St. Francis Xavier

Francis was born April 7, 1506, in the family castle of Xavier, near Pamplona in the Basque area of Spanish Navarre. He was sent to the University of Paris 1552, where he met Ignatius Loyola and became one of the seven who in 1534 founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

From Venice, where he was ordained priest in 1537, Francis Xavier went on to Lisbon and from there sailed to the East Indies, landing at Goa, on the west coast of India. For the next 10 years he labored to bring the faith to such widely scattered peoples as the Hindus, the Malayans and the Japanese. Francis went through the islands of Malaysia, then up to Japan. He learned enough Japanese to preach to simple folk, to instruct and to baptize, and to establish missions for those who were to follow him. He had dreams of going from Japan to China, but this plan was never realized.

Francis died in 1552. He was canonized in 1622 and proclaimed patron of all foreign missions by Pope Pius X. His Feast Day is Dec. 3.