Monday, December 3, 2018

St. Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier was born in the Castle of Xavier, in Navarre, Spain. The youngest of a large noble family linked to Spanish royalty, he had ambitious dreams, and at eighteen set out to study law at the University of Paris. Good-looking, intelligent, charming and high born, young Xavier had the world at his feet.

Having earned his licentiate, he one day met a man, conspicuous for his age among such a young class; a man who had the look of a soldier, yet the air of a hermit. Like himself, he was a nobleman from Northern Spain. His name, Ignatius of Loyola.

Ignatius had recently made a profound conversion, had spent a long time in solitude and was now studying Latin in preparation for the priesthood. He was also feeling the call to found a new company of men, soldiers willing to fight for the kingdom of Christ on earth.

Detecting in Xavier the seeds of greatness, Ignatius endeavored to turn Xavier’s worldly ambition heavenward. Every time the two met, Ignatius commented, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, if, in the end he loses his soul?”

In the end, Xavier was among the first seven men who vowed themselves to the service of God at Montmartre in 1534, the first members of the Company of Jesus, or Jesuits.

Appointed as a missionary to the East Indies in 1541, Francis Xavier finally arrived in Goa after a grueling sea voyage lasting thirteen months. He had also been constituted by the Pope as Apostolic Nuncio to the East.

At his missionary post, Francis Xavier was untiring in the pursuit of souls, ministering not only to the natives of India and the Malabar Coast, but to the Portuguese colonizers of the area, who, at times, had lapsed into scandalous conduct. His unquenchable zeal was also full of charitable tact and he made people feel he was one of them. With the learned he was learned, with those in authority he was a statesman, with the simple he was simple, and with the poor he was poor.  His charity and charm were irresistible, and his power of miracles amazing. For people ignorant of the Faith, he fit the truths of religion to popular tunes that spread all over. He once baptized so many in a day, he could hardly lift his arms.

In 1549, hearing of the island of Japan, which had never been introduced to Christ, he set out with a Jesuit priest, a lay brother, and three Japanese converts. Learning Japanese in a short time, and realizing that evangelical poverty did not have the same appeal in Japan as in India, he presented himself and his retinue to the authorities as representatives of Portugal. They wore fine clothes and offered costly gifts, provided by the authorities of India. St. Francis Xavier planted in Japan the first seeds of Christianity.

In 1553 Xavier fulfilled another great dream, that of reaching China. Prevented by a fever from reaching the mainland itself, he died within sight of it, on the island of Sancian. He was only forth-six years old. His body, found incorrupt despite having been laid in lime, was brought back to Malacca where it was received with great honors. Later translated to Goa, it is incorrupt to this day.

Francis Xavier was canonized in 1622 with Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Philip Neri and Isidore the Farmer. In 1927, Pope Pius XI declared St. Francis Xavier and the then newly-canonized St. Thérèse of Lisieux, patron Saints of all Catholic foreign missions.

1 comment:

  1. Guai a me se non predicherò il Vangelo!

    Abbiamo percorso i villaggi dei neòfiti, che pochi anni fa avevano ricevuto i sacramenti cristiani. Questa zona non è abitata dai Portoghesi, perché estremamente sterile e povera, e i cristiani indigeni, privi di sacerdoti, non sanno nient'altro se non che sono cristiani. Non c'è nessuno che celebri le sacre funzioni, nessuno che insegni loro il Credo, il Padre nostro, l'Ave ed ì Comandamenti della legge divina.
    Da quando dunque arrivai qui non mi sono fermato un istante; percorro con assiduità i villaggi, amministro il battesimo ai bambini che non l'hanno ancora ricevuto. Così ho salvato un numero grandissimo di bambini, i quali, come si dice, non sapevano distinguere la destra dalla sinistra. I fanciulli poi non mi lasciano né dire l'Ufficio divino, né prendere cibo, né riposare fino a che non ho loro insegnato qualche preghiera; allora ho cominciato a capire che a loro appartiene il regno dei cieli.
    Perciò, non potendo senza empietà respingere una domanda così giusta, a cominciare dalla confessione del Padre, del Figlio e dello Spirito Santo, insegnavo loro il Simbolo apostolico, il Padre nostro e l'Ave Maria. Mi sono accorto che sono molto intelligenti e, se ci fosse qualcuno a istruirli nella legge cristiana, non dubito che diventerebbero ottimi cristiani.
    Moltissimi, in questi luoghi, non si fanno ora cristiani solamente perché manca chi li faccia cristiani. Molto spesso mi viene in mente di percorrere le Università d'Europa, specialmente quella di Parigi, e di mettermi a gridare qua e là come un pazzo e scuotere coloro che hanno più scienza che carità con queste parole: Ahimè, quale gran numero di anime, per colpa vostra, viene escluso dal cielo e cacciato all'inferno!
    Oh! se costoro, come si occupano di lettere, così si dessero pensiero anche di questo, onde poter rendere conto a Dio della scienza e dei talenti ricevuti!
    In verità moltissimi di costoro, turbati a questo pensiero, dandosi alla meditazione delle cose divine, si disporrebbero ad ascoltare quanto il Signore dice al loro cuore, e, messe da parte le loro brame e gli affari umani, si metterebbero totalmente a disposizione della volontà di Dio. Griderebbero certo dal profondo del loro cuore: «Signore, eccomi; che cosa vuoi che io faccia?» (At 9, 6 volg.). Mandami dove vuoi, magari anche in India. San Francesco Saverio, lettere a Sant'Ignazio

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