Born in the Castle of Xavier near Sanguesa, in Navarre, 7 April,
1506; died on the Island of Sancian near the coast of China, 2 December,
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.
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 Fernandez 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 Fernandez,
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.
Antonio Astrain (Catholic Encyclopedia)
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