Dear John,
I am working on philatelic/postcard/lithograph collectables related book on the life of SFX, with images of these items being used a illustrations.
For that I had to refer to about 15 different works, and counting, on the life of St Francis Xavier, covering various specific aspects of his complex diary, specially his complex movements whilst he was 'jet setting' so often in the fast East. Some works are
in paper, others in pdf (non OCR) and others in pdf (with OCR) where I can do quick searches.
Some publications do not mention cross references by location where it is invoked, they appear at the end of the literary work as a 'lumpsum'. One specific author (can't remember his name off hand) was known to have exhagerated real accounts with a lot of his
own 'versions' of events. I avoid such works.
Hence, when in doubt of something, I need to cross refer multiple works, but when still unclear, I only pick the most reputed works/authors like Schurehammer, Cros, etc. Let us not forget that it took Schurehammer over 60 years to complete his monumental work.
His position as a Jesuit himself, allowed him to have open access to more reference material than the average author on the subject.
I have noticed that some works refer to each other, hence accounts like those people who lived in the period before 1552, those who had accounts in the 1556 inquiry, depositions under oat at the papal canonisation process in 1616 and finally all the letters
written by Francis Xavier and his correspondents (specially those collected by Mansilhas - who was himself expelled from the society too) help a lot in cross checking inconsistencies.
My postal military history skills (for which won me the George Pearson literature award in 2012 for a WWI related article in Portuguese India) and my special interest in nautical archaeology (where I am a diver and studying nautical archaeology/shipwrecks),
help me also do investigative nautical related matters based on what information is available. For example, on that painting depicting Francis Xavier being lowered from a sailing ship by hand from sailors holding him in midair, it is physically impossible
to happen due to the human size, ship hull size and water level - just a painter's exaggeration. However, that does not mean the miracle that is purported to have taken place in the calming of sea waters, has never taken place. (I had been to Lisbon recently
and I was granted special access to the St Francis Xavier chapel at the Museu do Roque, that contains the paintings related to the saint. They had opened it for me to see and photograph some specific paintings. My main aim was to see with my own eyes the relative
dimension of some paintings and observe detail with consideration with scale). Seeing things in real life do make a difference, whenever possible.
I have not read Francisco de Sousa's book but will get a copy to check out his versions of events.
But for my work, I shall list cross references when needed.
Kind regards,
Joao Paulo Cota
Dear Joao Paulo,
Interesting. Where did you get all this information? It appears to contradict Francisco de Sousa's version in "Oriente Conquistado"..
John M. de Figueiredo
On Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 09:27:53 PM EDT, Joao Paulo Cota <
[email protected]> wrote:
Hi John,
Thanks for the expansion on the life of Antonio Gomes. My current work focusses on Francis Xavier and upto 1552, when he was still alive. Hence my comments (on Antonio Gomes) were that up to that time, as Gomes was only relieved from his rectorship and initially
to be sent to Ormuz (Gaspar offered himself to go instead, so that Gomes could stay back) only to then be sent to Diu. He was not expelled from the Jesuits then.
He wanted to make St Paul's College at Old Goa an Indian version of Coimbra, hence it proved too much for the local students.
The segregation of white and local boys was apparently to avoid unnecessary racist arguments between themselves. It was not Gomes' ideas to do that. As I had mentioned, he was not racist in nature, and he was of Jewish origins himself. He just thought the local
boys were not upto the mark... but the white boys were neither... something that backfired due to their inability to grasp such a demanding syllabus.
Hypothetically, if the local boys would had been able to grasp this Coimbra styled syllabus, there would had been no sign of any racism at St Paul College.
Of course, although Francis Xavier had instructed Gaspar Barzaeus to eventually expel Gomes in 1551 once his ship has left Goan shores, Francis eventually died in 1552 and Gomes was finally expelled in 1553, months after Francis's Xavier's death.
Antonio Gomes did not go to Rome to ask for forgiveness, he went very upset to appeal his cause, for he believed he never did anything wrong.
What is sad to read is that, he knowingly left Goa a month before the scheduled arrival of Francis Xavier's uncorruptible body in Goa.
Such was his arrogance, but by boarding an overcrowded ship to Portugal, his own body was lost at sea.
On the education, Gomes was not only a master in Arts like Francis, Ignatius and the other Jesuit founders all achieved at Sorbonne, but he was also a doctor in Theology. Hence that could explain why he thought he was on a different league of Jesuits.
________________________________
From:
[email protected] <
[email protected]> on behalf of JOHN DE FIGUEIREDO <
[email protected]>
Sent: 07 October 2024 03:50
To: Goa-Research-Net <
[email protected]>
Subject: [GRN] Antonio Gomes
To Joao Paulo:
What you write is partially true. The devil is in the details.
Antonio Gomes had been appointed Rector of the newly established Colegio de S. Paulo. Xavier (who was Superior of the Jesuits) had established a curriculum. While Xavier was away from Goa, Gomes changed the curriculum established by Xavier, introduced new rules,
and established a curriculum similar to the one followed at the University of Paris and the Jesuit College in Coimbra, Portugal. Gomes had a commanding style and threatened to send to Portugal in chains whoever disobeyed his orders. After Xavier returned,
he fired him as Rector, but Gomes complained to the Governor and Xavier agreed to keep him as Rector to avoid a scandal.
Xavier was not Provincal of the Jesuits then. He was appointed Provincial on October 10, 1549. This order became effective in 1552. The Province of the East (of which Xavier was Provincial) became independent from Portugal. Again, while Xavier was away, Gomes
admitted the sons of the Portuguese (Europeans) as students instead of admitting Goans. Xavier, now vested with the authority of Provincial, returned to Goa, and dismayed at what had happened, let go the sons of the Portuguese and replaced them with Goans.
We can only guess what went through his mind. We can infer from what followed that he interpreted this as racism. Xavier fired Antonio Gomes as Rector and expelled him from the Society of Jesus. Gomes decided to return to Europe to ask Ignatius de Loyola for
forgieness, but he never made it because he drowned in a shipwreck on his way to Europe.
Reference: Francisco de Sousa, Oriente Conquitado, Lello e Irmao, Porto 1978 Part I Conq I Div I $ 50 (p74-76) and $69 (p.97-98)
I should add that Fr. Francisco de Sousa was not a direct witness of many of the events he describes. He relied on primary sources, some of which have perished.
Also, Francisco de Xavier was educated at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), so his education could not possbly inferior to that of Antonio Gomes.
So, to conclude and back to my original point, it is an error to say that ALL Europeans who came to Goa were racists or thieves. Let us not forget that Luis de Camoes, for example, was sent to jail in Goa after he criticized the policies of the Portuguese Government
in his poerm "Os Disparates da India" ("The Blunders of India"). He also wrote a poem about the beauty of a Goan woman.
John M. de Figueiredo ..................
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