Abstract
This monograph sheds new light on the tensions that surrounded the early modern
idea of Catholic mission by using, as a case study, the perceived breakdown and failure
of the Jesuit mission in Japan under the Portuguese Superior Francisco Cabral
(1533-1609). The problem of salvation in the missionary field came to the fore during
the Japanese mission, forcing the Jesuits to confront their expectations and jeopardising
the paradigm of mission itself. In the 1570s, the efficacy of the religious vows of
poverty, chastity, obedience, which guided the life and work of the Jesuit missionaries,
appeared at risk, threatened by the rising tensions between the salvation of the
missionaries and the salvation of their flock of Japanese Christians. Perceiving the
mission as more and more spiritually polluted, Francisco Cabral faced a deep crisis
that made him question the viability of the whole enterprise. This study considers the
clashes between the Superior and his fellow Jesuits as Cabral attempted to identify
a possible policy that could steer the great growth of the mission in the 1570s while
managing its systematic funding woes. Feeling deserted by his superiors in India and
Europe, distrustful of his brethren, and disillusioned with the Japanese Christians,
Cabral struggled to find any sign that his sacrifices held divine approval. When he
came to the conclusion that even God had abandoned the mission, Cabral’s only solution
to maintain any hope for his own salvation was to leave for India, whence he
opposed with vigour the Japanese mission and its new head, Alessandro Valignano