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Francis Xavier

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Not to be confused with St. Francis Borgia, another Spanish nobleman turned Jesuit.
Memorial to St. Francis Xavier, Hirado, Nagasaki, Japan.

Saint Francis Xavier (Spanish: San Francisco Javier; Portuguese: São Francisco Xavier; Chinese: 聖方濟各沙勿略) (April 7, 1506 - December 2, 1552) was a pioneering Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order). The Xaverian Brothers are named after him, just as a Dutch student fraternity KSV St. Franciscus Xaverius in Wageningen. The Roman Catholic Church considers him to have converted more people to Christianity than anyone else since St. Paul.

Early life

Xavier was born Francisco de Jaso y Azpilcueta in the Castle of Xavier (modern Spanish Javier, Basque Xabier) near Sangüesa and Pamplona, in Navarre, Spain. He sprang from an aristocratic Basque family of Navarre. In 1512, Castile invaded Navarre. Many fortresses were devastated, including the family castle, and land was confiscated. Francis' father died in 1515.

At the age of 19, Francis Xavier went to study at the University of Paris, where he received a licence ès arts in 1530. He furthered his studies there in theology, and became acquainted with Ignatius Loyola. Along with Ignatius, Pierre Favre and four others, Xavier was one of those who on August 15, 1534 bound themselves by a vow at Montmartre and formed the Society of Jesus.

Missionary work

Voyages of St. Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier devoted much of his life to missions to remote countries. As King John III of Portugal desired Jesuit missionaries for the Portuguese East Indies, he was ordered there in 1540. He left Lisbon on April 7, 1541, together with two other Jesuits and the new viceroy Martin de Sousa, on board the Santiago. From August of that year until March 1542, he remained in Mozambique, and reached Goa, India, the capital of the then Portuguese colonies, on May 6. His official role in Goa was Apostolic Nuncio. He spent the following three years operating out of Goa.


On September 20, 1542, he left for his first missionary activity among the Paravas, pearl-fishers along the east coast of southern India, north of Cape Comorin. He then exerted himself to convert the king of Travancore to Christianity, on the west coast, and also visited Ceylon. Dissatisfied with the results of his activity, he turned eastward in 1545, and planned a missionary journey to Macassar, on the island of Celebes, in today's Indonesia.

After arriving in Malacca in October of that year and waiting there three months in vain for a ship to Macassar, he gave up the goal of his voyage. He left Malacca on January 1, 1546 and landed on Amboyna, where he stayed until mid-June. He then visited other Molucca Islands, including Ternate and More. Shortly after Easter 1546, he returned to Ambon Island, and then Malacca. During this time period, frustrated by the elites in Goa, St. Francis wrote to King D. João III for an Inquisition to be installed in Goa. However this Inquisition did not begin till eight years after his death. Established in 1560, it was aimed primarily at the new christians, i.e. Iberian christians of Sephardic Jewish origin. By the beginning of the XVII century its main target became the Indian converts who still kept Hindu traditions. By the time it was suppressed in 1812, the Inquisition had held 13.667 trials. Due to the destruction of archives is not possible to determine how many people were tortured, executed or simply given penances for minor offences.

In December 1547, in Malacca, Francis Xavier met a Japanese nobleman from Kagoshima called Anjiro. Anjiro had heard from Francis in 1545 and had travelled from Kagoshima to Malacca with the purpose of meeting him. Having been charged with murder, Anjiro had fled Japan. He poured his heart out to Francis Xavier, telling him about his former life and the customs and culture of his beloved homeland. Anjiro was a samurai and as such provided Xavier with a skilled mediator and translator for the mission to Japan that was his inevitable future. “I asked [Anjiro] whether the Japanese would become Christians if I went with him to this country, and he replied that they would not do so immediately, but would first ask me many questions and see what I knew. Above all, they would want to see whether my life corresponded with my teaching…All the Portuguese merchants who have come from Japan assure me that by going there I could render God our Lord much service, and more than among the peoples of India, because the Japanese are a race greatly given to the exercise of reason.” Thus intrigued, Xavier baptized Anjiro—who was now called Paulo de Santa Fe—and began to plan for a mission to this recently discovered land. Anjiro helped Francis Xavier to translate a few paragraphs of Christian doctrine into phonetic Japanese which Xavier learned by heart.

He returned to India in January 1548. The next 15 months were occupied with various journeys and administrative measures in India.

Then due to displeasure at the unchristian life and manners of the Portuguese, which impeded proselyting work, he went forth once again into the unknown Far East. He left Goa on April 15, 1549, stopped at Malacca, and visited Canton. He was accompanied by Anjiro, two other Japanese men, the father Cosme de Torrès and Brother Juan Fernandez. He had taken with him presents for the "King of Japan", since he was intending to introduce himself as the Apostolic Nuncio.

Xavier reached Japan on July 27, 1549, but it was not until August 15 that he went ashore at Kagoshima, the principal port of the province of Satsuma, on the island of Kyushu. He was received in a friendly manner and was hosted by Anjiro's family until October 1550. From October to December 1550, he resided in Yamaguchi. Shortly before Christmas, he left for Kyoto, but failed to meet with the Emperor. He returned to Yamaguchi in March 1551. There he was permitted to preach by the daimyo, but not knowing the Japanese language he had to limit himself to reading aloud the translation of a catechism.

Ultimately his sojourn was fruitful, as attested by congregations established in Hirado, Yamaguchi, and Bungo. Xavier worked for more than two years in Japan and saw his successor-Jesuits established. He then decided to return to India. During his trip, a tempest forced him to stop on an island near Guangzhou, China. There he saw the rich merchant Diégo Pereira, an old friend from Cochin, who showed him a letter of Portuguese being held prisoners in Guangzhou asking for a Portuguese ambassador to talk to the Chinese Emperor in their favor. Later, he stopped at Malacca on December 27, 1551 and was back in Goa by January, 1552.

On April 17 he set sail, with Diégo Pereira, leaving Goa on board the Santa Cruz for China. He introduced himself as Apostolic Nuncio, and Pereira as ambassador of the King of Portugal. Shortly thereafter, he realized that he had forgotten his testimonial letters as an Apostolic Nuncio. Back in Malacca, he was confronted by the capitan Alvaro de Ataide de Gama, who now had total control over the harbor. The capitan refused to recognize his title of Nuncio, asked Pereira to resign from his title of ambassador, named a new crew for the ship, and demanded that the gifts for the Emperor be left in Malacca.

In early September 1552, the Santa Cruz reached the Chinese island of Shangchuan, 14 km away from the southern coast of mainland China, near Taishan, Guangdong, 200 km south-west of what later became Hong Kong. At this time, he was only accompanied by a Jesuit student, Alvaro Ferreira, a Chinese man called Antonio, and a Malabar servant called Christopher. Around mid-November he sent a letter saying that a man had agreed to take him to the mainland in exchange for a large sum of money. Having sent back Alvaro Ferreira, he remained alone with Antonio.

Death

Casket of Saint Francis Xavier in the Basilica of Bom Jésus in Goa

On November 21, he fainted after celebrating Mass. He died on the island on December 2, 1552, at age 46, without having reached mainland China.

He was first buried on a beach of Shangchuan island. His intact body was taken from the island in February 1553. It was temporarily buried in St. Paul's church in Malacca on March 22, 1553. An open grave in the church now marks the place of Xavier's burial. Pereira came back from Goa, removed the corpse shortly after April 15, 1553, and moved it to his house.

On December 11, 1553, Xavier's body was shipped to Goa. The body, having resisted extensive decay, is now in the Basilica of Bom Jésus in Goa, where it was placed in a glass container encased in a a silver casket on December 2, 1637. Today, the silver casket has been removed, exposing the glass and leaving the body visible, though it is raised up on a high mausoleum. The glass container is lowered for public viewing only during the public exposition which occurs for a duration of 6 weeks every 10 years, the most recent of which took place in 2004. There is a debate as to how the body could have remained incorrupt for so long. Some say that Francis Xavier was mummified, although all examinations from the time of his death til now have been thoroughly documented, giving credence to the belief that the incorruptible body is evidence of a miracle.

Legacy

St.Francis Xavier accomplished a great deal of missionary work, both as organizer and as pioneer. By his compromises in India with the Christians of St. Thomas he developed the Jesuit missionary methods along lines that subsequently became fateful for his order.

He had high qualifications as missionary: he was animated with glowing zeal; he was endowed with great linguistic gifts, and his activity was marked by restless pushing forward. His efforts left a significant impression upon the missionary history of India, and by pointing out the way to East India to the Jesuits, his work is of fundamental significance with regard to the history of the propagation of Christianity in China and Japan.

He himself witnessed many of the results of his labor, but still greater were the tasks he proposed. Since the Roman Catholic Church responded to his call, the effects of his efforts reach far beyond the Jesuit order; the entire systematic and aggressive incorporation of great masses of people on broad lines of policy by the Roman Catholic Church in modern times dates back to Xavier.

Recognition

Beatification

Francis Xavier is a Catholic saint. He was beatified by Paul V on October 25, 1619, and was canonized by Gregory XV on March 12, 1622, at the same time as Ignatius Loyola. He is the patron saint of Navarre, Australia, Borneo, China, East Indies, Goa, Japan, New Zealand and of missionaries. His feast day is December 3.

Educational institutions

Educational institutions named after Francis Xavier include:

Others

The Japanese university Sophia University was initiated in his honour in Tokyo 1913.

In 1839, Theodore James Ryken founded the Xaverian Brothers, or Congregation of St. Francis Xavier (CFX). Currently, over 20 colleges or high schools in the United States are Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools (XBSS).

Many churches all over the world have been named in honor of Xavier. One notable church is the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier in Dyersville, Iowa. It is one of only 52 minor basilicas in the United States, and the only one outside a metropolitan area.

The Javierada is an annual peregrination from Pamplona to Xavier instituted in the 1940s.

Xavier is one of the few English names starting with X.

The X-Men comic book character, Charles Francis Xavier is possibly named after him.

The station Saint François Xavier, on Line 13 of the Paris Métro is named after St

See also

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