Feast of Saint James

The Feast of Saint James, observed on July 25, became a pivotal marker in the arduous sea journey of the three Portuguese missionaries—Sebastian Rodrigues, Francisco Garrpe, and Juan de Santa Marta—who had set sail from Lisbon on March 25, 1638, aboard the Santa Isabella. On this specific date, after months of storms, disease, and calms, the ship at last rounded the Cape of Good Hope. The event was not a moment of relief but the onset of a new crisis: a violent wind arose, snapping the mast, which crashed onto the deck with a rending sound. Even the sick and the missionaries were summoned to rescue the foresail from the same peril. Scarcely had they succeeded when the ship ran onto a rock; only the assistance of other vessels prevented the Santa Isabella from sinking then and there. This feast day thus marked a critical turning point in the journey, a moment when the missionaries' physical endurance and their reliance on divine providence were tested to the limit, foreshadowing the far greater trials that awaited them in Japan.

The Voyage and Its Context

The three priests had departed from the River Tagus with the blessing of Bishop Joao Dasco, part of the Indian fleet. Their mission was to reach Japan secretly, to investigate the rumored apostasy of their revered teacher, Christovao Ferreira, and to sustain the persecuted Christian community. The journey around Africa to India was fraught with dangers: a terrible storm off the West Coast of Africa three days after departure, a windless calm at the Canary Islands that brought unbearable heat, and an outbreak of disease that left over a hundred victims moaning on the deck of the Santa Isabella alone. Rodrigues and his companions, along with the crew, tended the sick and helped bleed them. By the time they reached the Cape of Good Hope on July 25, the Feast of Saint James, the ship had already been battered and the men exhausted.

The Feast Day Crisis

The storm that struck on July 25 was the most violent yet. The mast broke and fell, and the ship ran aground on a rock. The missionaries, already weakened by their labors among the sick, were forced to work alongside the sailors to save the foresail. The fact that the ship survived only because of help from other vessels underscored the fragility of their enterprise. After the storm, the wind died completely, leaving the sail lifeless and the sea flat. The sick lay like dead men on the deck under the glaring sun, and the days that followed were marked by heat, scarcity of food and water, and the slow passage of time. These mishaps prolonged the journey considerably; the Santa Isabella did not reach its destination, Goa, until October 9, 1638.

Significance for the Missionaries

For Rodrigues, Garrpe, and Santa Marta, the Feast of Saint James became a symbol of the relentless suffering that defined their calling. The event deepened their awareness that the path to Japan was not a glorious adventure but a gauntlet of physical and spiritual trials. It also reinforced their bond with the long line of missionaries who had preceded them, men like Francis Xavier, who had faced similar storms and calms on the same sea. The feast day thus served as a moment of both crisis and continuity, linking their personal ordeal to the larger history of the Japanese mission. The memory of that day—the broken mast, the rock, the rescue—would remain with Rodrigues as he later faced the far more terrible silence of God in the prisons and torture chambers of Nagasaki.