Who Was Saint Francis Xavier?

Saint Francis Xavier was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Navarre, Spain (in the Basque region) and was educated at the University of Paris. He was ordained a priest together with St Ignatius of Loyola in 1537. He was ordained as part of the missionary order, the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and was, indeed, one of its founding members.

His first mission was to evangelise in the East Indies. He sailed to Goa in 1541 in a journey that took 13 months. Whilst working to reform the city and rid it of public sins committed by Portuguese Catholics, he lived as a poor man and often survived on just rice and water. During his lifetime, he also went to Japan, making 100 converts to Catholicism per year. In 1552, he travelled to China but died virtually alone on the island of Chang Chuen-Shan. He was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 and was declared as Patron Saint of the Foreign Missions by Pope Pius XI in 1927. Catholics celebrate his feast day on December 4 each year.