CHAPTER XXVI

FRANCIS XAVIER

It is now time to say something of those achievements of the Society that have won the greatest celebrity and admiration, and are most colored with high romance. Among all the adventurers of those early days, Magellan, Albuquerque, de Soto, Cortez, Pizarro, Cabot, Raleigh, Champlain, not one was more heroic than Francis Xavier; all unwittingly, and in the innocence of complete indifference to human praise, he set up to himself in the temple of Fame as enduring a memorial as the best of them. Albuquerque presented an empire to the Kingdom of Portugal, Cortez and Pizarro annexed great Provinces to Spain, Champlain added Canada to France, but Xavier, during his ten years of missionary labors, converted (it is said) hundreds of thousands of heathens to Christianity; and the religion that he taught, whatever one may think of certain aspects of it, was a religion of decency, devotion and love.

It was in 1538, I believe, that King John of Portugal, through the mediation of Dr. Diego de Govea, applied to Ignatius for some of the Fathers to go as missionaries to India. The Portuguese ambassador asked for six. Ignatius replied: "Gracious Heavens, Mr. Ambassador, if out of the ten that we number, six go to India, who will be left for the rest of the world?" He consented to send two, and at the ambassador's suggestion chose Rodriguez, the Portuguese by birth, and Bobadilla; but as the latter was ill in health, he summoned Xavier: "You have heard, Brother Francis, that by command of the Pope two of us are to go to India, and that Bobadilla, who was selected for the enterprise, is prevented by sickness. The Ambassador is in such a hurry that he cannot wait. So it is you that God will employ upon this mission." To which Xavier answered:

"Father, I am ready." Ignatius furnished him with the following letter, and he started off the next day, never to come back:

To Beltrano de Loyola

ROME, March 20, 1540.

May God bless us and keep us always:

I haven't time to write at length, as I should like to do, on account of the rush and hurry, which they put upon us, in order to send some of us to the Indies, others to Ireland and to other parts of Italy.

Master Francis Xavier, of Navarre, son of Señor de Xavier, a member of the Society, will bring this letter; he is going under the Pope's orders, on the requisition of the King of Portugal, beside two others who go by sea to the same King. Master Francis knows all about these matters and will tell you all from me, as if I were there myself.

You must know that the Ambassador of the King of Portugal, with whom Master Francis is going, is on the most friendly terms with us; we are much indebted to him; and in matters that concern the service of God, he will recommend us to the King and do all he can. Please therefore, for the service of God, show him all the courtesy you can. Treat Araoz as a member of the family; and accept all that Master Francis says as you would do with me. Please remember me most kindly to your wife and the family. May the Lord bless us and keep us always. De bondad pobre,

IÑIGO.

Xavier's readiness to go provides us with a measure of his love of God, for he dearly loved his friends. In a letter written from Bologna, on his journey to Portugal, he says to Ignatius:

On Easter day I received some letters from you in the post-bag that came for the Ambassador: the Lord knows what pleasure and comfort they brought me. And since I think that by letters only we shall behold one another in

this life but in the other face to face with many embraces -in the little space of life left to us, we must see one another by frequent letters.

And, again, he wrote from Lisbon, a year later, on the eve of sailing:

There is nothing more to tell except that we are soon to go aboard. So I end, with a petition to Our Lord Jesus Christ to grant that we may meet and see one another in another life in bodily shape, since I doubt if in this life we shall see one another again, for Rome is a long way from India, and there is so great a harvest there that there will be no need to go looking elsewhere. And let whoever enters first into the other life, and does not find a brother whom he loves in the Lord, pray to Christ, to unite all of us there in His glory.

On April 7, 1541, he sailed away, in his shabby clothes, with no superfluity other than a few books. Some Portuguese gentlemen wished to fit him out in the manner suitable for a messenger honored by the King and the Pope, with servants and so forth, but "he answered with much grace and wiseness, that God gave what repute and credit were needful through the contempt of worldly honors and of oneself; and that this very desire to acquire repute by decking oneself out with worldly ceremony, had brought religion in many places to the pass in which we saw it." Two missionaries went with him, Paolo da Camerino, an Italian priest, and Francisco Mansilhas, a Portuguese student.

Xavier must have known what to expect. The voyage to India lasted six months. The usual course was to make a continuous voyage round the Cape of Good Hope to Mozambique, to put in there for repairs, supplies, and rest, and then on, along the coast of Arabia, across the Indian Ocean, to the port of Goa. Twice they crossed the equator, and rounding the Cape of Good Hope went far south, so that at times they were perspiring and at other times almost frozen. The ships were considered "grandes y poderosas" (large and powerful), but the cabins were so small that a passenger could scarce lie down, and the poorer folks were huddled

together in the hold. The rations consisted of biscuit, salt fish and salt beef; but the mode of cooking failed to render them palatable. The fresh water did not keep well, and the quantity doled out to each man was very scanty, especially during the hot stretches of the voyage. The ship's doctor had more than he could do, and his supplies usually gave out. In short, quite apart from perils of winds and waves, of reefs, of fire, of French corsairs believed to be manned by heretics, not only the steerage but also the cabin passengers were badly off. Contagious diseases often broke out, and on some voyages, two, three, or four hundred people died. One can see how crowded the ships must have been. Part of the difficulty was that ignorant emigrants had no idea of what they needed, or else no means to buy it, and went on board with one shirt, two loaves of bread, a cheese, a pot of marmalade, and nothing else.

On Xavier's ship, the Santiago, the number of sick and ailing was very large, "but the charity and patience of Father Francis was still greater than all the difficulties." He tended the sick, he taught the catechism to children and slaves, he preached; he seemed more like one of the ship's hands than a person of so much importance; he performed the most menial offices, washing not only his own clothes but those of the sick. Altogether, his life on board was such that for the greater part of the voyage (as he said) his bed consisted of a coil of rope. His tact and gentle ways made him master of all hearts. He was so ready and gay in conversation, and the serenity of his soul showed so plainly in his countenance, that he got on well with everybody. The hardest sinners, such as generally avoid good men and priests, were very glad to talk to him, and in a little while found themselves changed from what they had been. In short, he was so beloved that he could do pretty much what he wished with everybody.

The voyage was not prosperous; they were obliged to stop for months at Mozambique, and Xavier did not arrive at Goa until May 6, 1542. There his missionary work began among the Portuguese; for absence from home, the love of customs of the country, the demoralization of living

among an inferior people, had smoothed the way for much laxity of life. But after a few months he went southward to the natives along the coast of Malabar. I will quote from a long letter he wrote after he had been gone from Rome nearly four years:

To the Comrades in Rome

COCHIN, INDIA, Jan. 15, 1544.

May the grace and love of Christ, our Lord, always be with us and bless us.

It is two years and nine months since I left Portugal, and since then I have written three times, but I have only received one letter since I arrived in India, written on January 18, 1542. The Lord knows what comfort it gave me. It reached me two months ago; the delay was because the ship spent the winter in Mozambique.

Master Paul, Francisco de Mansilhas, and I are very well. Master Paul is at Goa, in the college of Santa Fe; he has charge of the students in the house. Francisco and I are here among the Christians at Cape Cormorin; we have been here more than a year. There are many Christians here, and many are converted every day. As soon as I came to this coast, where they live, I tried to find out what they knew about Christ, and asked them about the particulars of their faith, and what more they believed now that they were Christians than they had when they were heathen; I got no other answer except, "We are Christians." They do not know our language, and so they don't know what they ought to believe. And as I can't understand them, nor they me, because their native tongue is Malabar and mine Basque, I got together the most intelligent of them, and sought out some persons who knew both languages. After many meetings, and with much difficulty, we translated the prayers from Latin into Malabar, beginning with directions as to the manner of blessing oneself, and confessing that the Three Persons are one God, then the creed, the commandments, the Lord's prayer, Ave Maria, Salve Regina, and the general confession. After these had been