Francis Xavier, born April 7th 1506, Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta in Xavier was a Roman Catholic missionary. He co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) with St. Ignatius of Loyola of whom he was disciple. He led an extensive missions into Asia, mainly in through the Portuguese Empire of the time. He died on December 3rd, 1552.
St. Francis Xavier
Apostle to the Far East |
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Born
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April 7th. 1506, Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre, (Spain)
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Died
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December 2nd, 1552 (aged 46), Portuguese
Base at São João Island, China
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Honored in
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Roman Catholic
Church, Lutheran Church, and Anglican Communion
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Beatified
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25 October 1619 by Pope Paul V
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Canonized
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12 March 1622 by Gregory
XV
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Feast
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3 December
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Attributes
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crucifix;
preacher carrying a flaming heart; bell; globe; vessel; young bearded Jesuit
in the company of Saint Ignatius Loyola; young bearded Jesuit with a torch,
flame, cross and lily
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African missions; Agartala,
India;Ahmedabad, India; Alexandria, Louisiana; Apostleship of
Prayer;Australia; Bombay, India;Borneo; Cape Town, South Africa; China;
Dinajpur, Bangladesh; East Indies; Fathers of the Precious Blood; foreign
missions; Freising, Germany;Goa, India; Green Bay, Wisconsin; India;
Indianapolis, Indiana; Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan; Joiliet, Illinois;
Kabankalan, Philippines;Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines;Alegria, Cebu,
Philippines; diocese of Malindi, Kenya; missionaries; Missioners of the
Precious Blood; Navarre, Spain; navigators; New Zealand; parish missions;
plague epidemics; Propagation of the Faith; Zagreb, Croatia; Indonesia
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Francis was born
in the Castle of Xavier near Sanguesa, in Navarre, 7 April, 1506. He died on the
Island of Sancian near the coast of China, December, 2nd,1552.
In 1525, having completed a preliminary course of studies in his own country, Francis Xavier went to Paris, where he entered the collège de Sainte-Barbe. Here he met the Savoyard, Pierre Favre, and a warm personal friendship sprang up between them. It was at this same college that St. Ignatius Loyola, who was already planning the foundation of the Society of Jesus, resided for a time as a guest in 1529. He soon won the confidence of the two young men; first Favre and later Xavier offered themselves with him in the formation of the Society. Four others, Lainez, Salmerón, Rodríguez, and Bobadilla, having joined them, the seven made the famous vow of Montmartre, 15 Aug., 1534.
In 1525, having completed a preliminary course of studies in his own country, Francis Xavier went to Paris, where he entered the collège de Sainte-Barbe. Here he met the Savoyard, Pierre Favre, and a warm personal friendship sprang up between them. It was at this same college that St. Ignatius Loyola, who was already planning the foundation of the Society of Jesus, resided for a time as a guest in 1529. He soon won the confidence of the two young men; first Favre and later Xavier offered themselves with him in the formation of the Society. Four others, Lainez, Salmerón, Rodríguez, and Bobadilla, having joined them, the seven made the famous vow of Montmartre, 15 Aug., 1534.
After
completing his studies in Paris and filling the post of teacher there for some
time, Xavier left the city with his companions 15 November, 1536, and turned
his steps to Venice, where he displayed zeal and charity in attending the sick
in the hospitals. On 24 June, 1537, he received Holy orders with St. Ignatius.
The following year he went to Rome, and after doing apostolic work there for
some months, during the spring of 1539 he took part in the conferences which
St. Ignatius held with his companions to prepare for the definitive foundation
of the Society of Jesus. The order was approved verbally 3 September, and
before the written approbation was secured, which was not until a year later, Xavier
was appointed, at the earnest solicitation of the John III, King of Portugal,
to evangelize the people of the East Indies. He left Rome 16 March, 1540, and
reached Lisbon about June. Here he remained nine months, giving many admirable
examples of apostolic zeal.
On 7
April, 1541, he embarked in a sailing vessel for India, and after a tedious and
dangerous voyage landed at Goa, 6 May, 1542. The first five months he spent in
preaching and ministering to the sick in the hospitals. He would go through the
streets ringing a little bell and inviting the children to hear the word of
God. When he had gathered a number, he would take them to a certain church and
would there explain the catechism to them. About October, 1542, he started for
the pearl fisheries of the extreme southern coast of the peninsula, desirous of
restoring Christanity which, although introduced years before, had almost
disappeared on account of the lack of priests. He devoted almost three years to
the work of preaching to the people of Western India, converting many, and
reaching in his journeys even the Island of Ceylon. Many were the difficulties
and hardships which Xavier had to encounter at this time, sometimes on account
of the cruel persecutions which some of the petty kings of the country carried
on against the neophytes, and again because the Portuguese soldiers, far from
seconding the work of the saint, retarded it by their bad example and vicious
habits.
In
the spring of 1545 Xavier started for Malacca. He laboured there for the last
months of that year, and although he reaped an abundant spiritual harvest, he
was not able to root out certain abuses, and was conscious that many sinners
had resisted his efforts to bring them back to God. About January, 1546, Xavier
left Malacca and went to Molucca Islands, where the Portuguese had some
settlements, and for a year and a half he preached the Gospel to the
inhabitants of Amboyna, Ternate, Baranura, and other lesser islands which it
has been difficult to identify. It is claimed by some that during this
expedition he landed on the island of Mindanao, and for this reason St. Francis
Xavier has been called the first Apostle of the Philippines. But although this
statement is made by some writers of the seventeenth century, and in the Bull
of canonization issued in 1623, it is said that he preached the Gospel in
Mindanao, up to the present time it has not been proved absolutely that St.
Francis Xavier ever landed in the Philippines.
By
July, 1547, he was again in Malacca. Here he met a Japanese called Anger
(Han-Sir), from whom he obtained much information about Japan. His zeal was at
once aroused by the idea of introducing Christanity into Japan, but for the
time being the affairs of the Society demanded his presence at Goa, whither he
went, taking Anger with him. During the six years that Xavier had been working
among the infidels, other Jesuit missionaries had arrived at Goa, sent from
Europe by St. Ignatius; moreover some who had been born in the country had been
received into the Society. In 1548 Xavier sent these missionaries to the
principal centres of India, where he had established missions, so that the work
might be preserved and continued. He also established a novitiate and house of
studies, and having received into the Society Father Cosme de Torres, a spanish
priest whom he had met in the Maluccas, he started with him and Brother Juan
Fernández for Japan towards the end of June, 1549. The Japanese Anger, who had
been baptized at Goa and given the name of Pablo de Santa Fe, accompanied them.
They
landed at the city of Kagoshima in Japan, 15 Aug., 1549. The entire first year
was devoted to learning the Japanese language and translating into Japanese,
with the help of Pablo de Santa Fe, the principal articles of faith and short
treatises which were to be employed in preaching and catechizing. When he was
able to express himself, Xavier began preaching and made some converts, but
these aroused the ill will of the bonzes, who had him banished from the city.
Leaving Kagoshima about August, 1550, he penetrated to the centre of Japan, and
preached the Gospel in some of the cities of southern Japan. Towards the end of
that year he reached Meaco, then the principal city of Japan, but he was unable
to make any headway here because of the dissensions the rending the country. He
retraced his steps to the centre of Japan, and during 1551 preached in some
important cities, forming the nucleus of several Christian communities, which
in time increased with extraordinary rapidity.
After
working about two years and a half in Japan he left this mission in charge of
Father Cosme de Torres and Brother Juan Fernández, and returned to Goa,
arriving there at the beginning of 1552. Here domestic troubles awaited him.
Certain disagreements between the superior who had been left in charge of the
missions, and the rector of the college, had to be adjusted. This, however,
being arranged, Xavier turned his thoughts to China, and began to plan an
expedition there. During his stay in Japan he had heard much of the Celestial
Empire, and though he probably had not formed a proper estimate of his extent
and greatness, he nevertheless understood how wide a field it afforded for the
spread of the light of the Gospel. With the help of friends he arranged a
commission or embassy the Sovereign of China, obtained from the Viceroy of
India the appointment of ambassador, and in April, 1552, he left Goa. At
Malacca the party encountered difficulties because the influential Portuguese
disapproved of the expedition, but Xavier knew how to overcome this opposition,
and in the autumn he arrived in a Portuguese vessel at the small island of
Sancian near the coast of China. While planning the best means for reaching the
mainland, he was taken ill, and as the movement of the vessel seemed to
aggravate his condition, he was removed to the land, where a rude hut had been
built to shelter him. In these wretched surroundings he breathed his last.
It
is truly a matter of wonder that one man in the short space of ten years (6
May, 1542 - 2 December, 1552) could have visited so many countries, traversed
so many seas, preached the Gospel to so many nations, and converted so many
infidels. The incomparable apostolic zeal which animated him, and the
stupendous miracles which God wrought through him, explain this marvel, which
has no equal elsewhere. The list of the principal miracles may be found in the
Bull of canonization. St. Francis Xavier is considered the greatest missionary
since the time of the Apostles, and the zeal he displayed, the wonderful
miracles he performed, and the great number of souls he brought to the light of
true Faith, entitle him to this distinction. He was canonized with St. Ignatius
in 1622, although on account of the death of Gregory XV, the Bull of canonization
was not published until the following year.
The
body of the saint is still enshrined at Goa in the church which formerly
belonged to the Society. In 1614 by order of Claudius Acquaviva, General of the
Society of Jesus, the right arm was severed at the elbow and conveyed to Rome,
where the present altar was erected to receive it in the church of the Gesu.
By: Stanley Yavneh Klos
Edited By: Naomi Yavneh Klos, Ph.D.
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