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Francisco Garrpe
Father Ferreira is a former Portuguese missionary priest who led the Christian movement for 20 years in Japan before the harsh persecution of Christians began in the country. Although once a revered member of the Catholic Church, Ferreira apostatizes before Inoue before the story begins, and learning the reason for his apostasy becomes one of the primary motivations of Rodrigues and Garrpe’s mission to Japan. Rodrigues does not meet Ferreira until the end of the story, but when he does, discovers that Ferreira is indeed an apostate and lives in Nagasaki as a Japanese man with a Japanese wife and family, and has been enlisted by Inoue to convince Rodrigues to apostatize. When Rodrigues sees him, Ferreira looks to him like a whipped, broken animal, and he observes that Ferreira goes to great lengths to justify his present work translating scientific texts by claiming that it serves the Japanese people. Ferreira explains to Rodrigues that after 20 years of missionary work, he finally realized that Christianity, as a Western religion, is simply incompatible with the Eastern culture of Japan. The Japanese people have no concept of transcendent beings and so cannot conceive of God or Jesus Christ in the way that Christianity defines them. Ferreira believes that the version of Christianity that did grow in Japan was so distorted as to not be Christianity at all. Although Rodrigues is not entirely convinced by Ferreira’s argument, Ferreira ultimately convinces the priest to apostatize by showing him that his own arrogant refusal to release his convictions brings suffering on the Japanese people—the same people Rodrigues is meant to help.
Christovao Ferreira / Sawano Chuan Quotes in Silence
The Silence quotes below are all either spoken by Christovao Ferreira / Sawano Chuan or refer to Christovao Ferreira / Sawano Chuan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Prologue Quotes
Their plan was to make their way into Japan in the throes of persecution in order to carry on an underground missionary apostolate and to atone for the apostasy of Ferreira which had so wounded the honor of the Church.
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The priests formulate their mission into Japan after word reaches the Portuguese Catholic Church that Father Ferreira, a great leader in the missionary movement, has apostatized. Significantly, there is no mention of saving or rescuing Ferreira, only covering for the shame the Church feels over his betrayal. The priests’ desire to “atone” for the embarrassment that Ferreira has brought upon the Church reveals that the Church has a great deal of institutional pride; it values its reputation highly and seeks to defend it. Such institutional pride, even arrogance, informs the religious arrogance that Father Rodrigues personally carries within himself, which Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt.
Chapter 7 Quotes
“[Ferreira’s] translating books of astronomy and medicine; he’s helping the sick; he’s working for other people. Think of this too: as the old bonze [monk] keeps reminding Chuan, the path of mercy means simply that you abandon self. Nobody should worry about getting others into his religious sect.”
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When Rodrigues finally meets Ferreira, he discovers that Ferreira truly is an apostate, living in Nagasaki and translating texts for the Japanese government. An accompanying monk helps the disgraced former-priest make his case. The assertion that Ferreira is of more use as a Japanese apostate than he was as a Portuguese missionary adds yet another element to the discussion around whether Christianity ought to have any place in Japan, positing that all the labors of the priests could perhaps be better spent elsewhere. Although Rodrigues never agrees to this proposition, the fact that it is included once again displays the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus
Chapter 8 Quotes
“You make yourself more important than them. You are preoccupied with your own salvation. If you say that you will apostatize, those people will be taken out of the pit. This will be saved from suffering. And you refuse to do so. It’s because you dread to betray the Church. You dread to be the dregs of the Church, like me.”
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Ferreira makes his final appeal to Rodrigues to apostatize. Outside of Rodrigues’s cell, both men can hear the moans of Japanese Christians being tortured for Rodrigues’s refusal to apostatize. Ferreira’s condemnation of Rodrigues’s faithfulness reveals that, although Rodrigues is trying to be loyal to Christ, his refusal to break is also rooted in his own arrogance. Rodrigues does not want to smear his own name. He does not want to be despised rather than venerated, nor does he want to betray his God. even if it means that other people must suffer and die. The religious arrogance that has plagued Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impe
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Christovao Ferreira / Sawano Chuan Character Timeline in Silence
The timeline below shows where the character Christovao Ferreira / Sawano Chuan appears in Silence. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
The Roman Catholic Church receives word that Father Christovao Ferreira was tortured in “the pit” and made to apostatize (renounce his faith) in Nagasaki, Japan....
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The Church possesses a letter Ferreira wrote in 1632 from Nagasaki, describing the courage of the Japanese Christians and the torture...
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The Church struggles to understand how such a great leader as Ferreira could have been defeated. In 1637, three Portuguese young men, Ferreira’s former students, begin preparing...
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...late 20s who had entered the religious life together at 17 and studied theology under Ferreira. News of Ferreira’s apostasy confuses them, since they’d always known him to be a “radiant”...
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...of a newly-appointed magistrate named Inoue, the Lord of Chikugo, the same magistrate who cross-examined Ferreira as a Christian and hung him in the pit. The story is picked up in...
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Chapter 1
...Macao. Valignano still refuses to send missionaries into Japan, even though there are many Japanese Christians who must be lost without priests to guide them. Valignano has heard no word from...
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Chapter 3
...officials descend upon them. Rodrigues wants to send someone to Nagasaki to ask of Father Ferreira, but Garrpe insists it is too dangerous both for them and the villagers, since their...
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...dangerous, likely to draw the government’s attention, but Rodrigues is swept by the sight of Christians gathering before him just as the crowds gathered before Jesus Christ while he preached his...
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Chapter 5
...road and through a village until he is deposited with a small group of Japanese Christians, shackled and sitting upon the ground. Rather than fear, the priest feels almost happy and...
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The interpreter is scornful of Christians, even though he himself was once baptized and studied in seminary, and goes to great...
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...lists all the priests who apostatized after Inoue cross-examined them, one of whom is Father Ferreira. The priest tries to pretend he does not know Ferreira, but the interpreter sees the...
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Chapter 7
...there, has arranged for the priest to meet someone. The priest assumes this will be Ferreira, but looking down towards the trees near the water, he sees Garrpe, led by armed...
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...finally realizing who he is meant to meet. A Buddhist monk enters followed closely by Ferreira, wearing a black kimono. The monk, though much smaller, walks proudly while Ferreira looks like...
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Rodrigues begs Ferreira to speak. Slowly and painfully, they make conversation. Ferreira reveals that he has been living...
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The Buddhist monk accompanying Ferreira remarks that Sawano Chuan—Ferreira’s given Japanese name—is also writing a book of his own, a...
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The interpreter asks Ferreira to proceed to the point of the meeting, and Ferreira’s stature seems to shrink before...
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Gently, Ferreira whispers that after 20 years of missionary work, he has discovered that Christianity cannot grow...
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This notion horrifies Rodrigues, not the least because if Ferreira is right, then all the martyrs died for nothing. Ferreira, however, is firm, going on...
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...point—he is hardly guarded—but he no longer has the spirit. The priest is haunted by Ferreira’s words, by the idea that Christianity may simply be incompatible with Japan. Yet he feels...
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Chapter 8
...a rage and beats his fists on the wall of his cell. The interpreter and Ferreira open the door of the cell and ask what the matter is. When the priest...
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Ferreira enters the cell alone and speaks with Rodrigues. It was Ferreira who carved the letters...
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Ferreira argues that by making others suffer on his behalf, Rodrigues regards himself as “more important...
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Ferreira leads Rodrigues slowly, painfully out of the cell and to the interpreter, who is waiting...
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Chapter 9
...way into the country to determine if they are secretly Christian or not. He sees Ferreira rarely, only monthly, and they are not allowed to meet on their own. This is...
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Chapter 10
...Dutch Clerk in Nagasaki, 1644: Amidst shipping notes, the clerk reports that both Sawano Chuan (Ferreira) and Rodrigues have given testimony that certain smuggled artifacts are Christian, resulting in the torture...
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...about the two apostates living in Nagasaki, and tries to find more information about them. Sawano Chuan proves most effective in searching out Christian artifacts and translating information about the Dutch and...
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