Autopsy Report on the body of St. Francis Xavier performed in June 1951

This report can be found in ANNEX II of "The Denaming of Goans, Case Studies of Conversions in Medieval Goa".
The autopsy was performed by Dr. Antonio Luis de Sousa Sobrinho, Director of the Services of Health and Hygiene and Professor Dr. João Manuel Pacheco de Figueiredo, Director of the Medical and Surgical School of Goa.

ANNEX 2: Autopsy report

Document of the Exam of the Venerable Body of St. Francis Xavier. (Confidential). On the 23^rd of June 1951, at 8:30, upon the invitation of His Excellency Reverend Patriarch of the Indies, D. José da Costa Nunes, in the Sacristy of the Basilica of the Bom Jesus, the doctors Antonio Luis de Sousa Sobrinho, Director of the Services of Health and Hygiene of the Estado da Índia, and João Manuel Pacheco de Figueiredo, Director of the Medical and Surgical School of Goa, met in order to proceed to examine the venerable Body of St. Francis Xavier that was closed inside the coffin of wood arranged on a table. The seals were broken and the coffin was opened by His Excellency Reverend the Patriarch, His Excellency in Charge of General Government, Dr. Manuel Marques de Abrantes Amaral and His Excellency the Reverend Archbishop Coadjutor (Assistant) D. José Vieira Alvernaz, Archbishop of Anazartha, being present also the Reverend Canon Aires Franklin de Sa, Administrator of the Basilica, who observed that the Body of the Saint was found dressed in his sacerdotal vestments with the head flexed towards the thorax and the left forearm and hand with its fingers half flexed, resting transversally across the chest. The objective of the exam was directed in first place to those accessible regions, that is, those not covered by the vestments, like the head, left hand, and the feet.

HEAD: The occipital and parietal left sides are denuded [bare] but
perfectly conserved. The parietal and frontal sides present themselves dressed in dry withered skin with some signs of destruction on them and there are seen a few rare hairs attached to the body by skin, where they appear to be encrusted. The side presents a perforation underneath the right arch. The prominence of the molar regions and that of the ocular globes is conserved, being able to distinguish the eyelids of the right eye. The small nose is well conserved, being the right nasal bone dislocated backwards and the earlobe of the same side a little worn out. The orifices of the nasal passages are visible. The relief of the mouth is conserved, the lips half open, with the musculature and skin in the direction of destruction, leaving to see the distinctiveness of the inferior incisors, small and regular, being the second left one dislocated backwards. Rare hairs of the beard on the left side being, like on the head, attached with skin to the body. The right ear is conserved. The outer lobe of the right ear doesn’t exist, noting in the temporal maxillary region, of the same side, in consequence of the destruction of skin, three large orifices, one of which the major one, corresponds to the location of the implantation of the outer lobe. Across these orifices are clearly visible the bones.

LEFT HAND: Resting with palm side on the chest, with the fingers half-flexed, muscular substances and conserved skin. Dorsal side: some flexible tendons are distinguishable, being most clear and prominent at the extension of the index finger. Only the thumb finger has a nail.

Palm Side: some flexible tendons are clearly distinguishable, with little flexibility of the veins.

LEFT FOOT: Dorsal side. Conserved masses of muscles, the tendons distinctive and the skin withered. The first and fifth toes are complete and with nails; absent are the digital bones on the second toe; the third toe is reduced to a plain morsel of cutaneous (pertaining to the skin) place; it is missing the bones and the fourth toe doesn’t have skin on the dorsal side. The sole of the foot is very well conserved, as well as the muscular masses that cover the heel that is on the path of destruction.

RIGHT FOOT: Of reformed aspect and in forced extension . The heel is dislocated inside. It does not have the last four toes. By the opening, the result is that they don’t exist, the insteps are visible, the muscle masses conserved, minus the posterior part which is destroyed in part and with faded skin. Some tendons are distinguishable, the big toe is prominent and without a nail. The major part of the skin of the sole is conserved.

Accordingly, by determination of His Excellency, the Reverend Patriarch, the vestments that covered the anterior part of the body were removed and he observed:

1. The head was disarticulated, completely free resting on a pillow cushion and the cranial cavity empty.
2. The left hand is articulated (joined) with the two bones of the forearm, maintaining the wholeness and articulation of the wrist. The bones of the forearm are losing their covered skin, of which was noted the third inferior, with small pieces of destruction.
3. Maintained whole is the tibia joint of both sides of the inferior members, like on the forearm, the bones — tibia and fibula — on both sides, are covered in skin, with zones of destruction, only on the third inferior.
4. The left tibia and fibula, in the superior extremity, are still conserved.
5. The two femurs, have regressed to some small pieces of skin, and the kneecaps are jointed with the bones of the leg for half the length.
6. Deposited in the central part of the coffin we found the following bones: a bone of the sternum, two clavicle bones, the left omoplate, the humer, 2 fragments of the ribs, 21 vertebrae (4 cervical, 12 dorsal, and 5 lombar) the sacrum, and the two ilialic bones with only 5 lumbar vertebra and the last dorsal jointed.
7. Various discoloured pieces of skin, of which 5 were large, seeing clearly that the major was of the buttocks region. In order to reconstitute the skeleton, all the existing portions and those already mentioned were collected in order on a table, being for this end to arrange a wire in the vertebrae cavities to connect them. Reconstituting the skeleton by juxtaposing the bones, it was observed that the Body of the Saint, measured from the extremity of the first toe of the left foot to the top of the head, was 171 centimetres in length, and 162 centimetres when measured from head to the heel. Finally, all the parts of the Body, in appropriate order, but not jointed, and the 5 pieces of skin, were placed in the coffin and covered by the vestments that had been removed by reason of the exam. We declare that the Body doesn’t present any sign of putrefaction, nor of a bad smell. In the duration of the exam, several photographs were taken by J.P. Guerra.

From this exam, the minutes of this present act are drawn that is signed by us. Old Goa, Basilica of Bom Jesus, on the 23^rd of June 1951. Signed: Antonio Luis de Souza Sobrinho, João Manuel Pacheco de Figueiredo and José Vieira Alvernaz, Archbishop of Anarta

The Last Prabhu reviewed in The Navhind Times

The last Prabhu: A story from Aldona

https://www.navhindtimes.in/2020/04/21/magazines/buzz/the-last-prabhu-a-story-from-aldona/

Pdf file of Frederick Noronha's review of The Denaming of Goans

Some readers have requested me to post the extensive review rather than just the link. I have copy/pasted the document and generated a pdf file that is posted below:

• MagazinesPanorama

So, what were conversions all about?

By NT Desk - 2022-01-30 0 82

Frederick Noronha

Religious conversions have become a hot issue of discussion in today’s political discourse. This is because different religions take diverse approaches to it (from open conversions to embrace-and-extend kind of conversions). Besides, proselytising of some kinds are seen as unacceptable in South Asia.

In this context, a just-released book called ‘The Denaming of Goans: Case Studies of Conversions in Medieval Goa’ that discusses contentious topics, comes at a critical juncture and is likely to rustle more than a few feathers.

Its author, Bernardo Elvino de Sousa (77), traces his roots to the village of Aldona but is based in Switzerland. His training is in Chemistry but he writes with passion about History. This is like another expat Goan, the US-based Themistocles D’Silva, who has written a couple of books on the history of the tiny yet colourful village of Arossim in the Mormugao taluka. (Sousa has a PhD in organic photochemistry and spent a lifetime working for giants like Ciba-Geigy.)

Like the proverbial glass which is half-full or half-empty, one can read this book any which way. Depending on our own biases, it is possible to come to very conflicting conclusions about its contents.

‘The Denaming of Goans: Case Studies of Conversions in Medieval Goa’ consists of fifteen chapters. All, except Chapters 1, 13, 14, and 15 are case studies of different experiences in changing one’s religion or having it changed. Sousa goes in depth into the issue, sometimes basing his conclusions on the writings of other authors.

It is interesting how simply emphasising another set of writers can totally alter one’s perspective. It has been said: What you see depends on where you stand.

Unlike many scholars who have focussed on this topic earlier, Sousa chooses a wider range of authors, and his location in Western Europe obviously makes this easier for him to do. Unlike some books which shaped and heated the Goa debate intensely (Priolkar’s ‘Goa Inquisition’, Gomes Pereira’s ‘The Hindu Temples of Goa’), this one might be a bit more complex to use to score political points and build campaigns over. Simply because it reminds us that life is far more complex than we’d like to believe.

One gets a hint of what is to come from the introduction of the book itself.

Sousa notes that religious conversions in those times meant complete and all-encompassing change. It changed identities, names, culture, deities, rituals, places of worship, eating habits, restrictions and taboos, the musical instruments one used, clothing, and “even hairstyles”.

Yet, he hints, nobody “except a wet baby” likes change. The clue to why this nonetheless happened perhaps lies in understanding the WIIFM (or, the What’s In It For Me) question.

Sousa writes: “Why did the son of my ancestor Ramu Prabhu belonging to the fourth vangad of Aldona’s comunidade convert and take the name of Agostinho Sousa? Why did the Hindus generally speaking accept to convert: was it due to bribery, threats or torture as Priolkar suggests, or other forms of duress? Or, for the poorer sections of society, was it a means of escape from brahmanical subservience? And why did people belonging to the higher castes of Brahmins and Chardos convert? Were there win-win situations where the converts stood to benefit from a change in religion? Or for all these reasons and more? In short, what was in it for them?”

He elaborates the stories from those times through case studies.

But he also cautions the reader to consider each case on its own merit. Sousa clearly mentions: “No claim is made that these cases cover all possible causes but I am confident that they should encompass those that led to at least a majority of the conversions.”

From there, Sousa looks at the diverse stories of changes of faiths. The first converts of Goa, he points out, were the Muslim widows forcibly married to Portuguese men in the early stages of their rule here. He calls this “Albuquerque’s failed experiment with interracial marriages”.

Interesting, this side of the story seldom if ever features in the current discourse. Obviously, this is mainly because it doesn’t fit into the political narrative sought to be built on the back of a selective reading of history.

From there, Sousa studies the conversion of a prominent local leader in Chorao. He presents a story of how alien rule offered him opportunity in times of adversity. Financial pressures in the life of Loco Sinai (who became Lucas de Sa) coming from entirely different quarters were warded off through a strategic switch of religion.

A case of a group’s return to Aldona and the conversion of a rajah of the Malabar Coast are also focused on. Sousa calls the conversions of the gaunkars of Carambolim “a pragmatic decision of convenience”. In another case, he sees it as stories of “espionage and betrayal” or even slaves paying the price for the freedom. The exploitation of children, racism of the European clergy, and betrayals are among the other issues tackled.

Goa has been rather polarised in its approaches towards its past. In the pre-1961 era, everything (or almost) was written from a pro-Portuguese perspective. Today, the boot is on the other foot. If one reads the works influenced by colonial, anti-monarchial, religious, anti-clerical, Free Masonic, and radical perspectives, you would almost feel as if you’re reading perspectives on many different places. Not the same region.

Rowena Robinson, an earlier researcher in the field, has quoted the many reasons for which people opted to change their religion, as given by different authors. These range from the voluntary (Heras, D’Costa), to material rewards combined with threats of violence and torture (Priolkar, RP Rao, Rui Gomes Pereira), the Inquisition (Priolkar), and a choice between “the cross and the sword” (BG D’Souza).

Boxer pointed to the “carrot and stick”, Pearson suggested that Portuguese rules were tempered by political realities (religious intolerance in Diu was reduced as the Portuguese feared the influential trading caste of the vanias or banias would leave, bringing commerce to a standstill). Diffie and Winius argue that the goal was military rather than commercial.

Late historian Teotonio R de Souza has contended meanwhile that village-life centred around the temple and “every activity was initiated and concluded with offerings to family and village deities” thus “conversions altered social life in significant ways”.

This book, for some time available on Amazon only as an ebook in our parts of the globe, makes the debate more accessible. It opens up more inaccessible earlier studies and connects the same in interesting ways. In doing so, it carries with it the risk of repeating some of the biases of the past. Or even some coming up from us ourselves.

For instance, writers from Goa and beyond seem outraged by the attitudes of figures from the past (including Francis Xavier) whether on race or their faith. But, as this book’s subtitle reminds us, if some such attitudes seemed Medieval… it’s because they were Medieval!

What’s nice about this brief book is its ability to weave history into a story. But how our politics and academia will see and interpret this is anyone’s guess.

Frederick Noronha's review of The Denaming of Goans in The Navhind Times of 30.01.2022

 Here is the link to Frederick Noronha's review in The Navhind Times of 30th January 2022  of my book "The Denaming of Goans, Case Studies of Conversions in Medieval Goa":

https://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=73052&date=2022-01-30&pageid=1

Colorado police solve four decades-old homicide cold cases with DNA from exhumed killer

 https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/28/us/colorado-dna-cold-case-killer-id/index.html

Paperback format of THE DENAMING OF GOANS, Case Studies of Conversions in Medieval Goa

I am happy to announce to readers in India that paperback copies of The Denaming of Goans, Case Studies of Conversions in Medieval Goa will be available from the Book Depository bookstore in about six weeks from today and can be ordered online:

https://www.bookdepository.com/

Book Depository distributes books worldwide including to India and delivery is free.

Paperbacks of my title THE LAST PRABHU, A Hunt for Roots: DNA, Ancient Documents and Migration in Goa can be ordered by readers in India as of now from Book Depository also with free delivery.

Both the books are available on amazon.com in paperback and Kindle eBook formats but please keep in mind that Amazon does not supply paperbacks to India, only Kindle eBooks. 

THE LAST PRABHU in paperback format can also be ordered by readers in India from pothi.com

Prof. Dr. Sandra Fonseca on The Denaming of Goans, Case Studies of Conversions in Medieval Goa

Bernardo Elvino de Sousa’s book, “The denaming of Goans: Case studies of conversions in medieval Goa” is a fascinating, masterful, factual rendering of historical events that unfolded as a result of the Portuguese colonization, conversion and conquest of the island of Goa. Using case studies of key individuals and tipping points, de Sousa provides a window into the lives and identities of the people of Goa, which were significantly disrupted and altered forever. Faced with conversions, the book presents the complexity and paradox of resistance and relenting, loss and gain, and the gut-wrenching choices that people made to protect lives and livelihoods. It is an in-depth analysis that lays out differing perceptions and bare facts that makes the reader think. An eye-opening account that is a must read for anyone interested in history, sociology, religious and political studies.