them were through with their studies, they would meet at Venice, the port of embarcation for Palestine. If within one year of their arrival in Venice no ship could take them to the Holy Land, they would proceed to Rome and offer their services to the Pope. They assembled in Venice in 1537. There, with the Pope's permission, they were ordained priests. While waiting for a ship they dispersed to various places, teaching Christian doctrine to children, preaching to adults in the streets and in the churches, serving the sick in the hospitals. They lived in the hospitals: and for their food they begged daily from door to door. After a year when it became clear that no ship would sail for Palestine, they went to Rome and offered their services to Pope Paul IIL The Pope accepted, and sent them on various missions. At first the missions were to Italian cities. Then to other places in Europe. Two were sent to the Council of Trent; two were given a delicate mission to Ireland; and two ~ Rodriguez, and Xavier — were sent, at the request of the King of Portugal, to Lisbon with the idea that they should proceed to India 35 missionaries and as nuncios of the Holy See. Mission to India Many great things happen seemingly by accident. (There are of course no real accidents, for there is a guiding providence that disposes all things according to God's plans.) Xavicr’s going to India seemed to happen byaccident, The King of Portugal, through his ambassador at Rome, had asked Ignatius Loyola to send two of his “Parisian masters” (they were not yet called Jesuits) to evangelize the peoples of India and the Far East, where the Portuguese had already established trading stations. The King’s request received the Pope’s endorsement. That made it a papal mission, which Ignatius and his companions were bound by vow to comply with. (They were not yet a religious order, but they were bound by their private vows made at Montmartre.) Therefore, two of their umber must be seat to India. The difficulty was, which two? There were only ten of them. at the time, and most of them were in various parts of Europe on papal missions.THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS 31 Xavier's ecstasy B. Murillo (1617-1682) The King of Portugal had expressed a desire that one of those to be sent should be Simon Rodriguez, the only Portuguese in the group. Rodriguez was then on a papal mission in Naples, but he was immediately recalled and sent ahead to Portugal. Ignatius thought that the other man for India should be Nicolas Bobadilla. But when the Portuguese ambassador was about to start for Portugal, Bobadilla was ill. There was nobody else except Xavier, Ignatius Loyola looked at him and said, “Master Francis, it looks like this is your enterprise.” Xavier replied, “Sus! Héme aqui.” (“Well then, here I am.”) It looked like an accident. But it must have been God's way of, sending to India the man whom He himself must have chosen for the work. Goa After a year in Portugal, Xavier sailed in the fleet that went once a year to India, With him were two recruits: one an Italian priest, Miser Paulo. The other, a Portuguese student, Francisco Mansilhas. (Simon Rodriguez. was detained by the king to continue his spiritual ministry in Portugal.) They sailed from Lisbon in April 1541. Francis arrived in Goa (ahead of the other two) thirteen months later, on 6 May 1542.THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS Thirty-three years previous to Xavier's arrival, Albuquerque had conquered the island of Goa (situated at the mouth of two rivers) and he had built a Christian city there. By 1542, there were nearly 20,000 native Christians, besides the Portuguese. To his companions in Europe, Xavier wrote, “Goa is a city pleasant to see, entirely inhabited by Christians. It has a monastery with many friars of St. Francis, a very fine cathedral with many canons, and many other churches.” Goa had no shortage of Portuguese priests. ‘There were in fact too many. But some of the priests were poorly instructed, and not everyone led an edifying life. But there were some good men. The bishop was a saintly man, although old. His vicar general who ran the diocese was a zealous man anda very good Christian; he was not a priest but a laymin, with the bachelor’s degree in canon law. ‘The diocese was enormous: it embraced all the Orient, from the Cape of Good Hope to Ormuz in Persia, to India, to Malacca and the East Indies. The cathedral had a good and zealous preacher, named Diogo, a master of arts, who also ran a school, a seminary to train priests In Goa, Xavier lived in the hospital and he soon found plenty to. do, ‘The most urgent task was to hear confessions, “I heard the confessions of the sick who were there and gave them communion. There were so many who came to confession that I would not have heard the confession ofall of them if had been in ten different places. After T finished with the sick, I heard the confessions in the morning of those who were well and had come to see me; and in the afternoons I went to the jail to hear the confessions of the prisoners; first giving them some knowledge and instruction on the manner and order they should keep in making a general confession.” ‘Then Xavier turned to the children, to whom apparently not much religious instruction had been given. He went around the streets ringing bell and when the children gathered, he led them to a chapel: “I went to a chapel of Our Lady which was near the hospital and began to teach the children their prayers, the Creed and the Commandments. The number of those who came for instruction often reached more than three hundred.” The College The Portuguese in India were apparently more open to the ides of a native clergy than the Spaniards in the Philippines or other Europeans elsewhere, The Portuguese encouraged the growth of a native clergy. For that reason they opened the school at Goa which Master Diogo riAX\ovo8 THE FIRST THREE com fo The students were recruited from all over the East. The Franciscans had been asked to run this school, but they declined. When Francis arrived, the authorities asked him to nun it or to get others from Europe to run it. Xavier at once saw the strategic importance of such a school. He assigned his companion, Miser Paulo, to help out as spiritual director to the students. Then he wrote to Ignatius for help: i1BRARY In this city of Goa, God Our Lord has moved certain individuals to serve him by founding a college, which is more needed in these regions than anything else, and which becomes daily more necesary.... It was founded so that the natives of this land here might be instructed in the faith, and that these should be of different nations and races; and when they shall bave been well instructed in the fiuith they are to be sent to their homelands so that they may gain fruit with the lenrning tiny have received. The college building (Xavier said) was almost completed, and there was revenue enough to maintain one hundred students, although the hope was eventually to expand the college to accommodate three hundred. What was needed were competent men to run it. Xavier transmitted the governor's request to Ignatius that some Jesuits be sent to Goa “to instruct the pupils of this college.” The college was variously named, Xavier said: “Here some call it the College of the Conversion of St. Paul, and others of the Holy Faith. This last seems more suitable to me since the Faith must be preached and planted.” Xavier’s request for men did not fall on deaf ears. Ignatius Loyola sent men from Europe, and Francis himself was able to recruit some in India. (One of his outstanding recruits was a Spanish secular priest, Cosme de Torres, whom he had met in the Moluccas and who afterwards accompanied him to Japan.) Alas, the men sent from Europe were not always the best. Some of them created problems for Xavier and the missions, Six Missionary Journeys Itis difficule to realize that Xavier spent only a little more than ten years in the Orient. He arrived in Goa in May of 1542, he died near China in December 1552. How crammed with activity those ten years were! Hlis base was Goa. From there he went out on prolonged missionary expeditions that took him immense distances by sea and on foot. We may simplify his wanderings by considering them as six missionary journeys ge a ae Amon) biaTHE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS ‘These journeys were in the nature of pioneering probes. Xavier went toa place, did what was immediately necessary, and later sent other missionaries to remain for a longer period to continue what he had begun. ‘The first two journeys were to southern India, the first lasting one year, the second nine months. The third journey was to San Thomé in eastern India, where the body of St. Thomas the Apostle is believed to be buried. He spent four months there. The fourth journcy was a long one lasting more than two years. Te took him to Malacca where he stayed four months, then to the islands that were then known as the “Moluccas” (‘oday they are part of Indonesia); he remained there for a year and a half; then back to Malacca for another four or five months, and finally back to Goa. Hiss fifth missionary journey was to Japan. His sixth and last was to Sancian Island, intending to enter China. He died in the attempt. ‘The Mission to Southern India (1542-1545) First Missionary Journey. —1n his first missionary journey (October 1542 to September 1543) Xavier sailed from Goa to Cochin near the southwestern tip of India, and then proceeded to the southeastern coast, opposite Ceylon. ‘This was the Fishery Coast, inhabited by Paravzs who were fishermen and pearl divers. A few years before Xavier’ arrival, they had been oppressed by Musiim invaders and had appealed to the Portuguese for help. Liberated from the Muslims, they were willing, to listen to the Portuguese missionaries who came for a short time, The missionaries did notknow the Tamil language which the Paravas spoke, and the Paravas did not know Portuguese: the Paravas accepted baptism. All the villages of the entire coast became nominally Christian, but without any instruction That was the situation when Xavier arrived, Xavier himself did not know Tamil. He had come with evo interpreters. Through them he asked the people what they believed. The people answered that they knew nothing of Christianity except that they vere baptized. Ir was obvious that the first task was to instruct the people in the essentials of Christian doctrine, and ro do so in their own tongue. Xavier started to learn Tamil. With the help of his interpreters and some of the leading men, he composed a rudimentary catechism in Tamil: the Apostle’s Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Salve Regina, the Confiteor, and the Ten Commandments. Then from village to village (thereTHE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS were thirty villages in the region) Xavier went; he gathered the children and made them repeat the catechism until they had memorized it, he did the same to the adults. Tt was during this year in the Fishery Coast that the well-known incident took place: where the baptisms were so many that his arm grew tired, It was also during this period that reports of “miracles” began to be spread, Sick people who were brought to Xavier became well. One spectacular case was that of a boy who fell into a well and was apparently drowned. When fished up he seemed to everyone to be dead. Xavier prayed over him, read a passage from the Gospel, told him to get up, and the boy got up. This incident became widely known and reports of it reached Goa, Later, someone asked Xavier if it was true that he had raised a dead person tolife, Xavier smiled and said, “No, no. I merely prayed over him and he got up. He must have been alive all the time.” Profession. ~ After a Year on the Fishery Coast, Xavier returned to Goa fora few months. It was during this visit to Goa that he learned fiom letters that had arrived from Rome that the Society of Jesus, composed of the ten “Parisian masters,” had been approved by the Pope as a religious order (1540) and that Ignatius and his other companions had made their solemn profession. So in December 1543 in Goa, Francis Xavier made his solemn profession as a member of the Society of Jesus. The profession consisted of the three vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and a fourth vow of special obedience to the Pope with regard to papal missions (or assignments). Second Missionary Journey. ~ In February 1544 Xavier again left Goa for a second missionary journey ro southern India which was to last nine months. This time he had the mission better organized. Her had four companions, one of them a priest, the others studying for the priesthood. He divided them into two groups, each assigned to a territory, while he himself visited all the villages. In this way they were able to cover a much wider territory both on the southeastern coast of India (the Fishery Coast) and on the southwestern (the villages of the Travancore region). By this time Xavier had learned enough Tamil to make corrections in the catechism they had composed the year before. For instance concerning the Apostle’s Creed he wrote to his companions: “In the Creed when you say enakuvenson you must say vichuam instead of venum, for venum means I wish and vichuam means I belicye, It is better to say I believe in God than T wish in God, Do not say yao pinale for this means by force, and Christ suffered freely and not by force.”36 THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS Follow-up. - The arrival of more missionaries from Europe enabled Xavier to assign a group to stay permanently in Southern India, He visited them at least twice more, on his way to or from Malacca and points farther East. In time these missionaries were able to improve on Xavier’s rudimentary catechism. ‘The South is today one of the places where Christianity has taken the deepest roots in India. It is also one of the places in the world where priestly vocations are most numerous. The Mission to Malacca and the Moluccas (1545-1547) After his two missionary journeys to Southern India, and after putting matters in order in Goa, Xavier next turned his attention to an old Christian community in eastern India, at San Thomé where the Apostle St. Thomas was believed to be buried. He spent four months with them. While he was there he heard that there were new Christian converts in the “Moluccas” (now Indonesia), and specifically at Macassar and that they had no priests. He decided to go and visir them. He found a ship that took him to Malacca where there was a Portuguese trading station. He did in Malacca what he had done in Goa: heard confessions, instructed children and adults. But his main purpose in staying, at Malacca was to learn the Malay language in preparation for the voyage to the Moluccas. He remained at Malacca nearly four months (September to December 1545), during which time he prepared a brief elementary catechism in Malay as he had done in Tamil Hearing that there were already priests in Macassar, he decided instead to go to those islands where there were new Christian converts but with no priests to take care of them: namely, Amboina, Temate, and the “Isles of Moro” (Morotai). InJanuary 1546, armed with his little catechism and his missionary crucifix, he sailed for Amboina: a voyage of a month and a half (January 15t to February 1546), visiting the villages as he had done in the Fishery Coast. ‘Then he sailed to Ternate where he remained three months (July to September 1546). Then to the Morotai islands where he remained five months (September 146 to, January 1547). Then back to Ternate for another four months (January to April 1547). He then returned to Malacca, where he remained another five months (July to December 1547). In January 1548 he was back in Southern India. And in March, back in Goa.THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS Everywhere he followed the same routine as in Southern India. He began with the children, then the adults, teaching them the catechism, making them repeat the Creed and the prayers till they had learned them by heart. In the islands his work was among the natives, but in Malacca, his special care was for the Portuguese, who did not always lead good Christian lives, Upon his return to Goa he organized a mission team to go to Amboina, Ternate and Morotai and continue the work he had begun. Tr was among the Indonesian islands that a famous incident happened. While Xavier was sailing with others to one of the islands in a small boat, a storm arose and they were in serious danger. Xavier took the crucifix which he wore and dipped it into the raging sea. The violence of the waves and the wind caused the crucifix to slip from the cord and it sank to the bottom. They eventually got safely to land. Sometime later, while Xavier was walking with others along the shore, a crab crawled out of the water with the crucifix in its claws. Xavier was able to retrieve his crucifix, “This incident was considered solidly substantiated and sufficiently extraordinary to be included in the decree of canonization. There are scholars however who discount its miraculous character on the ground that crabs will pick up any shining, metallic object that they find at the bottom of the sea and will carry it to the shore. They say that there is nothing miraculous in that. This may well be the case. Still, there is the extraordinary coincidence of a crucifix sinking to the bottom of the sea during a storm, and being eventually returned through the agency of a crab to the exact spot where Xavier happened to be walking on the shore. If that is merely coincidence, it is a highly unusual one. ‘There is another incident worthy of record, During Xayier’s sojourn in the Indonesian islands, he mer the survivors of the Villalobos expedition that had been sent by the Spaniards from Mexico to colonize the “Western Islands of San Lazaro” which Magellan had discovered two decades earlier. Tewas Villalobos who gave to the Islands the name “Philippines” in honor of Prince Philip (later Philip II), son and heir of the Emperor Charles V. ‘The Villalobos expedition eventually wandered into the “Moluccas” and had to surrender to the Portuguese. One member of thet expedition was a secular priest from Valencia, Spain, named Cosme de Torres. His meeting with Francis Xavier in the Moluccas so impressed him that when he got to Goa he asked to be admitted to the Society of Jesus. Xavier later brought him as his companion on the mission co Japan and left him in charge of the mission after Xavier’s departure,THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS The Mission to Japan (1549-1551) At Malacca, on his way back from the Moluccas, Xavier met a Japanese named Anjiro, Anjiro’s stories about Japan may have contained exaggerations, but they were substantially corroborated by a Portuguese merchant who had returned from a trading expedition to Japan. Xavier had never heard of Japan before. Few Europeans had. But the stories of Anjiro and the Portuguese traders fired his imagination, Here was a kingdom comprising several islands, with many cities and a high degree of culture and civilization, to which the Gospel had not yet been preached. He must go and bring them the Good News of Christ’s salvation But it was not easy to get there. He first had to go back to Goa to settle some pending matters. He brought Anjiro and Anjiro’s two servants with him. Then he had to make arrangements for the voyage. There were no regular voyages to Japan. Few Portuguese traders had gone there. But Xavier hired a Chinese junk that took him on the two-month voyage to Japan. In his party were Father Cosme de Torres and a Portuguese lay brother, Juan Fernandez, with Anjiro and his qwo servants as interpreters, (Anjiro had by now been baptized and took the name Paul of the Holy Faith.) They arrived at Kagoshima in southem Japan on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August 1549, an auspicious day for the beginning of Christianity in Japan. The Japanese Catechism. — At Kagoshima they remained one year learning the language, talking to the neighbors, discussing with the bonzes, getting on good terms with the local prince or “daimyo.” During thar ‘one year, they prepared an elementary catechism in Japanese. This was an even harder thing to do than in the case of the Tamil and the Malay catechisms. One special difficulty was the script. It was comparatively easy for the missionaries to learn conversational Japanese; to learn to write in Chinese or Japanese characters was something clse. So the first catechism ‘was written in Japanese words but in the Latin alphabet. It was only a year later that they got some of their converts to transliterate it into Japanese script. Xavier's catechism was of course nothing like the famous one of St. Peter Canisius, first published in Vienna in 1555, which was t go through 200 ditions in various languages. Xavier's was a mere handbook of prayers, the commandments, and the creed. Tt was printed inTHE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS 39 Japan (five years earlier than that of Canisius) not from movable type but by the xylographic method, using wooden blocks for every page. Xa was thus able to provide copies to individuals and to groups of converts. ‘There was another difficulty of finding the right word for “God ‘Trusting in his Japanese mentor’s advice, Xavier adopted the word Dainichi, which he was told was the Japanese name for the one true God. Later, tohis horror, he learned that a certain sect attached to that name certain undesirable qualities. Xavier therefore dropped the term and instead coined the word Deushu (from the Latin Det what unfortunate! - Xavier was thus learning early ome modern foreign anthropologists seldom learn: that itis dangerous to interpret the beliefs and social customs of one native culture through the perspectives and prejudgments of another culture. Farther into Japan. — By June 1550 Xavier fele thar he knew enough Japanese to penetrate farther into the interior of Japan. ‘Therefore, when in July 1580 he heard that a Pornuguese trading vessel had arrived at Hirado, he hastened thither by ship to confer with the Portuguese. What he saw in Hirado convinced him that they should move their base of operations there. So back to Kagoshima he went, and at the end of August 1550 they all moved to Hirado, Xavier's desire was to evangelize all of Japan for which he felt that he should get the endorsement of the emperor (the Mikado), who lived in Miyako (Kyoto). Accordingly, leaving Father Torres in Hirado, he took Brother Fernandez and two Japanese converts with him, first to Hakata (Fukuoka), then to Yamaguchi, and finally to Miyako, which he reached in January 1551. Xavier must have been disappointed at what he found in Miyako. He had imagined that the Japanese emperor's court would be like that of the Pope in Rome orof the kings of France or Spain or Portugal. He had hoped to be able to sce the Mikado and obtain his permission to preach the Gospel everywhere in Japan. He failed to get an audience with the Mikado, He failed for two reasons. First, the Mikado was at that time a powerless figurehead, and the real power was in the hands of the warring prinees or daimycs. Second, Xavier found that his manner of life ~ which ‘yas a great asset in Europe — was a hindrance in Japan. The Manner of Life. — In Europe, Ignatius and the carly Jesuits lived the life of truly poor men. ‘They traveled on foot. They lodged in the hospitals, getting free lodging in return for services as orderlies in the care of the sick. They had no money and they got their daily food i i 1)40 THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS by begging from door to door. This manner of life was a great asset in Christian Europe, because it freed them from entanglements. It also became clear that the Jesuits had no axe to grind except to help people and to serve God. Much of the decadence in the Church in those days had come from ambition and covetousness ~ the desire for honor and the desire for rich on the part of the secular princes as well as ecclesiastics. It was therefore refreshing for people to sce priests who clearly desired neither honor nor money and who were willing to serve them free of charge. Tn Japan, Xavier tried at first to live this same manner of life. But he found that it was counterproductive. The Japanese did not appreciate beggars. Morcover they valued protocol, and they found it difficult not to treat with contempt this foreign priest, so poorly dressed, who walked on foot, and who was really no more than a beggar. Leaving Miyako and going back to Yamaguchi (where Cosme de Tores joined him) Xavier decided to alter his strategy. Before leaving Portugal, he had been appointed by the Pope papal nuncio to all the lands in the Far East. Moreover, he was an ambassador of the Portuguese viceroy of Goa. He had never used the powers or privileges that this diplomatic status conferred upon him. Now he decided to use them. He dressed betterand he surrounded himself with a retinue of helpers. When he called ‘on the daimyo of Yamaguchi, he was surrounded by a largé included the captain and officers of the Portuguese vessel which was in port. He presented to the daimyo exotic gifts. He now succeeded where he had previously failed, and he was received with courtesy and respect by the local rulers. inue which This small change in strategy, little in itself, was an important step in the principle of missionary adaptation and the inculturation of the Gospel. Xavier was doing in a small and pioneering way what future Jesuit missionaries would do in a big way: like Matteo Ricci and his successors in China who became Chinese mandarins among the Chinese; or like Roberto de Nobili and St. John de Britto, who became Indian ascetics among the Indians. ‘The solemn audience with the ruler of Yamaguchi took place in April 1551, that with the ruler of Bungo in September, Meanwhile their preaching and disputations in these places brought them on the one hand many converts, on the other it won them the hatred of and persecution by the zen and other bonzes. But the ground was laid for a greater development of the Church and therefore there was need for more missionaries.THE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS Al Departure from Japan..—In October 1551 another Portuguese vessel came to Japan. Xavier decided to go back with the ship and procure more missionaries, Leaving Father Cosme de Torres and Brother Juan Fernandez behind to take care of some two thousand Japanese converts and await the arrival of reinforcements, Xavier sailed from Japan in November 1551. The ship went first to Sancian Island, a half-way station for Portuguese ships off the coast of Canton; then to Malacea, where he caught another ship bound for Goa. Provincial At Malacca Xavier collected the mail that had accumulated during, the two and a half years thar he had been away on the Japanese mission. He had no time to read the letters during his two days in Mala on the ship bound for Goa he had plenty of time, and one of the letters read contained an important decree from Ignatius of Loyola. The missions in the Orient had hitherto been under the Jesuit Province of Portugal with Simon Rodriguez. as provincial superior, who thought with his heart and not with his head. It was an unsatisfactory arrangement, and many of Xavier's problems in India were caused by the whimsical decisions of a superior far away in Portugal and ignorant of the true state of affairs in the Indies. St Ignatius now decided to make the Oriental missions an independent province (named the Province of India) with Francis Xavier as provincial. He had all of the Orient as his territory. Back in Goa, Xavier as provincial had now a free hand to deal with problems. He also had enough men to send to the mission districts which he had opened, He sent men to Southern India, to the Moluceas, and to open colleges in Ormuz (Persia), Quilon (Southern India), and Malacca. In particular he was interested in the welfare of the College of the Holy Faith in Goa. He considered this college the most important and most strategic of all their works, since it was the seminary that would provide native priests to all the lands of the Orient, During Xavier's absence in Japan, the new rector whom Rodriguez had sent from Portugal had wrecked the college: he sent away all the native students and made the college exclusively Portuguese. Xavier had the task of restoring the college to its former purpose, as a school for the Christian education of native leaders. Tt was this and other examples of wrong-headedness that caused Xavier to change his mind about the kind of missionaries that should be sent. to the missions. In the beginning he entertained the same idea that many people have about the missions even today: the need for priests is soAD cnusinanTHE FIRST THREE COMPANIONS great they think any kind of person will do, no matter how poorly educated, no matter how imprudent or how self-opinionated or untalented, as long ashe has priestly powers to say Mass and administer the sacraments. “No need,” they say, “to be intellectual; no need for talents; to be a missionary, all you need is good health and a strong constitution to be able to stand the journeys and the hard life.” Xavier himself had said something like that in his carlier letters. But experience showed him his error. A priest in the missions is often alone, and he has no one to consult. He must know enough of Scripture and enough of theology (dogmatic and moral) and enough canon kaw to be able to settle problems himself. Often he has to answer questions about theology, about morality Moreover, he has to deal with people of different cultures. Finally, there is akind of knowledge required which cannot be gotten from books, namely prudence and common sense. All this the missionary needs. Xavier now insisted with Ignatius in his letters that good and capable men be sent to the Indies and to Japan. In particular he begged for a good rector to govern the College of the Holy Faith in Goa Having settled all pending problems at Goa as best he could, Xavier appointed a vice-provincial 10 govern the province while he himself set out on his final expedition. about science, The Final Mission (1552) When Xavier left Japan, it seems that his intention had been to return there with reinforcements. Itmay have been the stop-over at Sancian on his way back to Malacca that caused him to change his mind. He saw how close the island was to the mainland of China. It was possible to enter China either openly (for example, as part of an embassy) or secretly. He still would send reinforcements to Japan, but he himself would go to China. He realized how important it was to preach the Gospel to the Chinese. All through his two years and three months in Japan, Xavier kept hearing about China, The Japanese held Chinese culture in great esteem Much of the Japanese culture was in fact borrowed from, or influenced by, the Chinese, There were even some who said, “If Christianity is the true religion, how is it that the Chinese are not Christians?” To convert Japan, it seemed important — even necessary ~ to convert China.