Saint [my left foot] Xavier

[karthik_v]

Some excerpts from the very own words of Saint my left foot Xavier, as found in a letter he wrote to the Vatican in 1543. Those who complain about the Hindu nationalists for condemning the church must read this to get some idea about one of the most revered saints of Christianity:

 

About the villagers of Malabar, Kerala, India. He doesn't know their language. They don't understand him. Yet he claims to have preached /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif :

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

When I first came I asked them, if they knew anything about our Lord Jesus Christ? but when I came to the points of faith in detail and asked them what they thought of them, and what more they believed now than when they were Infidels, they only replied that they were Christians, but that as they are ignorant of Portuguese, they know nothing of the precepts and mysteries of our holy religion.

 

 

On the acts of the youth he converted and turned into fanatics:

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

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.

 

 

 

Here is the inducement for the poor to convert. Look at the salary paid from the money they looted from the Hindus:

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

I have appointed in each of the thirty Christian villages men of intelligence and character who are to preside over these meetings, and the Governor, Don Martin Alfonso, who is so full of love for our Society and of zeal for religion, has been good enough at our request to allot a yearly revenue of 4000 gold farlams for the salary of these catechists.

 

 

Some "glorious" words he had for the Brahmins. Now you know how and when and why the hatred for the Brahmins started. What better strategy to divide and convert the Hindus:

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

We have in these parts a class of men among the pagans who are called Brahmins. They keep up the worship of the gods, the superstitious rites of religion, frequenting the temples and taking care of the idols. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and I always apply to them the words of holy David, "from an unholy race and a wicked and crafty man deliver me, O Lord." They are liars and cheats to the very backbone. Their whole study is, how to deceive most cunningly the simplicity and ignorance of the people. They give out publicly that the gods command certain offerings to be made to their temples, which offerings are simply the things that the Brahmins themselves wish for, for their own maintenance and that of their wives, children, and servants. Thus they make the poor folk believe that the images of their gods eat and drink, dine and sup like men, and some devout persons are found who really offer to the idol twice a day, before dinner and supper, a certain sum of money. The Brahmins eat sumptuous meals to the sound of drums, and make the ignorant believe that the gods are banqueting. When they are in need of any supplies, and even before, they give out to the people that the gods are angry because the things they have asked for have not been sent, and that if the people do not take care, the gods will punish them by slaughter, disease, and the assaults of the devils. And the poor ignorant creatures, with the fear of the gods before them, obey them implicitly. These Brahmins have barely a tincture of literature, but they make up for their poverty in learning by cunning and malice. Those who belong to these parts are very indignant with me for exposing their tricks. Whenever they talk to me with no one by to hear them they acknowledge that they have no other patrimony but the idols, by their lies about which they procure their support from the people. They say that I, poor creature as I am, know more than all of them put together.

 

They often send me a civil message and presents, and make a great complaint when I send them all back again. Their object is to bribe me to connive at their evil deeds. So they declare that they are convinced that there is only one God, and that they will pray to Him for me. And I, to return the favor, answer whatever occurs to me, and then lay bare, as far as I can, to the ignorant people whose blind superstitions have made them their slaves, their imposture and tricks, and this has induced many to leave the worship of the false gods, and eagerly become Christians.

 

 

And, here he reveals the reason for his hatred unwittingly:

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

If it were not for the opposition of the Brahmins, we should have them all embracing the religion of Jesus Christ.

 

 

PS: Looks like our "left foot" failed to create any impression in his debates and convert the folks.

 

A general word of "praise" for the Indians:

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

"The heathen inhabitants of the country are commonly ignorant of letters, but by no means ignorant of wickedness."

 

 

At last, our bigoted Saint my left foot Xavier is rewarded with the conversion of 1 Brahmin:

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

All the time I have been here in this country I have only converted one Brahmin, a virtuous young man, who has now undertaken to teach the Catechism to children.

 

 

After his sumptuous abuse of the Brahmins, you would have thought that Xavier is a man of some learning; not so it seems:

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

As I go through the Christian villages, I often pass by the temples of the Brahmins, which they call pagodas.

 

 

PS: A 3rd grader in the USA or India would know that pagodas are not the Hindu temples. But then, why do you assume that a Christian saint should know as much? If you are surprised at this glaring stupidity, it is only because you haven't met enough of them. How about starting with the words of their master [nope not Paul] Jesus to get a measure of their theological depth? Don't dive headlong hoping it would be deep. They have forgotten to put up a sign board saying that the water is shallow and contaminated. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

Here he has some "charitable" words for the skin colour of the Indians and their idols:

 

 

Thus spake Saint my left foot Xavier:

 

For as there is so great a variety of color among men, and the Indians being black themselves, consider their own color the best, they believe that their gods are black. On this account the great majority of their idols are as black as black can be, and moreover are generally so rubbed over with oil as to smell detestably, and seem to be as dirty as they are ugly and horrible to look at.

 

 

for your reading pleasure: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1543xavier1.html

 

I verified the contents with the original source mentioned therein and it is accurate