Jill Pirdas is currently visiting her brother John and his Arogya Agam project in southern India. Below she describes a recent trip she made to see the cave in Manapad where St Francis Xavier lived and preached for two years.
Saint Francis Xavier was born in 1506 in Navarre in northern Spain. He died in 1552 on Shangchuan Island off the coast of China but his body was subsequently moved to Goa in
Southern India where it still remains. Considered by the Roman Catholic church to be the greatest missionary since St Paul, he was instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in many parts of Asia and evangelised extensively in India. He is known as the “Apostle of the Indies” and was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1619, then canonised by Pope Gregory in 1622. In 1927 Pope Pius XI proclaimed him 'Patron of Catholic Missions'.
In 1529, when he was a student, Francis shared a room with Ignatius de Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Ignatius was a former soldier who had undergone a profound religious experience and was gathering together a group of men who shared his convictions and ideals. Francis was initially doubtful but finally Ignatius won him round and Francis became one of the first seven members of the 'The Society of Jesus' (Jesuits); in 1534 this group of men took their vows of poverty and celibacy in a chapel in Montmartre, Paris. Francis was later ordained as a priest in 1537.
ST FRANCIS XAVIER'S JOURNEY TO SOUTHERN INDIA
In 1540 Pope Paul lll formally recognised Ignatius de Loyala's new religious order. Francis and his fellow priests became very popular in central Italy because of their simple way of life, their preaching and their care of the sick. King John III of Portugal consequently requested that Jesuit missionaries be sent to evangelise in his new dominions in Asia. Ignatius de Loyola appointed Francis to depart for the Indies to undertake this task.
Francis learned of the Paravar people, a fishing community living in southeast India along the shores of the pearl fishing coast. These people had already been baptised in order to gain Portuguese protection against the Moors; however, these christian converts had never been instructed in the faith and remained ignorant of Christian values. So in 1542, Francis set sail from Goa armed with his breviary (which he had translated into Tamil) and commenced his ministry, both teaching the baptised and preaching to those who were not and his preaching led to the conversion to Christianity of vast numbers of people.
REMEMBERING ST FRANCIS TODAY
St. Francis Xavier is very well known in India. He established numerous churches along the coast of eastern India and Sri Lanka and there are many schools and colleges named after him.
The cave where Francis lived for two years has a fresh water well; this is surprising as it is only a few metres from the sea. In the depths of the grotto there is a shrine to St. Francis where pilgrims stand prayerfully, reverently touching the stone sill below his portrait.
A few meters away along the beach there is a deep tank with a pulley where water is drawn up in a bucket. People, who have been swimming fully dressed, line up bowing their heads as the fresh water is thrown over them to clean off the salty sea water.
The beach is crowded with Indian tourists: some are there simply for an outing, so they take selfies and buy snacks from numerous stalls whilst cows graze amongst the rubbish!
Others have come to stand quietly inside the cave to pray to the Saint whilst outside waves wash in over the rocks - the same waves that St. Francis would have contemplated nearly 500 years ago.