Saint Francis Xavier

Saint Francis Xavier

Born: April 7, 1506 in Javier, Kingdom of Navarre (Spain)

Died: December 2, 1552 on Shangchuan Island, Taishan, China

Beatified: October 25, 1619 by Pope Paul V

Canonized: March 12, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV

Feast day: December 3

Patronage: Foreign missions; missionaries; Missioners of the Precious Blood; Navarre, Spain; Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, Mexico, parish missions; plague epidemics; Propagation of the Faith

Francis Xavier, S.J. was a Navarrese Roman Catholic missionary who was a co-founder of 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.

Francis was a well-known evangelist, particularly in India. He led missions into Asia (mostly areas that were part of the Portuguese empire at the time) and was the first Christian missionary to visit Japan, Borneo, the Maluku Islands, and other parts of Asia.

Born in Javier, Kingdom of Navarre (in present day Spain), he 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. The other six were: Ignatius of Loyola, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laínez, Nicolás Bobadilla, Peter Faber and Simão Rodrigues. The organization of the Society of Jesus was approved in 1540 by Pope Paul III.

Francis set sail for India on his 35th birthday in 1541, as the first Jesuit to visit India. He traveled with orders from King John III to evangelize among the Portuguese emigrants there. He spent three years in India and Ceylon. He built nearly 40 churches along the coast of India.

He traveled to Southeast Asia in 1545, spending time in Malacca and the Maluku Islands. He returned to India in 1548 and in 1549 visited Canton, China and Kagoshima, Japan.

Xavier was ready to continue his missionary work in China when he died on Shangchuan Island from an illness on December 2, 1552, at the age of 46.

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.

Francis Xavier was beatified by Pope Paul V on 25 October 1619 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on 12 March 1622.