Wednesday, July 31, 2019, 07:42:51 p.m. CDT, Goanet Reader <[email protected]> wrote: The Feast of a Founder Dr Michael Lobo The first half of the 16th century was a period of religious upheaval in Europe. Posterity has termed it "The Reformation", though this name is rather illogical as what happened was more in the nature of a Revolution. Commencing with Martin Luther of Germany -- who, angered by the sale of indulgences, publicly broke off from the papacy in 1517 -- the defections continued under the leadership of King Henry VIII of England, John Knox of Scotland, John Calvin of France, and Ulrich Zwingli of Switzerland among others. A single defection often serves as a catalyst for others (as this very form has experienced).
=============================================================== Doc Lobo, You managed to make what essentially is known history - an interesting read. Congrats! Your article reminded me of something that happened last century and prompted me to jot down the following: My dad grew up in the village of Colvale, whose main church is dedicated to St Francis of Assisi. In 1984 we got a chance to make a pilgrimage to Rome with a large Tanzanian group. When in Rome, the group found out that Assisi was just a couple of hours drive away and decided to visit the place. In the era before the internet, there was not much info available and I thought I was heading to just another Italian church. Was I ever wrong? Assisi is a fortified village. It sits high in the hills and the protective wall/structures are massive and imposing. Here is a picture of the place: https://www.flickr.com/photos/45002663@N00/48435790671/in/dateposted-public/ The Basilica there houses the tomb of St Francis. After praying by the tomb, we were greeted by a Swahili speaking missionary who was based in Tanzania. He took us on a special trip to what was formerly a secret crypt – directly below the tomb - and told us that the crypt was where the body of the saint was actually kept. The crypt was for prayer and contemplation by the religious. The ornate tomb above, was a decoy. Apparently, in the era when Italy had waring princely states, it was not unusual for a victorious prince to cart away the spoils of war – including relics. I thought to myself, what kind of religious people would do that? As such, I asked if there was a third, super-secret, burial spot below the crypt. The Franciscan assured me that there was no third spot but whenever there was the prospect of a siege, the body of St Francis was moved to a safe place and a substitute was kept in the tomb. Later that same year, my dad and I were at the exposition of SFX in Old Goa. Remembering my Italian trip, I wondered why no Spanish prince had attempted to transfer the relics of such a famous son back to Spain. The Portuguese, who had absolute control of everything Catholic in Goa, had shown no interest in possessing the relics of SFX either. Even the Italians were satisfied with just an arm. For a fleeting moment, I speculated that maybe the long journey of the 'real' relics did not stop for long in Goa and had already made their way to Europe. The relics of the founder of the Jesuits are at the shrine of the Church of Gesu in Rome. The founder of the Jesuits lies with parts of his right hand man, SFX, in the same church. I maybe one of the few Goans who have seen both the body and hand of St. Francis Xavier in the same year. Mervyn
