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The Works of John Dryden, Volume XVI. (of 18) by John Dryden

J >> John Dryden >> The Works of John Dryden, Volume XVI. (of 18)




For what remains, a series of miracles was blazed abroad in all places.
Five or six passengers, who had set sail from Malacca towards China, in
the ship of Benedict Coeglio, fell sick, even to the point of death. So
soon as they were set on shore at Sancian, they caused themselves to be
carried to the meadow, where Xavier had been first interred; and there
having covered their heads with that earth which once had touched his
holy body, they were perfectly cured upon the spot.

Xavier appeared to divers people on the coast of Travancore, and that of
Fishery; sometimes to heal them, or to comfort them in the agonies of
death; at other times to deliver the prisoners, and to reduce sinners
into the ways of heaven.

His name was propitious on the seas, in the most evident dangers. The
ship of Emanuel de Sylva, going from Cochin, and having taken the way of
Bengal, in the midst of the gulph there arose so furious a tempest, that
they were constrained to cut the mast, and throw all the merchandizes
overboard; when nothing less than shipwreck was expected, they all
implored the aid of the apostle of the Indies, Francis Xavier. At the
same instant, a wave, which was rolling on, and ready to break over the
ship, like some vast mountain, went backward on the sudden, and
dissipated into foam. The seamen and passengers, at the sight of so
manifest a miracle, invoked the saint with loud voices, still as the
tempest grew upon them; and the billows failed not of retiring always at
the name of Xavier; but whenever they ceased from calling on him, the
waves outrageously swelled, and beat the ship on every side.

It may almost be said, that the saint in person wrought these miracles;
but it is inconceivable, how many were performed by the subscriptions of
his letters, by the beads of his chaplet, by the pieces of his garments,
and, finally, by every thing which had once been any way appertaining to
him.

The crosses which he had erected with his own hand on sundry coasts, to
be seen from far by mariners and travellers, were loaded with the vows
and gifts, which Christians, Saracens, and Idolaters, had fastened to
them daily, in acknowledgment of favours which they had received, through
the intercession of the holy man. But the most celebrated of those
crosses, was that at Cotata, whereon an image of Xavier was placed. A
blind man received sight, by embracing of that cross; two sick men were
cured on the instant, one of which, who was aged, had a settled palsy,
and the other was dying of a bloody flux. Copies were made of that
miraculous image at Cotata; and Gasper Goncalez brought one of them to
Cochin. It was eleven of the clock at night when he entered into the
port: an hour afterwards, the house of Christopher Miranda, adjoining to
that of Goncalez, happened to be on fire. The north-wind then blowing,
and the building being almost all of wood, the burning began with mighty
rage, and immediately a maid belonging to the house was burned. The
neighbours, awakened with the cries of fire, cast their goods out at the
windows in confusion; there being no probability of preserving the
houses, because that of Miranda was the highest, and the burning coals
which flew out on every side, together with the flames, which were driven
by the wind, fell on the tops of the houses, that were only covered with
bows of palm-trees, dry, and easy to take fire. In this extremity of
danger, Goncalez bethought himself of the holy image which he had
brought; falling on his knees, accompanied by all his domestic servants,
he held it upwards to the flames, and invoked Father Francis to his
assistance. At the same instant the fire was extinguished of itself;
and the town in this manner preserved from desolation, when it was ready
to be burned to ashes.

A medal, which had on one side the image of the saint, and on the other
that of the Holy Virgin holding the little Jesus, wrought yet more
admirable effects. It was in the possession of a virtuous widow of
Cochin, born at Tamuzay in China, and named Lucy de Vellanzan, who had
formerly been instructed at Malacca in the mysteries of faith by Xavier
himself; and who was aged an hundred and twenty years, when she was
juridically interrogated, concerning the miracles which had been wrought
by her medal. All infirm persons, who came to Lucy, received their cure
so soon as she had made the sign of the cross with her medal over them;
or when she had sprinkled them with water, wherein the medal had been
dipt; in saying only these words, "In the name of Jesus, and of Father
Francis, be your health restored."

"I have seen many," says an eye-witness, "who have been cured on the
instant, by being only touched with that medal: Some, who being only
putrified, ejected through the nose corrupted flesh, and matter of a most
offensive scent; others, who were reduced to the meagerness of skeletons,
by consumptions of many years; but the most celebrated cures, were those
of Gonsalvo Rodriguez, Mary Dias, and Emanuel Fernandez Figheredo."

Rodriguez had a great imposthume on the left side, very near the heart,
which had been breeding many months. The chirurgeons, for fear of
exasperating the malady, by making an incision in so dangerous a part,
endeavoured to dry up the humour, by applying other remedies; but the
imposthume degenerated into a cancer, which gave the patient intolerable
pains, and made him heart and stomach sick. Rodriguez having notice given
him, what wonders were wrought by the Chinese Christian, by means of the
medal of Father Xavier, went immediately to her, and kneeled before her.
The Chinese only touched him thrice, and made the sign of the cross over
him, according to her custom, and at the same moment the cancer vanished;
the flesh returned to its natural colour, on the part where the ulcer had
been formerly, and Rodriguez found himself as well as if nothing had ever
ailed him.

Mary Dias was not only blind, but taken with the palsy over half her
body, on the right side of it; so that her arm hung dead from her
shoulder, and she had only the use of one leg: despairing of all natural
remedies, she caused herself to be conveyed to Lucy's lodgings. The
hospitable widow kept her in her house for the space of seven days; and
washed her every of those days with the water wherein the medal had been
dipt. On the seventh day, she made the sign of the cross over the eyes of
the patient with the medal itself, and then Dias recovered her sight; her
palsy, in like manner, left her, so that she was able to walk alone to
the church of the Society, where she left her crutches.

As for Emanuel Goncalez Figheredo, both his legs, for a long time, had
been covered with ulcers, and were become so rotten, that worms were
continually crawling out of them. The physicians, to divert the humours,
put in practice all the secrets of their art, but without effect; on the
contrary, the sinews were so shrunk up on one side, that one leg was
shorter than the other. And for the last addition of misfortunes,
Figheredo was seized with so terrible a lask, that, in a man of
threescore years old, as he was, it was judged mortal. In effect, it had
been so, but that he had immediate recourse to the medal of Xavier; he
drank of the water wherein it had been dipped, after which he was
entirely cured both of his ulcers and his disentery.

But that which was daily seen at Goa, blotted out the memory of the
greatest prodigies which were done elsewhere. The body of the saint
perpetually entire, the flesh tender, and of a lively colour, was a
continued miracle. They who beheld the sacred corpse, could scarcely
believe that the soul was separated from it; and Dias Carvaglio, who had
known Xavier particularly in his life, seeing his body many years after
he had been dead, found the features of his face so lively, and every
part of him so fresh, that he could not forbear to cry out, and repeat it
often, "Ah, he is alive!"

The vicar-general of Goa, Ambrosia Ribera, would himself examine, if the
inwards were corresponding to the outward appearances. Having thrust his
finger into the hurt which they gave the saint, when they interred him at
Malacca, he saw blood and water issue out of it. The same experiment
happened at another time to a brother of the Society.

The saint was one day publicly exposed, with his feet bare, at the
importunity of the people, who through devotion petitioned to kiss them.
A woman, who passionately desired to have a relick of Xavier, drawing
near, as if it were to have kissed his foot, fastened her teeth in it,
and bit off a little piece of flesh. The blood immediately ran in great
abundance out of it; and of so pure a crimson, that the most healthful
bodies could not send out a more living colour. The physicians, who
visited the corpse from time to time, and who always deposed, that there
could be nothing of natural in what they saw, judged, that the blood
which came from a body deprived of heat, and issued from a part so
distant from the heart as is the foot, could be no other than the effect
of a celestial virtue; which not only preserved all parts of it from
putrefaction, but also caused the humours to flow, and maintained them in
the motion which only life infuses in them.

So many wonders, which spread through all the East, and were transmitted
into every part of Europe, so moved the heart of Paul V. that he finally
performed what his predecessor had designed. After a juridical examen of
the virtues and miracles above-mentioned, he declared beatified Francis
Xavier, priest of the Society of Jesus, by an express bull, dated the
25th of October, in the year 1619.

Gregory XV., who immediately succeeded Pope Paul V., canonized him
afterwards in all the forms, and with all the procedures, which the
church observes on the like occasions. The ceremony was performed at Rome
on the 12th of March, in the year 1622. But as death prevented him from
making the bull of the canonization, it was his successor Urban VIII. who
finally accomplished it.

This bull bearing date the 6th of August, in the year 1623, is an epitome
and panegyric of the miraculous life of the saint. It is there said,
"That the new apostle of the Indies has spiritually received the blessing
which God vouchsafed to the patriarch Abraham, that he was the father of
many nations; and that he saw his children in Jesus Christ multiplied
beyond the stars of heaven, and the sands of the sea: That, for the rest,
his apostleship has had the signs of a divine vocation, such as are the
gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of miracles, with the
evangelical virtues in all perfection."

The bull reports almost all the miracles which we have seen in his life,
particularly the resurrections of the dead; and, amongst other miraculous
cures, which were wrought after his decease, it observes those of
Gonsalvo Fernandez, Mary Bias, and Emanuel Rodriguez Figheredo. It also
mentions two famous cures, of which we have said nothing. One is of a
blind man, who having prayed to God nine days successively, by the order
of Xavier, who appeared to him, instantly recovered his sight. The other
was of a leper, who being anointed, and rubbed over, with the oil of a
lamp, which burned before the image of Xavier, was entirely cured. The
Pope has added in his bull, "That the lamps which hung before the image,
which was venerated at Cotata, often burned with holy-water, as if they
had been full of oil, to the great astonishment of the heathens." The
other miracles which we have related, and which are omitted in the bull,
are contained in the acts of the process of the canonization.

Since the time that the Holy See has placed the apostle of the Indies in
the number of the saints, it is incredible how much the public devotion
has every where been augmented towards him. Cities have taken him for
their patron and protector; altars have been erected, and incessant vows
have been made to him; men have visited his tomb with more devotion than
ever; and the chamber wherein he was born, has been converted into a
chapel, to which pilgrims have resorted in great crowds, from all the
quarters of the world.

For the rest, it was not in vain that they invoked him; and if I should
take upon me to relate the miracles which have been lately done through
his intercession, they would take up another volume as large as this.
Neither shall I go about to make a recital of what things were wrought in
succeeding years at Potamo, and Naples; but shall content myself to say,
that in those places God was pleased to honour his servant by the
performance of such wonders as might seem incredible, if those which
preceded had not accustomed us to believe all things of St Xavier.

I shall even forbear to speak of the famous Father Mastrilli, who, being
in the agony of death, was cured on the instant by the saint; and who,
going to Japan by the order of the saint himself, to be there martyred,
built him a magnificent sepulchre at Goa. It is enough for us to know,
that never saint has been, perhaps, more honoured, nor more loved, in the
church, than St Francis Xavier; and that even the enemies of the Society
of Jesus have had a veneration and tenderness for him.

But these opinions are not confined to Catholics alone; the very heretics
revere Xavier, and Baldeus speaks of him in these terms, in his History
of the Indies: "If the religion of Xavier agreed with ours, we ought to
esteem and reverence him as another St Paul; yet, notwithstanding the
difference of religion, his zeal, his vigilance, and the sanctity of his
manners, ought to stir up all good men, not to do the work of God
negligently; for the gifts which Xavier had received, to execute the
office of a minister and ambassador of Jesus Christ, were so eminent,
that my soul is not able to express them. If I consider the patience and
sweetness wherewith he presented, both to great and small, the holy and
living waters of the gospel; if I regard the courage wherewith he
suffered injuries and affronts; I am forced to cry out, with the apostle,
Who is capable, like him, of these wonderful things!" Baldeus concludes
the panegyric of the saint, with an apostrophe to the saint himself:
"Might it please Almighty God," says he, "that being what you have been,
you had been, or would have been, one of ours."

Richard Hackluyt, also a Protestant, and, which is more, a minister of
England, commends Xavier without restriction:[1] "Sancian," says he, "is
an island in the confines of China, and near the port of Canton, famous
for the death of Francis Xavier, that worthy preacher of the gospel, and
that divine teacher of the Indians, in what concerns religion; who, after
great labours, after many injuries, and infinite crosses, undergone with
great patience and joy, died in a cabin, on a desart mountain, on the
second of September, in the year 1552, destitute of all worldly
conveniences, but accumulated with all sorts of spiritual blessings;
having first made known Jesus Christ to many thousands of those Eastern
people."[2] The modern histories of the Indies are filled with the
excellent virtues, and miraculous operations, of that holy man.

[Footnote 1: "The principal Navigations, Voyages, Discoveries, &c. of the
English, &c." second part of the second volume.]

[Footnote 2: The reader is referred to the original English for the words
themselves; the translator not having the work by him.]

Monsieur Tavernier, who is endued with all the probity which a man can
have, without the true religion, makes a step farther than these two
historians, and speaks like a Catholic: "St Francis Xavier," says he,
"ended in this place his mission, together with his life, after he had
established the Christian faith, with an admirable progress in all places
through which he passed, not only by his zeal, but also by his example,
and by the holiness of his manners. He had never been in China, but there
is great probability, that the religion which he had established in the
isle of Niphon, extended itself into the neighbouring countries; and
multiplyed by the cares of that holy man, who by a just title may be
called the St Paul and true apostle of the Indies."

As to what remains, if Xavier was endued with all apostolical virtues,
does it not follow, that the religion which he preached, was that of the
apostles? Is there the least appearance, that a man, who was chosen by
God to destroy idolatry and impiety in the new world, should be himself
an idolater and a wicked man, in adoring Jesus Christ upon the altars, in
invoking of the Holy Virgin, in engaging himself to God by vows, in
desiring indulgences from the Pope, in using the sign of the cross and
holy-water for the cure of the sick, in praying and saying masses for the
dead? in fine, is it possible to believe, that this holy man, this new
apostle, this second St Paul, continued all his life in the way of
perdition, and, instead of enjoying at this present time the happiness of
the saints, endures the torments of the damned? Let us then pronounce,
concluding this work as we began it, that the life of St Francis Xavier
is an authentic testimony of the truth of the gospel; and that we cannot
strictly observe what God has wrought by the ministry of his servant,
without a full satisfaction in this point, that the catholic, apostolic,
and Roman church, is the church of our Saviour Jesus Christ.



END OF THE SIXTEENTH VOLUME.


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