Engaging South Asian Religions by (SUNY Series in Hindu Studies)

Author:(SUNY Series in Hindu Studies)
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781438433257
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2011-04-26T04:00:00+00:00

HAGIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

In 1556 the Portuguese monarch, João III, ordered that testimonies be gathered in order to support a request that Xavier be canonized. A total of sixty-four witnesses provided testimonies: thirty-six in Goa, thirteen in Cochin, eight in Bassein, six in Malacca, and one in the Philippines. But João III died in 1557, and his successors were too preoccupied to pursue the canonization with the single-mindedness it required. Also, there would have been some uneasiness among Jesuits about the prospect of canonizing Xavier before according that honor to the founder of the order and Xavier's close friend and guide, Ignatius of Loyola. In 1580, the Spanish and Portuguese thrones were united under Philip II of Spain, who was at odds with Rome. Xavier's case would not be taken up again in earnest until 1610, when authorities in Rome requested an additional and expanded set of evidence. In the meantime, the Church had evolved a more elaborate set of procedures whereby witnesses were to be questioned and evidence assessed. Between 1613 and 1616, 238 witnesses were deposed in the following cities: Rome, 7; Pamplona, 15; Lisbon I and II, 45; Goa, Damão, and Thana, 56; Malacca, 27; and Cochin, the Fishery Coast, Manar, Travancore, and Quilon, 138. Xavier was beatified on October 25, 1619, and canonized (along with Ignatius) by Pope Urban VIII on August 6, 1623.4

Sixty-seven years had elapsed between the collection of the first set of testimonies and the second. This period witnessed the emergence of eleven major works that sought, either in part or in whole, to describe the life of Xavier for posterity.5 Of these eleven works, five remained unprinted manuscripts until well after the canonization of Xavier; the remaining six were published. All of the unpublished works circulated, however, and were used by at least one of the other authors. Seven were written in Portuguese, two in Italian, and two in Spanish. The emergence of these eleven texts reflects not simply the mushrooming cult of Xavier in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries but significant disagreement over the nature and number of Xavier's miracles. Foremost among the late sixteenth-century skeptics was Alessandro Valignano, a doctor of civil law before joining the Society of Jesus. The spark that seems to have ignited Valignano's critical ire was a biography of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society, by Pedro de Ribadeneyra, the first edition of which was published from Naples in 1572, and which contained a section on Xavier. Valignano wrote in 1576 that “the facts which were recounted in the life of the saint [Xavier] should be more closely verified, for he had not as yet found that he had worked any miracles with the exception of some predictions which seemed to be prophecies.” This followed a December 1575 conclave in Goa presided over by Valignano, in which it was decided that the life of Xavier should be examined with greater care. In 1583 Valignano was even more circumspect: Ribadeneyra “had not proved … the

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