Feast day · December 3
St. Francis Xavier
Priest, Missionary
Born 1506, NavarreDied 1552, Shangchuan Island, China
“Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the Gospel of Christ.”
The greatest missionary since St. Paul, who baptized tens of thousands across India, the Spice Islands, and Japan.
The story
A proud young professor in Paris, Francis was worn down by his roommate Ignatius repeating, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" He became one of the first Jesuits, sailed to Goa in 1541, and spent ten years walking barefoot through India and the Indies and pioneering the mission to Japan. He died alone on an island within sight of China, the land he longed to enter.
What Francis teaches
The Gospel is worth giving your whole life to bring to people who have never heard it.
Patronage
missions, Navarre, Japan.
Prayer
St. Francis Xavier, patron of missions, kindle in us zeal for souls and courage to go where Christ sends us. Amen.
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