As for Emanuel Gonçalez Figheredo, both his legs, for a long time, had been covered with ulcers, and were become so rotten, that worms were continually crawling out of them. The physicians, to divert the humours, put in practice all the secrets of their art, but without effect; on the contrary, the sinews were so shrunk up on one side, that one leg was shorter than the other. And for the last addition of misfortunes, Figheredo was seized with so terrible a lask, that, in a man of threescore years old, as he was, it was judged mortal. In effect, it had been so, but that he had immediate recourse to the medal of Xavier; he drank of the water wherein it had been dipped, after which he was entirely cured both of his ulcers and his disentery.
But that which was daily seen at Goa, blotted out the memory of the greatest prodigies which were done elsewhere. The body of the saint perpetually entire, the flesh tender, and of a lively colour, was a continued miracle. They who beheld the sacred corpse, could scarcely believe that the soul was separated from it; and Dias Carvaglio, who had known Xavier particularly in his life, seeing his body many years after he had been dead, found the features of his face so lively, and every part of him so fresh, that he could not forbear to cry out, and repeat it often, "Ah, he is alive!"
The vicar-general of Goa, Ambrosia Ribera, would himself examine, if the inwards were corresponding to the outward appearances. Having thrust his finger into the hurt which they gave the saint, when they interred him at Malacca, he saw blood and water issue out of it. The same experiment happened at another time to a brother of the Society.
The saint was one day publicly exposed, with his feet bare, at the importunity of the people, who through devotion petitioned to kiss them. A woman, who passionately desired to have a relick of Xavier, drawing near, as if it were to have kissed his foot, fastened her teeth in it, and bit off a little piece of flesh. The blood immediately ran in great abundance out of it; and of so pure a crimson, that the most healthful bodies could not send out a more living colour. The physicians, who visited the corpse from time to time, and who always deposed, that there could be nothing of natural in what they saw, judged, that the blood which came from a body deprived of heat, and issued from a part so distant from the heart as is the foot, could be no other than the effect of a celestial virtue; which not only preserved all parts of it from putrefaction, but also caused the humours to flow, and maintained them in the motion which only life infuses in them.
So many wonders, which spread through all the East, and were transmitted into every part of Europe, so moved the heart of Paul V. that he finally performed what his predecessor had designed. After a juridical examen of the virtues and miracles above-mentioned, he declared beatified Francis Xavier, priest of the Society of Jesus, by an express bull, dated the 25th of October, in the year 1619.
Gregory XV., who immediately succeeded Pope Paul V., canonized him afterwards in all the forms, and with all the procedures, which the church observes on the like occasions. The ceremony was performed at Rome on the 12th of March, in the year 1622. But as death prevented him from making the bull of the canonization, it was his successor Urban VIII. who finally accomplished it.
This bull bearing date the 6th of August, in the year 1623, is an epitome and panegyric of the miraculous life of the saint. It is there said, "That the new apostle of the Indies has spiritually received the blessing which God vouchsafed to the patriarch Abraham, that he was the father of many nations; and that he saw his children in Jesus Christ multiplied beyond the stars of heaven, and the sands of the sea: That, for the rest, his apostleship has had the signs of a divine vocation, such as are the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of miracles, with the evangelical virtues in all perfection."
The bull reports almost all the miracles which we have seen in his life, particularly the resurrections of the dead; and, amongst other miraculous cures, which were wrought after his decease, it observes those of Gonsalvo Fernandez, Mary Bias, and Emanuel Rodriguez Figheredo. It also mentions two famous cures, of which we have said nothing. One is of a blind man, who having prayed to God nine days successively, by the order of Xavier, who appeared to him, instantly recovered his sight. The other was of a leper, who being anointed, and rubbed over, with the oil of a lamp, which burned before the image of Xavier, was entirely cured. The Pope has added in his bull, "That the lamps which hung before the image, which was venerated at Cotata, often burned with holy-water, as if they had been full of oil, to the great astonishment of the heathens." The other miracles which we have related, and which are omitted in the bull, are contained in the acts of the process of the canonization.
Since the time that the Holy See has placed the apostle of the Indies in the number of the saints, it is incredible how much the public devotion has every where been augmented towards him. Cities have taken him for their patron and protector; altars have been erected, and incessant vows have been made to him; men have visited his tomb with more devotion than ever; and the chamber wherein he was born, has been converted into a chapel, to which pilgrims have resorted in great crowds, from all the quarters of the world.
For the rest, it was not in vain that they invoked him; and if I should take upon me to relate the miracles which have been lately done through his intercession, they would take up another volume as large as this. Neither shall I go about to make a recital of what things were wrought in succeeding years at Potamo, and Naples; but shall content myself to say, that in those places God was pleased to honour his servant by the performance of such wonders as might seem incredible, if those which preceded had not accustomed us to believe all things of St Xavier.