Francis Xavier

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
The neutrality of the style of writing in this article is questioned. Please see the discussion on the talk page.
This does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since June 2006.
Francis Xavier
100
Apostle to the Far East
Born April 7, 1506, Javier, Spain
Died December 2, 1552, China
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Church
Beatified October 25, 1619 by Paul V
Canonized March 12, 1622 by Gregory XV
Feast December 3
Attributes crucifix; preacher carrying a flaming heart; bell; globe; vessel; young bearded Jesuit in the company of Saint Ignatius Loyola; young bearded Jesuit with a torch, flame, cross and lily
Patronage African missions; Agartala, India; Ahmedabad, India; Alexandria, Louisiana; Apostleship of Prayer; Australia; Bombay, India; Borneo; Cape Town, South Africa; China; Dinajpur, Bangladesh; East Indies; Fathers of the Precious Blood; foreign missions; Freising, Germany; Goa India; Green Bay, Wisconsin; India; Indianapolis, Indiana;Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan;Joiliet, Illinois; Kabankalan, Philippines; Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines; diocese of Malindi, Kenya; missionaries; Missioners of the Precious Blood; Navarre, Spain; navigators; New Zealand; parish missions; plague epidemics; Propagation of the Faith
Saints Portal
Society of Jesus

History of the Jesuits
Regimini militantis
Suppresion

Jesuit Hierarchy
Superior General
Peter Hans Kolvenbach

Ignatian Spirituality
Spiritual Exercises
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam
Magis
Discernment

Famous Jesuits
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. Francis Xavier
Blessed Peter Faber
St. Aloysius Gonzaga
St. Robert Bellarmine

Saint Francis Xavier (Basque: San Frantzisko Xabierkoa; 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 Roman Catholic Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order). The Roman Catholic Church considers him to have converted more people to Christianity than anyone else since St. Paul.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Life

Xavier was born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilcueta in the Castle of Xavier (pronounced Javier in Spanish) near Sangüesa and Pamplona, in the Kingdom of Navarre. He was born to an aristocratic family of Navarre. He was the youngest son of Juan de Jasso, privy councillor to Jean dAlbret, I king of Navarre, and his wife, Maria de Azpilcueta y Xavier, sole heiress of two noble Navarrese families. He was born at his mother's castle of Xavier or Xavero, at the foot of the Pyrenees and close to the little town of Sanguesa, on the April 7, 1506, according to a family register. Following the Spanish surname custom of the time, he was called after his mother; the best authorities write Francisco de Xavier (Latin Xaverius) rather than Francisco Xavier, as Xavier is originally a place name. In 1512, 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. Xavier, Ignatius, and five others founded the Society of Jesus on August 15, 1534, taking a vow of poverty and chastity where is now Montmartre in Paris.

Francis Xavier and his friends then went to Italy, gaining the approval of the Pope to found the Company of Jesus, or Jesuits as they would be called thenceforward. Francis Xavier's work initiated permanent change in East Indonesia where in 1546-1547 he worked in the Maluku region among the people's of Ambon, Ternate and Morotai (or Moro), and laid the foundations for a permanent mission there. He went on to carry on his missionary work in Japan. Following his depature from Maluku, others carried on his work and by the 1560s there were 10,000 Catholics in the area, mostly on Ambon, and by the 1590s there were 50,000 to 60,000.[1]

[edit] Death

On November 21, on Shangchuan Island, he fainted after celebrating Mass. He died on December 3, 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 and 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 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.

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

The right forearm, that Xavier used to bless and baptize his converts, was detached by Pr. Gen. Claudio Acquaviva in 1614 and displayed since in a silver reliquary at the main Jesuit church in Rome, Il Gesù[2].?

[edit] Legacy

St. Francis Xavier is noteworthy for his 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 a successful blueprint for his order to follow. His efforts left a significant impression upon the missionary history of India and by being one of the first Jesuit missionary to East India, his work is of fundamental significance with regard to the propagation of Christianity in China and Japan.

Pope Benedict XVI said of both Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier: "not only their history which was interwoven for many years from Paris and Rome, but a unique desire —a unique passion, it could be said— moved and sustained them through different human events: the passion to give to God-Trinity a glory always greater and to work for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ to the peoples who had been ignored."[3]

Francis also proposed the creation of the infamous Goa Inquisition, which was installed six years after his death and resulted in the forced conversions, torture and murder of thousands of Hindus, Muslims, Indian Jews and non-Catholic Indian Christians. Francis himself was not involved in the acts.

[edit] Recognition

[edit] 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, Spain; Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines; the island-nation of Australia; the island of Borneo; China; the East Indies; Goa, India; Japan; New Zealand and of missionaries. His feast day is December 3.

[edit] Educational institutions

  • St. Francis Xavier University, named after him, is a small university in Eastern Canada established in 1853. Students at this university celebrate the life of St. Francis Xavier every year on December 3. It is also the date that seinor students receive their university ring (X-Ring) which is marked with an "X" and is recognized around the world.
  • Xavier School in the Philippines is named after him as well. The school was established as a missionary school, by Jesuits expelled from China, continuing the work of St. Francis Xavier.

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • Francisco Xavier is one of the most common given names in Spain and Hispanic countries.
  • In its English variant, Francis Xavier, it usually abbreviated to Francis X. Well-known people with this name include Francis X. Bushman, Admiral Francis X. McInerney and Francis X. DiLorenzo, the Italian judge Francesco Saviero Borrelli. As a spin-off, Xavier itself became a male name popular in Portugal, Brazil, France and Belgium, southern Italy. In Austria and Bavaria the name is spelled as Xaver (pronounced Ksaber and often used in addition to Francis as Franz-Xaver.
  • 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.
  • The Dutch student fraternity KSV St. Franciscus Xaverius in Wageningen, is named after him.
  • Xavier is one of the few English names starting with X.
  • The X-Men comic book character, Charles Francis Xavier (Professor X) is probably named after him.
  • The station Saint François Xavier, on Line 13 of the Paris Métro is named after him.
  • A character based on Xavier appears in the game Sengoku Basara as Xavi/Zabii,(Q-Ball in the American version)
  • An episode of the anime series Samurai Champloo portrays a con-man posing as Xavier's descendant, which allowed him to string along a village of Christians in Edo-period Japan to hide more devious goals.

[edit] References

[edit] General

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ricklefs, M.C. (1993). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. London: MacMillan, p.25. ISBN 0-333-57689-6. 
  2. ^ Cappella di san Francesco Saverio, at the official web site of Il Gesù. Text in Italian.
  3. ^ Address of Benedict XVI to the Jesuits, April 22, 2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] Catholic missionaries in China

[edit] Protestant missionaries in China

See separate article List of Protestant missionaries in China.

[edit] External links and references

  1. ^ Ricklefs, M.C. (1993). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. London: MacMillan, p.25. ISBN 0-333-57689-6. 
  2. ^ Cappella di san Francesco Saverio, at the official web site of Il Gesù. Text in Italian.
  3. ^ Address of Benedict XVI to the Jesuits, April 22, 2006.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../f/r/a/Francis_Xavier_8b71.html"