GOENCHO SAIB: SOME ODDITIES
By Valmiki Faleiro
A young Spaniard of Basque nobility, out to reach for the stars, had scored
excellence.
In the hallowed portals of Sorbonne, France’s 13th Century world-renowned
centre of
learning. With a Masters in humanities, Francisco Javier was raring to go.
Until a simple
but oft-repeated one-liner, not a fiery Che Guevara-like harangue, felled him:
"What doth
it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul?"
That line came from a once fiercely proud fellow Navarrese, an artillery
commander, who
was first felled when cannon fire struck his knee in battle. In round two,
Inigo de Loyola
was done in when he read, re-read, and read over and over again the only three
books
his sister could find for him to kill hospital boredom: all three were on the
lives of saints.
Both Loyola and Xavier, 15 years apart by age but roommates in the University
of Paris,
were fated to achieve greatness: not by worldly conquest, but by sainthood.
Today, December 3, traditional feast day of Goa’s patron saint, Francis Xavier
(SFX), is
especial: born April 7, 1506, this year marks his 500th birth anniversary.
Let’s peek at
some oddities about his relationship with Goa.
To begin with, SFX was never meant to be here. He landed in Goa by chance. Seven
men led by Loyola, of whom only Pierre Favre was a priest, formed themselves
into a
religious companionship in Paris, August 15, 1534. After the rest were ordained
later in
Venice, the Vatican approved the ‘Society of Jesus’ in Sept-1540. The tiny band
of
Jesuits decided all would go on missions abroad. Only two, Loyola, the Superior
General, and his most gifted companion, SFX, the Secretary, would stay back in
Rome.
Fr. Nicholas Bobadilla, the man deployed for India, suddenly took ill on the
eve of
departure. The flotilla sailing from Lisbon to India couldn’t wait. There was
barely time to
reach Lisbon from Rome. SFX was rushed in Bobadilla’s stead.
SFX left Rome early next morning, picking an "old pair of trousers and
nondescript
soutane." Until death, it would remain his trademark frugal dress code, except
in Japan,
where he found it alienated potential converts. A pair of leather boots was the
only luxury
he allowed himself. At 5 feet 4 inches, SFX was rather diminutive for a Basque
Spaniard.
Precisely on his 35th birthday, April 7, 1541, SFX set sail for India. He was
never to
return home -- alive, or dead. The ‘Santiago,’ part of a five-sailboat fleet,
also carried
Dom Martim Affonso de Souza, the new Governor to Goa. SFX travelled as the Papal
Nuncio (Ambassador of the Vatican State) to the Indies, while King Joao-III of
Portugal
deputed him as the Apostolic Legate to the colonies. The 13-month voyage,
including a
six month monsoons halt in Mozambique, was horrible: rife with sickness and
death on
board. Early signs of service and sacrifice were evident. The ship’s surgeon
said,
"He (SFX) was regarded as a saint."
SFX arrived in Goa on May 6, 1542 and died near China on December 3, 1552. Of
the
ten years, he spent about five in South and Far East Asia -- two and half years
in Japan,
the rest around the Malay Archipelago: Malacca, Amboina and Ternate, Macassar
and
Moro Islands near Indonesia, and Moluccas ("Spice Islands.") Of his five years
in India,
almost four were in South India -- in Cochin, then Portugal’s second most
important
enclave, and mission stations on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts: Mylapore,
Fishery Coast, Manapad, Tuticorin and Cape Comorin.
The briefest time SFX spent at any one place was Goa ... just over an year,
spread over
five sojourns: from arrival in May-1542 to Sept-1542, then from Oct-1543 to
Dec-1543,
the third was the longest, April-1548 to Oct-1548, then from late Nov-1548 to
early April-
1549 (when he left for Japan) and the fifth and final, between Feb-1552 to
April-1552 (when
he set sail for China, and faded into history.) Yet, he had an enduring regard
for Goa.
Rated as the greatest missionary of modern times and one of the two greatest
saints of
Catholicism, this ‘Defender of the East,’ ‘Apostle of the Indies’ and ‘Patron
of all
Missions’ is reputed to have made the largest number of religious conversions
in history
-- seven lakhs (a disputed figure, though) -- during his 10 years in the
orient. The
numbers came from Japan, the Malay Archipelago and South India. Almost none from
Goa. To him Goa was an administrative HQ, not the focus of his mission. Yet, he
had an
abiding love for Goa.
He sailed aboard the ‘Santa Cruz’ captained by Francisco Aguiar, to China.
Seriously ill
but refusing to abort the mission, he willed, according to the letter of João
Eiro, that his
mortal remains be taken not to Japan, Malacca, Cochin or Spain, but to Goa.
Santa Cruz
carried the coffin from Sancian to Malacca. The same ship, now captained by
Lopo de
Noronha, brought it from Malacca to Goa (March 16, 1554.) That’s how we got our
‘Goencho Saib.’ (ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
===================================================================
The above article appeared in the December 3, 2006 edition of the HERALD, Goa
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goanet supports BMX, the alumni network of Britto's, St Mary's and
Xavier's -- three prominent institutions in Mapusa, Goa. Events
scheduled from Dec 16 to 21, 2006
For more details visit http://www.bmxgoa.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
