St. Paul's Church

 

St Paul's Church locates on the top of St Paul's Hill which was originally named as Malacca Hill. Long time ago, it was a chapel and was known to the Portuguese in Malacca as the Chapel of Mother of God. The current address of the location is Jalan Kota, Bandar Hilir, 75000 Melaka.

It is a famous landmark in Maleka. It may take some time to climb to the church especially during hot weather day. However, even it is exposed during climbing to the church and it actually has been ruined, it is still attractive.

Tn the grounds of St. Paul’s is a marble statue of St. Francis Xavier that was built in 1953. The first thing you notice is that the saint is missing his half of his right arm. St. Francis Xavier was a Catholic missionary who translated the Bible into Malay and was a pioneer in spreading Catholicism across Southeast Asia. During his lifetime it was said that he performed several miracles. He died 1552 and his body was temporarily placed in a burial vault here for nine months. In December 1553 his remains were moved to Goa in India.

The marble statue of St. Francis Xavier.

His right forearm was used during his lifetime to bless and baptize his converts. In 1614 this was detached by Priest Gen.Claudio Acquaviva so it could be shipped to Rome. This was to allow the Pope to canonize (make a saint) St. Francis Xavier. Legend says that a miracle occurred and blood began to drip from the wound.

And there is an interesting story behind this marble statue.

The current white marble statue was installed on 22nd March, 1953 to commemorate pioneering missionary work across Southeast Asia while based at Melaka from 1545 to 1552. The next day a large Casuarinas tree fell and snapped off St. Francis Xavier’s right arm! So he has lost his right arm twice!