06 Apr 2024  |   07:39pm IST

São Francisco Xavier as represented by unknown Goan artists

Frazer Andrade

Saint Francis Xavier was the sixth and the last child born to Dom João de Jassu y Atondo and Doña Maria de Azpilcueta y Aznarez de Sada, on Tuesday, 7 th of April 1506 in the Holy Week, at the Castle of Xavier, in the kingdom of Navarre, Spain. In 1552, Francis reaches Goa in February with two Japanese companions. He is accorded a royal welcome at the Saint Paul’s College, where he stays only for two months. In April he leaves for China accompanied by Fr. Gago, Brother Alvaro Ferreira, the Chinese Antonio de Santa Fe and the Indian servent Cristovão. During this voyage, he visits the missions of Cochin and Malacca. From Singapore they go to the island of Sangchwan on the way to China. His friends try to convince him to cancel his trip to China, but Francis didn’t change his mind. In December he is seized with fever and his health deteriorates rapidly. Antonio sees that the moment has come and places a crucifix into the hands of dying Francis. On 3 rd December, early in the morning, at the young age of 46, Francis Xavier sleeps forever in the peace of Christ.

Goans have always had immense faith in the Saint which is clearly evident through sculpture, paintings, embroideries, metal works etc. representing him or things associated with him, created in Goa by various artists down the centuries. Below we see two pieces from a personal collection of Mr. Andrade from South Goa. The two pieces are a) A statuette of the saint and b) A crab associated with the saint.

In this example of the late XVIII – early XIX Century, which was a humble gift of Mrs. Nancy Desouza, Mapuçá, Goa, Saint Francis Xavier is represented in his usual attire wearing a surplice and a stole over his plain monochromatic black cassock, standing on a grooved pedestal bearing a name plate in the center. The name plate bears an abbreviation S.F.X. The hems of his surplice, and the stole have been gilded in gold (traces of which are visible). In 

addition to the gilt hems of the surplice, two decorative black borders are visible along the inner edges of the hem. Both hands of the image are missing. A tonsure characteristic to the order is 

shown in this representation of the saint.

The XVII Century crab sculpture seen here is carved out of Indian ivory. It would have originally formed part of an ensemble comprising of an image of Saint Francis Xavier, probably made in 

Ivory or wood. The crab is mounted onto a wooden pedestal with three levels. Each level is decorated with tiny pearl bordered rhombus shaped motifs made of silver which have been 

affixed onto the pedestal using brass pins. The two claws of the crab tightly hold a silver crucifix in a way as though returning it back to the Saint. One of the miracle stories attributed to St. 

Francis Xavier speaks about how he recovered his crucifix after losing it at sea. Fr. Francis was caught up in a storm as he was travelling to Malacca in 1546. With much faith, he threw the 

Cross into the sea, asking God to make it an instrument to pacify the turbulent sea. God indeed came to his aid; the storm halted and the sea turned calm. Upon reaching the shores of Malacca, Fr. Francis found a crab crawling towards him holding his lost crucifix in its claws.

On the top of the cross is a plaque bearing a Portuguese abbreviation J.N.R.J, which is ‘Jesus, o Nazareno Rei dos Judeus’. The English translation of the same would be ‘Jesus the Nazarene 

King of the Jews’. This Portuguese abbreviation is not a universally excepted abbreviation. Since Latin is the universal language of the Catholic Church, the abbreviation used globally is in Latin i.e. INRI which stands for ‘Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum’. However Portuguese abbreviations like this one may be found to be used in various Portuguese colonies.