The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier

by Henry James Coleridge

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

450 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's use of the letters written by St. Francis Xavier to tell the story of his life is very well done, and important in the case of this book because the actual biographical portions written by the author are weak and unconvincing. He inserts a few paragraphs between the letters to provide context and to introduce the letter recipients, but glosses over other things that were happening in the life of Francis and the Jesuits - to include little things like miracles (i.e. bringing people back to life) - this was infuriating, distracting, and confusing. On the other hand, it was interesting to read the perspectives on life in South Asia from five hundred years ago - how some things are similar and some have changed. The racism and superiority (which was actually worse from the 19th Century Brit author) was also evident in the book.