His name was Francis Xavier, and he was "the greatest missionary the Church has known since apostolic times" (Tylenda, 449), the patron of India and of the missions. Even today, 450 years after his death, many find his heroic life challenging, his missionary zeal inspiring and his mystical union with God spiritually nourishing.
St Francis Xavier could be studied from various perspectives. I would like to present in this article three salient features of Francis, which, I believe, are relevant for the renewal of our life and mission in Asia and especially in India. We shall look at St. Francis Xavier as the magis man, missionary and mystic.
I. Francis Xavier, the Magis Man
Before we can talk about Francis Xavier, the missionary and mystic it is good to know a few facts about his early life and conversion which had an impact on his personality and mission.
Early Life
Francis was born on 7th April 1506 in the castle of Xavier in Navarra, Spain. His father was Dr Juan de Jassu, president of the Royal Council of Navarra and Finance Minister in the capital city ofPamplona. Francis's mother was Maria de Azpilcueta, the heiress of the royal chamberlain, to whom the castle of Xavier was given as her dowry. When Francis was born, his father was about 54 years old and his mother 42. Francis had two elder sisters (Magdalena and Ana) and two elder brothers (Miguel and Juan). In 1515 when Francis was only 9 years old, his father passed away. His mother and the parish-priest at Xavier were his teachers at home during his formative years in Navarra.
Unlike his elder brothers Miguel and Juan, Francis was not fascinated by a military career but by higher learning. So when he was 19 (in 1525), he left home for the famous University of Paris.
Conversion to the Divine Magis
Francis was in Paris for eleven years (1525- 1536). He studied Philosophy at the College of Sainte-Barbe and got B.A. degree in January 1529. The years 1529-1533 were crucial in the life of Francis. In July 1529 his mother passed away in the far away castle of Xavier. In September Ignatius of Loyola, aged 38, started sharing the room of Francis Xavier and Peter Faber at Sainte-Barbe. In March 1530 Francis got the Licentiate and Master of Arts degrees, and in October he started teaching Philosophy in the University of Paris. In 1533 his elder sister Magdalena died in a convent of Gandia in Spain.
Rather than the death of his dear ones in Spain and the study and teaching of philosophy in Paris, what most affected Francis's life was meeting Ignatius of Loyola there. At first Francis, who had high worldly ambitions, "used to ridicule" his countryman for his piety. When Master Francis began teaching, he had to face serious financial difficulties. "The master's degree had pinched his pocket badly; the tuition fees from the pupils were hardly enough to cover his expenses, and the financial help he received from Navarre was both scanty and fitful. Tactfully, not to hurt his pride, Ignatius came to the rescue, especially by supplying him with paying students for his lectures" (Bermejo, 22). According to popular tradition, it was Ignatius's repetition of Jesus' words, "What will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?" (Mt 16:26) that brought about Francis's conversion! But James Brodrick rightly remarks: "In the case of the saints, as of other men, the process of conversion and self-mastery is usually gradual and never quite so absolute as pious writers would have us imagine" (49). Serious and truth-loving biographers of St Francis Xavier agree that his conversion did not take place suddenly but gradually. For example, according to Teixeira, the first biographer of Xavier, "Master Francis was somewhat hard and difficult, for although he enjoyed the friendship and conversation with Ignatius, yet he did not dare change his style of life, for he was naturally fond of worldly pomp and glory..." (cited by Bermejo, 22-3). Again A. Jou insists: "In spite of the fact that both spoke the Basque language as their mother tongue and were living in the same room, Francis would not readily take to Ignatius The fact is that Xavier's heart began to melt only when Ignatius came to his help with money and students at a time of great need" (2 I). Schurhammer explains the gradual process of Francis's conversion as follows:
Master Francis armed himself against the appeals of his countryman. He repeatedly resisted lfiigo' s appeals and refused to consider his suggestions. He put up the most stubborn defence that lfiigo ever encountered, but slowly and gradually he gave way. Francis did not find the decision which he had to make, and upon whiCh his whole future depended, easy. He prayed for light and strength, and eventually yielded to grace. The idle dreams of the son of Dr Juan de Jassu were gradually dissipated. He gave up his longing for a reputation among men and for a glittering place in the world and decided that he would become a close follower of Christ (I, 186-7).
From the above it follows that, unlike the sudden conversion of St Paul on the way to Damascus, Francis was won over only gradually. Ignatius himself admitted that Francis had been "the toughest dough he had ever handled." After examining all the available evidence, Schurhammer concludes that Xavier's conversion, that is, his decision to become a disciple of Ignatius and follow the evangelical counsels, occurred between December 1532 and June 1533 (I, 187, n. 262). Now his great mundane ambitions are transformed into greater desire to serve Christ and souls. Francis has already come under the spell of divine magis
Magis-Companions in Paris
Sharing the vision of the Ignatian magis, the seven companions (Ignatius Loyola, Peter Faber, Diego Laynez, Alfonso Salmeron, Simon Rodriguez, Nicolas Bobadilla and Francis Xavier) decided to bind themselves to the greater service of God and of the Gospel. So on 15th August 1534 in a small chapel at Montmartre they took the vows of poverty and chastity and made the promise of going to the Holy Land "to bring the light of the Gospel to the heathen, and, if need be, ... to sacrifice their very lives for any cause redounding to the greater worship and reverence to God" and, in case that pilgrimage could not materialise, they would place themselves at the disposal of the Pope who could send them "to preach the Gospel anywhere in the world at his discretion, including the lands of the Turks and other tyrants hostile to the Christian name" (Cited by Brodricks, 46-47). Here we see how the principle of magis is operative in their discernment and decision about their future mission. .
Magis as the Greater Service of God
If before his conversion Francis was a man of great mundane ambition, who was "athirst for worldly success," now there is a greater thirst for the greater service of God (cf. "Thy greater service and praise" in the prayer of the Kingdom of Christ in the Spiritual Exercises) than his own success and fame. Now magis ("more") becomes the guiding principle of his life and mission. The expressions like the "greater service of God our Lord" (e.g., Costelloe, 131.4) or "what is more in keeping with his holy will" (Costelloe, 60.4) are found frequently in his letters. This seems to be the Xaverian interpretation of the Ignatian ad maiorem Dei gloriam ("the greater glory of God"). Francis translates this "greater service of God" concretely into the greater love and service of all, as we shall see below.
Magis in Becoming All Things to All
From the time of his conversion magis inspired Francis to love more and more people, and to love them more and more. "He was a man who loved his fellow men with a transparently sincere interest in their welfare He showed concern for their physical well-being, for their
human needs, for the welfare of the sick, prisoners and lepers, and, unmindful of his rank and position as Papal Legate, readily gave his personal service to others, sometimes performing the most menial tasks" (Don Peter, 162). Francis tried to be a friend to everyone, Portuguese and native, king and governor, soldier and settler, master and slave. "A sailor with sailors, a soldier with soldiers, a merchant with merchants, the Spanish hi<lalgo, the Paris professor was equally at home with all, so that he said of himself with a smile: 'I go in at their door so that I can make them come out at mine' " (Yeo, 122).
Xavier not only loved people but did everything possible to be loved by them, because when there is mutual love, people would be well disposed to listen to his teaching. "He was a most lovable person, because he first loved all others. He managed to win the love of the people something he constantly advised his colleagues to do" (Jou, 216).
One of the features of his lovable personality that attracted others to him was his constant cheerfulness. Nunes Barreto reported to his confreres at Coimbra in Portugal: "0 what affability he has, always smiling with a clam and cheerful face, always smiling but never laughing (Schurhammer, IV, 501). Innumerable witnesses who knew him personally come back to this trait of his character again and again: "He used to do everything with great joy... always very happy and pleasant... for he always went about with a joyful face" (Schurhammer, II, 224, n. 185).
"There were qualities in him which gave him power over the hearts of men. His innate buoyancy and gaiety, his kindly face and heartwarming smile, his compassion and tenderness, his selfless concern for others, his readiness to be of service to them, his devotion to all without distinction, were qualities that endeared him to men of all classes and made them responsive to him and receptive to his teaching" (Don Peter, 161). In short, the maxim of the magis made Francis to become "all things to all."
Magis in the Love and Service of the Sick and the Poor
Though Francis loved all and became all things to all, he had a preferential option and predilection for the sick and the suffering, the poor and the powerless. Even after his conversion Xavier had to struggle to become a lover of the sick and the poor. Simon Rodriguez, Francis's companion, tells us the story of how Xavier overcame his repugnance of serving a sick man suffering from syphilis and covered with sores: In the hospital of the Incurabili [Incurables, at Venice] there was a leper or a man very like a leper, as he was covered al1 over with foul suppurating sores. As my friend one day was passing by, this unfortunate man cried out to him, "Ho, there! Pray, rub my back," which he at once turned to do until suddenly overcome by sensations of horror and nausea, fearing that he might catch the loathsome disease himself. But desiring rather to crush' his rebellious feelings than to avoid the contagion, he scraped some of the pus together with his fingers and swal1owed it. Next morning, he told me with a smile how he had dreamt in the night that the leprosy of the afflicted man remained stuck in his throat and that he could not get rid of it by coughing or other means, short of being very sick (Brodricks, 56-7).
Francis would be at the beck and call of the sick and the dying not only in the hospitals but also in the ships during the long voyages across the seas. For instance, during his journey from Lisbon to Goa, when the ship Santiago, having reached the dreaded doldrums of the Guinea Coast stayed still for forty days and most of the voyagers had become terribl; sick, he cared for them with great affection and cheerfulness.
The Santiago soon became a floating hospital, filled with the moans and groans of the sick and the dying.... In the midst of such misery Francis, though still affected by seasickness, moved like an angel of mercy. He would go down into the dimly lit steerage where an unbearable stench filled the air. And there, the Parisian master, and nuncio, cleared the containers filled with urine and excrement. Then he came out into the open air, dizzy and with his head heavy like lead, in order to wash by the side of the ship the clothes of the poor sick wretches. He bandaged their wounds, pared their nails, gave enemas, and with great affection tended to their every need without fear of contagion. And he would beg for his own daily food and that of the sick... Then he would go down to the overcrowded kitchen to cook the provisions and prepare flour soup or porridge for the sick, surrounded by Negro slaves, jostling servants, and shouting soldiers. What impressed people most was his cheerful manner and jovial attitude, as ifhe were performing a voluntary, pleasant task (Bermejo, 66-7).
Schurhammer writes about Francis Xavier's last stay in Goa (February-April 1952), before he left for China:
Master Francis was a friend and helper of the sick and leprous, of the poor and imprisoned, of the weak and helpless. He preferred to have his residence near those who were ill. He celebrated Mass for them, preached to them, visited, nursed, and consoled them, furnished them with food and medicines, and moved them to confess their sins. If one was in a particularly perilous state, he would stretch out on a mat at night near his bed so that he could be of help to him at any hour. The poor lepers, who were stationed before the gates of Goa and were avidly shunned by others because of the danger of infection, became his dearest friends soon after his arrival in India. He was a regular guest of prisoners in their filthy, ill-smelling jails; and he was often seen begging from door to door so that he might help the poor (IV, 514-5).
He visited and served the poor Para vas in the Fishery Coast, the marginalised Macuas in Travancore, the sick in the city of Malacca, the head-hunters in the distant villages of the Moro Islands. Genuine love for the poor and the suffering revealed the human heart of Francis wherever he went. "His predilection was for the poor, the sick, the prisoners, and all those in need. For them he laboured, begged and spent himself' (Jou, 215). Preferential option for the poor and the suffering was Francis's way of living the magis.
Magis in Francis's Lovefor his Companions and especially for Ignatius
Francis had a deep love and affection for the Society of Jesus, which was for him a "Society of love," a "holy Society," of which he wrote to his companions in Rome: "If I should ever forget the Society of the Name of Jesus, may my right hand be forgotten" (Costello, 59.22). He used to carry the signatures of his companions at Paris like precious relics in a reliquary tied around his neck during all his journeys. He longed for their letters and when he got them he read them with tears of joy. He was particularly affectionate and grateful to Ignatius, "the father of his souL" Just before leaving Lisbon for India (in 1541), Francis wrote to Ignatius: "Please let your annual letter to us in India be a very big one, so big that it may take us eight days to read it, and give us detailed, specific news of each and all of the brethren" (Brodricks, 101). He was deeply moved by Ignatius's letter appointing him Provincial of India (in 1549) which ended with the affectionate words: "Entirely yours, without being able to forget you any time." Francis wrote his reply to this letter kneeling and with tears in his eyes and expressing his tender affection and deep gratitude to Ignatius (Schurhammer, IV, 520-1).
To sum up, Francis Xavier was a man of magis which was manifest in his insatiable thirst for the greater service of God, in his becoming all things to all people by loving them genuinely and making himself lovable, in his special love and predilection for the poor and the suffering, and in his warm affection for his Jesuit companions.
II. Francis Xavier, the Magis Missionary
If St Francis Xavier has been admired as the greatest missionary and venerated as the patron of the missions for centuries, how did he become such a famous missionary?
Available Missionary
Francis Xavier became a missionary by chance (according to human point of view) or by providence (according to faith-perspective). Ignatius had chosen Simon Rodriguez and Nicolas Bobadilla to be sent to India but Bobadilla got sick and Xavier was suddenly asked to take his place. Schurhammer describes the scene as follows:
Inigo was at this time sick in bed. He summoned the secretary and said to him: "Master Francis, you already know that at the bidding of His Holiness two of ours must go to India, and that Master Bobadilla was chosen as one of these. He cannot travel because of his illness, and the ambassador cannot wait until he is well. Esta es vuestra empresa! (This is a task for you!)" To this Xavier replied with great joy and readiness: "Piles, Jus! Heme aqu( (Good enough! I am ready)."
Master Francis hastily repaired some old pants and a torn cassock, received the Pope's blessing in the Vatican, said farewell to his friends... When Xavier took his leave from him in his poor, torn cassock, Ignatius opened it up to see if had the necessary clothing for his journey. When he discovered that his companion was wearing only a shirt he said to him: "So, Francis, so?" and he ordered the necessary clothing to be given to him… It was the fifteenth of March in the year 1540 (I, 553-6).
Thus Providence arranged for Francis to be the first Jesuit missionary in the East. He became the Apostle of the Indies because he was available to carry out the plan of Providence revealed to him through the Pope and Ignatius.
Adventurous Missionary without Frontiers
Just before leaving Lisbon for India Francis was given the Papal brief from Paul III appointing him Papal Nuncio to the East, that is, to the vast territory between South Africa and Japan. Francis was sent by the Pope to the immense mission lands to strengthen the faith of the new converts and bring others to the Christian faith through the preaching of the Gospel (Schurhammer, II, 714). This Papal mandate would explain his many missionary journeys till the end of his life.
On 7th April 1541, Francis Xavier started his first missionary voyage (together with two other Jesuits, Micer Paolo Camerino, Italian, and Francis Mansilhas, Portuguese). After an arduous and perilous voyage of about nine months, the ship reached Mozambique, where Xavier gave himself so generously and completely to the service of the sick in the hospital that he himself fell dangerously ill. Finally on 6th May 1542, thirteen months after he left Lisbon, Francis Xavier landed in Goa.
It would take too long to describe all the journeys of Xavier by land and sea to the Fishery Coast, Travancore and Sri Lanka, then to Indonesia and Japan and finally towards China. Ten years of intense life were divided into three periods of missionary activity and organization. These periods lasted about two years each: the first on the Fishery Coast of India (15421544), the second in the Moluccas (1545-1547) and the third in Japan (1549-1551). Four months after he had left for China, he died on December 3'd 1552, in desolate loneliness, on the rocky islet of Sangchwan [Sancian] opposite the port of Canton at the entrance of China, when he was only 46 years old. Such in its essential lines is the life of the Apostle of the Indies and Japan (Leon-Dufour, 17-8).
During the period of eleven years and eight months between his departure from Lisbon and his departure from this life Xavier was on the seas for three years and seven months, navigating about eighty thousand kilometers (Leon-Dufour, 182). If we add to these voyages all his journeys on land, he travelled an incredible distance of nearly one hundred thousand kilometres without the modern means of motor vehicles or aeroplanes! In the words of Leon-Dufour:
Such accomplishments unquestionably belong to the cultural patrimony of man as much as those of Alexander or Columbus. They mark as well a turning point in the religious history of man. To find a parallel we must go back to the work of St Paul... Both alike were sent by the Lord to reach the confines of two worlds, East and West Paul brings the decisive light from the East to shine in a world new to him, known as Europe.
Fifteen hundred years later Xavier sends back that light even to the Far East. He leaves an aging Europe behind to voyage to the new Indies.... and lays down the grand lines of missionary strategy for all centuries to come (18).
Zealous Missionary
One of the reasons for Francis Xavier's tremendous success as a missionary in the East was his burning zeal for souls. Xavier's proverbial zeal for souls is amply confirmed by the many letters he wrote during his ten-year evangelizing mission in the East. Costello assures us:
Xavier's [137] letters reveal both his charity and his zeal. He heard the confessions of, and preached to, the Portuguese wherever and whenever he could, and repeatedly requested preachers from Europe who could assist them. One of his first concerns was for the care of the natives who had been baptized before his own arrival in India (Docs. 20.14 19.2-4). At times his arms grew weary from the number of baptisms which he conferred (Doc. 20.8); during the course of one month these amounted to more than ten thousand (Doc. 48.2)....
Not content with his labours in India, he was led by his zeal to visit the abandoned Christians of the Moluccas (Doc. 55); and, with the hope of opening up a new and promising mission, he sailed to the recently discovered islands of Japan (Doc. 90). Upon realizing that the religion and culture of the Japanese were largely derived from China, he sought, to gain entrance into this forbidden empire, since it was, he believed, the key to the conversion of Japan (96.19). In his missionary labours Xavier was, like St Paul, driven by the "charity of Christ" [2 Cor 5:14] (xxvi-xxvii).
Xavier's letters excude zeal for souls. For instance Francis wrote from Cochin to his companions living in Rome on 15th January 1544:
Many fail to become Christians in these regions because they have no one who is concerned with such pious and holy matters. Many times I am seized with the thought of going to the schools in your lands and of crying Out there, like a man who has lost his mind, and especially at the University of Paris, telling those in the Sorbonne who have a greater regard for learning than desire to prepare themselves to produce fruit with it: "How many souls fail to go to glory and go instead to hell through their neglect!" And thus, as they make progress in their studies, if ... they would say: "Lord, here I am! What would you have me to do? Send me wherever you will and if need be, even to the Indies!...7' ,
I was almost moved to write to the University of Paris,... how many millions of pagans would become Christians if there were labourers, so that they may take pains to find persons who seek not what is their own but what is of Jesus Christ (Costelloe, 20.8).
This missionary fire was constantly burning in his heart so that the souls of the pagans would not be lost in hell. Of course, Xavier had a pre- Vatican theology of salvation, according to which "there is no salvation outside the Church" (extra ecclesiam nulla salus) and so unless one is baptized one cannot be saved. This faulty theology of salvation was, according to Costelloe, "a compelling motive for his extraordinary labours and the great numbers he baptized" (xxvii). In the words of Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach: "He was haunted by the need to save Asia from damnation. He was overwhelmed by anguish at the prospect of the loss of so many. If he had not believed in this threat of hell for the 'gentiles', he would probably have stayed in Europe. In his belief, evangelization is necessary because without baptism there is no sa]vation" (VITR, 66 [2002] 719). Today we who live in the post- Vatican II era may not agree with Xavier's narrow theology of salvation, but we cannot but admire his burning zeal and loving concern for the salvation of all.
Convinced Missionary
Whatever might have been his theological deficiencies, Xavier had a clear vision and conviction of his mission "to plant the Christian faith in the lands of the East":
Xavier was... utterly convinced, in the first place, of the truth of the teachings, he professed; he was convinced also of the absolute necessity for men to I accept them; and finally he was convinced that it was his duty to communicate them to others. This threefold conviction gave his personality a dynamism, forcefulness and determination to carry out, against all manner of odds, his... task of diffusing among the people of the East the teachings of Christianity (Don Peter, 162).
Single-minded and Practical Missionary
He was also single-minded in achieving his goal and thoroughly practical in the use of appropriate means to attain the end:
He knew what he wanted and searched for the means he needed to achieve his goal. In order to plant the Christian faith in the lands of the East he made use of the best means he found, such as the patronage of kings, governors, captains and village headmen, composing summaries of the faith in the different languages and learning them by heart, making the children explain the faith to the parents, preparing future catechists and priests in the College of St Paul, and planning to hold intellectual discussions with the professors of the best university of Japan (Jou, 215-6).
Ascetic Missionary
The life of poverty and asceticism of Francis Xavier war> appealing to the people of India who regarded him as a man of God who must be listened to:
The people saw also in his very appearance and bearing and in his poverty and simplicity of life that he was different from other Europeans. When others sought more and more for material gain, he came as a beggar, in a threadbare robe, often barefoot, seeking no comfort, eating the food of the poorest, sleeping on the floor like them, and expecting no reward or remuneration. In spite of his rank and status of Papal Legate, he had become so poor as to be "the shabbiest Nuncio in the world." Although a white man, he was the picture of the traditional religious teacher of India, the world renouncing ascetic It was largely due to the fact that Xavier eminently conformed to the Oriental ideal of asceticism and moral excellence that the people treated him with the greatest respect and reverence and regarded him as a teacher who should be listened to (Don Peter, 163-4).
Gospel-embodying Missionary
Francis was an embodiment of the Gospel he preached. "The gospel can never mean only the spoken gospel. The gospel spoken and not lived is counter-productive; the gospel lived and not spoken can do very well for itself, but it is incomplete. The gospel lived and spoken is mission at its best" (F.X. Clark, in Achutegui 104, as cited by Don Peter, 164). Xavier lived the gospel he preached.
There is no doubt that religious teachers like Christ and the Buddha moved men's hearts and won adherents more by the example of their lives than by their teaching. Or, to put it in another way, it was their teaching, as eminently exemplified in their own lives, that drew followers after them.... The same is true of Xavier. His life was an object-lesson to the people, a lesson more striking and easier to grasp than the doctrinal lessons he taught them (Don Peter, 165).
Missionary in Incarnational Solidarity with the People
Instead of residing in the Portuguese forts or settlements, Francis preferred to stay among the people, in total solidarity with them and sharing their life in every way, just as the Son of God who was sent by the Father to save humans "became flesh and dwelt among us" (In I: 14), that is, became weak and mortal like;: other human beings, thus identifying himself completely with the human predicament. Francis's close personal contact with people (Indians, Indonesians, Japanese) enabled him to adapt himself to them and to adopt the appropriate method of evangelization.
Adaptable and Creative Missionary
Francis was a flexible missionary who adapted himself and the mode of evangelization to the conditions of the people. For instance, in the case of the simple and illiterate Paravas of the Fishery Coast and Macuas of Travancore, Xavier would go to the streets and squares of villages and towns ringing a bell and calling children to come for religious instruction. Making use of the Oriental's love for song, the simple doctrinal formulas were put into simple melodies which could be sung. But when Xavier was in Japan, he adjusted himself and his missionary methods to the Japanese people's qualities, customs and culture. Since the Buddhists respected all forms of life, Francis decided not to eat fish and meat. Whereas the ideal of the ascetic was appealing to the South Indian masses, "a humble missionary in a shabby, torn cassock" was a laughing stock to the Japanese. Having been taught by the bitter experience of failure to get an audience with the king of Japan in Miyako because Francis was dressed as a poor man and without any gifts, now he "proceeded to the palace in ambassadorial splendour, dressed up in silk and satin and accompanied by a suitable retinue" (Bermejo, 233-5). Since he was elegantly dressed as the ambassador of the governor of India and was loaded with attractive gifts, he was gladly welcomed by the ruler of Yamaguchi and granted permission to preach the Gospel in his land (Schurhammer, IV, 21-220).
Because the Japanese in general were literate, cultured and inquisitive, daily he spent hours discussing religion. Since mass instruction was not possible in Japan, Francis went only to a few places and tried to instruct the people there in Christian faith in depth. He also asked for learned Jesuits to be sent to Japan, while he wanted virtuous and ascetical Jesuits for India (Don Peter, 170-171).
To catechise the Tamils Xavier appointed kanakkapilleis, lay-leaders in each village. He also trained some boys to be Christian leaders in the future by employing them as interpreters, by asking them to teach their parents the Christian faith and prayers and by sending them to pray over the sick. He also insisted that St Paul's College be an institution for training indigenous clergy (Don Peter, 167-9;176-7).
Furthermore, whereas Francis asked for virtuous and ascetical European missionaries to be sent to India and Indonesia to evangelize and catechize the simple and illiterate peoples there, he requested learned missionaries for the intelligent and literate Japanese. "One notices four main features of his work which contributed to its effectiveness: (1) close contact with the people; (2) taking careful note of their characteristics; (3) organizational ability; and (4) adjusting instruction and methods to suit the people" (Don Peter, 169).
A Magis Missionary
If Francis Xavier is regarded as "one of the greatest Christian missionaries of all times" (Schurhammer, I, xvii), what is the secret of his missionary success? What motivated him to be constantly on the move? What inspired him to undertake such long, arduous and dangerous journeys? What enabled him to convert thousands of Paravas and\Macuas of South India? What gave him the courage to live among the headhunting Alfuros of the Moro Islands? What urged him to visit the Buddhist bonzes of Miyako and the powerful daimyo of Yamaguchi in distant Japan? What prompted him to try to reach the forbidden land of China? What made it possible for him to endure all the hardships during the innumerable journeys and untold sufferings during his stay with people of different colours and creeds, customs and cultures, talents and temperaments? Just before leaving Lisbon for Goa, as he was beginning his first missionary journey, Francis confided in his friend Rodriguez his heart's longing:
Do you still remember that night in the hospital in Rome when I woke you up with the loud cry: "More, more, morel"? You often asked me to tell you what it meant, and I always said that it meant nothing. But now you should know what it was. I then saw (whether in a dream or when I was awake, I do not know, God knows) the very grave hardships, toils and sufferings from hunger, thirst, cold, journeys, shipwrecks, betrayals, slanders, and dangers that were being offered to me for the love and service of the Lord; and the same Lord granted me at that time the grace that I was not content but asked for more and more with those words which you heard. I hope in the Divine Goodness, that it will indeed give me on this voyage what was offered me there, and also the desire that was granted to me (Schurhammer, I, 728).
In other words, the grace of the magis, which made Francis pray for more and more sufferings for the love and service of Christ and souls, was the secret of his missionary vitality and success.
III. Francis Xavier, the Missionary Mystic
The marvellous missionary success of Francis Xavier compels the admiration of all. All look up to him as an adventurous man of action and as a most zealous missionary. Many are fascinated by his legendary missionary work but fail to recognize the work of God in Francis and discover the mystical dimension of the missionary Xavier. "Francis was able to plant the Cross in distant lands because It had first been implanted in his own heart" (Leon-Dufour, 20). Historian Valignano had already been amazed at Xavier's tremendous "trustful confidence in God" and "how he joined action and contemplation" (cited by Bermejo, 303).
Prayer and Contemplation
According to Bermejo, "Trust in God and intense prayer life are inextricably bound together in his life and both of them stand out prominently in his complex personality" (303-4). Like Jesus who spent entire nights in prayer before momentous decisions in his life, Francis discerned the will of God before taking up any new missionary venture. For example, he spent four months in silent prayer at San Thome in Mylapore before he decided to go to the Moluccas. In his daily life and under all circumstances Francis combined untiring apostolic activities during the day with intense prayer during the night. Whether in Goa or in Malacca, he was lost in prayer before a crucifix in his room or in the church - often at night. And he used to experience intense consolations and profuse tears in the most unusual circumstances.
When in Temate, in the Moluccas, he was found in the midst of a dense forest, praying to God in the stillness of the night. On the Moro Islands, in the midst of acute danger to his life, he was overcome by intense consolations in prayer. Returning from Malacca to India, when the ship was violently tossed about in a fierce storm and people had to fight for their lives to keep afloat, Xavier was experiencing the gift of tears, as he prayed alone in his cabin It had become a fixed pattern in his life: this intense activity with men during the day impelled him to commune with God in the peaceful silence of the night. He worked strenuously - and he prayed intensely. Apostolic work and prayer formed an unbreakable unit in him. To depict Francis Xavier as an indefatigable apostle only, without reference to his prayer life, is nothing but an unscrupulous distortion of reality (Bermejo, 304).
Trust and Confidence in God
Francis had an unlimited trust and confidence in God, which wereborn of his intense spirit of prayer. Whenever he realized that God was cal1ing him to a new missionary venture, no obstacle or danger would prevent him from undertaking it. For instance, after his spiritual discernment at Mylapore about his mission to the Malay Peninsula and beyond, he wrote to the Jesuits at Goa before his departure for Malacca: "If no lortuguese ships are sailing this year for Malacca, I shall go on a Moorish or pagan ship. I have so much faith in God our Lord, dearest brothers, for whose love alone I am making this voyage, that even if there were no ships sailing this year from this coast but only a catamaran, I would confidently go on it, placing all my hopes in God" (Costelloe, p.128: italics added).
At Amboina Francis was told about the headhunters and cannibals of Moro islands, experts at poisoning people, many of whom had been converted to the Christian faith many years earlier but had been abandoned because of the real danger to the lives of the missionaries. While others are scared to go there, Francis writes to his companions in
Europe:
Because of the need these Christians of the island of Moro have for instructions in the faith and for someone to baptize them for the salvation of their souls, and also because of the obligation which I have of losing my temporal life to assist the spiritual life of my neighbour, I have decided to go to Moro to assist the Christians in spiritual matters, exposing myself to every danger of death, placing all my hope and confidence in God our Lord (Costelloe, p. 139).
The same boundless trust and confidence in God is manifest in Francis's letters which speak about his dangerous missions to Japan and China (cf. Costello, 309-10; 441). Even Bermejo, a critical biographer, is astonished at Francis's unbounded trust and confidence in God: "It is unnecessary to labour the obvious. It is always the same reaction: the greater the dangers ahead, the greater his determination to plunge into them, scorning human prudence and trusting only in God. With regard to this confidence in God, Xavier is simply unshakable" (306).
Stages in the Mystical Progress
It is to be noted that Francis, the magis man and missionary, grew in confidence in and communion with God from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. According to Leon-Dufour, the mystical progress of Francis Xavier consists of three stages which correspond to those of his missionary journeys starting from Paris, Lisbon and San Tome of Mylapore (22):
The first stage is marked by an a'Yl'akening to the apostolic life. In 1533 God urges his chosen one away from a too human existence. He does not send him off straight to other lands but in the stillness of the "First Night" he reveals and imparts to him a passionate love for souls. For seven years by successive trials He teaches him to recognize His fatherly countenance in all circumstances, to give himself without reserve to all who Come to him. He unveils to him the essential features of the Church as a community of love, reflected in the band of the first followers of Ignatius in Paris. During the second stage, from 1541, this ideal somewhat beyond the limits of human life, begins to take shape in a more realistic existence. Christ, through his Vicar, sends him as papal nuncio to the lands of the East. Xavier endeavours to be like his Redeemer who made himself poor, humbled himself to be the servant of all, and suffered for the salvation of mankind.
Finally, in the third stage from 1545, urged by the Spirit, Francis leaves India towards more distant lands. From Lisbon to the Moluccas and the Far East he is ever moved by the Spirit, and it is only in the last stage that he is perfected in a divine manner.
Trust in God was first awakened in the mutual communication of the brotherhood in Paris; it was then put to the test that it might grow deeper. Finally, moved by the Spirit again, and in utter solitude he must combat the strongest attacks of Satan before his trust in God is put to the supreme test at the moment of death (Leon-Dufour, 23).
These stages of spiritual/mystical growth, though distinct, are like links in the golden chain of Francis's life and mission. In the first stage Francis opens himself in prayer and service to the activity of the Holy Spirit like a sunflower to the light of the morning sun. In the second stage, the sufferings endured and the dangers faced during his many missionary ventures teach him to turn continuously to the Lord like the sunflower to the sun, even when tossed by the storms and tempests of life. Finally in the third and final stage he surrenders his life to God in total trust and confidence like the sunflower which falls to the ground and dies so that it may release many life-giving seeds.
Thus he discovers the law that rules the life of every apostle, the reliving of the Paschal Mystery. All previous cleansing, all holy desires, all sensitive affections and total surrender are but concrete instances of the Mystery of the apostle's imitation of the Redeemer. The progress he makes, then, consists not so much in the conquest of the new world by the missionary as the conquest of the missionary by God. Better still, it is by means of the conquest of the world that the missionary allows himself to be conquered by God. Men, seeing Francis, see only the man of action. The truth is that God is active all the time in the work of his spiritual progress. God is wonderful in His saints! (Leon-Dufour, 24-5).
Conclusion
St Francis Xavier was a man of magis, a mystic contemplative in action and a zealous missionary. If his missionary enterprise was magnificent and successful, it was because the magis man matched the mission and became a magis missionary of God, mystically united with him. If we keep in mind the principle of magis, which guided Francis's life and mission, and acknowledge his growth in holiness and mystical union with God, we would be able to appreciate his lights and understand his shadows (cf. Bermejo, 303-15).
Many are surprised that Francis did not learn any of the Eastern languages well and so he had to depend on interpreters everywhere (Bermejo, 310). This might have been due to the fact that he was in a hurry to convert and baptize persons to save their souls. In fact, many
. regard Xavier to have been "a man always in a hurry" (Bermejo, 311). He was always on the move, from one place to the other, from India to Indonesia to Japan to China. He was also quick in baptizing people without sufficient instruction. This was because he wanted to save as many souls as possible. He was thirsting for more and more souls! It is true that Xavier had a narrow understanding of the theology of salvation according to which only those who are baptized would be saved. But it is admirable the way he lived according to his convictions and spent himself for the salvation of souls. His genuine love and active concern for his neighbour is worthy of imitation even today.
Since Francis was a man ever ready to do God's will and willing to face any difficulty or danger or even death for the greater (magis) service of Christ and of souls, he expected all Jesuits to be men of magis and therefore to be ready and willing to obey promptly. That is why he would not hesitate even to dismiss disobedient persons from the Society of Jesus, which may appear to some as too harsh (Bermejo, 310-1).
In spite of some of his shadows, St Francis Xavier continues to be an inspiring man of magis, a most zealous missionary pioneer, a unique mystic who combined contemplation with evangelizing action.
