The Saints: St. Francis Xavier

1506 - 15552/ Feast - Dec. 3

This great Spanish missionary to Asia was among the first seven Jesuits who dedicated themselves to God in Paris in 1534. For seven years, from 1541, he labored in the vineyards of Goa, in southern India; Ceylon, now Sri Lanka; the Malay peninsula; and the Molucca Islands, in Indonesia. He also spent two years in Japan, teaching and preaching. In 1552, after revisiting his Indian mission, Francis sailed to China but was taken ill and died two weeks later. His relics are still enshrined in a church in Goa; once every 10 years they are carried in a crystal urn in a procession. © 2005 CNS