La Pesquera was along the scorched sands of the coast, some 50 miles from the vicinity of Cape Comorn, located in the extreme south of India. Innumerable streams reached the sea with difficulty, through the sand, forming oases of date palms. The fish, the rice and the dates and the liquid from the coconuts was the scarce food of those poor people. They could not eat the meat of cows, because they were gods, and that would be a great sin. They live in huts made of mud and palm leaves. They were athletic and slender, with almost European features. They said that when one dies his soul passes to a dog, a snake, etc… depending on whether his actions were good or bad.
The saint, soaked to the skin, walked through marshy sands from village to village. In summer the sand scorched his feet. When the strong wind blew from the mountains, clouds of dust were blown into his mouth and nose. He walked with burned feet and swollen legs. “Only by God – says the saint – can such work be tolerated… I would not carry them for a single day throughout the world”. But, on the other hand, he says that there are so many consolations that God our Lord communicates to those who walk among these Gentiles “that they are the greatest that can be had in this life.”
In that region there were many poisonous snakes, tigers, crocodiles, etc. But Christ had said to his apostles: “In my name they will cast out demons, they will speak new tongues, they will pick up serpents, and if they drink deadly poison it will not harm them” (Mk 28:17).
The pearls of the Fishery
The little oysters float in the sea like pieces of jelly. When covered with shell they sink and stick to the bottom. There they open their valves so that food can enter them. Sometimes they get a grain of sand, a fish egg, etc. that stays between the body and the shell. As it bothers him, -the animal tries to throw it away. If he can’t, he wraps it in layers of fine mother-of-pearl. That is the pearl. Oysters form numerous banks on the bottom, ten or more meters deep, in warm seas.
Before, pearl fishing was very dangerous. The fishermen had their ears covered with wax and their noses covered with bone pliers. The eardrums were perforated by the pressure of the water. Descend with your feet resting on a large stone, tied to a rope. Around their necks they carried a little palm fiber basket to put the oysters. They did not forget a knife between their teeth to defend themselves against possible sharks. They took the oysters to the boats. There they were opened and left on the sand, where the tropical sun would soon rot them. Then they took out and cleaned the pearls.
The poor fishermen dived about forty times a day, and were under the water for two or three minutes. They came up panting, sometimes bleeding from their noses and ears. Or they dropped dead, in horrible spasms. So their carcasses were shark feed. In the month of March, some 400 boats went to the oyster banks, with some seven thousand fishermen. The pearls went to the Tuticorn market, and up to a hundred thousand merchants congregated there.
The fishermen had to pay a tribute to the king of Portugal. But the subordinates overwhelmed them with more taxes. The saint was indignant, but he could not help it.
The fishermen knew nothing about religion
They only knew how to say that they were Christians. They did not know who God was, nor Jesus Christ. They did not know the creed or the commandments. They worshiped the idols, which they found on the side of the roads, in the forests or in the temples. They were clay statues, painted white and garish red, smeared with foul-smelling coconut oil. They represented horses, monkeys, paunchy elephants and other animals. In their illnesses go to the sorcerers. Live terrified by fear of spirits and demons. The Malavares, exasperated against the Mohammedans who tyrannized them, had killed many of them. They were afraid of reprisals; For this reason, they decided long ago to become Christians so that the Portuguese would defend them. In return they gave tribute of pearls to the queen of Portugal.
The Saint attracted the children
They never left him and asked him to teach them the religion. They interrupted her when she was praying, and they didn’t let her eat or sleep. She walks with them along the coast ringing the bell. She preached with her strong voice, and baptized. She told the boys to teach their parents what they had learned. The boys went everywhere snatching idols, which they threw at Javier’s feet. They cut them into small pieces, spit them out and other things… ; they trampled on them.
On Sundays gather people with the bell. He recited the creed, and the Saint asked them if they believed in God the Father, in Jesus Christ, and then he explained the commandments and prayers.
Since there were so many he was baptizing, his throat was dry, and he could not move his arm from making the sign of the cross so much. (If only there were more missionaries to help him! …) They called him from everywhere so that he would go see the sick. Since he could not go to so many places, he would send the children with their crucifix or rosary. “Go through the houses,” he told them, “let them say the prayers and they will heal.” He did many miracles through the boys.
more miracles
Javier arrived at a pagan village. “Why aren’t you Christians?” he told them. – “Because the king forbids us.”
There was a woman in the village who was soon to die. Javier, with one of the young men he brought from Goa, goes to his hut. The young man explains the religion. Then he asks:
– “Do you want to be a Christian?”
– “Yes”, she replies. The Saint baptizes her and she is healed instantly. Her whole family is converted.
The gentile king gives permission for as many as they want to become Christians. A child had drowned in a well. The Saint prays for him, makes him. the sign of the cross, and takes him by the hand saying:
– “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to rise up alive.” The boy gets up, and Javier hands him over to his mother.
The enemy “gurus”
“If it weren’t for the Brahmans – says the Saint – all the pagans would convert. Since I came only one Brahman has become a Christian. A good young man, who now teaches the doctrine to children”.
The Brahmins were very proud. They said that they were born from the head of Brahma. The soldiers, from the chest. The fishermen, from the legs. The outcasts, of the feet. They avoided being touched even by the shadow of the outcasts. All men reincarnate, in higher castes, if they have done good deeds. If they have done bad, in lower castes. But the outcasts do not reincarnate: they are condemned forever for their horrendous crimes, committed in previous existences.
Everywhere there were pagodas. People were asked to bring food to the idols. But the “gurus” secretly eat them. One day the Saint came to a pagoda of about two hundred:
– “What do your idols tell you to do to go to glory?”, I asked them. Nobody wanted to answer. At last an old man dared:
– “They send us two things: not to kill cows and give alms to the gurus”.
To those who did not give them, they would send diseases and demons. The Saint explained the creed and the commandments to the gurus. And what was heaven and hell, and who went to one place or the other. They all said that the God of the Christians was the true one, because his commandments were so good.
– “Well, why don’t you become Christians?”, he told them.
– “What would people say? They wouldn’t bring us alms, because they would see that we deceived them.”
the sacred cows
Cows are gods. They would rather die than eat a cow. It will be a horrible sin. Cows eat whatever they want in stores. Passing by one, they touch it reverently, and put their hand to its head; the same thing we do with holy water. Having millions of cows, they are starving.
The Makuas
Some servants of King Iniquitibirn presented themselves to the Portuguese saying that the king was very angry because a Portuguese had taken one of his Indians. He also wanted them to defend him from his enemies.
I am very grateful that they took care of you. And he gave permission to the Makuas, his subjects, to become Christians. Javier, afraid that he would change his mind, ran to the Makuas.
The Makuas were fishermen from the southwestern coast of India, Malabar. They were barbarians and thieves. His country was flat, between the sea and the Ghats mountains. It was a sandy, swampy area full of forests.
Javier repeated his usual methods. The reaction was prodigious. Up to six thousand listeners gathered. The Saint preached from his tree. “In a month – he says himself – he baptized more than ten thousand. Giving each one his name, so that he would not forget it, written on a palm leaf”. The baptized destroy their idols and pagodas.
more miracles
In Mutam a child died. When they took him to be buried, the Saint, feeling sorry for his mother’s tears, ordered him to get up alive. Another day, faced with the reluctance of some to convert, he ordered the tomb of a dead man to be opened… who came out alive. The people converted.
Many Indians are stung by snakes. En Talle uno fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth. The Saint prayed for him, touched the wound with his saliva and the boy came back to life. In Kottar, while she was praying in a hut, her enemies set her on fire. The Christians wept for his great father. But he walked calmly out of the ashes.
I was overwhelmed with work
From Cochin on the Malabar Coast back to Goa from Pesquera (on the eastern side) ask for more
missionaries: “Many times thoughts come to me of going to the studios of those parts, crying out, as a man who has lost his mind, and mainly to the University of Paris, saying in the Sorbonne, to those who have more letters than will to dispose themselves to bear fruit with them, how many souls stop going to glory and go to hell because of their negligence…”
When asking for missionaries for the Indians, he says that “it is enough that they have strength of body and spirit… because for these parts of infidels, letters are not necessary, but rather teach prayers… They must be healthy youths, and not sick or old.” , to be able to carry out the continuous work of baptizing, teaching Then, for Japan, ask for well-trained men.
Ceylon
It is a separate appendix of India. Mild climate, exuberant vegetation. It is called “the pearl of the Pacific”, “Garden Island”, rich in flowers and fruits. Enchanted Island”. A multitude of rivers run from the high center to the coasts, which are generally uniform, with many lagoons on the eastern shores. Many dense forests, especially in the south. They have elephants, reptiles, etc… The inhabitants are Buddhists. In the middle of the jungle there are remains of magnificent buildings. Ceylon produces rice, tea, fruits. But it has to matter…