Japan
Celebrates Anniversary of the Arrival of Francis Xavier
his
past February, Japan’s Catholic Church and other Christian Churches opened the
celebrations for the 450th Anniversary of the arrival of St. Francis
Xavier, the catholic missionary who first introduced the Gospel to that country.
In a nation which claims many beliefs and is, at the same time, quite
secularized, Francis Xavier is surprisingly well known.
His name and image are familiar even to children, who learn about this
saint in their primary grades.
The Way of the Indies
Japan’s Christians
Recent statistics, published in the Japanese Christian paper Christ Weekly, put Japan’s Christians at 1,100,000 – about 0.9% of the total population, with 600,000 being Protestants, 460,000 Catholics, 25,000 Orthodox, and 18,000 members of the clergy and religious institutes.There was a Christian boom in Japan soon after World War II, but it did not last long. The Christian faith has grown more slowly than in Korea and some other Asian nations. According to Toshimaro Ama, a university professor of the history of religion, Japanese are not used to turn directly to God or to Buddha. “They prefer to keep close ties with their ancestors, who are objects of veneration.” Toshimaro is the author of the bestseller Why are the Japanese Not-Religious.The Xaverians came to Japan in the autumn of 1949. The original three missionaries, expelled from China, have grown to about 40 in some 30 centers, giving witness proclaiming the Good News, providing dialogue and charity. Some teach in the universities, other direct schools for children, some assist the sick and the lepers, others lead parishes, some are engaged in dialogue with Buddhists, others are respected for their artistic talents and contributions. All is carried out in the name of the Divine Master who instructed his disciples to be salt, light, leaven for every human reality. Will the light of Christ succeed to give something to the land of the Rising Sun? Francis Xavier’s dream still looms high urging on those who carry his name and have him as patron and model.
Born to an aristocratic Basque family of Spain in 1506, Francis Xavier studied in Paris and was one of the disciples of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Company of Jesus, the religious order of the Jesuits. Ordained in 1537, four years later Francis is sent to India at the request of the king of Portugal, John III, with the blessing of Pope Paul III who appointed him as his representative to the Far East. The intent was to evangelize the then so-called East Indies.
He landed in the Portuguese colony of Goa, on the west coast of India, where he set his headquarters. From there he undertook countless and dangerous trips, going south and to the southeast of India, reaching as far as the Malay peninsula (south of Thailand), and then to Ceylon and the Indonesian Archipelago.
Towards Japan
In 1547, Francis Xavier is in Malacca, city of southern Malasia, and there he comes to know a Japanese named Anjiro, a “pirate” who, having heard of the holy man from Portuguese merchants, had sought him from port to port in the scattered islands. From Anjiro, Francis Xavier, already disappointed with the difficulties and the little results of evangelization in India, and in that world dominated by the Moslem mind, learns about Japan and within ten days his decision is taken: he must go to Japan.
On August 15th, 1549, he reaches Kagoshima. The stay there is brief, and he plans for a future and lasting return. When he leaves the country, two years later, more than 700 Japanese had converted to Christianity. Francis Xavier also brought European products to Japan, including Portuguese wine and eye-glasses. He died on the island of Sancian, a few miles from the Chinese Coast, in 1552, as he was waiting for the boat that was supposed to take him to the Chinese mainland.
According to Jesuit Fr. Toshiaki Koso, rector of Tokyo’s Sophia University, Francis Xavier exercised “a significant and decisive influence not only on the history and culture of Japan, but of the world as well.” Because, says Fr. Koso, this missionary, besides preaching the Gospel, “introduced aspects of western civilization in the nations of the Far East and nourished the desire to promote cultural exchanges.”
Christian Dream
Many
events are being organized to commemorate this important anniversary.
In December 1998, an international symposium was held at Sophia
University, with more than 300 participants.
The theme of the symposium was “The Meeting Between Europe and Asia
at the Times of the Great Navigations – The Coming of Francis Xavier within an
Historic World Perspective.” Also
in the same month, during a Festive Mass in honor of the great missionary
celebrated in the Church of the Jesuits, close to Sophia University, Japan’s
Cardinal Seiichi Shirayanagi, said that Francis Xavier overcame many obstacles
in his life thanks to an “enamored commitment to his faith… and he
cherished a dream: that all the Japanese turn to Christ.
And we are going to let ourselves be guided by that dream.”
In Kagoshima, the place where the saint landed in the 16th century,
the celebrations will have a strong ecumenical flavor.
All will be able to take part “including protestants and faithful of
other creeds.” The
celebrations go from Aug. 15, the day of the landing, to Dec. 3, the feast day
of St. Francis Xavier
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)