By Bernard J. McGuckian SJ

The author is one of three brothers who are Jesuit priests in Ireland.

St Francis Xavier

Last 7 April was the 500th anniversary of the birth of St Francis Xavier, generally regarded as the greatest Christian missionary since St Paul. He was born in the Spanish Basque country in the castle of Xavier, a word that simply means ‘new house’ in Basque. The public missionary dimension of his life lasted for ten short years ending with his death on 3 December 1552 on Sancian Island, situated a short distance from the Chinese mainland, about 64 kms from Macao. What happened in those ten years has become the stuff of legend – with one major difference to most legends: the facts were even more extraordinary than the stories.

One man, Francis Mansilhas, who testified on oath at the canonization process of the saint could not be accused of bias in his favor. He had been dismissed from the Society of Jesus by Francis Xavier. Yet this is what he said. ‘No man could have done what he did or have lived as he did without the grace of the Holy Spirit . . . for his life was more that of an angel than a man. At night, when he could find the time he would recollect himself and give himself to prayer and contemplation. He consoled people both by day and night, hearing their confessions and visiting the sick. He gave endless alms to the poor. He never kept anything for himself or for his own use. As much as one might dream this man might do as he did, and even more.’

To the ends of the earth

Francis Mansilhas put his finger on the nub of the matter when he said that the life of Francis Xavier would be inexplicable ‘without the grace of the Holy Spirit.’ The life of Xavier was ‘wind-assisted’ in every way. It was the wind that made possible his long apostolic journeys across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in boats that would be considered totally un-seaworthy today. But it was the Holy Spirit, the Wind of God, that drove him relentlessly to take the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. As the first European to get to Japan, he blazed a trail that would inspire thousands of young men and women in subsequent centuries to give their lives to bring the Gospel to Asia. It was the same Holy Spirit that raised him up to the heights of holiness and eventual canonization.

Kindred Spirits

As a child he was fortunate to be introduced to religion by a good mother and sufficiently intelligent as a teenager to go to the Sorbonne at Paris. He did well in his studies, ending up as a philosophy tutor after graduation, even finding time to become the university high jump champion. His life took a dramatic turn in 1528 when another Basque student, Ignatius of Loyola, arrived in the same lodgings. At, first Xavier had little time for the newcomer with a limp, sustained in the Battle of Pamplona eight years earlier, in which his two brothers had been on the opposite side. However after a short time, like most people who ever got close to him, Xavier found himself attracted to Ignatius. It was the beginning of a deep friendship that would lead to the establishment of the Society of Jesus, a shared desire to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth and to their canonization at Rome on the same day, 12 March 1622.

Ignatius had a rare skill as a spiritual director, although without any formal training in spirituality or theology. He was noted for his gift of discernment. He was able to see the great potential in his young friend. Under his guidance Francis changed from being a normally ambitious young academic into an apostle on fire with love for God. This however did not happen overnight.

Search for Truth

Ignatius was later to say that Francis ‘was the toughest dough I ever tried to knead.’ Ignatius got Francis to think about the big basic questions of life in a spirit of prayer and to come to some decisions about them. Why have I been created? What are all the good things in the world around me for? Why did God become man? How does God deal with a human being? What should I do during the time given to me before I die? How can I know what is God’s will for me? How can I grow in love for God and others? Francis became more and more convinced that the answer to all these questions is revealed in the Scriptures. If we become docile to Him, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth as Jesus promised.

The result of his reflections was that the life of Francis changed profoundly. He gave away all that he possessed, became a priest and devoted himself to such a punishing regime of prayer, fasting, penance, preaching, teaching, looking after the sick in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal that Ignatius had to use his authority to get him to moderate his zeal. This was not really a problem because he had learned from Ignatius the importance in Christianity of obedience to lawful authority.

God had other plans

On his 35th birthday, 7 April 1541, Francis set sail from Lisbon in obedience to a request from the Pope that a member of the newly-founded Society of Jesus go as his representative to India. It was the first of a series of epic voyages that would open up the East to Christianity. While out there he heard about Japan and made his way there. This put the idea of China in his head because the Japanese said that if his God was the true God, how come the Chinese had not heard about it! He decided there and then that he would have to meet the Chinese since they seemed to be so highly regarded by their neighbors. God had other plans for him.

While waiting to get a ship to the Chinese mainland he contracted fever and died on 3 December 1552. Although buried in quicklime it was soon discovered that his body was incorrupt. It has been kept in Goa, India, for the last 450 years and until very recently has been perfectly intact. Only within the last few decades has it begun to show signs of wear but not enough to prevent public exposure to millions of pilgrims every 10 years.

Each year the Novena of Grace in his honor is held from the 4 to 12 March, the anniversary of his canonization, in Jesuit and other churches around the world. The testimony of people over the centuries indicates that his powers as a wonder worker are in no way diminished with the passage of the centuries.

We thank www.catholicireland.net for permission to use this article. You can also find it athttp://www.jesuit.ie/sfx/  with other material on the saint, including a powerpoint slideshow.

You can find a video reflection on two Jesuit saints and one beatus in honor of whom 2006 has been a jubilee year at http://www.jesuits.ph/index.htm. St Francis Xavier SJ was born on Tuesday of Holy Week, 7 April 1506, Blessed Peter Faber SJ, six days later on Easter Monday; St Ignatius Loyola died on 31 July 1556.