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This book is a study of the complex nature of colonial and missionary power in Portuguese India. Written as a historical ethnography, it explores the evolving shape of a series of Catholic festivals that took place in Goa throughout the duration of Portuguese colonial rule in India (1510-1961), and for which the centrepiece was the “incorrupt” corpse of São Francisco Xavier, a (Spanish Basque) Jesuit missionary (1506–1552)-turned-saint (1622). Using distinct genres of source materials produced over the long duree of Portuguese colonialism in India (Xaverian biographies, European travelogues, royal decrees and Jesuit letters, a state commissioned book dedicated to Xavier, Goa guidebooks, newspaper articles, and medical reports), the book documents the historical and visual transformation of Xavier’s corporeal ritualization in death from a small-scale religious feast arranged by Jesuit missionaries (1554), into an elaborate celebration of Xavier’s canonization organized jointly by church and state (1624), and finally, into a series of “Solemn Expositions” designed by colonial officials at regular centenary intervals (1782, 1859, 1952), including the last colonial exposition of 1961 staged amidst Goa’s liberation and integration into postcolonial India. These six ritual “events”, staged at critical junctures (1554, 1624, 1782, 1859, 1952, 1961), and always centered on Xavier’s biography and corpse, provide the conceptual framework for individual chapters of the book.
the relic of St Francis Xavier. To disprove the impious rumors, to soothe the embittered people, and comply with their spontaneous requests, the ecclesiastical and civic authorities felt obliged to promote the first public exposition of the relics from [the] 10th to 12th February 1782. – Father Caetano Cruz, Chairman for the Diocesan Committee for the
the face of Hindustan. – Dr Lohia, Goan Freedom Fighter, 1946 2 In December 1952 ceremonies took place in a multitude of cities to commemorate 3 the death of St Francis Xavier exactly four hundred years earlier on the island of Sancian (China). These celebrations took place in Pamplona (Spain) – his place of birth; Vatican City (Italy
once that India has two most beautiful mausoleums – the Taj Mahal at Agra and (on a smaller scale) the silver casket of St Francis Xavier in Goa – P. Rayanna, S.J., 1982 2 In December 2004 government officials in Goa staged the sixteenth exposition of the ‘sacred remains’ of St Francis Xavier. While it took place amidst a
of day. The places usually visited are the See Primacial [Cathedral], the nunnery of Santa Monaca, and the churches of St Francis, St. Caetano, and Bom Jesus. The latter contains the magnificent tomb of St Francis Xavier. His saintship, however, is no longer displayed to reverential gazers in mummy or ‘scalded pig’ form. Altogether we reckoned about
historical actors but to offer the necessary contextual backdrop for making sense of Xavier’s various ‘translations’ in death in later sections. 6 Figure 3 Souvenir of the Exposition of 1952 of the body of St Francis Xavier In the
thought necessary for the praise and glory of God and for the welfare of souls. – Roberto Nobili, Jesuit priest, c. 1613 39 Sebastião Barreto and Pietro Della Valle: (eye)witness testimonies The seeds of the festival that was organized in 1624 to celebrate the canonization of St Francis Xavier had been planted earlier in the form
the chapel, the Deputation always regarded the chapel as more than the sum of its parts, as their notes evince. They strove to safeguard its architectural integrity and symmetry, while also accommodating new protectors. Thus on 7 September 1661 the deputies decided to create a little niche ( casella ) above the door to the sacristy, to match the niche which housed St Francis Xavier above the staircase door in the lateral chapel opposite ( Fig. 11 ). This, they noted was necessary ‘so as not to spoil the architecture of the Treasury’. 57 Likewise, when the Theatines
In this broad sweep, Mayo explores dominant European discourses of higher education, in the contexts of different globalisations and neoliberalism, and examines its extension to a specific region. It explores alternatives in thinking and practice including those at the grassroots, also providing a situationally grounded project of university–community engagement. Signposts for further directions for higher education lifelong learning, with a social justice purpose, are provided.
Camillus de Lellus, and the arm of St Francis Xavier. Raised Roman Catholic in Brooklyn, Thek was certainly familiar with Catholicism’s veneration of holy bodies and body parts. Much of Thek’s art was informed by the metaphors, rituals, and ‘thing-ness’ of his faith tradition. In the catalogue for his solo show Processions (1977), curator Suzanne Delehanty observed that Thek