HOW ST FRANCIS XAVIER HATED EVIL These children, I trust heartily, by the grace of God, will be much better than their fathers. They show an ardent love for the Divine law, and an extraordinary zeal for learning our holy religion and imparting it to others. Their hatred for idolatry is marvelous. They get into feuds with the heathen about it, and whenever their own parents practice it, they reproach them and come off to tell me at once. Whenever I hear of any act of idolatrous worship, I go to the place with a large band of these children, who very soon load the devil with a greater amount of insult and abuse than he has lately received of honor and worship from their parents, relations, and acquaintances. The children run at the idols, upset them, dash them down, break them to pieces, spit on them, trample on them, kick them about, and in short heap on them every possible outrage - St. Francis Xavier, Letter of 1543, fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1543xavier1.html When I have finished baptizing the people, I order them to destroy the huts in which they keep their idols; and I have them break the statues of their idols into tiny pieces, since they are now Christians. I could never come to an end describing to you the great consolation which fills my soul when I see idols being destroyed by the hands of those who had been idolaters - St. Francis Xavier Following the Baptisms, the new Christians return to their homes and come back with their wives and families to be in their turn also prepared for Baptism. After all have been baptized, I order that everywhere the temples of the false Gods be pulled down and idols broken. I know not how to describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down and destroying the idols by the very people who formerly worshiped them - St. Francis Xavier I order everywhere the temples pulled down and all idols broken. I know not how to describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down and destroying the idols - St. Francis Xavier When the boys informed him that some had made an idol, he went with them and had it broken into a thousand pieces. If in spite of all his advice someone persisted in making idols, he would have them punished by the Patingatis (Parava headsman) by exile.... One day when he heard that idols had been worshiped in the house of a Christian, he ordered the hut to be burnt down as a warning to others (Silva Rego Vol. I page 158) On May 16, 1545, Xavier requested the King of Portugal to establish the Inquisition in Goa: The second necessity for the Christians is that Your Majesty establish the Holy Inquisition in Goa because there are many who live according to the Jewish Law and according to the Mohammedan Sect, without any fear of God or shame of the World. And since there are many Hindus who are spread all over the fortresses, there is the need of the Holy Inquisition, and of many preachers. Your Majesty should provide such necessary things for your loyal and faithful subjects in the Indies.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 12:20:09 +0000
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