The fourth track from Dead Can Dance’s third album, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, details the trials of one Roseanna Xavier, a fictional woman who is unjustly persecuted for unspecified (but subtly implied) reasons. Xavier makes for a tragic feminist heroine subjugated by the confines of a society dominated by men.
The narrator makes an appeal for humanity to look on the judgements of Xavier with a critical eye, and for empathy to rule over the fear of the unknown and of that which differs from convention.
The exact nature of the persecution that Xavier suffers is undisclosed but centers around the fact that she is a woman. She is judged a vagrant and profane, suggesting perhaps that she suffers due to an open expression of sexuality or of a strong identity that diverges from the expectations of a patriarchal society that favours submissive and conforming women.
St. Francis Xavier was the the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of modern times. I am thinking there was some inspiration for why he chose that as the songs name. With encouragement from his friend Ignatius of Loyola, Xavier devoted himself to religious service and became one of the founders of the Jesuit order. so I do agree with unfashioned's comment especially since it's from Brendan Perry himself but I have always believed there was some genuine religious undertones in this songs lyrics and title that cannot be ignored.
The fourth track from Dead Can Dance’s third album, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, details the trials of one Roseanna Xavier, a fictional woman who is unjustly persecuted for unspecified (but subtly implied) reasons. Xavier makes for a tragic feminist heroine subjugated by the confines of a society dominated by men.
The narrator makes an appeal for humanity to look on the judgements of Xavier with a critical eye, and for empathy to rule over the fear of the unknown and of that which differs from convention.
The exact nature of the persecution that Xavier suffers is undisclosed but centers around the fact that she is a woman. She is judged a vagrant and profane, suggesting perhaps that she suffers due to an open expression of sexuality or of a strong identity that diverges from the expectations of a patriarchal society that favours submissive and conforming women.
St. Francis Xavier was the the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of modern times. I am thinking there was some inspiration for why he chose that as the songs name. With encouragement from his friend Ignatius of Loyola, Xavier devoted himself to religious service and became one of the founders of the Jesuit order. so I do agree with unfashioned's comment especially since it's from Brendan Perry himself but I have always believed there was some genuine religious undertones in this songs lyrics and title that cannot be ignored.