“A Saint Displayed”
Life, January 13, 1953, in a picture story under the above heading told of the display of the remains of Francis Xavier, at the tiny Portuguese colony of Goa in India. Xavier died in December, 1552, and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint seventy years later, in 1622. At this recent display of his body, marking the four hundredth anniversary of his death, thousands of pilgrims, mostly from India, came to venerate him and kiss his feet. It is claimed that the body is in a remarkable state of preservation, and to still further preserve it it is to be hermetically sealed in a huge glass-windowed silver sarcophagus.
Not all of Xavier’s body rests in this silver coffin. Life tells that the right arm was severed in 1614 and dismembered; the fore arm being taken to Rome, to a specially built altar, and the rest of it being sent to the Far East. In a comment on a picture of a pilgrim bending over to kiss Xavier’s foot, we are told that the priest held the foot “to prevent repetition of incident of 1554 when Isabel de Carone bit off little toe on right foot. She finally returned part of toe. It is kept in a small silver reliquary [that is, in a little silver receptacle of its own]. But rest of toe is still in possession of Doña Isabel’s family in Portugal.” Thus we have part of Xavier’s well preserved remains in Goa, India, part in Rome, part in Portugal and part in the Far East; and everywhere venerated.
Why this veneration of Xavier’s remains? Because he has been designated one of the “saints,” who, in the strict Roman Catholic sense of the word, are “those who have received the official approval of the Church for public veneration, this approval being given because of the holy and virtuous lives which these persons lived on earth, and the attestation of God by certified miracles obtained through their intercession.”—Catholic Almanac.
And why was Xavier designated a “saint”? Because he was, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, ‘the greatest missionary since the apostles, displayed great zeal, performed wonderful miracles and brought a very great number of souls to the Catholic Church.’
Do we find any precedent in the Scriptures for such veneration of the remains of any human creature, regardless of what his works may have been? As far as God’s law to the Israelites was concerned, a dead body was unclean and whoever touched it was unclean. (Num. 9:10) Their greatest prophet was Moses, but, so far from authorizing the Israelites to venerate his body, God himself disposed of it, thereby precluding their venerating it even if they had desired to do so.—Deut. 34:6; Jude 9.
Certainly the early Christian congregation had its faithful workers, performers of miracles and martyrs, such as Stephen and the apostle James, but do we have as much as even a hint that their remains were venerated? Not going into a discussion as to the validity of the miracles attributed to Francis Xavier, there can be no doubt that Paul did even greater missionary work and performed more miracles, yet there is no record of his body’s being venerated. We cannot escape it, veneration directed to the creature, whether dead or alive, and regardless of how good he may have been, detracts from proper worship to Jehovah God and therefore is to be condemned. “Even those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created, who is blessed forever. Amen.”—Rom. 1:25, NW.
And I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs. . . . They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth.—Rev. 16:13, 14, NW.