Francis Xavier

• 1. A Noble Boy In Navarre

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  Francis Xavier entered the world on the 7th of April 1506 inside the Castle of Xavier. His father Don Juan de Jasso y Atondo served as president of the Royal Council of the Kingdom of Navarre. The family held lands in Idocín and managed the castle itself. Francis grew up speaking both Basque and Romance languages within these walls. He was the youngest son among several brothers who would later fight for their kingdom.

  The political landscape shifted violently when Ferdinand invaded Navarre in 1512. This war lasted over eighteen years and stripped the family of much power. Francis lost his father at age nine while the Spanish Governor Cardinal Cisneros confiscated their estates. The governor demolished the outer walls and gates of the family castle. He filled in the moat and cut the height of the keep by half. Only the inner residence remained standing for the family to occupy.

  In 1525 Francis traveled to Paris to study at the Collège Sainte-Barbe. He spent eleven years there acquiring a reputation as an athlete and high-jumper. By 1529 he shared lodgings with Pierre Favre and Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius was thirty-eight years old while Francis and Pierre were only twenty-three. The older student convinced Pierre to become a priest but struggled to move Francis.

• 2. Vows On Montmartre Hill

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  Seven students gathered in a crypt beneath the Church of Saint Denis on the 15th of August 1534. They stood on the hill of Montmartre overlooking Paris. Francis Xavier joined Ignatius of Loyola, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laínez, Nicolás Bobadilla, Peter Faber, and Simão Rodrigues. These men made private vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the Pope. They also vowed to travel to the Holy Land to convert infidels.

  Francis began his theological studies that same year and received ordination on the 24th of June 1537. Ignatius drafted a formula for a new religious order called the Society of Jesus in 1539. Pope Paul III approved this plan in 1540. King John III of Portugal requested Jesuit missionaries to spread faith in India through Pedro Mascarenhas. Diogo de Gouveia encouraged the recruitment of these newly graduated students from Collège Sainte-Barbe.

  Ignatius initially appointed Nicholas Bobadilla and Simão Rodrigues for the mission. Bobadilla fell seriously ill at the last moment. Ignatius asked Francis to take his place with some hesitation and uneasiness. Francis left Rome on the 15th of March 1540 carrying only a breviary, a catechism, and a Latin book by Marko Marulić. He reached Lisbon in June 1540 and met King John three days later.

• 3. Preaching Along The Pearl Coast

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  Xavier spent five months preaching and ministering to the sick in hospitals before walking streets ringing a bell. He summoned children and servants to receive catechism lessons along the Pearl Fishery Coast. This region extended from Cape Comorin to the island of Mannar off Ceylon. A group called Paravas had been baptized ten years prior but remained uninstructed in their faith. Xavier taught those already baptized while preaching to others who had not yet converted.

  High-caste Brahmins opposed his efforts through violence that burned down his hut repeatedly. He once saved his life by hiding among branches of a large tree during attacks. He devoted almost three years to preaching across southern India and Ceylon. During this period he built nearly forty churches including St. Stephen's Church in Kombuthurai.

  Xavier struggled with the language barrier as Japanese differed vastly from languages previously encountered. He resided with Anjirō's family until October 1550 before moving to Yamaguchi. He failed to meet Emperor Go-Nara when traveling to Kyoto in late 1550. Permission to preach finally came from the daimyō of Yamaguchi in March 1551. He changed tactics by dressing in fine cassocks and surplices while attended by thirty gentlemen and servants.

  He presented gifts including a musical instrument,

• 4. Crossing Into The Far East

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  watch, and velvet slippers to Oshindono ruler of Nagate. These items were meant to impress onlookers with his eminence rather than given directly to the prince. The Jesuits remained the only missionaries in Asia for forty-five years before Franciscans began proselytizing elsewhere.

  Workers placed the body in a shroud inside a small pit at Our Lady of the Hill church in Malacca. Dirt tamped down caused lesions and broke bones while flattening the nose. No Jesuits witnessed this rough handling. An open grave now marks where the burial occurred. Jesuits exhumed the body again around the 15th of August 1553 finding it incorrupt and emitting a sweet scent described as more like a bridegroom's garden than rotting flesh.

  The right forearm detached in 1614 by Superior General Claudio Acquaviva went to Rome. Other parts including intestines distributed relics widely across Cochi Macau and Malacca. The main body enshrined in silver reliquary arrived in Goa on the 16th of March 1554 greeted by crowds of six thousand people.

  Pope Paul V beatified Francis Xavier on the 25th of October 1619. Pope Gregory XV canonized him on the

• 5. The Body That Did Not Rot

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  12th of March 1622 alongside Ignatius Loyola. Pius XI later proclaimed him Patron of Catholic Missions in 1927 through decree Apostolicorum in Missionibus. His feast day remains celebrated annually on the 3rd of December marking his death anniversary.

  Relics stay exposed every ten years at discretion within Bom Jesus Basilica in Goa. The last exposition ran from the 22nd of November 2014 until the 4th of January 2015 before another began in 2004. Silver panels encase the casket displaying episodes from his life including dreams of carrying men and healing blind Antonio Rodrigues. Goan silversmiths crafted this container between 1636 and 1637 blending Italian and Indian aesthetics.

  Cosimo III de' Medici commissioned a marble pedestal carved by Giovanni Battista Foggini installed in 1698. Bronze relief sculptures depict preaching baptizing persecution and dying on Shangchuan Island. Locks affixed to removable silver panels after 1686 when face deformation became visible due to moth damage.

  Modern scholars estimate Francis Xavier converted around thirty thousand people during his lifetime. He initiated permanent change in eastern Indonesia where Ambon Ternate and Morotai saw thousands convert by the 1560s. By the 1590s numbers reached fifty to sixty thousand Roman

• 6. From Death To Divine Recognition

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  Catholics across those islands. Protestant missionaries later discovered approximately one hundred thousand Christians still practicing faith in Nagasaki area despite centuries of underground survival.

  Navarre celebrates his feast day as government holiday known as Day of Navarre. Devoted Catholics instituted Javierada pilgrimage starting in 1940 walking from Pamplona capital to Xavier family castle. The region honors cultural heritage through surrounding week celebrations alongside Masses remembering him. Schools named after him span continents including Xavier University Cincinnati St. Xavier's College Mumbai Mission San Xavier del Bac Tucson.

  Names like Francisco Javier rank tenth most popular for males nationally while Xavier appears frequently among Basque Portuguese Catalan communities. In India spelling Xavier dominates Christian naming especially Goa Tamil Nadu Kerala Karnataka regions. Indonesian Catholics often abbreviate Fransiskus Xaverius as FX while Polish speakers use Ksawery form.