Skip to main content

St Francis Xavier Chapel Malindi

. Francis Xavier Chapel, Malindi
St
AN INTERIOR VIEW OF THE ST FRANCIS XAVIER CHAPEL IN MALINDI

Now under The National Museums of Kenya, St. Francis Xavier Chapel is one of Kenya’s most momentous worship sites: a reminder of centuries that have come and gone, a vanguard of the Christian faith in Kenya.
The Arrival Of Vasco Da Gama
On July 8th 1497, three ships left a dock in Lisbon, Portugal, led by prime navigator, Vasco da Gama. His expedition was intent on sailing the fastest route to Calicut, India where they purposed to trade items and eventually spread Christianity in the race for religious dominion. It took them more than nine months to reach Mombasa harbour, where they were not welcome and the fleet was denied port.  
On July 8th 1497, three ships left a dock in Lisbon, Portugal; led by prime navigator, Vasco da Gama. His expedition was intent on sailing the fastest route to Calicut, India, where they purposed to trade items and eventually spread Christianity in the race for religious dominion. It took them more than nine months to reach Mombasa harbour, where they were not welcome and the fleet was denied port.
The Kenyan Coast In The 15th Century
Desperate to anchor ship for a few days for provisions before resuming their journey, the three ships continued to hug the coastline, as they sailed north. Eventually, a welcome was found in the settlement of Malindi, in what is today Kilifi county.
The inhabitants of 15th-century Malindi were ruled by Sheikh al-Bauri, who saw the Portuguese as potential allies in continuing feuds with their neighbours to the south, in Mombasa. It was an era of survival through alliances.
When it was time for da Gama’s crew to set sail for Calicut, the Malindi Sheikh offered two of his best sailing pilots to ensure the Portuguese arrived at their destination safely. But it’s said that the Malindi residents had no knowledge of Christianity, and one of the pilots abandoned ship as soon as he realised this. Vasco da Gama successfully arrived in India in May and, on his return voyage, anchored yet again in Malindi on January 8th, 1499. On one of the trips, the group established a small chapel surrounded by trees not far from the shoreline. With thick walls and a modest frame, the chapel has one small window that opens onto the entrance of the gate. This concept was designed for Christians of another time to spy outside, on anyone approaching the building. More than 500 years later, the nondescript building, with its thatch roof, stands on Riversand Road in Malindi town, surrounded by larger buildings. Visitors are immediately welcomed by the ancient stone pillars which host the names of some of those buried in its grounds.
St. Francis Xavier
The chapel is named St. Francis Xavier Chapel, after one of the founders of the Jesuits, Francis Xavier of Spain, who visited in 1542 on his way to India. St Francis had been commissioned as a missionary to Asia and was later beatified by Pope Paul V on 25 October 1619 and canonized as a saint by Pope Gregory XV. On his saint day – 3 December, many Catholics and other faithful gather in the small chapel to celebrate his works. Its small interior is able to accommodate at least 60 people and is occasionally used from time to time for worship and other celebrations. Despite being abandoned between 1593 and 1893, the chapel and its history have withstood the test of time.

 With thanks to Paukwa



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MORE photos of cricketers in Kenya added

More cricket photos added! Asians v Europeans, v Tanganyika, v Uganda, v East Africa, Rhodesia, etc some names missing! Photo Gallery of Kenya Cricket 23 photos: CM Gracias, Blaise d'Cunha Johnny Lobo! Ramanbhai Patel, Mehboob Ali, Basharat Hassan and hundreds others.  
1 comment
Read more

Pinto: Blood on Western and Kenyan hands

  BOOK REVIEW   Pinto: Blood on Western and Kenyan hands   Review by Cyprian Fernandes     Pio Gama Pinto, Kenya’s Unsung Martyr 1927-1965 Edited by Shiraz Durrani [Vita Books, Kenya, 2018, 392 pp.   Pbk, £30, ISBN 978-9966-1890-0-4; distributed worldwide by African Books Collective, www.africanbookscollective.com ]   Less than two years after independence from the British, on 24 February 1965, the Kenyan nationalist Pio Gama Pinto was gunned down in the driveway of his Nairobi home.   His young daughter watched helplessly in the back seat of the family car.   Pinto, a Member of Parliament at the time, was Kenya’s first political martyr.   One man was wrongly accused of his death, served several years in prison and was later released and compensated.   Since then no one has been charged with the murder.   Now the long-awaited book on Pio Gama Pinto is finally here, launched in Nairobi on 16 October 2018....
Post a Comment
Read more

The sanctuaries trying to save birds of prey from extinction in Kenya

  The sanctuaries trying to save birds of prey from extinction in Kenya (Courtesy of Al Jazeera) Poison, deforestation and power lines have pushed the African raptor population to a 90 per cent decline in the last 40 years. Raptor technician John Kyalo Mwanzia rehabilitates a juvenile fish eagle to flight after it was treated for grounding injuries sustained in a territorial fight at the Lake Naivasha habitat, at Soysambu Raptor Centre. [Tony Karumba/AFP] Simon Thomsett tentatively removes a pink bandage from the wing of an injured bateleur, a short-tailed eagle from the African savannah, where birds of prey are increasingly at risk of extinction. “There is still a long way to go before healing,” Thomsett explains as he lifts up the bird’s dark feathers and examines the injury. “It was injured in the Maasai Mara national park, but we don’t know how,” says the 62-year-old vet who runs the Soysambu Raptor Centre in central Kenya. The 18-month-old eagle, with a dist...
Post a Comment
Read more