The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c13.101

v1.c13.101

Jesus. This volume in folio contains the processes made in India on the life and miracles of Xavier for his beatification and canonization. The first part of the volume deals with processes made at Goa, Cochin, Bassein and Malaca, in 1556 and 1557, at the request of the King of Portugal Joao III, by the local ecclesiastical authorities. In the process of Cochin the witness, Francisco Mansilhas, a Lay Brother of the Society of Jesus, who had worked with Xavier both on the Coromandel Coast and in Travancore, gave evidence of the fact as narrated above. Considering that the process was held only twelve years after the event, his statement is of exceptional value. The same is declared by Thomas de Gouvea in the second part of the volume, which is a summary of the processes of Cochin, Tuticorin and Kalkulam made in 1616 and 1617.