Today marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Hiroshima is better known, being the first and involving a larger bomb. Yet both bombings stand among the most extreme evils man has inflicted on man.
Much like Goa is the Catholic state of India, Nagasaki is the most Catholic city in Japan. Both owe those titles to a founding member of the Jesuit order, Saint Francis Xavier.
Francis arrived in Goa in 1542 under the orders of King John III of Portugal to re-Christianise the settled Portuguese, who were apparently neglecting their religious duties — perhaps unsurprisingly, as a significant contingent had been made up of Degredados, exiled convicts. Francis would never return to Europe, and Goa marked the beginning of his extraordinary missionary efforts in Asia.
