Who was Saint Francis Xavier?
Francis was born in 1506 in the castle of Xavier, in Navarre, in the north of Spain, and that is where his name comes from. He was clever and fast, and he loved running and jumping. At the University of Paris he shared a room with Ignatius of Loyola, who kept reminding him of a question Jesus asked: what good is it to win the whole world if you lose your own soul? Little by little Francis changed, and with Ignatius and a few friends he began the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.
When the king of Portugal asked for priests to go to India, Ignatius chose Francis, who answered, “Here I am!” The voyage took thirteen months, and Francis cared for the sick on board day and night. In Goa he walked the streets ringing a little bell, and children came running. He taught them the Our Father and the Hail Mary with simple tunes, and they ran home singing and taught their parents. With helpers, he put the prayers into the people’s own languages.
Francis kept going, to faraway islands and, in 1549, to Japan, where the food, the houses, the writing and the language were all new. He listened to people’s questions with patience and respect, and many families came to believe in Jesus. He hoped to bring Jesus to China next, but he caught a high fever on a small island just off its coast and died there in 1552. In 1622 he was declared a saint on the same day as his old roommate Ignatius.
When is Saint Francis Xavier’s feast day?
Saint Francis Xavier’s feast day is December 3. It’s the day he died, in 1552, on Shangchuan, a small island just off the coast of China, while he waited for a boat to take him there.
Clara tells the whole story at bedtime, in the Little Prayer Stories app.Get the app →
