ENTRE A HAGIOGRAFIA E A CRÓNICA: A HISTÓRIA DA VIDA DO PADRE FRANCISCO DE XAVIER DE JOÃO DE LUCENA聖徒傳和編年史：João de Lucena 的《聖方濟各‧沙勿略生平歷史》
The article examines the Life of Father Francis Xavier and of What the Most Religious of the Society of Jesus Did in India, by João de Lucena, discussing how hagiographic writing articulates devotion, confessional propaganda, and identity construction in the context of the Counter-Reformation. It is...
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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/40019/3751 |
| Summary: | The article examines the Life of Father Francis Xavier and of What the Most Religious of the Society of Jesus Did in India, by João de Lucena, discussing how hagiographic writing articulates devotion, confessional propaganda, and identity construction in the context of the Counter-Reformation. It is argued that Xavier's biography, published in Portuguese in an edition of considerable reach, functions simultaneously as an edifying "chronicle" of Jesuit expansion and as a device for the production of sanctity, grounded in the cult of relics and in the exemplary authority of the saints, as promoted by Trent. The analysis combines a critical reading of the text with a historical-literary framework, comparing Lucena's project with earlier models, especially the biographies of Manuel Teixeira and Horácio Torsellino, and identifying continuities and reformulations in the manner of narrating Xavier's predestination and his symbolic connection to the Portuguese imperial design. As results, the article shows that Lucena reconfigures the life of the "Apostle of the Indies" to confer spiritual primacy upon the Society of Jesus, integrating the religious mission into an imaginary of continuity among discovery, commerce, and evangelization. It concludes that the work contributed to consolidating a "national" sanctity and to reinforcing, through narrative, the cultural and political legitimacy of Catholic territories in the East. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |