Mangalore Christian group objects to the exposition of St Francis Xavier’s remains in Goa – IndiaFacts
Posted on 21/11/2014 by Admin
This report contains the gist of a conversation that the IndiaFacts team had with Robert Rosario, an activist and leader of the Konkani Christian Victims of Francis Xavier’s Atrocities group based in Mangalore.
For the first time there has been opposition within the Christian community to the upcoming public display of remains of Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier, said to be a saint and miracle worker who lived about 500 years ago.
Francis Xavier’s corpse—alleged to have been preserved though some claim it is the mummified body of a different priest—will be displayed to the public in Bom Jesus Cathedral, Old Goa starting on 22 November this year up to 4 January 2015.
However, not all seems to be well. A section in the Christian community has formed a pressure group named Konkani Christian Victims of Francis Xavier’s Atrocities (referred to hereafter as Victims) and have begun an agitation on the grounds that they are the descendants of the victims of Xavier’s atrocities. Their demand is to have Xavier’s body sent back to his home country, Spain. They have also begun a nationwide signature campaign to press for the demand.
Catholic religious leaders portray Francis Xavier as a person who rendered signal service to the Church by converting large numbers of Hindus to Christianity, and also as a saint and miracle worker. Therefore, these leaders justify his exposition and say that there’s nothing wrong in keeping his body for public display so that people of faith can pay their respects to him.
However, the Victims say that it is 53 years since Portuguese rule ended in Goa. The continued presence of Xavier’s corpse in India is an insult to India, and it must be dispatched to Portugal as soon as possible. The Victims also plan to petition the Government of Goa and the Central Government.
Who was Francis Xavier?
Francis Xavier, who holds an esteemed place in the pantheon of Catholic saints, was a Jesuit priest from Spain in the service of the King of Portugal. He was born in Spain in 1506 and settled down in Goa in 1543 to undertake missionary activities in the coastal districts of what is now known as Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
History records his inhumanity in quite graphic detail. He was an advocate of destroying temples and forced conversion and asked King João III of Portugal to send the Inquisition to Goa. Though he died in 1552 before the Inquisition arrived in 1560, historians agree that he was aware of thePortuguese Inquisition‘s extreme brutality. He is therefore morally liable for the horrors the Goa Inquisition perpetrated on Hindus, Muslims, Jews and backsliding Christians alike. Thousands of Hindus were tortured and had their lands confiscated by the Inquisition—lands which the Catholic Church still possesses today—and some 2000 Christians were murdered or made destitute. Many more fled Goa to save their lives and settled along the South Canara Coast.
The Victims hold that it is unjust to glorify as a saint the man who brought the Inquisition to Goa, who, by this knowing and calculated act, is responsible for the torture and murder of their ancestors.
When Francis Xavier died in China in 1552, he was not given a regular Christian burial but his corpse was preserved first on Shangchuan Island, then in Portuguese Malacca. It was sent to Goa in 1553 and in 1637 was placed in a silver and glass casket in Bom Jesus Basilica in Old Goa (said to be built over the ancient Saptakotishwar Shiva Temple). He was canonised in 1622 along with the founder of the Society of Jesus
(Jesuits), Ignatius Loyola.
(Jesuits), Ignatius Loyola.
Francis Xavier was known as the “Apostle of India” up to 1953. When a piece of St. Thomas’s arm bone was brought to India from Italy in that year and deposited in Kodungallur and San Thome, Xavier lost his title to St. Thomas and is now known simply as the “Patron of Catholic Missions.” His right forearm and hand is displayed in the Il Gesu Cathedral, the church attached to Jesuit headquarters in Rome.
Konkani Christian Victims of Francis Xavier’s Atrocities
Robert Rosario, activist and leader of the Victims of Francis Xavier movement, says, “There’s no more Portuguese rule in Goa. Preserving Xavier’s corpse in Goa is a matter of shame to the self-respect of this country. His corpse must be flown to [Spain] as soon as possible. A nationwide signature campaign has been initiated against the stand of the Goan Church. We will soon petition the Goa Government and the Central Government.” — IndiaFacts, 19 November 2014
» This article has been rewritten by the Bharata Bharati editor for factual accuracy. See the original article on IndiaFacts here.
- St. Francis Xavier: A pirate in priest’s clothing – Sita Ram Goel
- Francis Xavier SJ – The Man And His Mission – Sita Ram Goel (this 18-page booklet can be read on-line or downloaded)
- St. Thomas and Anti-Brahminism – Koenraad Elst
- An account of the Inquisition at Goa - Gabriel Dellon
“Goa is sadly famous for its Inquisition, equally contrary to humanity and commerce. The Portuguese monks made us believe that the people worshipped the devil, and it is they who have served him.” – Voltaire (French historian and philosopher)
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can humanity fall down to such abysmal depths ?
Sayings of Francis Xavier
In his letters to the Jesuits in Rome, Xavier wrote: “There are in these parts among the pagans a class of men called Brahmins. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and to whom applies the Psalm which says: ‘From an unholy race, and wicked and crafty men, deliver me, Lord.’ If it were not for the Brahmins, we should have all the heathens embracing our faith.”
“Following the baptisms, the new Christians return to their homes and come back with their wives and families to be in their turn also prepared for baptism. After all have been baptised, I order that everywhere the temples of the false gods be pulled down and idols broken. I know not how to describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down and destroying the idols by the very people who formerly worshipped them.” Xavier did this after the Hindu raja of Quilon had given him a large grant to build churches!
Anti-Brahminism
Francis Xavier was the pioneer of anti-Brahmanism which was adopted in due course as a major plank in the missionary propaganda by all Christian denominations. Lord Minto, Governor General of India from 1807 to 1812, submitted a Note to his superiors in London when the British Parliament was debating whether missionaries should be permitted in East India Company’s domain under the Charter of 1813. He enclosed with his Note some “propaganda material used by the missionaries” and, referring to one missionary tract in particular, wrote: “The remainder of this tract seems to aim principally at a general massacre of the Brahmanas” (M. D. David (ed.), Western Colonialism in Asia and Christianity, Bombay, 1988, p. 85). Anti-Brahmanism has become the dominant theme in the speeches and writings of Dravidian politicians and Indian secularists of all sorts.
Xavier’s letter demanding the Inquisition be sent to Goa
Francis Xavier sent this letter to the King John III of Portugal on May 16th, 1545: “The second necessity for the Christians is that your Majesty establish the Holy Inquisition, because there are many who live according to the Jewish law, and according to the Mahomedan sect, without any fear of God or shame of the world. And since there are many spread all over the fortresses, there is the need of the Holy Inquisition and of many preachers. Your Majesty should provide such necessary things for your loyal and faithful subjects in India.” – Joseph Wicki, Documenta Indica, Vol. IV, Rome, 1956.
The Inquisition in Goa
Historian Paul Roberts describes what went on in the Inquisition’s Goa court that had been housed in the Sultan’s old palace and had a huge plaster image of Christ overlooking the scene: “Children were flogged and slowly dismembered in front of their parents, whose eyelids had been sliced off to make sure they missed nothing. Extremities were amputated carefully, so that a person could remain conscious even when all that remained was a torso and head. Male genitals were removed and burned in front of wives, breasts hacked off and vaginas penetrated by swords while husbands were forced to watch…. And it went on for two hundred years.” – Paul Williams Roberts, The Empire of the Soul: Some Journeys in India, New York, 1997.