Saint Joseph de Anchieta

José de Anchieta Llarena was born on 19 March 1534 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain, to a well-off family. His father, Juan López de Anchieta, was a landowner from Urrestilla, in the Basque country, who had escaped to Tenerife after taking part in a failed rebellion against King Charles V. His mother, Mencia Díaz de Clavijo y Llarena, a descendant of the conquerors of Tenerife, came from a Jewish family and was related to the family of Ignatius Loyola.

Anchieta went to study in Portugal when he was 14 years old, in the Royal College of Arts in Coimbra. He was intensely religious and sought admission in 1551 to the Jesuit College of the University of Coimbra as a novice. During his studies, the young Anchieta became quite ill, with an affliction of the spine which tormented him throughout his life, but he was considered an exceptionally intelligent student and a gifted poet. He learned to write in Portuguese and Latin as well as in his mother tongue.

In 1553 Anchieta travelled to Brazil as a missionary of the third group of Jesuits sent to the New World, accompanying Duarte da Costa, the second governor-general nominated by the Portuguese crown. After a perilous journey and a shipwreck, Anchieta and his small group arrived in São Vicente, the first village founded in Brazil, in 1534. There, he had his first contact with the Tapuia Indians living in the region.

In the same year, Anchieta with 12 other Jesuits were sent to a plateau in the Serra do Mar and there established a small mission station. Here, Anchieta began, with his Jesuit colleagues, the work of conversion, baptism and catechesis and education for which the Jesuits were well known. Anchieta taught Latin to the Indians and began to learn their language, Old Tupi, and to compile a dictionary and a grammar, which was the custom of Jesuit missions whenever they made contact with a local people. The Jesuit College of São Paulo of Piratininga, as it was called, soon began to expand and to prosper.

Meanwhile, due to the killings and ransacking of villages by the Portuguese colonisers, the local tribes in present-day Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo united in a confederation against them and supported the French colonisers. Anchieta, who was totally opposed to the Portuguese behaviour, strongly opposed Governor-general Duarte and initiated peace negotiations with Tamao people during which his knowledge of the Tupi language was crucial.

After many incidents during which Anchieta and his colleague, Manuel da Nobrega, were almost killed by the native people, he finally gained their confidence and peace was established.

Peace was broken, however, when it was decided to expel the French colonisers permanently. Anchieta was with the Portuguese forces, acting as both surgeon and interpreter, and took part in the final, victorious battle against the French in 1567.

With the coming of peace, a Jesuit college was founded in Rio de Janeiro under the direction of da Nóbrega and Anchieta was invited to join him, succeeding him after his death, in 1570.

Despite his precarious health and the hardships of travelling by foot and boat, for the next 10 years Anchieta travelled widely between Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Espírito Santo and São Paulo, consolidating the expanding missionary work of the Jesuit missions. In 1577 the fourth superior general of the Jesuits, Everard Mercurian, appointed Anchieta provincial superior of the order’s members in Brazil.

With his health in decline, Anchieta asked to be relieved from his respnsibilities in 1591. He died in his country of adoption on 9 June 1597, at Reritiba, Espírito Santo, mourned by more than 3,000 native peoples, who so much valued all he had done for them both spiritually and in the promotion of their human dignity.

During and after his life, José de Anchieta was considered to have almost supernatural powers. Many legends formed around him, such as when he supposedly preached to and calmed down an attacking jaguar. To this day, a popular devotion holds that praying to Anchieta protects against animal attacks.

José de Anchieta is celebrated as the founder of Brazilian literature and, with da Nóbrega, Apostle of Brazil. He has given his name to two cities, Anchieta, in the State of Espírito Santo (formerly called Reritiba, his place of death), and Anchieta, in the state of Santa Catarina, as well as many other places, roads, institutions, hospitals, and schools.

He was canonized on April 3, 2014 by Pope Francis.

In the Jesuit tradition, Anchieta kept in constant touch with his superiors in Europe, communicating mainly by letters, writing in perfect Spanish, Portuguese, Latin and Tupi. He also wrote theology, religious instruction, drama poetry, and the first published work on the Old Tupi language.

He was a writer of music and a dramatist, teaching Christianity to the local people through music and theatre. He wrote a famous poem to the Virgin Mary, allegedly writing it every morning on the wet sand of a beach at Iperoig and committing it to memory until he could much later transcribe its more than 4,900 verses to paper. Because of all this, Anchieta is the patron of

literature and music in Brazil. He was also a keen naturalist, describing several hitherto unknown plants and animals, and was an excellent surgeon and physician.

His clear and detailed reports help us now to understand the lifestyle, knowledge and customs of the native peoples and Europeans during his time, as well as the marvels of Brazil’s wildlife and geography.

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Saint Colmcille (Columba), Abbot

Colmcille (also Columcille or Colum Cille) was born on 7 December, 521, near Lough Gartan in County Donegal, in the northwest of Ireland. On his father’s side he was a great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, a high king of Ireland in the 5th century. His original name was Crimthann, meaning ‘fox’. He could have been called that because of his red hair. Colmcille (Dove of the Church) was the name given to him as a monk and he is also known as Columba, the Latin word for ‘dove’.

Already in his time in Ireland, there were many monastic settlements which were centres of learning and holiness. He began his studies at the monastery of Moville in County Down, which had been founded by St Finian. He later studied at the famous monastery of Clonard, near Kinnegad in County Meath, which was founded by another St Finian (no relation to the first). In the 540s, Clonard was regarded as one of the finest centres of learning in Europe. It is said that the average number of scholars under instruction at Clonard was about 3,000. Twelve students who studied under St Finian became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and Colmcille was one of these. There he became a monk and was ordained as a priest. It was also there that he met St Ciaran, who later founded Clonmacnoise, another famous monastery on the banks of the River Shannon. From there, Colmcille moved to the monastery of Glasnevin (near Dublin), founded by St Mobhi, where he met many learned and holy people.

Legend has it that around the year 560, Colmcille became involved in a quarrel with St Finian of Moville over a book of the psalms. Colmcille copied the original at the scriptorium (the place in the monastery where texts were hand copied), intending to keep the copy for himself. Finian disputed Colmcille’s right to keep it. The dispute became so serious that it resulted in armed conflict, the Battle of Cul Dreimhne in 561, in which many lost their lives, but Colmcille was able to keep his copy. The book has since become known as the Cathach or ‘Battle Book’ of St Columba. Legend has it that a special shrine (Cumhdach) was made for the Cathach. Following the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, it was taken to France by the O’Donnell family (also from Donegal), but was brought back to Ireland in 1813. It is now in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin and is the oldest surviving manuscript of the Psalms.

A synod of clerics and scholars threatened to excommunicate Colmcille for the deaths in the battle, but St Brendan of Birr spoke up for him with the result that he was allowed to go into exile. Colmcille suggested that he would work as a missionary in Scotland to help convert as many people as had been killed in the battle. He left Ireland in 563 with 12 companions for the west coast of Scotland, “wishing to be a pilgrim for Christ”.

It is said that he first landed at the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, near Southend. However, as he was still in sight of Ireland, he moved further north up the west coast of Scotland. He was granted land on the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland which became the centre of his evangelising mission to the Picts. But there were also many Irish emigres who had been in the area for a long time. He provided the only centre of literacy in the region, and his reputation for holiness led to his role as a peacemaker between the tribes. There are also many stories of miracles in his missionary work. He later played a major role in the politics of Scotland. He founded several churches in the Hebrides, and worked to turn his monastery at Iona into a school for missionaries. He wrote many hymns and is credited with transcribing 300 books. He seems to have returned to Ireland only once, towards the end of his life, to found the monastery at Durrow, a few kilometres north of Tullamore in the Irish midlands. The site at Durrow was given to him by the King of the southern Ui Neill kingdom of Tethbe. Durrow (Dearmach), means ‘Field of the Oaks’.

Other monasteries said to have been founded by him were at Raphoe and Kells. The latter was to rival and later surpass Durrow as a centre for piety and culture (both monasteries produced the famous manuscripts carrying their names). After this, he founded Clonmore in County Meath. Later he made a foundation on Lambay Island, off the coast of County Dublin. The site opposite Lambay had a well that was renowned for its clear water. Colmcille blessed the well, which was called sord, an old word meaning ‘pure’. Because of this the monastery became known as Sord Colmcille, from which the present town of Swords in County Dublin gets its name.

Colmcille died on Iona in the abbey he had founded on 9 June, 597. Iona remains today a very popular place for pilgrimage.

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