The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-11-11

Cape of Good Hope and discovered a
passage by sea to the Eastern world.
The are of navigation was still com
pafatively in its infancy. and the pecu-
liarities Of the Southern Seas were to a
great extent unknown. Add to this the
inexperience of. sailors and the clumsy
character of the mercantile marine of
Portugal, and you will not find it diff
cult to understand that our Saints
voyage TO India must have been both
dangerous and disa greeable. He took
no servant with him. He refused to
enter the state cabin that had been
prepared FOR his use.
He slept but three hours OF the night,
generally on deck, often on the ropes,
with the anchor for his pillow, and his
constant employment while on board
was praying or preaching or attending
the sick. 1t was during this voyage
that he received the title of father, a
title since then pretty generally applied
to priests, and always to the professed
members of the Society of Jesus. He
reached Mozambique, on the east coast
of Africa, some time in the month of
August, and having wintered there
and labored at the hospitals and else
where, as was his custom, with inered-
ible success, he sailed thence, in the
spring of 1912, across the Arabian Sea,
and having touched on Socotra. the
island home OF the ancient Amazons,
he arrived safely in Goa on the 9Th of
May.
Goa wcs the Portuguese capital of
India, and St. Francis may be said to
have commenced his mission there. He
went through the streets every day
ringing a little bell and affectionately
calling on all, especially the children
to come and hear him. They came.
The church was constantly crowded,
and within the space of six weeks he
had sanctifed that place. l shall not
attempt to follow the great Apostle Of
the Indies through the different con-
secutive stages Of his missionary
career. Suffice it to say that from Goa
he steered six hundred miles and more
to the south, penetrated somewhat into
Central India, and evangelical during
two successive years the entire mari
time population that dwelt between
Cape Comoria and the present city Of
Madras. Thence he returned to Ceylon,
crossed the Bay of Bengal to Malacca
and the Spice Islands. and then, turn
ing to the north. traversed a great part
of the Pacific Ocean and entered the
hitherto uneXplored regions that form
the Empire Of Japan. He preached and
prayed. and baptized, and wrought
miracles everywhere as he went along.
Heaven favored him with the gift of
tongues. He raised the dead to life.
and planted the cross of Christ in fifty
two different kingdoms; baptized with
his own hand one million of human be-
ings; Travelled over eighty thousand
miles during the ten years of his mis-
sionary life; and revived in an age of
Indifference and incredulity, the zeal
and marvels of the first ages Of the
faith. And yet he died young. at the
age Of fortv-six.
SCENE OF THE SAINTS DEATH. /
Away out in the Chinese Sea there is !
a small island called Sancian, one of a
group Of three, and right opposite the
present port of Canton. Bleak, and
bare. and desolate. it served in those ,
days as a sort of commercial resting
place or neutral ground, on which Eu-
ropean merchants might meet and
trade with the inhabitants Of the Celes-
tial Empire. Xavier landed there from
Goa towards the middle of November
1852, and hoped ere long TO preach the
Gospel and thus realize the chief ambi-
ton Of his later years. The ship on
which he had Travelled had already de-
parted on its return voyage to India. /
he was thus left alone. His active /
mind was agitated, no doubt, with a !
thousand exciting projects. Long travel |
and fatigue had done their work on his |
enfee13ed frame. a poor Portuguese |
peasant took compassion on his loneli-
ness. and gave him all the shelter his |
cabin could afford. But his malady |
increased. Remedies We're found I'M I
awaiting, or unskillfully applied. His |
last hour had evidently come. That |
teeming and anxious head would soon
cease. to think, that ferVent heart to |
throb. No companion Of his early days, /
no member OF the society was near to
whom he could confide his dying /
thoughts. There was no priest to give
him the last rites of the Church, or to /
commit his body to a Christian grave.
His mind was wandering rapturously
over the many missions he had found
ed. He addressed imaginary congrega-
tons, sang hymns to the Great Spirit
whose kingdom he was about tc enter
paused. and prayed, and wept
by turns; and so, his holy habit F
wrapped around his. his beads about
his neck, his eyes fixed in lustrous
beauty on the cruciftx which he loving
ly held in his hands the sainted Fran
els died on Friday, December ,, 1902,
repeating the words Of the Psalmist
In thee, o Lord. have hoped; ! shall !
not be COMPOUNDED for ever"