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On his return trip Francis decided to go back to Hirado, very probably after a stop in Yamaguchi to confer with Naito Okimori on his more immediate projects. Xavier reached Hirado in the first half of March, and after a fraternal reunion with his comrade-in-arms Cosme de Torres, he collected his luggage and set out once more for Yamaguchi, where he arrived in late April.
On his way back from Kyoto he had had time to ponder over things and to pray. He could see now very clearly that in this country a shabby dress, far from helping his preaching was an obstacle to it. It was also clear that censuring the vices of the clergy and the nobility with derogatory remarks, besides being useless, created an air of hostility that closed the door to evangelization. In fact, the Francis that landed near Yamaguchi in late April 1551, was a new Francis, a man with a different mentality, made the wiser by his failures.
A few days after arrival the secretary Naito obtained for him another audience with Yoshitaka. This time Xavier went to palace as the ambassador of the Governor of India Garcia de Sa, dressed in an elegant silk cassock. This time he left at home his bulky catechism and took instead to the palace the gifts he had brought from India, more in agreement with the daimyo's liking. He first presented his credentials, two magnificently illuminated parchments from the governor of India and the bishop of Goa, which Yoshitaka, a connoisseur of art himself, duly appreciated. A richly engraved musket with three barrels was the ideal present for a man of arms, and the eager curiosity of the daimyo was properly taken care of with a clock of complex mechanism, another musical clock, a pair of spectacles and two telescopes. Yoshitaka, an expert collector as well, willingly accepted the Portuguese brocades and textiles, the beautiful pieces of cut glass and table-service, and good gourmet as he was, the delicious Portuguese wine that Xavier had kept for the occasion.
Xavier's gifts quickly did away with all unhappy memories and Yoshitaka reacted most generously: he gave Francis permission to preach the new religion, forbade by public edict any hindering of the priest's activities and granted his guest the property of Daidoji, an abandoned Buddhist temple, as his place of residence. In addition, he was thinking of sending an ambassador to India with a gift in return. In the ensuing weeks Xavier, the former university professor, felt as if he were back again in his lecture-hall of Paris. Morning, afternoon and night, Daidoji was crowded with visitors from the nobility, the Buddhist clergy, merchants and the ordinary curious. Questions about the new religion, astronomy, physics and climatology were fired non-stop, and objections to the contents of the two daily talks by Francis continued until late at night. God Creator--Xavier called Him "Dainichi", the same as the Shingon bonzes -, the devil, evil, suffering and never-ending hell were the topics that kept discussion burning red-hot. Francis felt much at home in this atmosphere. He did not have the time to eat and sleep, nor even to pray, but he irradiated happiness and would remember his days in Yamaguchi as the happiest time in his life.
A second audience with Yoshitaka helped Francis to strengthen even more his good relations with the daimyo and the bonzes surrounding him. This time Xavier brought to the audience a Bible with its commentary, both beautifully illuminated, and they caused quite a sensation. He also brought with him a brocaded vestment for the daimyo and put it on himself when requested to do so by his host. Yoshitaka could not repress his admiration: "This man looks like a living image of our gods," he said clapping his hands.
All this notwithstanding, Xavier's road from then on would not be all roses. For the Shingon sect "Dainichi" was the First Principle of everything existing, and good Anjiro, a stranger to theological controversy, thought that the term adequately translated the Portuguese and Latin "Deus" (God). It did not take Xavier long to discover that Shingon Buddhism knew nothing about the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation and the mystery of Redemption, and that the First Principle was not the God Creator, but the starting point of some pantheistic emanantism. Such being the case, the slogan of our preacher Fernandez "Pray to Dainichi!" had to be changed into "Pray to Deus!", with the added inconvenience that the new slogan sounded in Yamaguchi dialect something like "Pray to Dai-uso (the big lie)!", giving Xavier's enemies a ready-made weapon for fighting back.
A more serious problem was the increase in conversions since early July, which would have an effect on the earnings of temples and monasteries. This won Francis more enemies than any other theological confrontation.
Some of the new Christians were of humble extraction. Such was the case with Matheus, who became Xavier's companion ever after, and Lourenco, the street musician, more than half blind but a consummate biwa player, who would later on enter the Society of Jesus as a lay brother and introduce Christianity in Kyoto. There were also converts from the nobility and some intellectuals, among them a graduate of Ashikaga School, the famous Buddhist university of Bando, not too far away from the present Tokyo, who took the name of Paul at his baptism. He was the first authority on Buddhism in Yamaguchi, and his co-operation played an important part in giving final shape to Xavier's catechism. Francis' main benefactor, the devout and convinced Buddhist Naito Okimori, did not ask for baptism during Xavier's stay. He would be baptized some years later with his wife and his two sons. When at the end of August Xavier decided to travel to Bungo (Oita) and called Cosme de Torres from Hirado to put him in charge of the new Christian community, there were about five hundred Christians in the town and surroundings, with Daidoji as their headquarters.
Xavier in his letters does not spare praises when talking of his Christians of Yamaguchi. It was a community imbued with the true spirit of the Gospel. "I could see--he says--how much they strove to contact, argue and convince the Gentiles that they should become Christians." Their faith came from the bottom of their hearts: "They like very much . . . to hear of the mysteries of Christ's Passion, and some of them weep when listening to them". And before everything else, they were curious and eager to deepen their faith. "All of them learn first to cross themselves. And they are so curious that they want to know what it means 'in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit' and why they place their right hand on their head while saying 'in the name of the Father', and on their breast while saying 'and of the Son', and on their left and right shoulders while saying 'and of the Holy Spirit'. When we give them an explanation they feel much consolation. After that they say 'Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison' and soon they ask about the meaning of those words. After that, they tell their beads (Buddhist rosary) repeating at each bead 'Jesus, Mary'. Little by little they are learning by heart the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Credo, which I gave them in writing." Reading these lines from one of Xavier's letters we can easily understand other words of his about his stay in Yamaguchi: "I think I could truly say that in my life I have never received so much joy and spiritual consolation . . . "
It was already late August when Francis got news that a Portuguese ship had lowered anchor at Funai (Oita) harbour. For the spiritual care of the crew and to collect his mail, Xavier decided to absent himself temporally from Yamaguchi, and leave that church in the hands of Cosme de Torres, whom he called from Hirado. A few days after Torres' arrival on September 10, Francis received two letters, one from the feudal lord of Bungo (Oita) Otomo Sorin, and the other from the captain of the Portuguese ship Duarte da Silva, with the request that he should pay them a visit. Xavier did not hesitate anymore and by the end of September he was already in Funai, the capital city of Bungo. His last stay in Yamaguchi had only lasted four months, but Christianity had already taken root there, and Xavier's heart remained forever with that small flock of five hundred Christians.
The reception the Portuguese in Funai gave to the "holy priest" was cordial in the extreme, and the audience at the palace of Otomo Yoshishige (Sorin) bordered on the triumphal. The Portuguese and the shipLs crew, all dressed in costly garments, marched in solemn procession from the quay, with Captain Duarte da Silva at their head. The fidalgos folded their brocade cloaks on the mat-covered floor of the audience-hall and made them into a cushion for the priest to sit upon, and Yoshishige showed himself extremely amiable.
It is true that the young daimyo--Yoshishige was 22 years old at the time--was far from being a paragon of virtue, but Francis already knew from personal experience that audiences are not meant to give the host a lecture. Xavier's affability and good manners won for him the daimyo's heart. He provided Francis with lodgings and gave him permission to preach with no strings attached. When Otomo Yoshishige received baptism 27 years after, he took the name of Francisco out of devotion to Xavier.
As it had already happened in Hirado, no letters had arrived for Xavier either from Europe or from India. Although he was superior of all Jesuits in Asia, for the last two years he had had no contact with the rest of the Society of Jesus. Xavier, therefore, felt himself bound in conscience to return to India, at least for one year, and informed his companions back in Yamaguchi of his decision.
The reports he received from them at the end of October were a whole string of misfortunes. A few days after Xavier's departure, the bellicose Sue Takafusa, seconded by Naito Okimori and other samurai, had revolted against Ouchi Yoshitaka and forced him to flee town and finally to commit suicide. The revolt continued for some weeks, and much of the town with its temples and monasteries--Daidoji included--had been burnt to ashes. Torres, Fernandez and the other companions had been spared their lives thanks to the protection of Naito's wife, who had given them asylum in a monastery and finally taken them to her own house, from where they were sending their reports. They were left to themselves, with no place of their own, and intended to take refuge in the house of Uchida, Xavier's first host in Yamaguchi, until things settled down and Francis came back from India.
Xavier was able to obtain further information from the court of Bungo. The Yamaguchi rebels were negotiating with Otomo Sorin to have his younger brother Hachiro (Otomo Haruhide) succeed Yoshitaka as feudal lord of Yamaguchi. In fact, this actually happened in March 1552, when Hachiro took the name of Ouchi Yoshinaga. By that time Francis was already in Goa, but could count on the promise made to him by Otomo Sorin and Hachiro that they would take his friends under their protection.
The junk of Duarte da Gama left Funai in mid-November with Xavier on board and sailing south along the eastern coast of Kyushu changed course to the west towards China, reaching the coastal island of Sancian in early December. Midway in their journey a wild storm snapped the rope holding the sloop to the ship. The boat disappeared among the mountainous waves with four of the crew on board. Giving in to Xavier's requests Captain Duarte lowered the sails and brought the junk to a stop, brushing aside the pilot's objections, for whom the manoeuvre was tantamount to suicide. Francis withdrew to his cabin to pray, and after two hours the sloop came back to the ship, with all four crewmen alive and unhurt.
Once in Sancian Island--the meeting place of Portuguese merchants and Chinese smugglers--Xavier transferred to the caravel Santa Cruz of his friend Diogo Pereira, who was about to leave for Malacca. From him he was able to know that a Moslem fleet of Malays and Javanese had laid siege to Malacca in early June. (As Xavier would verify when he reached Malacca on the 27th of December, the siege had ended after 102 days with the victory of the Portuguese on September 16). With that it became obvious that Xavier's mail addressed to Japan, at least that of 1551, was still detained in Malacca.
From Pereira Francis also obtained information about the Portuguese--more than fifty--languishing in Chinese prisons or confined in the inland towns of China, because of smuggling. One of them had written a letter, now in Pereira's hands, suggesting an embassy of the viceroy of India to the emperor of China. One of the embassy's tasks would be the signing of a commercial treaty, properly drawn up, including payment of customs. This would be the best way to win back freedom for the prisoners.
The reading of that letter was a sudden call on Xavier's conscience. He convinced Pereira that he should accept to lead the embassy if requested by the viceroy and volunteered himself to accompany him to China. His plan to go back to Japan within a year was provisionally shelved, because the embassy to China had first priority. His stay in Japan had taught him this much: the evangelization of China was a preliminary step to the conversion of Japan. And from the time of his meeting with Ouchi Yoshitaka our Francis knew very well that a solemn embassy with rich presents and the added attraction of a commercial treaty could open a door to missionary work much more effectively than dozens of theological tracts. The die had already been cast: Xavier would go to China in the retinue of Ambassador Diogo Pereira.
Francis stayed in Malacca only two days and left for Cochin on December 30. In Malacca he could finally open his mail, which had been kept there for two and one-half years. A letter from Rome informed him of the erection of the new Jesuit Province of India, independent from Portugal. He had been appointed first Provincial, and it was now his responsibility to decide on the province personnel and apostolic projects. In the three-week journey between Malacca and Cochin Francis could read at ease the mail left unopened for more than two years. With no pressure of time he could enjoy the letters from Europe, mostly from Italy and Portugal, and study the reports of his Jesuit subjects scattered all through southern Asia, from Ormuz in the Persian Gulf to Ternate in the Moluccas archipelago (today's Indonesia). He could also pray to the Lord for light on the problems that had arisen during his absence.
Xavier's stay in Cochin, commercial center of the Portuguese Empire, lasted only two weeks, which Francis used to the full to answer his mail. On the 29th of January of 1552, five days after arrival, he wrote two letters that became widely known, one in Portuguese to his fellow-Jesuits in Europe and the other to Ignatius of Loyola. Inigo was "the father of his soul", and sometimes he would write to him on his knees. The two letters dealt with his stay in Japan in great detail and had ample circulation all through Europe, becoming the best introduction for Japan--and for Yamaguchi in particular--in the western world. If Yamaguchi has been known worldwide since the 16th century, it is mainly due to Francis Xavier, the missionary adventurer who walked its streets in 1551.
Xavier arrived in Goa in mid-February and bid his last farewell to the town two months later. He did not have a moment's respite, busy as he was with new assignments for the Jesuit personnel. He appointed a new rector for St.Paul's College in Goa who would also act as vice-provincial during Xavier's absence in China.
In those two months the Jesuit community at St. Paul's was able to know first-hand "the holy priest", his hair prematurely turned grey, exhausted from long journeys and missionary work, but invariably cheerful, "always nailed on the cross and always risen" . . . They could also ascertain his mystical gifts, his joy during prayer that made him exclaim: "It is enough, my Lord, it is enough." Also his devotion to the Holy Mass, his love for Jesus Christ his crucified King, his frugality in eating and drinking, his deep humility, his unlimited trust in God, his angelic chastity. To this should be added his devotion to the Holy Trinity and the Mother of the Lord.
In his dealings with others Xavier was amiable in the extreme, "made all things to all ", a friend and protector for the new Christians, deeply interested in their traditions and customs, on which he always wanted to have detailed information. After two months of living together with Xavier, it is no wonder that the rector of St.Paul's, unable to control his emotion, found it impossible to put together a few words of farewell on that Maundy Thursday, the 14th of April. It was the last day of Francis' stay in Goa. Three days later, on Easter Sunday, April 17, the galleon Santiago weighed anchor and set sail to Malacca. It was the start of a last adventure for Francis, that "God-driven impatient" . . .
