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

by John Dryden

In the mean time, the memory of Xavier was venerated more than ever through all Asia. An ambassador from the great Mogul being come to Goa, to desire some Fathers of the Society might be sent to explain the mysteries of Christianity to that emperor, asked permission to see the body of Father Francis; but he durst not approach it till first himself and all his train had taken off their shoes; after which ceremony, all of them having many times bowed themselves to the very ground, paid their respects to the saint with as much devotion as if they had not been Mahometans. The ships which passed in sight of Sancian saluted the place of his death with all their cannon: sometimes they landed on the island, only to view the spot of earth where he had been buried for two months and a half, and to bear away a turf of that holy ground; insomuch, that the Chinese entering into a belief, that there was some hidden treasure in the place, set guards of soldiers round about it to hinder it from being taken thence. One of the new Indian converts, and of the most devoted to the man of God, not content with seeing the place of his death, had also the curiosity to view that of his nativity; insomuch, that travelling through a vast extent of land, and passing through immense oceans, he arrived at the castle of Xavier: entering into the chamber where the saint was born, he fell upon his knees, and with great devotion kissed the floor, which he watered also with his tears. After this, without farther thought, or desire of seeing any thing besides in Europe, he took his way backwards to the Indies; and counted for a mighty treasure a little piece of stone, which he had loosened from the walls of the chamber, and carried away with him in the nature of a relick.

For what remains, a series of miracles was blazed abroad in all places. Five or six passengers, who had set sail from Malacca towards China, in the ship of Benedict Coeglio, fell sick, even to the point of death. So soon as they were set on shore at Sancian, they caused themselves to be carried to the meadow, where Xavier had been first interred; and there having covered their heads with that earth which once had touched his holy body, they were perfectly cured upon the spot.

Xavier appeared to divers people on the coast of Travancore, and that of Fishery; sometimes to heal them, or to comfort them in the agonies of death; at other times to deliver the prisoners, and to reduce sinners into the ways of heaven.

His name was propitious on the seas, in the most evident dangers. The ship of Emanuel de Sylva, going from Cochin, and having taken the way of Bengal, in the midst of the gulph there arose so furious a tempest, that they were constrained to cut the mast, and throw all the merchandizes overboard; when nothing less than shipwreck was expected, they all implored the aid of the apostle of the Indies, Francis Xavier. At the same instant, a wave, which was rolling on, and ready to break over the ship, like some vast mountain, went backward on the sudden, and dissipated into foam. The seamen and passengers, at the sight of so manifest a miracle, invoked the saint with loud voices, still as the tempest grew upon them; and the billows failed not of retiring always at the name of Xavier; but whenever they ceased from calling on him, the waves outrageously swelled, and beat the ship on every side.

It may almost be said, that the saint in person wrought these miracles; but it is inconceivable, how many were performed by the subscriptions of his letters, by the beads of his chaplet, by the pieces of his garments, and, finally, by every thing which had once been any way appertaining to him.

The crosses which he had erected with his own hand on sundry coasts, to be seen from far by mariners and travellers, were loaded with the vows and gifts, which Christians, Saracens, and Idolaters, had fastened to them daily, in acknowledgment of favours which they had received, through the intercession of the holy man. But the most celebrated of those crosses, was that at Cotata, whereon an image of Xavier was placed. A blind man received sight, by embracing of that cross; two sick men were cured on the instant, one of which, who was aged, had a settled palsy, and the other was dying of a bloody flux. Copies were made of that miraculous image at Cotata; and Gasper Gonçalez brought one of them to Cochin. It was eleven of the clock at night when he entered into the port: an hour afterwards, the house of Christopher Miranda, adjoining to that of Gonçalez, happened to be on fire. The north-wind then blowing, and the building being almost all of wood, the burning began with mighty rage, and immediately a maid belonging to the house was burned. The neighbours, awakened with the cries of fire, cast their goods out at the windows in confusion; there being no probability of preserving the houses, because that of Miranda was the highest, and the burning coals which flew out on every side, together with the flames, which were driven by the wind, fell on the tops of the houses, that were only covered with bows of palm-trees, dry, and easy to take fire. In this extremity of danger, Gonçalez bethought himself of the holy image which he had brought; falling on his knees, accompanied by all his domestic servants, he held it upwards to the flames, and invoked Father Francis to his assistance. At the same instant the fire was extinguished of itself; and the town in this manner preserved from desolation, when it was ready to be burned to ashes.

A medal, which had on one side the image of the saint, and on the other that of the Holy Virgin holding the little Jesus, wrought yet more admirable effects. It was in the possession of a virtuous widow of Cochin, born at Tamuzay in China, and named Lucy de Vellanzan, who had formerly been instructed at Malacca in the mysteries of faith by Xavier himself; and who was aged an hundred and twenty years, when she was juridically interrogated, concerning the miracles which had been wrought by her medal. All infirm persons, who came to Lucy, received their cure so soon as she had made the sign of the cross with her medal over them; or when she had sprinkled them with water, wherein the medal had been dipt; in saying only these words, "In the name of Jesus, and of Father Francis, be your health restored."

"I have seen many," says an eye-witness, "who have been cured on the instant, by being only touched with that medal: Some, who being only putrified, ejected through the nose corrupted flesh, and matter of a most offensive scent; others, who were reduced to the meagerness of skeletons, by consumptions of many years; but the most celebrated cures, were those of Gonsalvo Rodriguez, Mary Dias, and Emanuel Fernandez Figheredo."

Rodriguez had a great imposthume on the left side, very near the heart, which had been breeding many months. The chirurgeons, for fear of exasperating the malady, by making an incision in so dangerous a part, endeavoured to dry up the humour, by applying other remedies; but the imposthume degenerated into a cancer, which gave the patient intolerable pains, and made him heart and stomach sick. Rodriguez having notice given him, what wonders were wrought by the Chinese Christian, by means of the medal of Father Xavier, went immediately to her, and kneeled before her. The Chinese only touched him thrice, and made the sign of the cross over him, according to her custom, and at the same moment the cancer vanished; the flesh returned to its natural colour, on the part where the ulcer had been formerly, and Rodriguez found himself as well as if nothing had ever ailed him.

Mary Dias was not only blind, but taken with the palsy over half her body, on the right side of it; so that her arm hung dead from her shoulder, and she had only the use of one leg: despairing of all natural remedies, she caused herself to be conveyed to Lucy's lodgings. The hospitable widow kept her in her house for the space of seven days; and washed her every of those days with the water wherein the medal had been dipt. On the seventh day, she made the sign of the cross over the eyes of the patient with the medal itself, and then Dias recovered her sight; her palsy, in like manner, left her, so that she was able to walk alone to the church of the Society, where she left her crutches.