St Francis Xavier

Author: Jobi Varghese   Date: August 15, 2005

“What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:26a)

Francis Xavier was born on April 7, 1506 in Spain. Francis went to Paris to do his university education, and there he met St Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus in 1534, who inspired him to propagate his Christian faith to the world. After finishing his college studies, Francis Xavier was a teacher at the University of Paris. Later, he left for Venice, Italy where he cared for sick people in hospitals.

One of the founder members of the Society of Jesus, Francis Xavier was ordained as a priest in 1537 in Venice. He went to Rome in 1538, and also preached the Gospel in Portugal for a short time.

On receiving the solicitation of King John III of Portugal to evangelize the people of the Portuguese East Indies (countries of South East Asia), Francis Xavier sailed his way to India, reaching Goa in May, 1542. In Goa, he preached the Gospel, and shared the Word of God with both native Indians and Europeans. Over a period of 10 years, Francis Xavier travelled to several parts of India and outside, in extremely difficult conditions, propagating the Gospel and Christian faith.

Francis Xavier extended his missionary works to South India (including Tamilnadu and Kerala), Malacca, islands of Malaysia, Japan, Sri Lanka, and several Pacific Islands, returning to Goa in early 1552.

Francis Xavier's biggest ambition was to preach the Gospel in mainland China. For this, he set out on an expedition to the Chinese coast in April, 1552 in a ship. After crossing Malacca, when the expedition reached near the coast of China, Francis Xavier fell seriously ill. Because the journey worsened his condition, he was taken to the land at the Chinese island of Sancian. On December 2, 1552, Francis Xavier, who travelled several thousand miles and sailed many a sea, breathed his last, without meeting his goal of reaching mainland China.

Immediately after his death, Francis Xavier's body was put in a wooden coffin and buried at the Sancian island. The coffin was packed with lime above and below the body so the body would decompose fast, thus enabling the bones to be taken to Malacca for burial in a Christian church.

In mid-February 1553, as the ship was returning to Malacca, the sailors exhumed the body of Francis Xavier so they could take the bones to Malacca. To their astonishment, they found that the body had not decomposed a bit, even after two and half months after its burial. The body was taken to Malacca, and after a month it was buried again in soil without any coffin. When some missionaries opened the grave again after a further few months, they found that the body was still fresh. They transferred the body to their home, and later took it to a ship bound for Goa. Thus, Francis Xavier's body reached Goa on March 16, 1554.

In 1613, the sacred body of Francis Xavier was transferred to the Bom Jesus Basilica in Old Goa.

Francis Xavier was canonized in the year 1622. In 1904, Pope Pius X made him patron of the propagation of the faith.

Approximately every 10 years, the body kept in an air-tight casket is taken to the Se Cathedral opposite the Bom Jesus Basilica for public viewing. This is known as the exposition of the sacred relics of Francis Xavier. This decennial event is on for six weeks. The most recent of these expositions - the 16th exposition - took place from November 21, 2004 to January 2, 2005.

St Francis Xavier is known as the patron saint of Goa.

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