His father was a privy counselor and a finance minister to King John III of Navarre.
He was the youngest member of his family. He also resided in a castle that is currently in possession of the Jesuit Order.
When he grew up, he was surrounded by war and became the target of King Ferdinand's campaign.
Francis was sent to study at the University of Paris when he came of age.
He earned his masters degree in 1530 and went on to teach philosophy at where he studied.
Him and several of his friends made vows of poverty chastity, and obedience on August 15, 1534. They eventually planned to travel to the Holy Land and convert non-believers, which caused Francis to start his study of Theology that same year.
Francis was ordained on June 24, 1537.
In 1540, Pope Paul III approved the forMarion of the order of Francis and his friends, which became the Society of Jesus. That order is popularly known as the Jesuits.
On April 6, 1541, his 35th birthday, Francis left for India, in which he was informed that the pope appointed him the Papal Nunico in the East.
He arrived in the colony of Goa, India on May 6, 1542. The first people he ministered were the sick and the children, in which he learned about the native people of the Pearl Fishery Coast that he baptized.
He began ministering them, since they were never taught about their faith. This lasted for three years. He then built them 40 churches, in which he had difficulty doing because he worked to convert the people first and not their leaders.
He then decided to travel to Malacca and the Maluku Islands so he could evangelize the people there, in which he spent two years there.
He was encountered by a Japanese man named Anjiro, who told him about him being accused of murder. Francis' first move was to convert him to Christianity, which made Anjiro the very first Japanese man to be converted to Christianity.
He eventually travelled everywhere, including Japan and China, and did many good deeds for everyone there. He unfortunately caught a fever and died in December 3, 1552.
Francis Xavier was buried on an island off the Chinese coast, as this was the place that he was located when he became ill, until his body was taken to Malacca. He was then moved again, this time to Goa, where he is still buried to this day.
On October 25, 1619, he was beatified by Pope Paul V. Then, on March 12, 1622, at the same ceremony as Ignatius of Loyola, he was canonized by Gregory XV.
Francis Xavier was the patron of Catholic missions. His feast day is on December 3.
Dear God, I ask for the help of St. Francis Xavier on this day, so I can help a friend of mine be converted to Christianity.
I found all of my information on catholic.org/saints/patron.
"I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work." - Erek Colon
