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book_n	find_v	great_a	read_v	2,892	5	5.5522	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28873	The life of St. Francis Xavier, of the Society of Jesus, apostle of the Indies, and of Japan written in French by Father Dominick Bohours, of the same Society ; translated into English by Mr. Dryden.; Vie de Saint François Xavier de la Campagnie de Jesus, apostre des Indes et du Japon. English	Bouhours, Dominique, 1628-1702.; Dryden, John, 1631-1700.	1688 (1688)	Wing B3825; ESTC R15455	341,142	791

and Servant John Dryden THE Author's Advertisement TO THE READER HAving already presented you with the Life of St. Ignatius I thought my self oblig'd to give you that of St. Francis Xavier For besides that it was just that the Son shou'd attend the Father it seem'd to me that these two Saints being concern'd so much together the History of the Apostle of India and Japan wou'd give you a clearer knowledge of him who was Founder of the Jesuites I may add likewise that many considerable persons and particularly of the Court have testify'd so great a desire to see a compleat History of St. Xavier in our Language that I thought my labour wou'd not be unacceptable to them and that in satisfying my own private Devotion I might at the same time content the Curiosity of others The Writings out of which I have drawn this Work have furnish'd me with all I cou'd desire for the perfection of it in what regards the Truth and the Ornaments of this History For without speaking of Turselline and Orlandino I have diligently read Lucena and Bartoli the first of which wrote in Portuguese with this Title The History of the Life of Father Francis Xavier and of what was done in the Indies by the Religious of the Society of Iesus He informs us That he had in his Hands the Authentick Copies of the Informations which were made by order of John the Third King of Portugal concerning the Actions of the Blessed Father Xavier and the Originals of many Letters written from the Indies on that Subject which are to this day deposited in the Archives of the University of Coimbra As for Bartoli who is so famous by his Writings and who is accounted amongst the best of the Italian Authors he has extracted from the Archives of the Casa Professa at Rome and from the Acts of the Canonization what he relates of our Saint in the first part of the History of the Society intituled Asia Though these two Historians have in some sort collected all that can be said concerning St. Francis Xavier I omitted not to take a view of what others have written on that Subject and chiefly the Book of Ni●remberg which bears for Title Claros Varones or Illustrious Men the History of India by Ma●●eus and that of Jarrio the Church History of Iapan by Solia the Castilian History of the Missions which the Fathers of the Society have made to the East-Indies and the Kingdoms of China and Iapan Compos'd by Lew●s de Gusman and lastly The Portuguese History of the Travels of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto But seeing St. Francis Xavier himself has written some parts of those Accidents which have befallen him in India and Japan I have faithfully copied his Letters and from thence have drawn those particulars which have much conduc'd to my Information and clearing of the Truth These Letters have also furnish'd me with materials to make the Narration appear more lively and moving when you hear the Saint himself speaking in his proper words and mixing his own Thoughts and Reflections with his Actions I had almost finish'd this my work when I receiv'd from Spain and Italy two other lives of St. Francis Xavier which before that time I had not seen The one very new which was written in Italian by Father Joseph Massei the other more ancient written in Spanish by Father Francis Garcia I found nothing in those two Books which I had not observ'd in others but read them with great pleasure as being m●st exactly and elegantly written each in their several Tongue For what remains amongst all those Historians which I have cited there is only the Author of the new Italian Life who has not follow'd the common errour in relation to the Age of St. Francis Xavier For the rest of them not precisely knowing the year and day of his Birth have made him ten years elder than he was placing his Nativity about the time when the passage to the East-Indies was discover'd by Vasco de Gama But Father Massei has taken his measures in that particular from Father Poussines that judicious person to whom we are owing for the new Letters of St. Xavier and who has compos'd a Dissertation in Latin touching the year of our Apostles Birth He pr●duces in the said Treatise a Latin Paper written in all appearance in the year 1585 and found in the Records of the house of Don Juan Antonio Count of Xavier That Paper wherein is treated of the Ancestours and Birth of the Saint and which very probably as Poussines judges is the minute of a Letter sent to Rome where Doctor Navarra then resided to whom it refers you that Paper I say has these words in it Non scitur certò Annus quo Natus est P. Franciscus Xaverius Vulgo tamen invaluit à quibusdam natum eum dici anno Millesimo quadragintesimo nonagesimo-sexto which is to say the year is not certainly known in which Father Francis Xavier was Born but 't is generally held that some have reported he was born in the year 1496. But it is to be observed That these words Non scitur certò Annus quo Natus est P. Franciscus Xaverius are dash'd out with the stroke of a Pen. There is also a line drawn over these other words Natum eum dici millesimo quadragintesimo nonagesimo-sexto and this is written over head Natus est P. Franciscus Xaverius Anno Millesimo quingentesimo sexto Father Francis Xavier was Born in the year one thousand five hundred and six There is also written in the Margin Natus est die 7. Aprilis anni 1506. He was Born on the 7th of April 1506. That which renders this Testimony more authentick is that at the bottom of the Letter these words in Spanish are written by the same hand which corrected those two passages of which I spoke Hallo se la razon del tiempo que el S. P. Francisco Xavier naciò en un libro manual de Su hermano el Capitan Juan de Azpilcueta la qual Sacò de un libro de Su padre Don Juan Jasso videlicet The time when the Blessed Father Francis Xavier was Born is found in the Iournal of his Brother Don Juan de Azpilcueta who extracted it from the Iournal or Manual of his Father Don Juan Jasso 'T is on this foundation that before I had read the Life written by Father Massei I had already clos'd with the Opinion of Father Poussines As to the precise day of the Father's death I have follow'd the common opinion which I take to be the most probable in conformity to the Bull of his Canonization For the Historians who have mention'd it agree not with each other on what day he dy'd 'T is said in Herberts Travels to the Indies and Persia translated out of the English St. Francis Xavier the Iesuite of Navarre dyed the fourth of December 1552. Ferdinand Mendez Pinto the Portuguese affirms that he dyed at Midnight on Saturday the second of December