United States or Liechtenstein ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
He said, "That certainly that Pereyra, whom the viceroy had empowered by his letters, was some lord of the court of Portugal, and not James Pereyra, who had been domestic servant to Don Gonsalvo de Cotigno," But that which most disturbed him, was, that, besides the honour of such an embassy, the merchant should make so vast a profit of his wares, which he would sell off at an excessive rate in China.
This surprising sight so wrought upon their minds, that they thought it their duty, not to lay it again into the ground, but rather to contrive the means of transporting it to Goa. Pereyra ordered a coffin to be made of a precious wood, and after they had garnished it with rich China damask, they put the corpse into it, wrapping it in cloth of gold, with a pillow of brocard underneath the head.
And embarking in the ship of Michael Pereyra, on Palm-Sunday, which fell that year, 1545, on the 29th of March, they shaped their course along-the coasts of Coromandel, having at first a favourable wind; but they had not made above twelve or thirteen leagues, when the weather changed on a sudden, and the sea became so rough, that they were forced to make to land, and cast anchor under covert of a mountain, to put their ship into some reasonable security.
In the mean time, all the Portuguese vessels, excepting only the Santa Cruz, which had not yet her whole lading, set sail from Sancian for the Indies. Xavier gave many letters to the merchants, to be delivered both at Malacca and at Goa. He wrote to his friend James Pereyra, in terms which were full of acknowledgment and charity.
The body of the saint was covered with cloth of gold, which was the present of Pereyra, and was placed upon the stern, under a noble canopy, with lighted flambeaux, and rich streamers waving on both sides of it, In this equipage, they rowed towards Goa, but very softly, and in admirable order. All the town was gathered on the shore, in impatient expectation of their loving and good Father.
After a regular examination the correspondent diploma was awarded him. He was married to Donna Petrona Pereyra, daughter of Don Benito Pereyra, a merchant of Corunna. She was at this time just fifteen, and ripening into that slight fullness of form, and roundness of limb, which in that climate mark the early passing from girl into woman.
The mistake of name in regard to Nunno Alvarez Botello was more probable, as he had long gone by the name of Pereyra, in memory of his grandfather Alvarez Pereyra, and had dropped that name for Botello when he inherited the estate of his father, whose name was Botello; yet some continued to call him by the old name, and others gave him the new one.
The governor said, "That in his own person were to be considered the services of the count his father; and that those hundred thousand crowns, which would be gained at least by Pereyra, were a more suitable reward for the son of Atayda, than for the valet de chambre of Cotigno."
James Pereyra not being capable of accompanying the Father to Goa, for the reason above mentioned, furnished him at present with thirty thousand crowns, for the preparatives of that intended voyage; and sent a servant with the Father, with commission to dispose of all things.
This man, having always had a tender affection for the saint, was most sensibly afflicted for his death; and could not think of continuing his voyage to the Moluccas, till he had looked upon the body, of which so many wonders were related. Opening himself on that subject to James Pereyra, and two or three other friends of the dead apostle, they took up his body privately one night.
Word Of The Day