to the praises of the
saint, upon the truth of his predictions, and could not hold from
publishing, that it was he who had obtained from heaven this wonderful
success.

The burden of these praises did no less hasten the saint's intended
voyage to Goa, than the necessity of those affairs which called him
thither. He had remained four months together at Malacca, since his
return from the Moluccas, and was just on his departure, when the ships,
which early come from China, arrived in the port. A Japonese, whose name
was Anger, came with these vessels, expressly to see Xavier. He was about
thirty-five years of age, rich, nobly born, and one whose life had been
sufficiently libertine. The Portuguese, who two years before had made the
discovery of Japan, had been acquainted with him at Cangoxirna, the place
of his birth, and understood, from his own mouth, that, having been much
troubled with the remembrance of the sins of his youth, he had retired
himself amongst the solitary Bonzes; but that neither the solitude, nor
the conversation of those heathen priests, had been able to restore him
the tranquillity of his soul, and that thereupon he had returned into the
world, more disquieted than ever with his remorse of conscience.

Some other Portuguese merchants, who at that time came to Cangoxima, and
who had seen Father Francis at Malacca, the first voyage he had made
thither, made an intimate acquaintance and friendship with Anger. And
this Japonese, discovering to them the perplexity of his soul, which
augmented daily more and more, they told him that in Malacca there was a
religious man, eminent for his holy life, well experienced in the conduct
of souls, and most proper to settle his perplexed conscience; and that if
he would try this remedy, they would facilitate the means to him, and
bring him to the saint, of whom they had spoken: That it was Father
Francis Xavier, their friend, the refuge of sinners, and comforter of
troubled minds.

Anger found himself possessed with a strong desire of going to see the
holy man; but the length of the voyage, which was 800 leagues, the
dangers of a tempestuous sea, and the considerations of his family,
somewhat cooled him. A troublesome affair, which he had upon his hands at
the same time, at length resolved him. For, having killed a man in a
quarrel, and being pursued by justice, he could not find a more secure
retreat than the ships of Portugal, nor a surer way of preserving his
li