St. Francis Xavier

In the rugged highlands of Navarre, within the stone walls of the Castle of Xavier, Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was born in 1506. As the youngest son of a noble family, his early life was shaped by the political upheavals of the Spanish conquest, yet his personal ambitions were fixed not on the sword, but on the intellectual prestige of the university. In 1525, he traveled to the University of Paris, enrolling at the Collège de Sainte-Barbe. He was a man of vibrant spirit and high intellect, eventually becoming a master of philosophy and a popular lecturer. His future seemed destined for a comfortable ecclesiastical career, fueled by the acclaim of his peers. However, God had placed a divine hunter in his path: Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius, a former soldier who had undergone a profound conversion, became Francis's roommate along with Peter Faber. While Francis initially mocked Ignatius's ragged appearance and simple piety, the older man was undeterred. Ignatius would frequently repeat the words of the Gospel: What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? These words eventually pierced the armor of Francis's vanity. The transformation was slow but total. By 1534, Francis had joined Ignatius and five others in the subterranean chapel of Saint-Denis at Montmartre, taking vows of poverty and chastity. This small band formed the nucleus of the Society of Jesus. Francis spent several years in Italy serving the sick in hospitals and was ordained a priest in Venice. The pivotal moment of his life arrived in 1540. King John III of Portugal requested missionaries for his vast overseas territories. When the Jesuit originally chosen for the mission fell ill, Ignatius turned to Francis with the words, Go, Francis. Without a moment's hesitation, Francis replied, Good, I am ready. He left Rome with only his breviary, never to see his homeland or Ignatius again. The voyage to India was a thirteen-month ordeal of storm, disease, and deprivation. Francis lived among the common sailors, tending to the sick and teaching the faith amidst the squalor of the ship. He arrived in Goa in 1542 to find a colony where the faith of the Portuguese had grown cold. He walked the streets ringing a bell, inviting children and slaves to hear the Word of God. His zeal soon drove him further to the Pearl Fishery Coast, where he lived among the Parava fishermen. He adopted their simple diet of rice and water and slept on the bare earth. He baptized so many thousands that he famously wrote that his arms often fell to his sides from sheer exhaustion. Despite the physical toll, he was filled with a joy that he described as overwhelming. His restlessness for souls then carried him to the East Indies, through Malacca and the Spice Islands, where he braved pirates and tropical fevers. In Malacca, he met a Japanese man named Anjiro, whose descriptions of a cultured, intellectual nation sparked a new fire in his heart. In 1549, Francis landed at Kagoshima, becoming the first missionary to reach Japan. He realized that this mission required a different approach, one that engaged the sophisticated philosophical traditions of the people. He presented himself as a scholar and debated with Buddhist monks, laying the foundation for a vibrant Christian community. Yet, even Japan was not enough. Francis looked toward the vast, closed horizon of China, believing it was the key to the conversion of the entire East. In 1552, he reached the small, desolate island of Sancian, just off the Chinese coast, waiting for a merchant to smuggle him onto the mainland. It was here, shivering with fever in a hut of straw and branches, that the great apostle reached the end of his journey. On December 3, 1552, at the age of forty-six, he died with his eyes fixed on a crucifix, whispering the name of Jesus. His body was found to be incorrupt and was eventually brought back to Goa, where it remains a site of pilgrimage. St. Francis Xavier had traveled further and baptized more people than perhaps any man since the Apostles, driven by a singular, burning love for Christ.