St. Francis Xavier

Their story

Francis Xavier was born in 1506 at the castle of Xavier in the Basque kingdom of Navarre, in what is now Spain. He went to the University of Paris, where he was talented, popular and ambitious. One of his roommates was an older student named Ignatius of Loyola, who kept quietly asking him the words of Jesus: What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Eventually the question won him over. In 1534, Francis was one of the first small group of companions who, with Ignatius, made vows that led to the founding of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. In 1541 Francis sailed for Asia at the request of the king of Portugal. For the next ten years he traveled tirelessly through India, Southeast Asia and Japan. He walked the streets ringing a bell to gather children and adults for lessons in the faith, learned prayers in local languages, cared for the sick, and baptized tens of thousands of people. He wrote letters home urging students in Europe to leave their comfortable lives and come share the Gospel. Francis longed to bring Christ to China. He died of fever in 1552 on a small island off the Chinese coast, waiting for a ship to take him there. He was forty-six. He is patron of the missions, together with St. Thérèse of Lisieux.