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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CjRox" data-source="post: 3026038" data-attributes="member: 71790">204A RELIC OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIERP. BRUCEIn a small cool church in Macau, separated by a fewhundred yards of muddy water from China, rests a unique relic ofSt Francis Xavier.*Almost 20 years ago 100,000 people in 15 days filed pastthe small piece of bone housed in an ornate silver monstrancewhen it was taken to America from its usual resting place inMacau. Now the relic is back in a tiny church on ColoaneIsland. Ten years ago the building was in a run-down condition,having been used as a chapel for soldiers from Mozambiqueserving in the Portugese Army. Then Father Mario C.Acquistapace arrived on the scene. A sprightly figure nowprobably in his seventies he had the church restored. Today itsexterior is washed in pale yellow with windows and woodworkpicked out in light blue. He has an outgoing personality thatruns to a hug when he finds a visitor is a Christian.Macau, the first permanent Western settlement on the coastof China, across the silt-laden waters of the Pearl River estuaryfrom Hong Kong despite wars, upheavals and revolutions, remainscuriously Mediterranean. The Portuguese built their first housesthere in 1557 having camped briefly at Liampo and Sanchuang(St John's) Islands.Francisco de Xaxier, called by Pope Urban VIII the"aspostle of the Indies" was born into a noble and wealthy familyand in 1529 he made the acquaintance of St Ignatius Loyola whowas then studying at Paris. Impressed by his teachings, Xavierbecame one of the original seven men to take the first vows of theSociety of Jesus, the Jesuits, in 1534.When John III, King of Portugal, asked the Pope to senda mission to his Indian possessions, two Jesuits were selected, oneof whom was Xavier. He set sail in 1541 and after a voyage ofmore than a year arrived in Goa, India, where he carried outmissionary work. From there he journeyed to Ceylon, or Sri* See plates 12-14.205Lanka, and then to Malacca where he converted a Japaneseresident. The two set out to convert Japan and they landed atKagoshima in 1549. Such was their success that 400,000converts are said to have been made.When he understood that the Japanese had long consideredChina the source of wisdom and knowledge, Xavier made up hismind to bring the Christian message to that vast country. Afterfailing to persuade the Governor General of Goa to send anembassy to China so that he might accompany it and thus evadethe laws against foreigners entering the Imperial Empire, themissionary decided to proceed privately.He joined a group of merchants and in 1552 reached thesmall Portuguese settlement on Sanchuang Island, south of whatwas later to become Macau. However, he was stricken withfever and the merchants, fearing official reprisals, refused to takehim to Canton. Undaunted, Xavier intended to carry on by junk;but his fever worsened and, in a miserable hut on the shore, onDecember 3, 1552, he died.A colleague recorded: "I went at once to the ship to obtainvestments and all else necessary for the burial . . . some of thoseon the ship returned with me . . . and we made a wooden coffinin which we placed the body clothed in priestly vestments. Itwas very cold; so most of them stayed aboard, and there wereonly four of us at the burial, a Portuguese, two slaves and aChinese."Today relices of the saint can be seen in three places. Hisbody lies in an ornate shrine in Goa and it is exhibited to pilgrimsat intervals of several years. The saint's right arm up to the elbowwas removed in 1614 and was sent to Rome where it has beenvenerated in the Jesuit Church of Gesu for more than 300 years.The sole remaining relic is the fragment of bone in the tinyMacau church.In 1619 three bones from the elbow to the shoulder of theright arm were extracted at Goa. One was sent to Cochin, nowSouthern Vietnam, another went to Malacca and the third wentto Macau. By this time the Portuguese empire was faltering and206the Dutch had arrived as a power in Asian waters. In theirattacks on Cochin and Malacca the two relics there of the saintwere lost.But the missionary effort in Japan continued and the Macaufragment was taken there in 1619. However, persecutionworsened and it was brought back to the territory shortlyafterwards — it was popularly believed that its presence lessenedthe frequency of the terrible typhoons to which the coast of Chinawas, and is, subject.The relic was housed in Macau's famous St Paul's church,destroyed in a fire in the early 19 th century and of which nowonly an impressive facade remains. Then it passed to the churchof St. Joseph's seminary.In 1952, on the 400th anniversary of Xavier's death it wastaken to Malacca and there were celebrations there and throughoutMalaysia. The last time the piece of bone left Macau was in1965, when, at the request of Cardinal Francis Spellman, it wastaken to Newark, New Jersey, where it was seen and veneratedby more than 100,000 people.The relic thereafter went back to its normal resting place inthe seminary in Macau. However, soon afterwards FatherAcquistapace was given charge of the dilapidated little chapel onColoane, one of two small islands which with a peninsula formMacau. The relic is now kept at that church.During his decades of service in Asia as a member of theSalesians of Don Bosco, Father Acquistapace served in Vietnam,Hong Kong, Manila, Formosa and Macau. He spent much of hislife teaching in technical schools. A man of immense goodhumour he is delighted to find visitors interested in his relics.Along with the fragment of bone of Xavier there are relicsof 58 Japanese martyrs and 14 Vietnamese martyrs.The Japanese perished in the brutal supression of Christianitywhich took place in the first half of the 17th century. Accordingto one historian: "The descriptions of the ways in which theChristians of Japan were forced to meet their deaths rank amongthe most horrifying and degraded reading matter to be foundanywhere."207The Vietnamese bones include those of Andrew, Pro-Martyrof Vietnam. Andrew, or Phy-yen, was born in 1625 in Fan-ranprovince in South Vietnam. He became a Catholic at 15 andwas martyred at 19 when he refused to adjure his religion. Hishead was taken to Rome where it can be seen today. His bonesare in Macau, together with other Vietnamese and Japanese.The bones are neatly packed in polished wooden boxes.Father Acquistapace laughs as he recalls the occasion when therelics were inspected by scientists: "One seized a bone and said:'But this bone is from a woman!" The priests comments: "Asif only men can die for Jesus!" There are, in fact, bones from15 female martyrs in the church.He breaks off, pressing a few pamphlets and souvenirs intothe hands of the visitor. "Stay as long as you wish", he says."The children are coming." And so they are, for into the coolairy church come tumbling a hoarde of laughing Chinese childrenchasing each other and finding places on the wooden pews.Father Acquistapace moves his attention from the relics of thedead to the enthusiasms of the living. He strides up and downthe short aisle as the youngsters roar out a cheerful hymn inChinese, cajoling, quietening and then swelling the youthfulsounds with great arm movements. Outside the day is hot andhumid and across the flat patch of muddy water in front of thesmall village that can be seen in China a few dilapidated junks lieat anchor.From the church comes the sound of singing. The firstmodern missionary to the Far East, Xavier, and the martyrs fromJapan and from Vietnam, must heartily approve.</blockquote>

Verification: Hata thunen beduwama keeyada? (60 bedeema thuna)

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