John Dryden - The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 16

His words made a wonderful impression on the souls and hearts of those barbarians: some of them made him presents of their wild fruits, in token of their good will; others offered him their children to be baptised; all promised him to receive baptism themselves, and to lead the life of true Christians, on condition he would remain with them. But when they beheld the Portuguese galleon ready to depart, they ran in crowds to the water-side, and besought the holy man, with tears in their eyes, not to forsake them.

So moving a spectacle wrought compassion in Xavier; he was earnest with the viceroy for leave to stay upon the isle, at least till the arrival of the vessels, which he had left at Mozambique, But he could obtain no part of his request: and Sosa told him, that heaven having designed him for the Indies, it was to be wanting to his vocation if he endeavoured this exchange, and stopped in the beginning of his race; that his zeal would find a more ample field, wherein to exercise itself, than in Socotora, and people of better inclination than those islanders, naturally inconstant, and as ready to forsake the faith, as they were easy to receive it.

Xavier submitted to these reasons of the viceroy, which on this occasion seemed to interpret to him the good pleasure of Almighty God. Instantly they hoisted sail; but the saint was pierced with sorrow to behold those poor creatures, who followed him with their eyes, and held up their hands from afar to him; while the vessel was removing into the deep, he turned his head towards them, breathing out profound sighs, and looking mournfully upon them. But that he might leave nothing upon his conscience to upbraid him concerning the Socotorins, he engaged himself solemnly before Almighty God to return to them, so soon as possibly he could; or in case he could not, to procure for them some preachers of the gospel, to instruct them in the way of their salvation.

This last part of his navigation was not long. After having crossed the sea of Arabia, and part of that which belongs to India, the fleet arrived at the port of Goa, on the 6th of May, in the year 1542, being the thirteenth month since their setting out from the port of Lisbon.

The town of Goa is situated on this side of the Ganges, in an island bearing the same name. It is the capital city of the Indies, the seat of the bishop and the viceroy, and the most considerable place of all the East for traffic. It had been built by the Moors forty years before the Europeans had passed into the Indies; and in the year 1510, Don Alphonso de Albuquerque, surnamed the Great, took it from the infidels, and subjected it to the crown of Portugal.

At that time was verified the famous prophecy of St Thomas the apostle, that the Christian faith, which he had planted in divers kingdoms of the East, should one day flourish there again; which very prediction he left graven on a pillar of living stone, for the memory of future ages. The pillar was not far distant from the walls of Meliapore, the metropolis of the kingdom of Coromandel; and it was to be read in the characters of the country, that when the sea, which was forty miles distant from the pillar, should come up to the foot of it, there should arrive in the Indies white men and foreigners, who should there restore the true religion.

The infidels had laughed at this prediction for a long time, not believing that it would ever be accomplished, and indeed looking on it as a kind of impossibility that it should; yet it was accomplished, and that so justly, that when Don Vasco de Gama set foot on the Indies, the sea, which sometimes usurps upon the continent, and gains by little and little on the dry land, was by that time risen to the pillar, so as to bathe its lower parts.

Yet it may be truly said, that the prophecy of St Thomas had not its full effect, till after the coming of Father Xavier; according to another prediction of that holy man Peter de Couillan, a religious of the Trinity, who, going to the Indies with Vasco de Gama, in quality of his ghostly father, was martyred by the Indians on the seventh of July 1497, forty-three years before the beginning of the Society of Jesus, who being pierced through with arrows, while he was shedding his blood for Christ, distinctly pronounced these following words: "In few years there shall be born in the church of God, a new religious order of clergymen, which shall bear the name of Jesus: and one of its first fathers, conducted by the Spirit of God, shall pass into the most remote countries of the East Indies, the greatest part of which shall embrace the orthodox faith, through the ministry of this evangelical preacher."

This is related by Juan de Figueras Carpi, in his history of the order of the redemption of captives, from the manuscripts of the Trinity Convent in Lisbon, and the memoirs of the king of Portugal's library.

After Xavier was landed, he went immediately to the hospital, and there took his lodging, notwithstanding the instances of the viceroy, who was desirous to have had him in his palace. But he would not begin his missionary function, till he had paid his respects to the Bishop of Goa; whose name was Juan d'Albuquerque, of the order of St Francis, a most excellent person, and one of the most virtuous prelates which the church has ever had.

The father having informed him of the reasons for which his Holiness and the king of Portugal had sent him to the Indies, presented to him the briefs of Pope Paul III., at the same time declaring to him, that he pretended not to use them without his approbation and good-liking: after this, he cast himself at his feet, and desired his blessing.

The prelate, edified with the modesty of the father, and struck with that venerable air of sanctity which appeared in his countenance, took him up immediately, and embraced him with great tenderness. Having often kissed the briefs, he restored them to the father, with these words: "An apostolical legate, sent from the vicar of Jesus Christ, has no need of receiving his mission from any other hand; use freely that power, which the holy seat has conferred upon you; and rest assured, that if the Episcopal authority be needful to maintain, it shall never be wanting to you."

From that moment they contracted a most sacred friendship, whose union was so strict, that ever after they seemed to have but one heart and one soul: insomuch that Father Xavier undertook not any thing without consulting the bishop first; and the bishop, on his side, imparted all his designs to Father Xavier: and it is almost incredible, how much this holy correspondence contributed to the salvation of souls, and exaltation of the faith.

Before we pass farther, it is of consequence to know the estate of religion at that time in the Indies. It is true, that, according to the prophecy of St. Thomas, they who discovered the East Indies, had new planted Christianity in some parts of them, where all was in a manner quite forgotten. But ambition and avarice, in short time after, cooled the zeal of these new conquerors; instead of extending the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and of gaining souls to him, they thought of nothing more than of enlarging their dominion, and enriching themselves. It happened also, that many Indians newly converted to the faith, being neither cultivated by wholesome instructions, nor edified by good examples, forgot insensibly their baptism, and returned to their ancient superstitions.

And if any amongst them kept constant to his Christianity, and declared himself a believer, the Mahometans, who were uppermost in many places along the coast, and very wealthy, persecuted him with great cruelty, without any opposition on the part of the Portuguese governor or magistrates. Whether the power of Portugal were not yet sufficiently established, or that interest was predominant over justice and religion, this cruel usage deterred the new Christians fom professing Jesus Christ, and was the reason, that, amongst the infidels, all thoughts of conversion were laid aside.