Events that happened in the life of St Francis Xavier, who is rightly revered as ‘Gõycho Saib’ – the Lord of Goa, are not mere acts of coincidence.
When Fr Francis Xavier and his companions were students at the Santa Barbara College, the head of the college, Dr Gouveia, was converted upon seeing the good work and lives of Ignatius and his followers. Dr Gouveia was later appointed as the advisor to the King of Portugal. King John III had an ardent desire to carry his religion wherever he gained new colonies. Dr Gouveia, the Paris Professor, now an advisor, informed the king of the spirituality of these young priests and asked the king to request the Pope to send six of these young priests to the Indies, as their charismatic approach towards propagation of the faith, coupled with their robust spirituality and simple way of living, would attract the infidels to the religion.
Accordingly, the ambassador of the king in Rome, Pedro Mascarenhas, met the Holy Father and placed before him the concept of reawakening the faith in Asia that was planted and nourished by the disciples of Jesus, St Thomas and St Bartholomew.
Concurring with the ambassador, the Pope had a discussion on the matter with Fr Ignatius of Loyola. Fr Ignatius expressed his inability to allot six priests for the mission but instead agreed to depute two of his lieutenants: Fr Simon Rodrigues, a native of Portugal, and Fr Nicolau Bobadilla, a Spaniard. Both were well versed in the Portuguese language.
The ambassador of Portugal was happy with the arrangements and began preparations to go to Portugal as soon as possible. Fr Simon was in Rome, but Fr Nicolau Bobadilla had to be recalled from Naples. The ambassador dispatched his luggage with Fr Simon Rodrigues to Portugal and waited for the arrival of Fr Nicolau Bobadilla. The latter arrived in Rome but was critically ill with high temperature due to his long hours of service and the rigours of the journey. The doctor attending to Fr Nicolau Bobadilla advised him complete bed rest and forbade him to travel without recovery, as it would pose a risk to his health and life.
Fr Ignatius too had taken ill due to his tireless service. The ambassador of the king kept on reminding Fr Ignatius of the delay caused and that he had to hurry back to Portugal with the promised second priest. Fr Ignatius and Fr Nicolau Bobadilla were bedridden with illness. There was only one choice to replace Fr Nicolau Bobadilla for the mission in the Indies: Fr Francis Xavier. Fr Ignatius was heartbroken to part with his secretary for this mission. But then the will of God had to be done. Fr Ignatius summoned his secretary and said to him: “There is no one to replace Fr Nicolau Bobadilla and the ambassador of the king of Portugal has no time left. Hence, it is my decision to send you along with Fr Simon Rodrigues on the mission to the Indies.” Fr Francis Xavier, the obedient member of the group that he was, immediately had a smile on his lips and said to Fr Ignatius: “Master, here I am. I am willing to go.”
When Fr Francis Xavier and Fr Simon Rodrigues were in Lisbon waiting for the ship to leave for Goa, they administered the sacraments in hospitals and prisons and preached the Word of God, which brought in people in multitudes who reformed their lives and began living a life worthy of a Christian. The King of Portugal wanted to retain these two charismatic priests in Lisbon and wrote to the Pope and Fr Ignatius regarding the retention of these two priests. As a compromise, and not to hurt the sentiments of the King of Portugal, Fr Ignatius decided to retain Fr Simon Rodrigues in Lisbon and send Fr Francis Xavier to the mission in India.
The ship then travelled to Mozambique and later Socotra Island, which was a Portuguese colony. When the ship anchored at the port of Socotra Island, Fr Francis Xavier alighted from the ship. Here he encountered Christians who were baptised and living in their faith but, due to the non-availability of priests, generations were left unbaptised. Fr Francis left no stone unturned and wasted no time in instructing them in basic Christian doctrine and administering the sacraments to the faithful. Christianity once again began to bloom on Socotra Island.
Fr Francis Xavier was a shepherd of God’s flock in the true sense. He saw the need for a priest to be amidst them and spoke his mind in this regard to the viceroy travelling with him. The viceroy was blunt in his reply: “You are sent to India to carry on God’s mission by the King of Portugal and the Pope. You heed your call and focus your mind on your mission in the Indies.”
After his burial on the hillock at Sancian Island after his death, opening the grave and exhuming the body could not normally be thought of within three months, as the body would emit a foul stench due to decay. Yet, the Portuguese merchants and the captain of the Santa Cruz decided to exhume the body. The body was then taken to Malacca and interred in the Church of Our Lady of Mount. When it was exhumed, oral traditions say that a voice was heard: “Take me to Goa!”
The body was brought to Cochin by ship. Fr Francis Xavier had worked more in South India, in the Fishery Coast of Tamil Nadu and in the south of Kerala. The top Portuguese officials were stationed in Cochin, yet the body of Fr Francis Xavier was sent to Goa – a place where he did not reside or work for even a year – due to the voice heard as the body was exhumed in Malacca.
The great truth of St Francis Xavier being destined to be in Goa and save Goa from destruction was seen on the eve of the liberation of Goa. The King of Portugal, Dr Salazar, had directed the then Governor General, Manuel Antonio Vassalo e Silva, to bring the body of St Francis Xavier to Portugal and to bombard and destroy the Goan territory. Accordingly, Vassalo e Silva reached the Basilica with 100 soldiers to take the body of St Francis to the airport to be airlifted to Portugal. According to one of these soldiers, Filomeno Diogo Jacinto Da Silva, who testified in a letter to the Editor published in the Herald newspaper dated 26 November 2010, the strength of these 100 soldiers could not suffice to lift the body of St Francis, which turned out to be very heavy. The Governor General had to return empty-handed, and due to the body of St Francis, refrained from bombarding Goa. Speaking on this incident, Vassalo e Silva, when on a visit to Goa on 15 July 1980, said: “St Francis Xavier did not want to leave Goa.”
All these occurrences are not coincidental. It was God’s plan that St Francis Xavier, whom the Church elevated to the list of saints and declared as the patron saint of the missions, dwell in Goa, a fact that our predecessors accepted and honoured through the Governor of Goa in 1683 as Gõycho Saib: the Lord of Goa.
(The writer has authored 26 books. His book ‘Gõycho Saib’, written in Konkani in the Roman Script, has been translated into English, Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam, and transliterated into Devanagari and Kannada Konkani)
