Saint Francis Xavier, Confessor
S. Francisci Xaverii Confessoris
Saint Francis Xavier, one of the first companions of Saint Ignatius Loyola, carried the Gospel to India, the East Indies, and Japan, and is honoured as one of the greatest missionaries since the age of the Apostles.
Saint Francis Xavier was born of a noble family in the kingdom of Navarre, at the castle of Xavier, in the year 1506. As a young man he studied at the University of Paris, where he met Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Won by the question, “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?”, Francis gave himself to God and became one of the first companions in the founding of the Society of Jesus, binding himself with Ignatius and the others to the service of Christ and His Church.
Apostle of the Indies and Japan
Sent to the East at the request of the King of Portugal, Francis sailed for India and arrived at Goa in 1542. From there he laboured for some ten years across an immense field — among the peoples of the Indian coasts, in the islands of the East Indies, and at last in Japan, which he was among the first to open to the Gospel. He instructed the simple and the learned alike, baptising great numbers, caring for the sick and the poor, and enduring countless hardships of travel, sickness, and want. His zeal, his charity, and his constancy made him, in the esteem of the Church, one of the greatest apostles of the nations since the first preaching of the faith.
Death and honours of the Church
Burning to carry the Gospel even into China, Francis came to the island of Sancian off the Chinese coast, but there he was overtaken by sickness and died, almost alone, on the third of December in 1552, with the name of Jesus on his lips. He was canonised in 1622 together with Saint Ignatius, and Pope Pius XI proclaimed him the heavenly patron of all the missions. His incorrupt body is venerated at Goa, and his memory continues to inspire those who labour to bring the knowledge of Christ to all peoples.
The Collect
O God, who wast pleased to gather into Thy Church the nations of the Indies by the preaching and miracles of blessed Francis: mercifully grant that we who reverence his glorious merits may also imitate the example of his virtues. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
Deus, qui Indiarum gentes beati Francisci praedicatione et miraculis Ecclesiae tuae aggregare voluisti: concede propitius; ut, cuius gloriosa merita veneramur, virtutum quoque imitemur exempla. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.
Patronage
He is the heavenly patron of the Catholic missions and of missionaries, and is venerated as a patron of India, Japan, and many mission lands; his incorrupt body is honoured at Goa.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar this feast is observed on the same day, 3 December, as an obligatory memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Francis Xavier?
His feast is kept on 3 December in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast.
Who was Saint Francis Xavier?
He was a sixteenth-century Spanish-Navarrese priest, one of the first companions of Saint Ignatius Loyola and a co-founder of the Society of Jesus, who carried the Gospel to India, the East Indies, and Japan and is honoured as one of the greatest missionaries of the Church.
Why is he the patron of the missions?
Because of his tireless preaching of the Gospel across Asia and the vast numbers he baptised, Pope Pius XI named him, together with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, a heavenly patron of all the Catholic missions.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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