Born: Francis Xavier
Quadrio, learned Jesuit, and historical writer, 1695,
Valtellina; Henry Gaily Knight, illustrator of
architectural antiquities, 1786.
Died: Hernan Cortes,
conqueror of Mexico, 1547, near Seville; Margaret of
Navarre, grandmother of Henry IV, 1549; St. Francis
Xavier, Catholic missionary, 1552, China; Gerard
Mercator (Kaufmann), geographer, 1594, Doesburg;
Philip, Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, 1723;
Amelia Opie, novelist, 1853, Norwich.
Feast Day: St. Bibiana,
virgin and martyr, 363.
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER
St. Francis Xavier was born on
the 7th of April 1506, in a castle at the base of the
Spanish side of the Pyrenees, not far from which his
future comrade and director, Ignatius Loyola, was then
living, a gay youth of fifteen. Xavier was sent to the
university of Paris, and there shared a room with
Peter Faber, a Savoyard, to whom he became tenderly
attached. In 1528, Loyola
arrived at their college, a
middle-aged man, meanly clad, worn with austerities,
and burning with zeal. Loyola made friends with Faber,
but Xavier could not endure him, and repulsed his
approaches. Loyola, discerning a desirable spirit in
Xavier, nevertheless persevered. One day Xavier had
been lecturing on philosophy, and having met with much
applause, was walking about in a high state of
elation, when Loyola whispered in his ear: 'What
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and
lose his own soul?' The question startled Xavier, and
changed the current of his feelings towards Loyola. He
associated with him and Faber in study and devotion.
Three other students joined them�Lainez, Bobadilla,
and Rodriguez�and on the 15th of August 1534, the six
met in a subterranean chapel of the church of
Montmartre, and took vows of perpetual celibacy,
poverty, and labour for the conversion of infidels.
Such was the humble beginning of the Society of
Jesuits. They resolved to place their lives at the
service of the pope, and when preaching at Rome, in
1540, Xavier was chosen to go as a missionary to
India. With joy he started, and on his way to Lisbon
came within a few miles of his birthplace, and was
pressed to turn aside and bid his mother farewell. He
refused, lest his ardour should suffer loss in the
regrets of filial affection.
A voyage to India was a
tedious enterprise in the sixteenth century. He sailed
from Lisbon on the 7th of April 1541, wintered in
Africa on the coast of Mozambique, and his ship did
not reach Goa until the 6th of May 1542. The
Portuguese of Goa, he found, were leading worse lives
than the heathen, except that they did not worship
idols, and their conversion was his first business. He
learned the language of Malabar, and went preaching
among the pearl-fishers; and entering the kingdom of
Travancore, he met with such success, that he reported
baptising 10,000 Indians in a month. At Malacca, then
a great centre of trade, he met three Jesuits, whom
Loyola had sent to his aid, and with them made a tour
through the Moluccas. At Malacca, he had met a
Japanese, whose account of his strange and populous
country had decided Xavier to visit it. He picked up
as much of the language as he could, and in August
1549 landed in Japan, and for about two years
travelled through the islands, making a host of
converts. His mission was continued with great vigour
by the Jesuits for nearly a century, when, for some
cause or other, the government took fright, massacred
the Christians, foreign and native, and sealed Japan
against Europeans until our own day. He next
determined to plant his faith in China, but the
Portuguese merchants pleaded with him not to make the
attempt, as he would assuredly be the cause of their
utter destruction. Xavier was not to be moved by such
alarms, and persuaded a Chinaman to run him ashore by
night near Canton. This plan the Portuguese
frustrated, and in the midst of his disappointment, on
the barren island of Sancian, within sight of the
desired Chinese mainland, he took fever, and died on
the 2nd of December 1553, aged only, forty-seven, and
in the twelfth year of his Asiatic ministry. His body
was carried to Goa, and his shrine is to Catholics the
holiest place in the Far East. In 1662, he was
canonized, and by a papal brief in 1747, was
pronounced the patron-saint of the East Indies. His
festival is observed on the 3rd of December.
The story of Xavier in Asia,
as told by Catholics, is a long record of miracle on
miracle; and by his miracles they account for the
otherwise incredible statements regarding his success
as a propagandist.
MECHANICS'
INSTITUTIONS
On the 2
nd
December 1824, an
institution was opened in London concerning which very
warm anticipations were entertained, but which has not
fully borne the fruit hoped for. After one or two
minor attempts in various towns, it was resolved to
establish a place in the metropolis, where work-men
could acquire a knowledge of science, and of the
principles of those arts on which they were daily
employed. Scarcely any books on such matters were then
accessible to persons of limited means, and popular
lectures were nearly unknown. Many men in high places
dreaded such innovations; insomuch that one declared,
that 'science and learning, if universally diffused,
would speedily overturn the best-constituted
government on earth.' It is to the credit of Scotland
that she took the lead of England in this matter.
The Andersonian Institution at
Glasgow had a mechanics' class, at which the late
benevolent Dr. Birkbeck lectured
to large audiences on
scientific subjects connected with the occupations of
working-men; and the School of Arts at Edinburgh,
under the auspices of Mr. Leonard Horner and other
enlightened men, furnished similar instruction, though
to smaller audiences. In October 1823, proposals were
put forth for establishing a Mechanics' Institution in
London; and in the following month a public meeting on
the subject was held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern.
The object was declared to be 'the instruction of
mechanics at a cheap rate in the principles of the art
they practise, as well as in all other branches of
useful knowledge;' and the means for obtaining this
object were 'lectureships on the different arts and
sciences, a library of reference and circulation, a
reading-room, a museum of models, a school of design,
an experimental workshop and laboratory, and a supply
of instruments and apparatus.' Mr. (afterwards Lord)
Brougham, in a letter addressed to Dr. Birkbeck as
chairman, said: 'The plan will prosper in exact
proportion to the interest which the mechanics
themselves take in its detail. It is for their
benefit, and ought to be left in their hands as soon
as possible after it is begun.' And Mr. Cobbett
supported this view by saying: 'If they'�the
working-men�'allowed other management to interfere,
men would soon be found who would put the mechanics on
one side and make use of them only as tools.'
The scheme having been
favourably received, the London Mechanics' Institution
was formed, and was opened on the day above named. Men
of great attainments offered their services as
lecturers, and the lecture-hall frequently contained a
thousand persons, listening with the greatest
attention to discourses on astronomy, experimental
philosophy and chemistry, physiology, the
steam-engine, &c. Many persons, who afterwards
attained to a more or less distinguished position in
society, owed their first knowledge of the principles
of science to the London Mechanics' Institution. The
novelty and the success of the enterprise were so
great, that similar institutions sprang up rapidly in
various parts of the kingdom. At a public meeting in
London, in July 1824, Mr. Brougham said:
'Scarcely three days ever
elapse without my receiving a communication of the
establishment of some new Mechanics' Institution. At
the beginning of May last, I made a calculation that
since the preceding July I had received accounts of
no less than thirty-three being established.'
They extended far and wide,
until at length there were at the very least four
hundred such institutions in Great Britain.
It will not be suitable, in a
work like this, to investigate fully the question why
Mechanics' Institutions have comparatively failed;
why, when the first enthusiasm had worked off, they
failed to realise the expectations of their founders;
a few words, nevertheless, may be said on the subject.
Of the fact itself, there can be little doubt. 'In
large towns,' a careful observer remarks, 'they
[Mechanics' Institutions] have usually sprung from the
exertions and wishes, not so much of the
working-classes, as of the more wealthy. The energy
and enthusiasm that originated them carried them on
for a time; but as the novelty wore off, the members
and revenue decreased, modifications of plan had to be
adopted, new features introduced, and radical changes
made. If these proved accept-able to the public, the
institution flourished; if not, it decayed. If the
original idea of giving scientific education only were
strictly carried out, the number of members was small;
while if amusement took the place of study, the
institution lived in jeopardy, from the fickle and
changing taste for amusement on the part of the
public.'
But why have mechanics shewn
themselves, except in a few special instances,
unwilling to give to these institutions such a measure
of support as is necessary to their profitable
working? The reasons assigned are many. In some places
where bickerings have existed between employers and
employed on the subject of wages, and where the
employers have lent aid towards establishing
Mechanics' Institutions, the men have persuaded
themselves that there is some secret design lurking
underneath, and have suspiciously held aloof. Then, as
to natural bias, most working-men shew a stronger
taste for social and political subjects than for
scientific and educational questions; they would
rather attend a political meeting than a scientific
lecture; rather read a party-newspaper than a
dispassionate book; rather invest a little money in a
benefit society or a building club, than in an
institution for mental improvement; and although it
may be a wise rule to exclude politics and theology,
many men find such topics more ' exciting' and
attractive than science or education. Next, a very
large class of workmen consists of persons who really
do not care at all for such subjects as those last
named; when their work is done, theatres,
public-houses, music-halls, smoking-rooms, &c., are
their regular places of resort; and they would deem it
almost as strange to go to a scientific lecture as to
church on a week-day evening.
The quarterly payments for
Mechanics' Institutes are chargeable with another
portion of the comparative failure; for a workman who
receives weekly wages would more readily pay a
subscription weekly, than save up for thirteen weeks
in order to pay in one sum. Uncertainty of employment
is another unfavourable circumstance; if a workman is
out of employ when his subscription becomes due, the
Mechanics' Institute is one of the first things he
would give up. When the subscription is made small
enough to attract numerous members, it is often too
small to carry on the institute efficiently, and the
instruction degenerates both in quantity and quality.
One more circumstance must be noticed�unless
working-men subscribe in sufficient number to form a
majority, they cannot retain the management in their
own hands; and unless they do, it ceases to be
suitable to the wants and wishes of their class; and
thus they have a further excuse for staying away.
Some among the above causes
have rendered the London Mechanics' Institution, and
most others of its kind, less successful than the
early promoters had anticipated.