The Jesuits Bring Christianity to Asia

SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER Missionaries in Japan (1552)

The Society of Jesus was founded to stop the spread of Protestantism and reinforce the authority of the church in Catholic countries. Soon after the order’s founding, the Jesuit mission expanded to include the spread of Catholicism around the world. Among the first Jesuit missionaries was Francis Xavier (1506–1552). Xavier devoted most of his life to missionary work, travelling throughout Asia in an effort to advance the Catholic cause. This excerpt from his letters describes his activities in Japan. As you read it, consider what it tells us about the Jesuits’ missionary strategy.

But to return to what we did in Japan. In the first place, we landed, as I told you, at Cagoxima,1 Paul’s2 native place, where by his constant instructions he converted all his family to Jesus Christ, and where, but for the opposition of the bonzes,3 he would easily have converted the whole town also. The bonzes persuaded the King, whose authority extends over a good part of the country, that, if he were to sanction the introduction of the divine law into his dominions, the result would infallibly be the ruin, not only of his entire kingdom, but also of the worship of the gods and of the institutions of his ancestors; and that he ought for the future to forbid any one becoming a Christian, on pain of death.

After the lapse of a year, seeing this prince openly opposed to the progress of the Gospel, we bade farewell to our [converts] at Cagoxima, and to Paul, in whose care we left them, and went on thence to a town in the kingdom of Amanguchi.4 . . . I myself went on to . . . the capital of the kingdom, an immense city containing more than ten thousand houses. Here we preached the Gospel to the people in the public streets, to the princes and nobles in their own residences. Many heard us eagerly, others with reluctance. We did not always escape unhurt, having many insults offered us by the boys and the crowds in the streets. The King of the country summoned us to his presence, and, having asked the reason of our coming, invited us of his own accord to explain the law of God to him; he listened to us with deep attention for a whole hour while we spoke to him of religion. . . .

The king was made favorable to us by the letters and presents sent by the Bishop and the Governors from India and Malacca, and we obtained from him without difficulty the publication of edicts declaring his approval of the promulgation of the divine law in the cities of his dominions, and permitting such of his subjects as pleased to embrace it. When he had done us this favor he also assigned a monastery to us for a residence. Here by means of daily sermons and disputes with the bonzes, the sorcerers, and other such men, we converted to the religion of Jesus Christ a great number of persons, several of whom were nobles. Amongst them we found some able to inform us, and we made it our business to gain acquaintance with the various sects and opinions of Japan, and so know how to refute them by arguments and proofs prepared for the purpose.

From Henry James Coleridge, ed., The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier, 3d ed. (London: Burns & Oates, 1876), 2:331–348.