"Saint" Francis Xavier: Celebrating the Man Who Brought the Horrors of Inquisition to the Shores of India

 

 

 

Francis Xavier is highly venerated saint especially among Christians but also amongst followers of other religions. He was born on 7th April 1506 in an influential noble family from erstwhile kingdom of Navarre (present day part of Spain). Despite of being from a noble family he had a turbulent childhood because of political upheavals in his native region of Basque. He lost both his parents and several of his brothers to the political instability that ensued after the invasion of kingdom of Navarre.

 

 

 

 

In 1525, Francis went to Paris to pursue education where he also later taught Aristotelian philosophy. It was here, during his stay in Paris as a student, that he would connect with various future theologians and biblical scholars such as Ignatius of Loyola, Pierre Fabre, Alfonso Salmeron and others. It was these ‘biblical intellectuals’, lead by Ignatius of Loyola that founded the Society of Jesus in 1539-40. Its members commonly came to be known as the ‘Jesuits’. They adopted the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience to pope. They were now determined to go to holy lands and to go around the world to convert ‘infidels’.

 

 

 

 

 

The Island of Goapuri (most of present day Tiswadi) along the banks of Mandovi river was part of Portuguese empire since its crafty capture by Alfonso de Albequerque, on the pretext of liberating the goans from tyranny of Adilshahi. He was sent to India on an expedition twice in 1503 and 1506, by King Manuel ‘The Fortunate’ of Portugal. In 1510, they expanded their control over the islands of Divar and Chorão. Furthermore, Ibrahim Adilshah later gifted regions of Bardez (बारा देश) and Salcete (सासष्टी) to the Portuguese in 1543. During this time, besides Goa, the Portuguese also had control of port cities of Calicut and Cochin through military intervention.

 

Despite the battles, the life of natives largely remained stable and they could go about their business as usual. Missionary work by the Dominican Order remained mostly minimal and subtle. Due to this somewhat liberal environment many persecuted people from Aldilshahi territory would seek refuge in Portuguese Goa. Also, Portuguese subjects from Portugal and its other colonies looking to escape from Portuguese inquisition came to take refuge in Goa. This made early Goa a lucrative place for skilled artisans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the territories held by the Portuguese, majority of the subjects were Hindus. Although, there was a substantial population of Jews and Muslims too, mostly close to larger towns and fortresses. Thus in 1540, King João III ‘The Pious’ requested Jesuit missionaries to ‘spread the faith’ in the new Portuguese territories including Goa. As several Portuguese settlers were stationed in Goa, they would more than often develop various socio-economic relations with native people. The King felt that there was ‘erosion of Christian values’ among these Portuguese settlers as they engaged in local practices and traditions, and even changed faith in some cases. Francis Xavier was asked to visit India for this purpose, as a replacement to Nicholas Bobadilla, who fell ill at the last moment. Thus, by chance Xavier began missionary work with his first assignment in India.

 

Xavier arrived in Goa in 1542 and for a few initial months engaged in preaching the Portuguese settlers and their children. He noted that many Portuguese settlers had indeed married natives and would openly participate in local non-Christian customs which the church considered heretic. He also observed many people in Portuguese Goa, including natives, adhering to various faiths such as Judaism, Islam and Hinduism etc. He was ‘deeply pained’ by their shamelessness and lack of the fear of god. In the words of another clergyman, India requires ‘cleansing of so much corruption and wickedness’. It also came to Xavier’s attention that the converted natives would relapse back into their ‘heathen’ ways. He was the foremost of the ones to request King João to instigate a ‘Holy Inquisition’ to establish Christian values in the colony. Even so, inquisition wasn’t introduced by King João despite repeated requests from Xavier and other Jesuits.

 

Briefly, an inquisition is the setting up of a Christian religious judiciary to penalise and punish practicing of any pagan or non-Christian customs and traditions i.e. heresy against Christianity. Much before Goa, courts of inquisition had been set up in Spain and Portugal to deal with relapsing Jewish converts.

 

 

 

 

It was only after the death of João III in 1557 that the requests for inquisition in Goa were considered. João III was succeded by Dom Sebastião ‘The Desired’, who was only three years old when he ascended the throne. Thus, regency was eminent and this duty was discharged by his paternal grandmother (wife of João III). Under heavy influence of Cardinal Henrique, Queen Regent Catarina set up Goa inquisition in 1560 and inquisitor Aleixo Dias Falcfio was dispatched to Goa. The inquisitor was recommended by King, appointed by the Pope in Vatican and was answerable only to the King.

 

 

 

 

The primary motive of Inquisition was to completely Christianize all population of Portuguese held territory in order to ‘civilize heathens’. Although the jurisdiction was applicable only to converts, anyone who obstructed the Christianization process in any way was deemed a heretic and thereby tried in the court of inquisition. Technically, a non-Christian could not be killed by the order of court but can only be arrested, tortured and exiled as a slave to other Portuguese colony, but the implementers devised creative ways of going around this technicality.

 

In ‘The edict of Goa Inquisition’ published by the court of inquisition, 56 offences were described that would make one liable to trial.

 

 

 

 

This basically meant that practicing any religion other than Christianity and specifically Hinduism was a impractical.

 

A Portuguese traveller, Tomé Pires who stayed in Goa from 1511-1540, before forced conversions and cruel pressures were a norm, made remarks about natives such as; many heathens were extremely ‘faithful to their religion’ and that they would ‘prefer exile to conversion’. To break this deadlock and convert natives to Christianity, the Portuguese resorted to two kinds of measures;

 

Make it difficult for natives to continue to retain their religion. (Eg. Destruction of temples and replacement with churches, prohibition of Hindu rites and customs (marriage, cremation etc), eviction of priests (गुरव) and healers (वैद्य), abduction of children for baptism, forceful confiscation of land and means of subsistence, denial of ancestral rights, confiscation and destruction of deity idols, forced feeding of Christian doctrine, murder of revolting chieftains etc.

 

Provide positive incentives for conversion to Christianity (eg. Monopoly in public posts, discrimination in favour, assignment of rights and privileges in village, rewarding of confiscated property, reward for reporting of heresy

 

On account of such policies several non-Christians had to hastily relocate outside Portuguese territory and that is the reason why several displaced Hindus have preserved the name of the originating village in their surnames (eg. Usgao, Pirol, Piligao, Shiroda, Mangueshi, Tendul, Corgao, Verne etc). Many of natives were tricked into Christianity by means of contamination of common water sources with cow meat, pig meat, bread etc. Even after having extended families to take care, a boy would be labelled as an orphan and sent to missionary schools for indoctrination after the death of father.

 

 

 

 

 

It was even before the inquisition that measures to curb supposed heathenism began. In 1546, Kings Directive called for abolition of vestiges of idolatry. After the Goan inquisition was well established, in 1566, a major drive for destruction of temples was undertaken. As per records about 280 temples were destroyed, lands confiscated and replaced by churches. Thus the Mangueshi ganapati temple met the same fate as the Norse temple in Gamla Uppsala during proselytisation of Northern Europe in late 11th Century. Thus, wherever possible the natives moved the original idol (विग्रह) away before the temple could be destroyed and a new temple was constructed outside the boundaries of Portuguese influence. The only temple in the whole of Goa to have survived the vagaries of inquisition is that of Tambdi Surla, which was well hidden at the foothills of Western Ghats.

 

The court of inquisition designed horrendously imaginative ways to torture designated heretics in order to extract confessions out of them. As per records, there were two kinds of tortures that accused heretics were subjected to; torture of polé (for stronger convicts) and torture of potro (for weaker convicts). In the torture of pole (pulley) a victim would be suspended with weights on the feet and the weights would be progressively increased until confession. Meanwhile torture of potro (trestle) was much more complicated where victim was placed on a kind of slanted trestle; head was placed lower than the body with iron band around the throat while tight chords would cut deep into flesh. Mouth of the victim was kept open using iron prongs and water was poured into nose and mouth to strangle and suffocate the victim repeatedly until the victim confessed.

 

Beside these various unofficial methods too were used like administering burns on the body, beating up, sexual abuse etc by members of the court that included clergymen. The accused victims were confined in a place called Santa Casa (Holy House) which acted as the headquarters of the court of inquisition. It was the repurposed palace of Adilshah and was located where today there is a ground between Bom Jesus Basilica and St. Catherine church. Natives referred to this place as the Big House (व्हडलें घर). Finally, the convicted victims irrespective of confession were burnt alive at stakes at public events called Auto da fé (Act of faith).

 

 

 

 

The horrors of the inquisition were so notorious that even devout Christians escaped to nearby regions to save themselves from the possibility of persecution. Talent had flown out of the colony owing to persecution and this had massively affected the once booming Goan economy. It took about 252 years before the inquisition was finally abolished in 1812 under the economic pressures as well criticism. The inquisition was briefly suspended between 1774 and 1779. Over the span of its existence many clergymen who observed the phenomenon strongly criticised the inquisition. Much of the official records of this holy pogrom were sent to Portugal where they were either eliminated to hidden away.

 

 

 

 

The Goan Inquisition was a hugely fraudulent and corrupt enterprise. Wherein converts would unduly accuse neighbours or relatives, with whom they had disputes, of heresy. The clergy men would sexually abuse victims and burn them at stakes to conceal wrongdoings. Even bones of dead new Christians who had grown rich were tried in the court in order to devour their lands and property. The act of concealing the inquisition by classifying and burning the documents too reeks of ungracious deception.

 

 

 

 

 

Francis Xavier was beatified in 1619 and later canonized as saint in 1622 on account of his ‘great service’ to god and Christianity. His preserved remains have been displayed in a silver casket in Bom Jesus Basilica in old Goa. Many people from all faiths all over the world visit the catholic Basilica to pay their respects to this supposedly great saint. It is puzzling to say the least that the man who was the prime reason for perpetuation of so much evil and disservice to humanity is remembered with such reverence by Christians and many Hindus alike.

 

 

 

 

 

Brodrick, James (1952). Saint Francis Xavier (1506–1552). London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. p. 558.

De Rosa, Giuseppe (2006). Gesuiti (in Italian). Elledici. p. 148.

de Mendonça, D. (2002). Conversions and Citizenry: Goa Under Portugal, 1510–1610. Concept Publishing Company.

Priolkar, A.K. (1998). The Goan Inquisition: The Terrible tribunal for The East. Voice of India

 

 

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