But this negative evidence is by no means all. There is also
positive evidence--direct testimony from the Jesuit order
itself--that Xavier wrought no miracles.
For not only did neither Xavier nor his co-workers know
anything of the mighty works afterward attributed to him, but the
highest contemporary authority on the whole subject, a man in the
closest correspondence with those who knew most about the saint,
a member of the Society of Jesus in the highest standing and one of
its accepted historians, not only expressly tells us that Xavier
wrought no miracles, but gives the reasons why he wrought none.
This man was Joseph Acosta, a provincial of the Jesuit
order, its visitor in Aragon, superior at Valladolid, and finally
rector of the University of Salamanca. In 1571, nineteen years
after Xavier's death, Acosta devoted himself to writing a work
mainly concerning the conversion of the Indies, and in this he
refers especially and with the greatest reverence to Xavier,
holding him up as an ideal and his work as an example.
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