CATHOLIC MISSIONS
Henrion, /Histoire generale des missions catholiques depuis le XIIIe siecle/, 2 vols., 1841. Marshall, /The Christian Missions/, 2 vols., 2nd edition, 1863. Hahn, /Geschichte der Katholischen Missionen/, 5 Bde, 1857-65. Da Civezza, /Storia universale delle missioni francescane/, 9 vols., 1883-96. Meyer, /Die Propaganda/, 2 Bde, 1853. /Lettres edifantes ... des missions ... par quelques missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus/, 1617. Werner, /Missionsatlas/, 1885.
While heresy was spreading with such alarming rapidity that it threatened to deprive the Church of her fairest provinces in Europe, new continents were being opened up in the East and the West, and Christian missionaries were being sent forth to bear an invitation to strange races and peoples to take the place of the millions who had strayed from the fold. The restless energy and activity so characteristic of the fifteenth century manifested itself strikingly in the numerous naval expeditions, planned and carried out in face of enormous difficulties, and which led to such important geographical discoveries. The Portuguese pushed forward their discoveries along the west coast of Africa till at last Bartholomew Diaz succeeded in doubling the Cape of Good Hope (1487), thereby opening the way for Vasco de Gama's voyage to the Malabar coast in 1498. Spain, jealous of the new south sea route to the East Indies discovered by her rival, availed herself of the offer of Christopher Columbus to provide a western route, and it was while engaged in this attempt that he discovered the great continent of America. The importance of these discoveries in both East and West both from the spiritual and temporal point of view was understood clearly enough by both Spain and Portugal. The rulers of these countries, while anxious for the spread of Christianity among the pagan races of Asia and America, were not unmindful also of the important service that might be rendered by religion to their work of colonisation. Fortunately these new fields for the Christian missionaries were opened up, at a time when the religious spirit of Western Europe was beginning to recover from the state of lethargy to which it had been reduced by abuses, and the cry went forth for volunteers in an age when the older religious orders had begun to feel the influence of reform, and when the new religious orders, particularly the Jesuits, were at hand to render invaluable assistance. The foundation of the Congregation /De Propaganda Fide/(1622), the establishment of the /Collegium Urbanum/ (1627) for the education and training of missionary priests, and the organisation of the /Societe des Missions Etrangeres/[1] (1663) in Paris helped to unify the work and to put it upon a solid and permanent basis.
The first place in this remarkable missionary development must be assigned to St. Francis Xavier[2] (1506-52), the friend and disciple of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the most successful Christian missionary since the days of St. Paul. On the invitation of John III.
of Portugal, who had heard something about the contemplated new Society of Jesus, St. Francis sailed from Lisbon, and landed at Goa, the capital of the Portuguese Indian colony (1542). Franciscans and Dominicans had preceded him thither, but the scandalous example of irreligion and immorality set by the colonists had made it nearly impossible for these devoted men to win converts amongst the pagan races. St. Francis threw himself generously into the work of re-awakening the faith of the Portuguese before attempting the conversion of the natives. When the condition of affairs in Goa had undergone a complete change for the better, he set out for West India, where he preached with wonderful effect, and succeeded in extending his efforts as far as the Island of Ceylon. He next visited Malacca, the Molucca Islands and Sumatra. Everywhere he went he won thousands to the faith. His extraordinary kindness and charity, his untiring zeal, his simple straightforward exposition of Catholic doctrine, and the numerous miracles by which God confirmed the truth of his preaching, were the principal causes of his success. In the meantime several other members of the Society of Jesus had arrived. These he despatched to different parts of India to tend the flock whom he had won for Christ, while at the same time he established a novitiate and a house of studies to prepare a native clergy for carrying on the work.