S. FRANCISCO XAVIER NO SUDESTE ASIÁTICO : EVANGELIZAÇÃO, SOLIDÃO E OBRAS DE MISERICÓRDIA聖方濟各‧沙勿略在東南亞：傳教 、靜修和從事慈善事業的功績
The article reinterprets the activities of St. Francis Xavier in Southeast Asia, challenging a teleological reading that organizes his "spiritual conquest" as a linear sequence of missions leading to China. Instead, the author proposes starting from the narrative "end"—Xavier's death on Sanchoão (15...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
July 2006
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40019/3747 |
| Summary: | The article reinterprets the activities of St. Francis Xavier in Southeast Asia, challenging a teleological reading that organizes his "spiritual conquest" as a linear sequence of missions leading to China. Instead, the author proposes starting from the narrative "end"—Xavier's death on Sanchoão (1552)—to highlight how evangelization, solitude, and practices of mercy intersect with the social and economic dynamics of Portuguese enclaves. Through a historical-critical analysis of sources and historiography, the text examines the relative scarcity of Catholic conversions beyond Luso-Asian settlement circuits, emphasizing that, in his movements between ports and routes of the "Estado da Índia," Xavier's action tends to reach more easily young and female audiences, as well as Catholic minorities. The investigation also underscores tensions between moral preaching and commercial structures: many Portuguese merchants, associated with Asian networks and both formal and private enterprises, feared ethical interference in their established trade orders. It concludes that Xavier's discreet death is not merely a biographical detail but an indication of his marginal position relative to local economic elites and a model of apostleship sustained by isolation and charitable compassion, rather than by immediate and mass conversion results. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |