Vigils Reading – St Francis Xavier

ST FRANCIS XAVIER

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints

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Francis Xavier was born in Spanish Navarre at the castle of Xavier, near

Pamplona, in 1506, the youngest of a large family. He entered the college of St

Barbara and in 1528 gained the degree of licentiate. It was here that he met

Ignatius Loyola, and later joined with him in the first band of seven who vowed

themselves to the service of God at Montmartre in 1534. With them he received

the priesthood at Venice three years later and in 1540 Ignatius appointed him to

join Fr Simon Rodriguez on the first missionary expedition the Society sent out

to the East Indies…

They arrived at Goa, India on May 6, 1542, after a voyage of thirteen

months. Francis opened the mission with the Christians of Goa, instructing

them in the principles of religion and forming the young to the practice of virtue.

He walked through the streets ringing a bell to summon the children and slaves

to catechism. He offered Mass with lepers each Sunday. For the instruction of

the very ignorant or simple he versified the truths of religion to fit popular

tunes, and this was so successful that the practice spread till these songs were

being sung everywhere, in the streets and fields and workshops…

But before he left he heard about Japan for the first time from Portuguese

merchants. The next fifteen months were spent in endless traveling between

Goa, Ceylon and Cape Comorin, consolidating his work and preparing for an

attempt on that Japan into which no European had yet penetrated. In April 1549

Francis set out, accompanied by a Jesuit priest and lay-brother and three

Japanese converts. On the feast of the Assumption they landed in Japan, at

Kagoshima on Kyushu.

Francis set himself to learn Japanese. A translation was made of a simple

account of Christian teaching, and recited to all who would listen. The fruit of

twelve months labor was a hundred converts, but then the authorities began to

get suspicious and forbade further preaching. So, leaving one of the Japanese

converts in charge of the neophytes, Francis pressed further with his

companions and went by sea to Hirado, north of Nagasaki. Before leaving

Kagoshima he visited the fortress of Ichiku, where the baron’s wife, her steward

and others accepted Christianity. Xavier left the rest in the care of the steward,

and twelve years later the Jesuit lay-brother, Luis de Almeida, found these

isolated converts still retaining their first fervor and faithfulness.

At Hirado the missionaries were well received by the ruler and they had

more success in a few weeks than they had had at Kagoshima in a year. Xavier’s

objective was Miyako (Kyoto), then the chief city of Japan. In due time he was

able to be received by the authorities, who gave him permission to preach and

provided an empty Buddhist monastery for a residence. He preached with such

fruit that he baptized many in that city.

Francis decided to revisit his charge in India, from whence he hoped to

extend his mission to China. After dealing with matters in India, Xavier set sail

for China. In august 1552 the convoy reached the desolate island of Shang-

chwan, half-a-dozen miles off the coast and a hundred miles south-west of Hong

Kong. Here Xavier fell sick with a fever and died on December 3. He was buried

on the island, but his body which was found to be incorrupt, was later moved to

Goa. He was canonized in 1622 at the same time as Ignatius of Loyola.