December 3 Celebration of Saints

December 3 Celebration of Saints

Saint Francis Xavier

Saint Francis Xavier was born on April 7, 1506 in Javier, Kingdom of Navarre (Spain).

Francis was a contemporary of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. He was among the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris, in 1534 to form the Society of Jesus.

Known as the “Apostle of the Indies” and “Apostle of Japan”, he is regarded as one of the greatest missionaries of the time since Saint Paul.

Saint Francis Xavier died on Shangchuan Island from an illness on December 2, 1552, at the age of 46. He was beatified on October 25, 1619 by Pope Paul V and canonized a saint on March 12, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.

He is the patron saint of foreign missions, missionaries, parish missions, plague epidemics and propagation of the Faith.

In 1927, Pope Pius XI published the decree “Apostolicorum in Missionibus” naming Saint Francis Xavier, along with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, co-patrons of all foreign missions.

Read more about Saint Francis Xavier.

Other Saints for Today

Other saints and the blessed beatified for this day include:

Saint Abbo, Saint Agricola, Saint Attalia, Saint Birinus, Saint Cassian of Tangier, Blessed Edward Coleman, Saint Eloque, Saint Ethernan, Blessed Johann Nepomuk von Tschiderer, Saint Lucius and Saint  Mirocles.