St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier was born on April 7, 1506, at the castle of Xavier (Javier) in the Kingdom of Navarre, Spain, the youngest son of a noble Basque family. Sent to the University of Paris, the brilliant and ambitious young scholar shared lodgings with Ignatius of Loyola, who slowly won him over with the question, 'What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?' In 1534 Francis was one of the seven companions who vowed themselves to God at Montmartre, the founding nucleus of the Society of Jesus. In 1541, at the request of the king of Portugal and with the blessing of the pope, Francis sailed for the Portuguese East Indies as papal nuncio. Landing at Goa in India in 1542, he began an apostolate of staggering scope: catechizing children, tending the sick, and baptizing whole villages of pearl fishers along India's southern coast, often summarizing the faith in simple verses set to local tunes. His letters back to Europe stirred generations of missionary vocations. From India he pressed on to Malacca and the Spice Islands of present-day Indonesia, and in 1549 he landed at Kagoshima, becoming the first Christian missionary to Japan. He came to admire the Japanese people deeply and adapted his methods to their culture, leaving behind small but enduring Christian communities. Convinced that the conversion of Asia hinged on China, he set out for the mainland, but died of fever on December 3, 1552, on the island of Shangchuan off the Chinese coast, within sight of the empire he could not enter. He was forty-six. Francis was canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV together with his friend Ignatius of Loyola. His body, remarkably preserved, is enshrined in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, India, where periodic expositions draw millions of pilgrims; his right arm, which baptized so many thousands, is venerated in the Church of the Gesù in Rome. In 1927 Pope Pius XI named him, with St. Thérèse of Lisieux, principal patron of all missions. His feast is celebrated on December 3, and he remains the model of the Church's missionary zeal in Asia and throughout the world.