The Death Anniversary of St. Xavier
To pay tribute to St. Francis Xavier, ceremonies are held in the Church of Bom Jesus in Goa, on his death anniversary. Devotees in large numbers visit the church to seek his blessings.
The body of St. Francis Xavier lies in a silver casket in the Church of Bom Jesus, in Goa. Ceremonies to honour his death are performed on December 3, the day he was buried.
St Xavier was a great Catholic missionary, who preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Asia. Born in Spain on April 7, 1506, he came to India with the Portuguese viceroy of Goa in 1543, and immediately undertook the task of influencing the Goan people. He went from street to street, with a hired town crier, asking people to attend his meetings and listen to his sermons.Though he did not master the local language, he translated the Creed, the Lord`s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Ave Maria, with the help of Goan scholars. He made the people repeat these after him, word for word, and met with great success in the fishing colonies. The inhabitants of 30 villages were baptized by him.
Xavier commanded awesome political power. He was able to secure pensions, even for the petty princes who converted to Christianity, from the king of Portugal. To spread the message of Christ, he sailed to the Spice Islands in 1545, then went on to Japan in 1549 for a year. His greatest success is recorded in Japan, where he converted hundreds to Christianity. After returning to India for a brief 15 months, he proceeded to China, against the wishes of the Portuguese viceroy. It was in the Sancian Island, about 10 km from the mainland of China, that he died of fever on December 2, 1552.
According to a legend, some Portuguese merchants found him just before he breathed his last. They performed his last rites on the following day, and buried him in a box partly filled with unslacked lime. A few months later, a Jesuit brother disinterred the body and discovered to his surprise that it had not decomposed at all. He cut a finger from the body and was astonished to see blood ooze out. When this was reported to the Vatican, the title of saint was conferred upon Xavier.
The body was interred in acemetery in Malacca for about two years before it was brought to its final resting place in Goa. Though notanointed, it was found to be only slightly affected by death, uptil then. Before the mortal remains of the saint were placed in a silver casket in the Church of Bom Jesus, one hand was cut off from the body. Pieces of the hand were distributed to various parts of the world, under orders of the Pope.
Every 10 years on the anniversary of his death, his body was brought out and kept in a glass case, with the feet exposed, for all to see and worship. For the exposition, people from all over India flocked to the church for aglimpse of the saint. The queues were long as men, women and? children, belonging to all castes and creeds, stood in hushed silence to get into the church. Some waited for upto two days, before their turn came to go around the body. The devotees kissed the feet of the saint from outside the glass case, seeking his blessings. The saint is said to have had miraculous powers of healing, so many believers who wanted relief from suffering took wax models of the part of their body that was diseased or in pain. They offered it to the saint, then lit a candle. The sacrament was given to devotees from all faiths. The last exposition was held in 1994. Since the condition of the body had deteriorated visibly, it was decided by the church not to display the body any more.
There are many stalls selling trinkets and souvenirs in the fair that is held on the occasion. A wide variety of food and drinks are available. It is a pilgrimage which turns into a picnic for quite a few families, as they shop in the little lanes decorated with streamers. The atmosphere is happy and festive.