Saint Francis Xavier and Goa Inquisition

[Guest guest]

SUBMITTED BY SANDEEP H. IN GOA

 

On the 3rd of December, the feast of Saint Francis Xavier was

celebrated with lot of pomp and gaeity in the State of Goa. Thousands

of people of all castes and religions flocked at the Old Goa Church

for the feast of this Saint. Many Hindus are literally unaware of the

role played by Xavier in abusing religions, the cultures and

traditions of Goa and India.

 

Xavier's own writings would clearly indicate that his sole mission was

to bring the heathen Indians(whom he used to refer as descendents of a

barbaric race) under the true command of Jesus Christ. Xavier knew

very little about the genius and wealth of the Goan and Indian

culture. He even relied greatly on the power of the civil arm, and

favored the Inquisition to promote faith. And although Xavier was not

alive during the infamous Inquisition, he was the one who asked for

the Inquisition to be brought to Goa. It has to be noted that this

Inquisition was established in Goa in 1560. Many people were burned

alive. The Christian God, in whose name these were done, was

considered by many as a punitive God of vengeance and wrath. Only in

1812 was the inquisition abolished, and all religious cults allowed to

enjoy equal toleration.

 

Over the several years, the Church has allowed the perpetuation of

several myths and has attributed several miracles to Xavier, none of

which have any sort of rational basis or historical evidences. On the

contrary, evidences would suggest that Xavier was a very cruel

missionary who would pit the converts against their own family

members, who would instigate children against their own parents, etc.

 

On one occasion, Xavier wrote

" The fruit that is reaped by the baptism of infants, as well as by

the instruction of children and others, is quite incredible. These

children, I trust heartily, by the grace of God, will be much better

than their fathers. They show an ardent love for the Divine law, and

an extraordinary zeal for learning our holy religion and imparting it

to others. Their hatred for idolatry is marvellous. They get into

feuds with the heathen about it, and whenever their own parents

practise it, they reproach them and come off to tell me at once.

Whenever I hear of any act of idolatrous worship, I go to the place

with a large band of these children, who very soon load the devil with

a greater amount of insult and abuse than he has lately received of

honor and worship from their parents, relations, and acquaintances.

The children run at the idols, upset them, dash them down, break them

to pieces, spit on them, trample on them, kick them about, and in

short heap on them every possible outrage. "

 

 

With history like this being suppressed, with the methods used by

Xavier being unknown to a vast majority, it is no wonder that he is

adored so ardently. Historical research clearly suggest that beastly

methods were followed by St.Xavier and the Portuguese to convert the

Indians whom they called with the contemptuous word ‘heathens’!

 

While falsified history and Church propoganda would attribute false

miracles to Xavier in seeking converts, reality is no so. For

instance, the fishermen of Tamilnadu got converted to Christianity to

protect themselves from Muslims and not due to some so called miracles

as it has been made out to be.

 

Prof.Anne Menezes writes

"...Similarly, when Xavier moved further South, he organized the

Paravas of the Fishery Coast who were pearl divers. They sought

Portuguese protection against their Muslim foes, and in gratitude for

this protection had embraced Christianity en masse. However, a

shortage of priests and catechists reduced their instruction in the

Faith almost to nil, and hence they were just nominal Christians.."

 

The reality of Xavier is horrible and bitter. Xavier was an extremely

rascist person and had a large amount of hatred against the native

cultures and traditions. The fact that St.Xavier had only contempt for

Indians, dark coloured Indians is evident from various sources (mostly

his letters to St.Ignatius, his Spaniard friend who later became a

Saint).

 

This is what Mariano Jose Dias has to say on a book review of The

Letters And Instructions of Francis Xavier by M. Joseph Costelloe:

 

"viewed from the Indian perspective, they make poor reading, as an

echo of a distant but odious past, reminiscent of a dark age in

Christian history, characterized by dehumanization and alienation from

the mainstream of Indian values. This denies them of any relevant

missiological relevance in the present environment of dialogue between

Christians and non-Christians.

 

The saint's antipathy for Indians is almost obsessive and borders on

phobia for reasons that are not difficult to unravel. He shared with

his colleague, Fr. F. Henriques, in his letter of 22nd October 1548

(211) his conviction that few, whether white or blacks, - note the

emphasis on colour and the clubbing of Indians with blacks - go to

paradise from India. This is an outrageous claim he was least

qualified to advance, with his very limited knowledge of India.

 

He was, however, more enthusiastic with the Japanese and Chinese whom

he praises lavishly and whose white colour he specifically mentions in

his letters from Cochin of 29th January 1552 to his companions in

Europe (341) and to St. Ignatius (347). One shudders at the plans that

Xavier entertained of almost deserting the Indian mission when he

wrote from Kaoshima, Japan, on 5th November 1554, to his companions in

Goa, to be ready to go to Japan.

 

It is not without sadness that one observes that the great apostle of

the east had this negative outlook towards India that the late Fr.

Monchanin hailed as the 'Land of the Trinity.' Yet his letters will

continue as authentic witness of the western missionary enterprise in

India and other areas around it. "

 

Again this is from a Christian, M.D.David author of Western

Colonialism in Asia and Christianity who mention this:

 

"..A particularly grave abuse was practiced in Goa in the form of

'mass baptism' and what went before it. The practice was begun by the

Jesuits and was alter initiated by the Franciscans also. The Jesuits

staged an annual mass baptism on the Feast of the Conversion of St.

Paul (January 25), and in order to secure as many neophytes as

possible, a few days before the ceremony the Jesuits would go through

the streets of the Hindu quarter in pairs, accompanied by their Negro

slaves, whom they would urge to seize the Hindus. When the blacks

caught up a fugitive, they would smear his lips with a piece of beef,

making him an 'untouchable' among his people. Conversion to

Christianity was then his only option.."

 

This barbaric method of conversion which made the Muslims look better

is said to have been initiated or supported by St.Xavier. This is what

St.Xavier wrote about his conversions:

 

" When all are baptized, I order all the temples of their false gods

to be destroyed and all the idols to be broken to pieces. I can give

you no idea of the joy I feel in seeing this done."

 

When Xavier's attempts to convert high castes had been foiled, he then

turned his attention to fishermen.Those fishermen who refused to

covert, were attacked on the Malabar coast by the Portugese navy, as

they returned with catchment. Entire fishing boats were set ablaze, as

their women and children helplessly watched from the shores. Those

fishermen who jumped into the water to save their lives, were either

bayonetted or shot dead and a lot of terrified fishermen, whole

villages that is, converted to Christianity.

 

Commenting on the atrocities, a Christian historian Dr. T. R. de Souza

mentions this:

 

" At least from 1540 onwards, and in the island of Goa before that

year, all the Hindu idols had been annihilated or had disappeared, all

the temples had been destroyed and their sites and building material

was in most cases utilized to erect new Christian Churches and

chapels. Various viceregal and Church council decrees banished the

Hindu priests from the Portuguese territories; the public practices of

Hindu rites including marriage rites, were banned; the state took upon

itself the task of bringing up Hindu orphan children; the Hindus were

denied certain employments, while the Christians were preferred; it

was ensured that the Hindus would not harass those who became

Christians, and on the contrary, the Hindus were obliged to assemble

periodically in Churches to listen to preaching or to the refutation

of their religion."

 

Such then is the tyranny of Xavier and the Portuguese. It is sad that

feasts are celebrated in his name...and history like this is being

suppressed!

 

 

 

 

_______________

MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*

http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus