October 9th

October 9, 1638, was the day the Indian fleet, including the Santa Isabella, finally reached Goa after a grueling five-month voyage from Lisbon. The three young Portuguese priests—Sebastian Rodrigues, Francisco Garrpe, and Juan de Santa Marta—had set sail from the River Tagus on March 25, 1638, bound for a Japan in the throes of a brutal persecution of Christians. Their arrival at Goa, the traditional gateway for missionary work in the East, marked the end of the first, physically punishing leg of their journey and the beginning of a new phase of preparation and waiting.

The Voyage to Goa

The journey from Lisbon to Goa was marked by a series of severe trials. Three days after departing, the Santa Isabella encountered a terrible storm off the west coast of Africa. The ship made port at Porto Santo, then Madeira, and on April 6th reached the Canary Islands, where they faced ceaseless rain and an utterly windless, unbearable heat. Disease broke out, and on the Santa Isabella alone, more than one hundred victims lay moaning on the deck and in the bunks below. Rodrigues and his companions, along with the crew, hastened to tend the sick and help with bloodletting. On July 25th, the feast of Saint James, the ship finally rounded the Cape of Good Hope, only to be struck by another violent wind that broke the mast and crashed it onto the deck. The ship then ran onto a rock and would have sunk without the help of other vessels. After the storm, the wind calmed, leaving the sail lifeless and the sea still under a glaring sun. These mishaps prolonged the journey, causing food and water to become scarce before the ship finally reached its destination on October 9th.

Arrival and News of Japan

Upon arrival in Goa, the three priests were able to obtain more detailed news about Japan than had been possible at home. They learned that in January of the year they had set sail, thirty-five thousand Christians had instigated an insurrection at Shimabara. In the ensuing bloody conflict with the forces of the Bakufu, the rebels—men, women, and children—had been butchered to the last man. The whole district was left desolate, and the remnants of the Christians were being hunted down. The most shocking news for Rodrigues and his companions was that as a result of this war, Japan had cut all trade relations with Portugal, forbidding Portuguese ships from entering its harbors. This realization that they could not be brought to Japan in a Portuguese ship left them feeling desperate as they continued on to Macao.

Significance

The arrival in Goa on October 9th was a pivotal moment, concluding the physical ordeal of the sea journey and confronting the missionaries with the grim reality of their mission. The news of the Shimabara Rebellion and the closure of Japan to Portuguese ships transformed their abstract goal into a concrete, nearly impossible challenge. It was the moment their heroic dream of a glorious mission in Japan collided with the brutal facts of a country sealed off and in the midst of a bloody persecution, setting the stage for the desperate measures they would have to take to enter the country.