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{{Short description|Navarese Catholic saint and missionary (1506–1552)}}
{{Redirect|François Xavier|other uses|François-Xavier|and|St. Francis Xavier (disambiguation)}}
{{family name hatnote|Jasso|Azpilicueta|lang=Basque}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix    = [[Canonization|Saint]]
| name                = Francis Xavier
| honorific_suffix    = [[Society of Jesus|SJ]]
| image               = Franciscus de Xabier.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| alt                 = 
| caption             = A painting of Saint Francis Xavier, held in the [[Kobe City Museum]], Japan
| titles              = 
| birth_name          = Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1506|04|07|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = [[Xavier, Spain|Xavier]], [[Kingdom of Navarre]]
| home_town           = 
| residence           = 
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1552|12|03|1506|04|07}}
| death_place         = [[Shangchuan Island]], Chuanshan Archipelago, Xinning, [[Ming dynasty|China]]
| venerated_in        = {{ublist|[[Catholic Church]]|[[Anglican Communion]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://diobeth.typepad.com/files/holy-women-holy-men.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907015441/http://diobeth.typepad.com/files/holy-women-holy-men.pdf |archive-date=7 September 2012 |url-status=live |title=Holy Men and Holy Women |website=Churchofengland.org}}</ref>|[[Lutheranism]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.resurrectionpeople.org/saints.html |title=Notable Lutheran Saints |website=Resurrectionpeople.org |access-date=16 July 2019 |archive-date=16 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516024927/http://www.resurrectionpeople.org/saints.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
| beatified_date      = 25 October 1619
| beatified_place     = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]],
| beatified_by        = [[Pope Paul V]]
| canonized_date      = 12 March 1622
| canonized_place     = Rome, Papal States,
| canonized_by        = [[Pope Gregory XV]]
| major_shrine        = 
| feast_day           = 3 December
| attributes          = {{cslist|[[Cassock]]|[[surplice]]|[[stole (vestment)|stole]]|[[ferraiolo]]|[[crucifix]]}}
| patronage           = {{cslist|African missions|[[Kottar]], India|[[Agartala]], India|[[Ahmedabad]], India|[[Alexandria, Louisiana]]|Apostleship of Prayer|Australia|[[Bengaluru]], India|[[Bombay]], India|[[Borneo]]|[[Cape Town]], South Africa|China|[[Dinajpur]], [[Bangladesh]]|Far East|Fathers of the Precious Blood|foreign missions|[[Freising]], Germany|[[Goa]], India|[[Fiji]]|[[Green Bay, Wisconsin]]|India|[[Indianapolis]], Indiana|Japan|[[Key West, Florida]]|[[Sophia University]], Tokyo, Japan|[[St. Francis Xavier University]], Antigonish, Canada| Sucre, [[Bolivia]]|[[Joliet, Illinois]]|[[Kabankalan]], Philippines|[[Kollam]], India|[[Nasugbu]], [[Batangas]], Philippines|[[Abuyog]], [[Leyte]], Philippines|[[Alegria, Cebu]], [[Palompon]], [[Leyte]], Philippines|Hong Kong|[[Macau]]|[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Malindi|Diocese of Malindi]], [[Kenya]]|missionaries|Missioners of the Precious Blood|[[Navarre]], Spain|[[navigators]]|New Zealand|parish missions|[[plague (disease)|plague]] epidemics|Propagation of the Faith|India, [[Zagreb]], [[Croatia]]|[[Indonesia]]|[[Malacca]], [[Malaysia]]|[[Brunei]]|[[Pakistan]]|[[Singapore]]|[[Sri Lanka]]|[[Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte]]|semi=true}}
| issues              = 
| suppressed_date     = 
| suppressed_by       = 
| influences          = 
| influenced          = 
| tradition           = 
| major_works         = 
| module          = {{Infobox person|embed=yes
| signature           = Assinatura São Francisco Xavier.svg
}}
}}
{{Infobox manner of address
| name= Francis Xavier
| dipstyle= [[The Reverend Father]]
| offstyle= Father
| posthumous  = Saint
| relstyle= 
| image = Coat of arms of Francis Xavier.svg
| image_size = 175px
}}

{{Jesuit}}
'''Francis Xavier''', (born '''Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta'''; {{Langx|la|Franciscus Xaverius}}; {{Langx|eu|Xabierkoa}}; {{Langx|fr|François Xavier}}; {{Langx|es|Francisco Javier}}; {{Langx|pt|Francisco Xavier}}; 7 April 1506{{snd}}3&nbsp;December 1552) venerated as '''Saint Francis Xavier''', was a [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarrese]] cleric and missionary. He co-founded the [[Society of Jesus]] and, as a representative of the [[Portuguese Empire]], led the first Christian mission to [[Japan]].<ref name="Saint Francis Xavier">{{Cite web |title=Saint Francis Xavier |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Francis-Xavier |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=12 August 2025}}</ref><ref name="Who is Francis Xavier">{{Cite web |title=Who is Francis Xavier? |url=https://www.xavier.edu/mission-identity/xaviers-mission/who-is-francis-xavier |website=Xavier University |access-date=12 August 2025}}</ref>

Born in the town of [[Xavier, Spain|Xavier]], [[Kingdom of Navarre]] (in today's [[Spain]]), he was a companion of [[Ignatius of Loyola]] and one of the first seven [[Jesuits]] who took vows of poverty and chastity at [[Montmartre]], Paris in 1534.{{sfn|Attwater|1965|p=141}} He led extensive missionary work across Asia, primarily within the [[Portuguese Empire in the East]], and played a significant role in the [[evangelization]] of [[early modern India]], particularly through his activities in [[Portuguese India]]. In 1546, Francis Xavier wrote to King [[John III of Portugal]] proposing measures to strengthen the Christian faith in [[Goa]]. Some historians interpret this letter as a request for the establishment of the [[Goan Inquisition]],{{sfn|Neill|2004|p=160|ps=: "By another route I have written to your highness of the great need there is in India for preachers... The second necessity which obtains in India, if those who live there are to be good Christians, is that your highness should institute the holy Inquisition; for there are many who live according to the law of Moses or the law of Muhammad without any fear of God or shame before men".}}{{sfn|Rao|1963|p=43}} while others contend that he instead called for the appointment of a special minister dedicated solely to promoting [[Christianity in Goa]].{{sfn|Coleridge|1872|p=268}}{{sfn|Neill|2004|pp=160–161|ps=: [Let the king warn the governor that] "should he fail to take active steps for the great increase of our faith, you are determined to punish him, and inform him with a solemn oath that, on his return to Portugal, all his property will be forfeited for the benefit of the Santa Misericordia, and beyond this tell him that you will keep him in irons for a number of years... There is no better way of ensuring that all in India become Christians than that your highness should inflict severe punishment on a governor".}}

As a representative of the King of Portugal, he was the first major [[Christian missionary]] to venture into [[Borneo]], the [[Maluku Islands]], Japan, and other areas. In those areas, struggling to learn the local languages and in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India. Xavier also extended his mission to [[Ming China]], where he died on [[Shangchuan Island]].

He was beatified by [[Pope Paul V]] on 25 October 1619 and [[canonized]] by [[Pope Gregory XV]] on 12 March 1622. In 1624, he was made co-patron of [[Navarre]]<!-- alongside Santiago -->. Known as the "Apostle of the [[Indies]]", "Apostle of [[the Far East]]", "Apostle of China" and "Apostle of Japan", he is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since [[Paul the Apostle]].{{sfn|De Rosa|2006|p=90}} In 1927, [[Pope Pius XI]] published the decree ''Apostolicorum in Missionibus'' naming Francis Xavier, along with [[Thérèse of Lisieux]], co-patron of all foreign missions.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11APOST.htm |title= Apostolicorum in Missionibus |last1= Pope Pius XI |date= 14 December 1927 |website= Papal Encyclicals Online |access-date= 1 November 2014 |archive-date= 17 March 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150317155218/http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11APOST.htm |url-status= live }}</ref> He is now co-patron saint of Navarre, along with [[Fermin|Saint Fermin]]. The "Day of Navarre" marks the anniversary of Francis Xavier's death, on 3 December.

==Early life==
Francis Xavier was born in the [[Castle of Xavier]], in the [[Kingdom of Navarre]], on 7 April 1506 into an influential noble family. He was the youngest son of Don Juan de Jasso y Atondo, Lord of Idocín, president of the Royal Council of the Kingdom of Navarre, and seneschal of the Castle of Xavier, a doctor in law by the [[University of Bologna]],{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=17}} belonging to a prosperous noble family of [[Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port]], later privy counsellor and finance minister to King [[John III of Navarre]].{{sfn|Brodrick|1952|p=18}}

His mother was Doña María de Azpilcueta y Aznárez, sole heiress to the [[Castle of Xavier]], related to the theologian and philosopher [[Martín de Azpilcueta]].{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=16}} His brother Miguel de Jasso, later known as Miguel de Javier, became Lord of Xavier and Idocín at the death of his parents, a direct ancestor of the Counts of Javier. [[Basque language|Basque]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.euskadi.eus/contenidos/informacion/argitalpenak/eu_6092/adjuntos/EEH/FRANTSES/EEH5_FRA.PDF|title=Euskara, la langue des Basques. V. L'euskara, aux temps modernes (1545–1789)]|quote=... Ce qui explique pourquoi le missionraire navarrais désignera l'euskara comme "sa langue naturelle bizcayenne" (1544), terme très étendu à cette époque.}}</ref> and [[Navarro-Aragonese|Romance]]{{efn|Navarro-Aragonese, called Romance at this time was also a language spoken in the surrounding area. Romance languages are the result of the changes to spoken Latin through the centuries. Hispanic Romance languages were born in the North of the Peninsula (Galician, Leonese, Castilian, Navarro-Aragonese, Catalan).}} were his two [[mother tongue]]s.

In 1512, [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand]], King of [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] and regent of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]], invaded Navarre, initiating a [[Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre|war that lasted over 18 years]]. In 1515, Francis's father died when Francis was only nine years old. In 1516, Francis's brothers participated in a failed Navarrese-French attempt to expel the Spanish invaders from the kingdom. The Spanish Governor, [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cardinal Cisneros]], confiscated the family lands, demolished the outer wall, the gates, and two towers of the family castle, and filled in the moat. The height of the keep was reduced by half.{{sfn|Sagredo|2006|p=}} Only the family residence inside the castle was left. In 1522, one of Francis's brothers participated with 200 Navarrese nobles in dogged but failed resistance against the Castilian Count of Miranda in Amaiur, [[Baztan (valley)|Baztan]], the last Navarrese territorial position south of the Pyrenees.

In 1525, Francis went to study in Paris at the [[Collège Sainte-Barbe]], [[University of Paris]], where he spent the next eleven years.{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=28}} In the early days he acquired some reputation as an athlete{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=21}} and a high-jumper.{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=33}}

In 1529, Francis shared lodgings with his friend [[Pierre Favre]]. A new student, [[Ignatius of Loyola]], came to room with them.{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=40}} At 38, Ignatius was much older than Pierre and Francis, who were both 23 at the time. Ignatius convinced Pierre to become a priest, but was unable to convince Francis, who had aspirations of worldly advancement. At first, Francis regarded the new lodger as a joke and was sarcastic about his efforts to convert students.{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=41}}

When Pierre left their lodgings to visit his family and Ignatius was alone with Francis, he was able to slowly break down Francis's resistance.{{sfn |De Rosa|2006|p=93}} According to most biographies Ignatius is said to have posed the question: "What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"{{sfn|Butler}} However, according to [[James Patrick Broderick|James Broderick]] such method is not characteristic of Ignatius and there is no evidence that he employed it at all.{{sfn|Brodrick|1952|p=41}}

In 1530, Francis received the degree of Master of Arts, and afterwards taught Aristotelian philosophy at the [[Collège de Beauvais]], University of Paris.{{sfn|Brodrick|1952|p=41}}

<gallery>
File:Castillo javier.jpg|The [[Castle of Xavier|castle of the Xavier family]] was later acquired by the Society of Jesus.
</gallery>

==Missionary work==
On 15 August 1534, seven students met in a crypt beneath the Church of Saint Denis (now [[Saint Pierre de Montmartre]]), on the hill of [[Montmartre]], overlooking Paris. They were Francis, [[Ignatius of Loyola]], [[Alfonso Salmeron]], [[Diego Laynez|Diego Laínez]], [[Nicholas Bobadilla|Nicolás Bobadilla]] from [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]], [[Peter Faber]] from [[Duchy of Savoy|Savoy]], and [[Simão Rodrigues]] from [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]]. They made private vows of [[poverty, chastity, and obedience]] to the Pope, and also vowed to go to the Holy Land to convert infidels.{{sfn |De Rosa|2006|p=95}}{{sfn|Brodrick|1952|p=47}} Francis began his study of theology in 1534 and was ordained on 24 June 1537.

In 1539, after long discussions, Ignatius drew up a formula for a new religious order, the [[Society of Jesus]] (the Jesuits).{{sfn|De Rosa|2006|p=93}} Ignatius's plan for the order was approved by [[Pope Paul III]] in 1540.{{sfn|De Rosa|2006|p=37}}

In 1540, King [[John III of Portugal]] had [[Pedro Mascarenhas]], Portuguese ambassador to the [[Holy See]], request Jesuit missionaries to spread the faith in his new [[Portuguese India|possessions in India]], where the king believed that Christian values were eroding among the Portuguese. After successive appeals to the Pope asking for missionaries for the [[East Indies]] under the [[Padroado]] agreement, John III was encouraged by [[Diogo de Gouveia]], rector of the [[Collège Sainte-Barbe]], to recruit the newly graduated students who had established the Society of Jesus.{{sfn|Lach|1994|p=12}}

[[File:Saint Francis Xavier taking leave of King John III (1635) - José Avelar Rebelo.png|thumb|Francisco Xavier taking leave of [[John III of Portugal]] for an expedition]]
Ignatius promptly appointed [[Nicholas Bobadilla]] and [[Simão Rodrigues]]. At the last moment, however, Bobadilla became seriously ill. With some hesitance and uneasiness, Ignatius asked Francis to go in Bobadilla's place. Thus, Francis Xavier began his life as the first Jesuit missionary almost accidentally.{{sfn |De Rosa|2006|p=96}}{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=77}}{{sfn|Wintz|2006a}}

Leaving Rome on 15 March 1540, in the Ambassador's train,{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=78}} Francis took with him a [[breviary]], a [[catechism]], and {{lang|la|De institutione bene vivendi per exempla sanctorum}} (Instructions for a Virtuous Life According to the Examples of the Saints) by [[Croatia]]n humanist [[Marko Marulić]],{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=96}} a Latin book that had become popular in the [[Counter-Reformation]]. According to a 1549 letter of F. Balthasar Gago from Goa, it was the only book that Francis read or studied.{{sfn|Kadič|1961|pp=12–18}} Francis reached Lisbon in June 1540 and, four days after his arrival, he and Rodrigues were summoned to a private audience with King John and Queen [[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine]].{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=85}}

Francis Xavier devoted much of his life to missions in Asia, mainly in four centres: Malacca, Amboina and Ternate (in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia), Japan, and off-shore China. His growing information about new places indicated to him that he had to go to what he understood were centres of influence for the whole region. [[Ming dynasty|China]] loomed large from his days in India. Japan was particularly attractive because of its culture. For him, these areas were interconnected; they could not be evangelised separately.{{sfn|Zuloaga}}

===Goa and India===
[[File:São Francisco Xavier pregando em Goa (1610) - André Reinoso (Museu de São Roque).png|thumb|''Saint Francis Xavier preaching in Goa'' (1610), by André Reinoso]]
Francis Xavier left [[Lisbon]] on 7 April 1541, his thirty-fifth birthday, along with two other Jesuits and the new [[viceroy]] [[Martim Afonso de Sousa]], on board the ''Santiago''.{{sfn |Brodrick|1952|p=100}} As he departed, Francis was given a brief from the pope appointing him [[apostolic nuncio]] to the East.{{sfn|Wintz|2006a}} From August until March 1542 he remained in [[Portuguese Mozambique]], and arrived in [[Goa]], then the capital of [[Portuguese India]], on 6 May 1542, thirteen months after leaving Lisbon.

The Portuguese, following quickly on [[Age of Discovery|the great voyages of discovery]], had established themselves at Goa thirty years earlier. Francis's primary mission, as ordered by King John III, was to restore Christianity among the Portuguese settlers. According to Teotonio R. DeSouza, recent critical accounts indicate that apart from the posted civil servants, "the great majority of those who were dispatched as 'discoverers' were the riff-raff of Portuguese society, picked up from Portuguese jails."{{sfn|DeSouza}} Nor did the soldiers, sailors, or merchants come to do missionary work, and Imperial policy permitted the outflow of disaffected nobility. Many of the arrivals formed liaisons with local women and adopted Indian culture. Missionaries often wrote against the "scandalous and undisciplined" behaviour of their fellow Christians.{{sfn|de Mendonça|2002|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

The Christian population had churches, clergy, and a bishop, but there were few preachers and no priests beyond the walls of Goa. Xavier decided that he must begin by instructing the Portuguese themselves, and gave much of his time to the teaching of children. The first five months he spent in preaching and ministering to the sick in the hospitals.{{sfn|Astrain|1909}} After that, he walked through the streets ringing a bell to summon the children and servants to catechism.<ref name=crawley/> He was invited to head [[Saint Paul's College, Goa|Saint Paul's College]], a pioneer [[seminary]] for the education of secular priests, which became the first Jesuit headquarters in Asia.<ref>{{cite web | year = 2011| url = http://www.archgoadaman.org/content/st-pauls-college-rachol-seminary| title = St. Pauls college, Rachol Seminary| publisher = Archdiocese of Goa and Daman| access-date = 3 May 2011| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130915032209/http://www.archgoadaman.org/content/st-pauls-college-rachol-seminary| archive-date = 15 September 2013| df = mdy-all}}</ref>

'''Conversion efforts'''
[[File:Conversion of Paravas by Francis Xavier in 1542.jpg|thumb|left|Conversion of the [[Paravar]]s by Francis Xavier in [[South India]], in a 19th-century coloured lithograph]]
Xavier soon learned that along the Pearl Fishery Coast, which extends from [[Cape Comorin]] on the southern tip of India to the island of [[Mannar, Sri Lanka|Mannar]], off Ceylon ([[Sri Lanka]]), there was a [[Jāti]] of people called [[Paravar|Paravas]]. Many of them had been baptised ten years before, merely to please the Portuguese who had helped them against the Moors, but remained uninstructed in the faith. Accompanied by several native clerics from the seminary at Goa, he set sail for Cape Comorin in October 1542.<ref name=crawley/>

He taught those who had already been baptised and preached to those who weren't. His efforts with the high-caste Brahmins remained unavailing. The Brahmin and Muslim authorities in Travancore opposed Xavier with violence; time and again his hut was burned down over his head, and once he saved his life only by hiding among the branches of a large tree.<ref name=crawley>{{cite web |url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/XAVIER2.htm |title='Saint Francis Xavier Apostle of the Indies And Japan', ''Lives of Saints'', John J. Crawley & Co., Inc. |publisher=ewtn.com |access-date=6 April 2015 |archive-date=7 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907230956/http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/XAVIER2.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He devoted almost three years to the work of preaching to the people of southern India and Ceylon, converting many. He built nearly 40 churches along the coast, including [[St. Stephen's Church, Kombuthurai]], mentioned in his letters dated 1544.

During this time, he visited the tomb of [[Thomas the Apostle]] in [[São Tomé de Meliapore|Mylapore]], now part of Madras/[[Chennai]] then in Portuguese India.{{sfn|Wintz|2006a}} He set his sights eastward in 1545 and planned a missionary journey to [[Makassar]] on the island of [[Sulawesi|Celebes]], today's [[Indonesia]].

As the first Jesuit in India, Francis had difficulty achieving much success in his missionary trips. His successors, such as [[Roberto de Nobili]], [[Matteo Ricci]], and [[Constanzo Beschi]], attempted to convert the noblemen first as a means to influence more people, while Francis had initially interacted most with the lower classes. Later in Japan, Francis changed tack by paying tribute to the Emperor and seeking an audience with him.{{sfn|Duignan|1958|pp= 725–732}}
[[File:St. Francis Xavier - Asia Voyages.svg|thumb|300px|The voyages of Saint Francis Xavier]]

===Southeast Asia===
[[File:Saint Francis Xavier Inspiring Portuguese Troops.png|thumb|''Saint Francis Xavier Inspiring Portuguese Troops Against the Acehnese Pirates'' by [[André Reinoso]] (1619)]]
In the spring of 1545, Xavier started for [[Portuguese Malacca]]. He laboured there for the last months of that year. About January 1546, Xavier left Malacca for the [[Maluku Islands]], where the Portuguese had some settlements. For a year and a half, he preached the Gospel there. He went first to [[Ambon Island]], where he stayed until mid-June. He then visited the other Maluku Islands, including [[Ternate]], Baranura, and [[Morotai]].{{sfn|Astrain|1909}}

Shortly after Easter 1547, he returned to Ambon Island. A few months later he returned to Malacca. While there, Malacca was attacked by the [[Aceh Sultanate|Acehnese]] from [[Sumatra]]. Through preaching, Xavier inspired the Portuguese to seek battle, achieving a victory at the [[Battle of Perlis River]], despite being heavily outnumbered.<ref name="monteiro1">Saturnino Monteiro (1992): ''Batalhas e Combates da Marinha Portuguesa'' Volume III, pp. 95–103.</ref>

===Japan===
{{main|History of the Catholic Church in Japan}}
[[File:Virgin Mary with Infant Jesus and Her Fifteen Mysteries, Loyola and Francis Xavier Kyoto University Museum.png|thumb|''Virgin Mary with Infant Jesus and Her Fifteen Mysteries'' by an unknown Japanese artist, c. 1600. Bottom centre: Ignatius of Loyola (left) and Francis Xavier (right)]]
In Malacca in December 1547, Francis Xavier met a Japanese man named [[Anjirō]].{{sfn|Astrain|1909}} Anjirō had heard of Francis in 1545 and had travelled from [[Kagoshima]] to Malacca to meet him. Having been charged with murder, Anjirō had fled Japan. He told Francis extensively about his former life, and the customs and culture of his homeland. Anjirō became the first Japanese Christian and adopted the name 'Paulo de Santa Fe'. He later helped Xavier as a mediator and interpreter for the mission to Japan that now seemed much more possible.

In January 1548 Francis returned to Goa to attend to his responsibilities as superior of the mission there.{{sfn|Wintz|2006b}} The next 15 months were occupied with various journeys and administrative measures. He left Goa on 15 April 1549, stopped at Malacca, and visited [[Guangzhou|Canton]]. He was accompanied by Anjirō, two other Japanese men, Father [[Cosme de Torres]] and Brother [[Juan Fernández (missionary)|Juan Fernández]]. He had taken with him presents for the "[[Emperor of Japan|King of Japan]]" since he intended to introduce himself as the [[Apostolic Nuncio]].

Europeans [[List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868|had already visited Japan]]. The [[António Mota|Portuguese first landed in 1543]] on the island of [[Tanegashima]], where they introduced [[Tanegashima (gun)|matchlock firearms]] to Japan.{{sfn|Pacheco|1974|pp= 477–480}}

From Amboina, he wrote to his companions in Europe: "I asked a Portuguese merchant, ... who had been for many days in Anjirō's country of Japan, to give me ... some information on that land and its people from what he had seen and heard. ...All the Portuguese merchants coming from Japan tell me that if I go there I shall do great service for God our Lord, more than with the pagans of India, for they are a very reasonable people." (To His Companions Residing in Rome, From Cochin, 20 January 1548, no. 18, p.&nbsp;178).{{sfn|Zuloaga}}

Francis Xavier reached Japan on 27 July 1549, with Anjirō and three other Jesuits, but he was not permitted to enter any port his ship arrived at until 15 August,{{sfn|Pacheco|1974|pp= 477–480}} when he went ashore at [[Kagoshima]], the principal port of [[Satsuma Province]] on the island of [[Kyūshū]]. As a representative of the Portuguese king, he was received in a friendly manner. [[Shimazu Takahisa]] (1514–1571), ''[[daimyō]]'' of Satsuma, gave a friendly reception to Francis on 29 September 1549, but in the following year he forbade the conversion of his subjects to Christianity under penalty of death; Christians in Kagoshima could not be given any catechism in the following years. The Portuguese missionary Pedro de Alcáçova would later write in 1554:

{{blockquote|In Cangoxima, the first place Father Master Francisco stopped at, there were a good number of Christians, although there was no one there to teach them; the shortage of labourers prevented the whole kingdom from becoming Christian.|source={{harvnb|Pacheco|1974|pp= 477–480}} }}

[[File:Francis_Xavier_and_Anjirō_and_Bernardo_the_Japanese_in_Xavier_Park.jpg|thumb|'Statue of Francisco Xavier, [[Anjirō|Yajiro]] & [[Bernardo the Japanese|Bernardo]] in Kagoshima in Xavier Park, [[Kagoshima]]]]

Francis was the first Jesuit to go to Japan as a missionary.{{sfn|Endo|1969|p=vii|loc=Translator's Preface}} He brought with him paintings of the [[Madonna and Child (Duccio, Metropolitan)|Madonna and the Madonna and Child]]. These paintings were used to help teach the Japanese about Christianity. There was a huge language barrier as [[Japanese language|Japanese]] was unlike other languages the missionaries had previously encountered. For a long time, Francis struggled to learn the language.{{sfn|Lang|2019}} He was hosted by Anjirō's family until October 1550.{{sfn|Butler}} From October to December 1550, he resided in [[Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi|Yamaguchi]]. Shortly before Christmas, he left for [[Kyoto]] but failed to meet with [[Emperor Go-Nara]]. He returned to Yamaguchi in March 1551, where the daimyō of the province gave him permission to preach.

Having learned that evangelical poverty did not have the appeal in Japan that it had in Europe and in India, he decided to change his approach. Hearing after a time that a Portuguese ship had arrived at a port in the province of Bungo in Kyushu and that the prince there would like to see him, Xavier now set out southward. The Jesuit, in a fine cassock, surplice, and stole, was attended by thirty gentlemen and as many servants, all in their best clothes.<ref name=crawley />

Five of them bore on cushions valuable articles, including a portrait of Our Lady and a pair of velvet slippers, not for the prince, but solemn offerings to Xavier, to impress the onlookers with his eminence. Handsomely dressed, with his companions acting as attendants, he presented himself before Oshindono, the ruler of Nagate, and as a representative of the great Kingdom of Portugal, offered him letters and presents: a musical instrument, a watch, and other attractive objects which had been given him by the authorities in India for the emperor.<ref name=crawley />

For forty-five years the Jesuits were the only missionaries in Asia, but the [[Franciscans]] began proselytizing in Asia, as well. Christian missionaries were later forced into exile, along with their assistants. However, some were able to stay behind. Christianity was then kept underground so as to not be persecuted.{{sfn|Vlam|1979|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

The Japanese people were not easily converted. Many of the people were already [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] or [[Shinto]]. Francis tried to combat the reservations of some of the Japanese. Many mistakenly interpreted Catholic doctrine as teaching that demons had been created evil, and they thus concluded the God who had created them could not be good. Much of Francis' preaching was devoted to providing answers to this and other such challenges. In the course of these discussions, Francis grew to respect the rationality and general literacy of those Japanese people whom he encountered. He expressed optimism at the prospect of converting the country.{{sfn|Ellis|2003|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}{{sfn|Xavier|1992|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}<ref name="fordham">{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1552xavier4.html |title= St. Francis Xavier: Letter from Japan, to the Society of Jesus in Europe, 1552 |publisher=fordham.edu|access-date=6 April 2015}}</ref>

Xavier was welcomed by the [[Shingon]] monks since he used the word ''[[Vairocana|Dainichi]]'' for the Christian God; attempting to adapt the concept to local traditions. As Xavier learned more about the religious nuances of the word, he changed to ''Deusu''{{sfn|Butler}} from the Latin and Portuguese ''Deus''. The monks later realised that Xavier was preaching a rival religion and grew more resistant towards his attempts at conversion.

[[File:Nasugbu 31 (New Church Altar).JPG|thumb|The Altar of St. Francis Xavier Parish in [[Nasugbu, Batangas]], Philippines. Saint Francis is the principal patron of the town, together with [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Our Lady of Escalera]].]]
With the passage of time, his sojourn in Japan could be considered somewhat fruitful as attested by congregations established in [[Hirado]], Yamaguchi, and [[Bungo Province|Bungo]]. Xavier worked for more than two years in Japan and saw his successor-Jesuits established. He then decided to return to India. Historians debate the exact path by which he returned, but from evidence attributed to the captain of his ship, he may have travelled through Tanegeshima and Minato, and avoided Kagoshima because of the hostility of the daimyo.{{sfn|Pacheco|1974|pp= 477–480}}

===China===
During his trip from Japan back to India, a tempest forced him to stop on an island near [[Guangzhou]], [[Guangdong]], China, where he met Diogo Pereira, a rich merchant and an old friend from [[Kochi|Cochin]]. Pereira showed him a letter from Portuguese prisoners in Guangzhou, asking for a Portuguese ambassador to speak to the [[Jiajing Emperor]] on their behalf. He arrived back in Goa by early 1552 and planned to travel on to China.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.jesuits.org/stories/the-feast-of-st-francis-xavier-sj/#:~:text=They%20landed%20in%20Japan%20in,missions%20by%20Pope%20Pius%20X |title= The Feast of St. Francis Xavier, SJ |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= 3 December 2022 |website= Jesuits.org |publisher= |access-date= September 22, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>

On 17 April he set sail with Diogo Pereira on the ''Santa Cruz'' for China, planning to introduce himself as Apostolic Nuncio, and Pereira as the ambassador of the king of Portugal - but then realized that he had forgotten his testimonial letters as an Apostolic Nuncio. Back in Malacca, he was confronted by the captain Álvaro de Ataíde da Gama who refused to recognize his title of Nuncio, asked Pereira to resign from his title of ambassador, named a new crew for the ship, and demanded the gifts for the Chinese Emperor be left in Malacca.{{citation needed|date= March 2019}}

In late August 1552, the ''Santa Cruz'' reached the Chinese island of [[Shangchuan]], 14&nbsp;km away from the southern coast of mainland China, near [[Taishan, Guangdong|Taishan]], Guangdong. He was accompanied only by a Jesuit student called Álvaro Ferreira, a Chinese man called António, and a [[Malabars|Malabar]] servant called Christopher.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saint Francis Xavier: Biography, Missions, Facts, & Legacy |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Francis-Xavier |access-date=2 March 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=23 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723194643/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Francis-Xavier |url-status=live }}</ref> Around mid-November, he sent a letter saying that a man had agreed to take him to the mainland in exchange for a large sum of money, and that he was waiting for the man. He had sent back Álvaro Ferreira and was staying in a small hut when he fell ill.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/saint-francis-xavier-life-facts-mission-death-anniversary-2644179-2024-12-03 |title= St Francis Xavier's spiritual mission from Spain to India and beyond |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= 3 December 2024 |website= India Today  |publisher= |access-date= September 22, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> He died, with only António as company, early in December 1552.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://daily.jstor.org/the-incorruptible-body-of-francis-xavier/ |title= The Incorruptible Body of Francis Xavier |last= Gershon |first= Livia |date= July 30, 2023 |website= JStor |publisher= |access-date=  September 17, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> His feast is celebrated on December 3, but it is not clear that this is the day he actually died.<ref name=brockey>{{cite journal|title=The Cruelest Honor: The Relics of Francis Xavier in Early-Modern Asia|author1-first=Liam Matthew|author1-last=Brockey|journal=The Catholic Historical Review|volume=101|issue=1|publisher=Catholic Material Culture|year=2015|pages=41&ndash;64|jstor=43900075|doi=10.1353/cat.2015.0001}}</ref>

==Burials and relics==
[[File:Casket of Saint Francis Xavier.jpg|thumb|upright|The casket of Saint Francis Xavier in the [[Basilica of Bom Jesus]] in Goa]]
[[File:Reliquary of St. Francis Xavier's humerus.jpg|thumb|Saint Francis Xavier's upper arm bone at [[St. Joseph's Seminary and Church|St. Joseph's Church]], [[Macao]]]]
Xavier was first buried on a beach at Shangchuan Island. António got a shroud from some Portuguese merchants, and with another servant put his body in a wooden coffin. They added lime so that his bones could be taken back to India if requested. His body was buried until February 1553, when the Portuguese merchants dug it up. They noted that there was no smell at all, and that [[Incorruptibility|his body was whole]]. A slice was cut from the thigh for the captain, who smelled it and agreed to transport the body.<ref name=brockey/>

His body was taken to [[St. Paul's Church, Melaka|Our Lady of the Hill]], a Jesuit church, in [[Portuguese Malacca]] on 22 March 1553. It was removed from the coffin and put in a shroud. The pit was small and workers tamped down the dirt on top of his body, causing lesions and breaking bones, and flattening the nose. There were no Jesuits present at the church during this process.<ref name=brockey/> An open grave in the church now marks the place of Xavier's burial.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

The first time his body was inspected by non-laymen or servants was around 15 August 1553, when a group of Jesuits exhumed his body and found it incorrupt, emanating [[Odour of sanctity|a sweet smell]], "more like the garden of the bridegroom when the south wind blows than that of human flesh". The shroud was stained with blood, which was still wet. His body was then moved 4,000&nbsp;km to Goa, where it arrived on March the 16th, 1554.<ref name=brockey/>{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=219}}

It was greeted by a crowd of some 6,000 people, including the Viceroy and other key colonial figures, and carried in procession to the Jesuit College of St Paul.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=219}} For the following four days, people went to St Paul's in crowds to venerate it.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}} Contemporary observers recorded "a great deal of shouting and disorder" and people shoving violently to have rosaries and other articles touch his body.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}} Father Melchior Nunes Barreto opined in a letter to Igiatius Loyola the following May his belief that, if the priests had not been present, people would have even tried to obtain pieces of his body.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}}

In 1559, his body was moved from St Paul's church, which was to be demolished, moved to the rector's room for a time and then to several other locations.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}}

The right forearm, which Xavier used to bless and baptise his converts, was detached by request of [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus|Superior General]] [[Claudio Acquaviva]] in 1614.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}}
This was done in secret, his body being exhumed again for the lower portion of the arm to be surgically detached.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}} It was sent to and has been displayed since in a silver reliquary at the main Jesuit church in Rome, [[Il Gesù]].{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/saint-s-right-forearm-will-arrive-in-quebec-this-week-as-part-of-canadian-tour-1.3741465|title=Saint's right forearm will arrive in Quebec this week as part of Canadian tour|date=1 January 2018|work=[[CTV Montreal]]|access-date=2 January 2018|language=en-CA|archive-date=21 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240821065748/https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/saint-s-right-arm-comes-to-montreal-as-part-of-cross-country-tour-1.3741465|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The rest of the right arm was removed in 1619, the year that Francis was beatified, to be distributed to other Jesuit colleges in Cochi, Macau, and Malacca.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}} Intestines and internal organs were removed in 1620 and distributed as relics more widely around the world.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}}

The main body was enshrined in a silver reliquary in the [[Basilica of Bom Jesus]] in Goa in 1659.{{sfn|Wojciehowski|2011|p=220}} It had been placed there on 2 December 1637, and remains there now, in a glass container encased in a silver casket.<ref>{{cite web| title=Body of St. Francis Xavier| url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/body-st-francis-xavier| work=Atlas Obscura| access-date=21 September 2009| archive-date=27 September 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927033640/https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/body-st-francis-xavier| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gesù">{{cite web|url=http://www.chiesadelgesu.org/html/d_cappella_san_francesco_saverio_it.html|title=Cappella di san Francesco Saverio|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617051526/http://www.chiesadelgesu.org/html/d_cappella_san_francesco_saverio_it.html|archive-date=17 June 2011|language=it|website=official website of [[Il Gesù]]}}</ref> This casket was constructed by Goan silversmiths between 1636 and 1637 and was a blend of Italian and Indian aesthetics.<ref name=EVE>{{cite web |url= https://eve.fcsh.unl.pt/en/arts/tomb-saint-francis-xavier |title= Tomb of Saint Francis Xavier |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= 2008 |website= E-cyclopeadia of Portuguese Expansion |publisher= |access-date= September 22, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> It included 32 silver plates on all four sides of the casket, depicting different episodes from the life of Xavier.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://catholicconnect.in/news/uncovering-st-francis-xaviers-mostly-incorrupt-body-in-goa  |title= Uncovering St. Francis Xavier's 'Mostly Incorrupt' Body in Goa |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= Catholic Connect |publisher= |access-date= September 22, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> Several of them depict Xavier's mission as having been planned by God, such as the one that depicts a recurrent dream that Xavier had of carrying a man on his shoulders.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=727}} Another depicts the story of the healing of Antonio Rodrigues, a blind man who according to the story regained his sight when he placed the dead hand of Xavier's body over his eyes when it was lying at St Paul's.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=729}} The casket was restored in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/asi-completes-restoration-of-400-year-old-silver-casket-of-st-xavier/articleshow/81621717.cms  |title= ASI completes restoration of 400-year-old silver casket of St Xavier   |last= Monteiro |first= Lisa |date= March 22, 2021  |website= Times of India |publisher= |access-date=  September 17, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>       

A relic from the right hand of St Francis Xavier is on display at [[St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney]].<ref>
https://www.facebook.com/stmaryscathedralsydney/posts/we-are-truly-blessed-to-have-a-first-class-relic-of-st-francis-xavier-on-display/3104301949857354/</ref>

When the Jesuit provincial in Goa examined his body in 1686, he found that the face was deformed, the skin ravaged by moths, and the limbs shrunken.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=720}} Jesuit concern at this prompted locks to be affixed to the removable silver panels on the reliquary. At one point the rector of the Basilica wrote to Rome, pleading that he be permitted to lose the keys by throwing them into the sea.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=720}}

In the 1690s, [[Cosimo III de' Medici]] commissioned a marble pedestal for the reliquary to sit upon.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=722}} It was carved in Florence by [[Giovanni Battista Foggini]] and shipped to India via Italy to be installed in 1698.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=722}} The marble is polychromatic, and the pedestal has four large bronze relief sculptures that depict episodes from Xavier's life: preaching in the Indies, baptizing people, being persecuted by non-Christians, and dying on Shangchuan.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=731&ndash;734}}

The bronze panels are on the second register of the pedestal, flanked by liliies and semi-precious stones.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=731}} The third register, above it, is a balustrade made of pink marble, with two [[putti]] at each end, holding bronze banners above cartouche made of alabaster and bronze.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=731}} The register below is made of pink and yellow marble and decorated with items made of white marble, including cherub heads, garlands, shields, and scroll volutes.{{sfn|Miller|2024|p=731}}

==Veneration==

===Beatification and canonization===
Francis Xavier was beatified by [[Pope Paul V]] on 25 October 1619, and was [[canonized]] by [[Pope Gregory XV]] on 12 March<ref>{{cite book|title=Jesuit prayer-book "Srce Isusovo Spasenje naše"|trans-title="Heart of Jesus our Salvation"|location=Zagreb|publisher=not given|year=1946|page=425}}</ref> 1622, at the same time as [[Ignatius Loyola]].{{efn|For the most recent study of Francis Xavier's canonization process, see {{cite book|author1-first=Franco|author1-last=Mormando|chapter=The Making of the Second Jesuit Saint: The Campaign for the Canonization of Francis Xavier, 1555–1622|title=Francis Xavier and the Jesuit Missions in the Far East|editor1-first=F.|editor1-last=Mormando|location=Chestnut Hill, MA|publisher=The Jesuit Institute, Boston College|year=2006|pages=9–22}}}} [[Pope Pius XI]] proclaimed him the "Patron of Catholic Missions".<ref name=benedict>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060422_gesuiti_en.html|title=Address Of Benedic XVI To The Fathers And Brothers Of The Society Of Jesus, April 22, 2006|publisher=vatican.va|access-date=6 April 2015|archive-date=22 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130822234112/http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060422_gesuiti_en.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His [[feast day]] is 3 December.{{sfn|Attwater|1965|pp=141–142}}

===Pilgrimage centres===
[[File:Stain glass window of St Francis of Xavier in Béthanie.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[stained glass]] church window in [[Béthanie (Hong Kong)|Béthanie, Hong Kong]], of St Francis Xavier baptizing a Chinese man]]

====Goa====
[[File:A view of the Saint Francis Xavier church Old Goa during the feast of Saint Francis Xavier on December 02, 2009.jpg|thumb|[[Goan Catholics]] celebrating the feast of [[Saint Francis Xavier]] at [[Bom Jesus Basilica]]]] 
Saint Francis Xavier's [[Incorruptibility|mostly-incorruptible relics]] are kept in a silver casket, elevated inside the [[Bom Jesus Basilica]] and are exposed (being brought to ground level) generally every ten years, but this is discretionary. The sacred relics went on display starting on 22 November 2014 at the XVII Solemn Exposition. The display closed on 4 January 2015.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 November 2014 |title=Pilgrims flock to Goa to see Saint Francis Xavier remains |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30160195 |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=24 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141124192921/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30160195 |url-status=live }}</ref> The previous exposition, the sixteenth, was held from 21 November 2004 to 2 January 2005.{{sfn|Gupta|2017|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

Relics of Saint Francis Xavier are also found in the Espirito Santo (Holy Spirit) Church, [[Margão]],{{sfn|Barbosa|2009}} in Sanv Fransiku Xavierachi Igorz (Church of St. Francis Xavier), [[Batpal]], [[Canacona]], Goa,<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 November 2017 |title=St Francis Xavier's relic at Bhatpal attracts a multitude of devotees |language=en |work=[[The Times of India]] |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/st-francis-xaviers-relic-at-bhatpal-attracts-a-multitude-of-devotees/articleshow/61788814.cms |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310192157/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/st-francis-xaviers-relic-at-bhatpal-attracts-a-multitude-of-devotees/articleshow/61788814.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> and at St. Francis Xavier Chapel, Portais, Panjim.{{sfn|Misquita|2014}}

====Other places====
Other pilgrimage centres include [[Castle of Xavier|Xavier's birthplace]] in Navarre;<ref name="CTV">{{Cite web |date=13 April 2017 |title=What are the Javieradas {{!}} Pilgrimage to the Castle of St. Francis Xavier in Navarra Spain |url=https://www.catholic-television.com/pilgrimage-to-the-castle-of-st-francis-xavier-in-navarra-spain-what-are-the-javieradas/ |access-date=10 March 2022 |website=Catholic Television |language=en-US |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923002645/https://www.catholic-television.com/pilgrimage-to-the-castle-of-st-francis-xavier-in-navarra-spain-what-are-the-javieradas/ |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Church of the Gesù]], Rome;{{sfn|DiPippo|2019}} Malacca (where he was buried for two years, before being brought to Goa);<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 September 2011 |title=S'pore, M'sian Catholics make joint pilgrimage |work=Catholic News Singapore |url=https://catholicnews.sg/2011/09/03/spore-msian-catholics-make-joint-pilgrimage/ |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030225422/https://catholicnews.sg/2011/09/03/spore-msian-catholics-make-joint-pilgrimage/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Sancian (place of death).{{sfn|Masson|2019}}

Xavier is a major venerated saint in both Sonora and the neighbouring U.S. state of [[Arizona]]. In [[Magdalena de Kino]] in [[Sonora]], Mexico, in the Church of Santa María Magdalena, there is a reclining statue of San Francisco Xavier brought by pioneer Jesuit missionary Padre [[Eusebio Kino]] in the early 18th century. The statue is said to be miraculous and is the object of pilgrimage for many in the region.{{sfn|Griffith}} Also the [[Mission San Xavier del Bac]] is a pilgrimage site.{{sfn|Fontana|2010|p=41}} The mission is an active parish church ministering to the people of the San Xavier District, Tohono O'odham Nation, and nearby Tucson, Arizona.

Francis Xavier is honored in the [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|Church of England]] and in the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|Episcopal Church]] on 3 December.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=8 April 2021|website=The Church of England|language=en|archive-date=9 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309204842/https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|CP|2019|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

===Novena of Grace===
{{Further|Novena of Grace}}
[[File:Unzenhell3.jpg|thumb|upright|Fumaroles at Mt. Unzen, Japan]]
The [[Novena of Grace]] is a popular devotion to Francis Xavier, typically prayed either on the nine days before 3 December or on 4 March through 12 March (the anniversary of Pope Gregory XV's canonisation of Xavier in 1622). It began with the Italian Jesuit missionary [[Marcello Mastrilli]]. Before he could travel to the Far East, Mastrilli was gravely injured in a freak accident after a festive celebration dedicated to the [[Immaculate Conception]] in Naples. Delirious and on the verge of death, Mastrilli saw Xavier, who he later said asked him to choose between travelling or death by holding the respective symbols, to which Mastrilli answered, "I choose that which God wills".<ref>{{cite magazine|page=241|title=Japanese Sketches|magazine=The Month|volume=11|date=September 1869|location=London|publisher=Simpkin, Marshall, and Company}}</ref>

Upon regaining his health, Mastrilli made his way via Goa and the Philippines to Satsuma, Japan. The [[Tokugawa shogunate]] beheaded the missionary in October 1637, after undergoing three days of tortures involving the volcanic sulphurous fumes from [[Mount Unzen]], known as the ''Hell mouth'' or "pit" that had supposedly caused an earlier missionary to renounce his faith.{{sfn|Brockey|2007|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

==Legacy==
[[File:VisionStFrancisBoccacio.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Vision of St. Francis Xavier'', by [[Giovanni Battista Gaulli]]]]
Francis Xavier became widely noteworthy for his [[missionary work]], both as an organiser and as a pioneer; he converted more people than anyone else had done since [[Paul the Apostle]]. In 2006 [[Pope Benedict XVI]] said of both [[Ignatius of Loyola]] and Francis Xavier: "not only their history which was interwoven for many years from Paris and Rome, but a unique desire – a unique passion, it could be said – moved and sustained them through different human events: the passion to give to God-Trinity a glory always greater and to work for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ to the peoples who had been ignored."<ref name=benedict/>

His personal efforts most affected religious practice in India and in the [[East Indies]] ([[Indonesia]], [[Malaysia]], [[Timor]]). {{As of | 2021}} India still has numerous Jesuit missions and many more schools. Xavier also worked to propagate Christianity in [[Christianity in China|China]] and [[Christianity in Japan|Japan]]. However, following the persecutions from 1587 onwards, instituted by [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] and the subsequent [[Sakoku|closing of Japan to foreigners]] from 1633 onwards, the [[Kakure Kirishitan|Christians of Japan had to go underground]] to preserve an independent Christian culture.{{sfn|Downes|2001}} Likewise, while Xavier inspired many missionaries to China, Chinese Christians were forced underground there and developed their own Christian culture.

In 1869, a small chapel designed by [[Achille-Antoine Hermitte]] was completed over Xavier's death-place on Shangchuan Island, Canton. It was damaged and restored several times. The most recent restoration in 2006 marked the 500th anniversary of the saint's birth.{{sfn|Davies|2016|pp=92–110}}

Francis Xavier is the patron saint of his native [[Navarre]], which celebrates his feast day on 3 December as a government holiday.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Navarra establece los días festivos del calendario laboral para 2022 |url=http://www.navarra.es/es/noticias/2021/05/13/navarra-establece-los-dias-festivos-del-calendario-laboral-para-2022?pageBackId=363032&back=true |access-date=10 March 2022 |website=Navarra.es |language=es-ES |archive-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121130919/https://www.navarra.es/es/noticias/2021/05/13/navarra-establece-los-dias-festivos-del-calendario-laboral-para-2022?pageBackId=363032&back=true |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition to Roman Catholic Masses remembering Xavier on that day, now known as the Day of Navarre, celebrations in the surrounding weeks honour the region's cultural heritage. In the 1940s, devoted Catholics instituted the [[Javierada]], an annual day-long pilgrimage, often on foot, from the capital at [[Pamplona]] to Xavier, where the Jesuits built a basilica and museum and restored Francis Xavier's family's castle.<ref name="CTV" />

=== Personal names ===
[[File:Saint Francis Xavier statue, Jakarta Cathedral, Indonesia.jpg|thumb|upright|A statue of ''Santo Fransiskus Xaverius'', at Jesuit ''[[Jakarta Cathedral|Gereja Katedral Santa Perawan Maria Diangkat Ke Surga]]'', in [[Jakarta]], Indonesia]]
[[File:Statue of Staint Francis Xavier.JPG|thumb|upright|A statue of Saint Francis Xavier, at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, in [[Superior, Wisconsin]], United States]]
[[File:São Francisco Xavier - Padrão dos Descobrimentos.png|thumb|upright|An effigy of Saint Francis Xavier in the [[Padrão dos Descobrimentos|Monument to the Discoveries]] in [[Lisbon]], Portugal]]
As the foremost saint from Navarre and one of the main Jesuit saints, Francis Xavier is much venerated in Spain and the Hispanic countries where ''Francisco Javier'' or ''Javier'' are common male [[given names]].<ref name="INE">''[http://www.ine.es/en/daco/daco42/nombyapel/nombres_mas_frecuentes_en.xls The most frequent names, simple and exact for the national total and exact for the province of residence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929135548/http://www.ine.es/en/daco/daco42/nombyapel/nombres_mas_frecuentes_en.xls |date=29 September 2007 }}'', [[Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)|Instituto Nacional de Estadística]]. [[Excel spreadsheet]] format. Javier is the 10th-most popular name for males, and Francisco Javier is the 18th. Together, Javier becomes the 8th most frequent name for males.</ref> The alternative spelling ''Xavier'' is also popular in the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]], [[Portugal]], [[Catalonia]], [[Brazil]], [[France]], [[Belgium]], and southern [[Italy]]. In India, the spelling ''Xavier'' is almost always used, and the name is quite common among Christians, especially in [[Goa]] and in the southern states of [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Kerala]], and [[Karnataka]].

The names ''Francisco Xavier'', ''António Xavier'', ''João Xavier'', ''Caetano Xavier'', ''Domingos Xavier'' and so forth, were very common till quite recently in Goa. ''Fransiskus Xaverius'' is commonly used as a name for [[Indonesia]]n Catholics, usually abbreviated as FX. In Austria and [[Bavaria]] the name is spelt as ''Xaver'' (pronounced {{IPA|bar|ˈksaːfɐ|}}) and often used in addition to Francis as ''Franz-Xaver'' ({{IPA|bar|frant͡sˈksaːfɐ|}}). In [[Polish language|Polish]] the name becomes ''Ksawery''.

Many Catalan men are named after him, often using the two-name combination ''Francesc Xavier''. In English-speaking countries, "Xavier" until recently was likely to follow "Francis". In the 2000s, "Xavier" by itself became more popular than "Francis", and after 2001 featured as one of the hundred most common male baby names in the US.<ref name="ssa">{{cite web|url=http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/|title=Popular Baby Names|publisher=ssa.gov|access-date=6 April 2015|archive-date=5 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105000229/https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Sevier family name, possibly most famous in the United States for [[John Sevier]] (1745–1815), originated from the name "Xavier".<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Williams
 |first1               = Samuel Cole
 |author-link1         = Samuel Cole Williams
 |orig-date            = 1924
 |chapter              = The Franklinites: John Sevier
 |title                = History of the Lost State of Franklin
 |date = 1994
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=cQgesruUGcYC
 |edition              = revised, reprinted
 |location             = Johnson City, Tennessee
 |publisher            = The Overmountain Press
 |publication-date     = 1994
 |page                 = 289
 |isbn                 = 9780932807960
 |access-date          = 14 December 2021
|quote                = The grandfather of John SEVIER, or Xavier, was a native of France, a Huguenot, and is said to have been related to Saint Francis Xavier, and to have lived in the village of Xavier in the French Pyrenees. 
}} 
</ref>

=== Church dedications ===
Many churches all over the world, often founded by Jesuits, have been named in honour of Xavier. The many in the United States include the historic [[St. Francis Xavier Church (Warwick, Maryland)|St. Francis Xavier Shrine]] at [[Warwick, Maryland]] (founded 1720), and the [[Basilica of St. Francis Xavier]] in [[Dyersville, Iowa]]. Note also the American educational teaching order, the [[Xaverian Brothers]], and the [[Mission San Xavier del Bac]] in [[Tucson, Arizona]] (founded in 1692, and known for its [[Spanish Colonial architecture]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://sanxaviermission.org/history |access-date=18 April 2022 |website=San Xavier del Bac Mission |language=en |archive-date=29 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629054752/https://sanxaviermission.org/history |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Francis Xaviers Church in Ulhitiyawa, Sri Lanka</ref>

===In art===
* [[Rubens]] (1577–1640) painted ''[[Miracles of St. Francis Xavier (Rubens)|Miracles of St.Francis Xavier]]'' for the Jesuit [[St. Charles Borromeo Church, Antwerp]], in which he depicted one of St Francis's many miracles.{{sfn|Rubens|1879|p=66}}
* The [[Charles Bridge]] in Prague, Czech Republic, features a [[Statue of Francis Xavier, Charles Bridge|statue of Francis Xavier]].
* In front of [[Oita Station]] of [[Ōita (city)|Oita City]], in [[Oita Prefecture]] (previously known as [[Bungo Province]]) in Japan, there stands a statue of Francis Xavier.
* The monument [[Padrão dos Descobrimentos]] in [[Belém (Lisbon)]], Portugal, features a Francis Xavier image.

=== Music ===

* [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier]], ''In honorem Sancti Xaverij canticum'' H. 355, for soloists, chorus, flutes, strings and continuo (1688 ?)
* Marc-Antoine Charpentier, ''Canticum de Sto Xavierio'' H. 355a, for soloists, chorus, flutes, oboes, strings and continuo (1690).

=== Missions ===
Shortly before leaving for the East, Xavier issued a famous instruction to Father [[Gaspar Barazeuz]] who was leaving to go to [[Ormus]] (a Portuguese vassal kingdom on an island in the [[Persian Gulf]], now part of [[Iran]]), that he should mix with sinners:

{{blockquote|And if you wish to bring forth much fruit, both for yourselves and for your neighbours, and to live consoled, converse with sinners, making them unburden themselves to you. These are the living books by which you are to study, both for your preaching and for your own consolation. I do not say that you should not on occasion read written books... to support what you say against vices with authorities from the Holy Scriptures and examples from the lives of the saints.|source={{harvnb|Kadič|1961| pp= 12–18}} }}

Modern scholars assess the number of people converted to Christianity by Francis Xavier at around 30,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Francis Xavier |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/missionaries/francis-xavier.html |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=Christian History {{!}} Learn the History of Christianity & the Church |date=8 August 2008 |language=en |archive-date=23 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923211702/http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/131christians/missionaries/xavier.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Who was Francis Xavier? |url=https://www.xavier.edu/mission-identity/xaviers-mission/who-is-francis-xavier |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=Xavier University |language=en |archive-date=21 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240821071317/https://www.xavier.edu/mission-identity/xaviers-mission/who-is-francis-xavier |url-status=live }}</ref> While some of Xavier's methods have subsequently come under criticism, he has also earned praise. He insisted that missionaries adapt to many of the customs, and most certainly to the language, of the culture they wish to evangelise. And unlike later missionaries, Xavier supported an educated native clergy. Though for a time it seemed that persecution had subsequently destroyed his work in [[Japan]], [[Protestant]] missionaries three centuries later discovered that approximately 100,000 Christians still practised the faith in the [[Nagasaki]] area.<ref name="ctlibrary">{{cite web|url= https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/missionaries/francis-xavier.html|title= Francis Xavier – Christian History & Biography – ChristianityTodayLibrary.com|date= 8 August 2008|publisher= ctlibrary.com|access-date= 10 October 2022|archive-date= 23 September 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150923211702/http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/131christians/missionaries/xavier.html|url-status= live}}</ref>

Francis Xavier's work initiated permanent change in eastern [[Indonesia]], and he became known as the "Apostle of the Indies" – in 1546–1547 he worked in the [[Maluku Islands]] among the people of [[Ambon Island|Ambon]], [[Ternate]], and [[Morotai]] (or Moro), and laid the foundations for a permanent mission. After he left the Maluku Islands, others carried on his work. By the 1560s there were 10,000 Roman Catholics in the area, mostly on Ambon. By the 1590s, there were 50,000 to 60,000.{{sfn|Ricklefs|1993|p=25}}

===Role in the Goa Inquisition===
In 1546, Francis Xavier proposed the establishment of the [[Goa Inquisition]] in a letter addressed to the Portuguese King, [[John III of Portugal|John III]].{{sfn|Neill|2004|p=160|ps=: "By another route I have written to your highness of the great need there is in India for preachers... The second necessity which obtains in India, if those who live there are to be good Christians, is that your highness should institute the holy Inquisition; for there are many who live according to the law of Moses or the law of Muhammad without any fear of God or shame before men".}} Xavier addresses the King as the '[[Vicar of Christ]]', owing to his [[Padroado|royal patronage]] over Christianity in the [[East Indies]]. In a letter dated 20 January 1548, he requests the king to be tough on the Portuguese governor in India so that he may be active in propagating the faith.{{sfn|Neill|2004|pp=160–161|ps=: [Let the king warn the governor that] "should he fail to take active steps for the great increase of our faith, you are determined to punish him, and inform him with a solemn oath that, on his return to Portugal, all his property will be forfeited for the benefit of the Santa Misericordia, and beyond this tell him that you will keep him in irons for a number of years... There is no better way of ensuring that all in India become Christians than that your highness should inflict severe punishment on a governor".}} Xavier also wrote to the Portuguese king asking for protection in regards to new converts who were being harassed by Portuguese commandants. Francis Xavier died in 1552 without ever living to see the start of the Goa Inquisition.{{sfn|Couto|2005|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}{{sfn|Rao|1963|p=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}{{sfn|Coleridge|1872|p=268}}

===Educational institutions===
[[File:Statue of St. Francis Xavier at St. Xavier's School, Kolkata 20 2b.jpg|thumb|upright|A statue of St. Francis Xavier at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School]], [[Kolkata]]]]
A number of educational institutions are named after him, including:
* [[Xavier University]] – Cincinnati, Ohio
* [[St. Xavier High School (Ohio)|St. Xavier High School]] — Cincinnati, Ohio
* [[St. Xavier High School (Louisville)|St. Xavier High School]] — Louisville, Kentucky
* [[St. Xavier's High School, Fort]]
* [[St. Xavier's College, Mumbai]]
* [[St. Xavier's High School, Vile Parle]], Mumbai
* [[Xaverian College]], Manchester, England
* [[Pontificia Universidad Javeriana|Xavierian Pontifical University]], Bogotá, Colombia
* [[Xavier High School (New York City)]]
* [[Xavier High School (Middletown, Connecticut)]]
* [[Xavier School]] — [[San Juan, Metro Manila|San Juan City]], Philippines
* [[Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan]], Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
* [[Saint Francis Xavier College, Clapham]]
* [[St. Francis Xavier University]] – Antigonish, Nova Scotia
* [[St. Francis Xavier Catholic Secondary School]] – Milton, Ontario
* [[St. Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School]] – Ashbury, New South Wales, Australia
* [[St. Francis Xavier High School (Edmonton)|St. Francis Xavier High School]] – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 
* [[St. Francis Xavier Secondary School (Mississauga)|St. Francis Xavier Catholic Secondary School]] – Mississauga, Ontario, Canada 
* [[St. Xavier's Institution]] – Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
* [[St. Francis' Institution]] – Malacca, Malaysia
* [[Xavier College]] – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
* [[Xavier Catholic College, Llandilo]] – Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
* [[St. Francis Xavier's College, Tai Kok Tsui|St. Francis Xavier's College]], Hong Kong
* [[St. Xavier's College, Kolkata]]
* [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School|St. Xavier's School, Kolkata]]
* [[St. Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool]]
* [[St. Xavier's College, Maitighar]]
* [[St. Xavier's School, Jawalakhel]]
* [[St. Xavier's School, Godavari]]
* [[St. Xavier's School, Junction City, Kansas, USA]]

==See also==
{{Portal|Saints}}
* [[Catholicism in China]]
* [[Catholicism in Japan]] 
* [[Catholicism in India]] 
* [[Catholicism in Indonesia]]
* [[Christianity in China]]
* [[Christianity in Japan]] 
* [[Christianity in India]] 
* [[Christianity in Indonesia]]
* [[Goa Inquisition]]
* [[History of Roman Catholicism in Japan]]
* [[Jesuit China missions]]
* [[List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868]]
* [[Mission San Xavier del Bac]] — San Xavier District, Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona 
* [[Xaverian Brothers]] — religious order in America
* [[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/December 3|Saint Francis Xavier, patron saint archive]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist|refs=

<!--{{efn|name=N-A|Navarro-Aragonese, called Romance at this time was also a language spoken in the surrounding area. Romance languages are the result of the changes suffered by spoken Latin through the centuries. Hispanic Romance languages were born in the North of the Peninsula (Galician, Leonese, Castilian, Navarro-Aragonese, Catalonian).}} NOTE ABOUT ROMANCE LANGUAGE-->

<!-- Not in use
{{efn|name=euskara-n|François Xavier naquit au sud de cette démarcation à la limite de l'Aragon (1506) et vécut dans son château natal de Xavier jusqu'à l'âge de 19 ans. C'est là qu'il apprit ses deux premières langues: d'une part le basque dans sa famille bascophone (de la région du Baztan et de la Basse-Navarre) et avec ceux qui arrivaient des provinces voisines encore bascophones au château et d'autre part la langue romane de son entourage géographique immédiat. Ce qui explique pourquoi le missionraire navarrais désignera l'euskara comme "sa langue naturelle bizcayenne" (1544), terme très étendu à cette époque.{{citation|title=Euskara, la langue des Basques|language=fr|trans-title=Euskara, the language of the Basque|url=http://www.euskara.euskadi.net/r59-738/eu/contenidos/informacion/argitalpenak/eu_6092/adjuntos/EEH/FRANTSES/EEH5_FRA.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722120500/http://www.euskara.euskadi.net/r59-738/eu/contenidos/informacion/argitalpenak/eu_6092/adjuntos/EEH/FRANTSES/EEH5_FRA.PDF |archive-date=22 July 2011 |url-status=live |website=euskara.euskadi.net|access-date=3 December 2020}} }}
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}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
==== Books and journals ====
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}
* This article incorporates material from the ''[[Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religion]]''
* {{cite CE1913|wstitle=St. Francis Xavier|first=Antonio |last=Astrain|volume=6}}
* {{cite book|last=Attwater|first=Donald|title=The Penguin Dictionary of Saints|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHc2gy7_j7oC|year=1965|publisher=Penguin}}
* {{cite book | isbn=978-0-674-02448-9|title = Journey to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579–1724|last1 = Brockey|first1 = Liam Matthew| year=2007| publisher=Harvard University Press}}
* {{cite book |last= Brodrick |author-link= James Patrick Broderick |first= James  |date= 1952|title= Saint Francis Xavier (1506–1552) |location=London |publisher= Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd |pages= 558}}
* {{Cite book|last=Coleridge|first=Henry James|title=The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier|date=1872|publisher=Burns and Oates|volume=1|location=London}}
* {{cite book |first=Maria |last=Couto|title=Goa, a daughter's story |date=2005 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-670-04984-0 |oclc=232582498}}
* {{cite journal|last=Davies|first= Stephen|title= Achille-Antoine Hermitte's surviving building|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch|volume= 56|date=2016|pages= 92–110|jstor=jroyaaisasocihkb.56.92}}
* {{cite book|title=Conversions and Citizenry: Goa Under Portugal, 1510–1610|author1-last=de Mendonça|author1-first=Delio|date=2002|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=9788170229605|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mh3kKf0VSfQC|access-date=6 April 2015}}
* {{cite book |last= De Rosa |first= Giuseppe |date= 2006 |title= Gesuiti |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xLfQAAAACAAJ |language= it |publisher= Elledici |pages= 148 |isbn= 9788801034400 |access-date= 14 September 2020}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Duignan|first1=Peter|title=Early Jesuit Missionaries: A Suggestion for Further Study|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=60|issue=4|year=1958|pages=725–732|issn=0002-7294|doi=10.1525/aa.1958.60.4.02a00090|jstor=665677|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal|title='The Best Thus Far Discovered': The Japanese in the Letters of Francisco Xavier|last = Ellis|first = Robert Richmond|journal = [[Hispanic Review]]|publisher = [[University of Pennsylvania Press]]|issn = 1553-0639|volume = 71|issue = 2|year = 2003|pages = 155–169|doi = 10.2307/3247185|jstor = 3247185|s2cid = 162323769}}
* {{cite book|author1-first=Shusaku|author1-last=Endo|author1-link=Shusaku Endo|year=1969|title=[[Silence (Endō novel)|Silence]]|translator1-first=William|translator1-last=Johnston|publisher=Taplinger Publishing Company|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Fontana|author1-first=Bernard L.|title=A Gift of Angels: The Art of Mission San Xavier del Bac|publisher=The University of Arizona Press|location=Tucson|year=2010|isbn=978-0-8165-2840-0}}
* {{cite journal |doi=10.4000/etnografica.4840 |title=The corporeal and the carnivalesque: The 2004 exposition of St. Francis Xavier and the consumption of history in postcolonial Goa |year=2017 |last1=Gupta |first1=Pamila |journal=Etnografica |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=107–124|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal|last=Kadič|first= Ante|title=St. Francis Xavier and Marko Marulić|journal=The Slavic and East European Journal|volume=5|issue= 1|date= 1961|pages=12–18|doi= 10.2307/304533|jstor=304533}}
* {{cite book | last=Lach | first=Donald Frederick | year=1994 | title=Asia in the making of Europe: A century of wonder. The literary arts. The scholarly disciplines | publisher=University of Chicago Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhE3sPY78s0C&pg=PA12 | isbn=978-0-226-46733-7 | access-date=29 January 2022}}
* {{cite book|author1-first=George M.|author1-last=Moraes|author1-link=George M. Moraes|year=1952|title=St. Francis Xavier, Apostolic Nuncio (1542-52)|location=Bombay|publisher=Konkan Institute of Arts and Science}}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Jou|author1-first=Albert|year=1984|title=The Saint on a Mission|publisher=Anand Press|location=Anand, India}}
* {{cite book|title=The Routledge Companion to Global Renaissance Art|editor1-first=Stephen J.|editor1-last=Campbell|editor2-first=Stephanie|editor2-last=Porras|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2024|isbn=9781003835547|author1-first=Rachel|author1-last=Miller|chapter=The Tomb of St Francis Xavier in Portuguese India|doi=10.4324/9781003294986-39}}
* {{Cite book|last=Neill|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Neill|title=A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707|year=2004|orig-year=1984|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521548854|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RH4VPgB__GQC|access-date=12 July 2022}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Pacheco|first1=Diego|title=Xavier and Tanegashima|journal=Monumenta Nipponica|volume=29|issue=4|year=1974|pages=477–480|issn=0027-0741|doi=10.2307/2383897|jstor=2383897}}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Pinch|author1-first=William R.|chapter=The Corpse and Cult of St. Francis Xavier, 1552–1623|editor1-first=Mathew N.|editor1-last=Schmalz|editor2-first=Peter|editor2-last=Gottschalk|title=Engaging South Asian Religions: Boundaries, Appropriations, and Resistances|location=New York|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Rao |first=R.P |title=Portuguese Rule in Goa: 1510–1961 |url=https://archive.org/details/portugueserulein0000unse |url-access=registration |publisher=Asia Publishing House |year=1963|oclc=250311505}}
* {{cite book| last =Ricklefs | first =M.C. | title =A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300|edition=2nd | publisher =MacMillan | year =1993 | location =London | page =25 | isbn = 978-0-333-57689-2 }}
* {{cite book|last=Roldán-Figueroa |first=Rady |title=Background: Catholic Missions in Japan |date=2021 |series=The Martyrs of Japan |pages=13–34 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004458062/BP000003.xml |access-date=2024-03-30 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-45806-2}}
* {{cite magazine|author1-last=Rubens|author1-first=William Unger|title=St. Francis Xavier Raising the Dead|magazine=The American Art Review|volume=1|issue=2|date=December 1879}}
* {{cite book|last=Sagredo|first=Iñaki|title=Navarra: castillos que defendieron el Reino|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nH8KkAEACAAJ|volume=1|year=2006|publisher=Pamiela|language=es|isbn=978-84-7681-477-2|trans-title=Navarre: castles that defended the Kingdom|access-date=3 December 2020}}
* {{cite journal|last=Vlam|first=Grace A. H.|year=1979|title=The Portrait of S. Francis Xavier in Kobe|journal=Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte|publisher=[[Deutscher Kunstverlag]]|volume=42. Bd.|issue=H. 1|pages=48–60|doi=10.2307/1482014|issn=0044-2992|jstor=1482014}}
* {{cite book |last=Schurhammer |first=Georg |url=http://archive.org/details/fx-schurhammer4 |title=Francis Xavier: His Life, his times – vol. 4: Japan and China, 1549–1552 |date=1982 |language=English}}
* {{cite book|title=Group Identity in the Renaissance World|author1-first=Hannah Chapelle|author1-last=Wojciehowski|<!--author1-link=Hannah Chapelle Wojciehowski|-->publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=9781107003606}}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Xavier|author1-first=Francis|title=The Letters and Instructions of Francis Xavier|translator1-first=M. Joseph|translator1-last=Costellos|location=St Louis|publisher=The Institute of Jesuit Sources|year=1992}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEq7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |date= 2019 |publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64065-235-4 |language=en|ref={{harvid|CP|2019}}}}
{{refend}}

==== WWW sites ====
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite news |last1=Barbosa |first1=Alexandre Moniz |date=3 December 2009 |title=Relics of St Xavier still a draw |language=en |work=[[The Times of India]] |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/relics-of-st-xavier-still-a-draw/articleshow/5294078.cms |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310192157/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/relics-of-st-xavier-still-a-draw/articleshow/5294078.cms |url-status=live }}<
* {{cite web |url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/STXAVIER.HTM |author1-last=Butler|author1-first=Alban |title=St Francis Xavier, Confessor, Apostle of the Indies |work=The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints, Vol. III |publisher=ewtn.com |access-date=6 April 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924042931/http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/STXAVIER.HTM |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite web|url=http://recil.grupolusofona.pt/jspui/bitstream/10437/509/1/PortuGoa.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075456/http://recil.grupolusofona.pt/jspui/bitstream/10437/509/1/PortuGoa.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=live |last= DeSouza|first= Teotonio R.|title=The Portuguese in Goa|publisher=Universidade Lusófona |website=recil.grupolusofona.pt|access-date=6 April 2015}}
* {{Cite web |last=DiPippo |first=Gregory |date=3 December 2019 |title=The Altar of St Francis Xavier in Rome |url=https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2019/12/the-altar-of-st-francis-xavier-in-rome.html |access-date=10 March 2022 |website=New Liturgical Movement |archive-date=28 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528224309/https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2019/12/the-altar-of-st-francis-xavier-in-rome.html |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite web |last=Downes |first=Patrick |title=Kakure Kirishitan |url=https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/kakure-kirishitan.html |access-date=10 March 2022 |website=Catholic Education Resource Center |date=5 July 2001 |language=en-gb |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414204213/https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/kakure-kirishitan.html |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite web |last=Griffith |first=James S. |title=Pilgrimage To Magdalena and The Festival de San Francisco |url=http://padrekino.com/kino-s-legacy/kino-pilgrimage/ |access-date=10 March 2022 |website=Kino Historical Society |archive-date=22 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422005937/http://padrekino.com/kino-s-legacy/kino-pilgrimage/ |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite web |last=Lang |first=William |date=2019-08-25 |title=The subtleties that bedeviled St. Francis |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2019/08/25/voices/subtleties-bedeviled-st-francis/ |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=The Japan Times |language=en-US |archive-date=16 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616191647/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2019/08/25/voices/subtleties-bedeviled-st-francis/ |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite news |last=Masson |first=Matthieu |date=29 November 2019 |title=The death of St. Francis in Sancian and the origins of the pilgrimage |language=en-GB |work=[[Sunday Examiner]] |url=https://www.examiner.org.hk/2019/11/29/the-death-of-st-francis-in-sancian-and-the-origins-of-the-pilgrimage/features/chinabridge/ |access-date=10 March 2022}}
* {{Cite news |last=Misquita |first=Melvyn |date=23 November 2014 |title=Venerated The World Over |work=[[O Heraldo]] |url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Review/Venerated-The-World-Over/81297 |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=3 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003010950/https://www.heraldgoa.in/Review/Venerated-The-World-Over/81297 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.americancatholic.org/e-News/FriarJack/fj112906.asp |author1-last=Wintz|author1-first=Jack|title='St. Francis Xavier: Great Missionary to the Orient|work=Franciscan Media|date=November 29, 2006a |publisher=americancatholic.org |access-date=6 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051732/http://www.americancatholic.org/e-News/FriarJack/fj112906.asp |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}
* {{cite web | url = http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Dec2006/Feature2.asp#F4 | title = Four Great Spanish Saints |date = December 2006b | work = St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online | last = Wintz | first = Jack | publisher = American Catholic | access-date = 6 April 2015 | archive-date = 18 March 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150318044134/http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Dec2006/Feature2.asp#F4 | url-status = live }}
* {{cite web|url=http://jceao.net/content/francis-xavier-founder-jesuit-mission-asia-our-inspiration-today|last=Zuloaga|first= Ismael G.|title=Francis Xavier, Founder of the Jesuit Mission in Asia|work= Jesuit Asia Pacific Conference|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130413184233/http://jceao.net/content/francis-xavier-founder-jesuit-mission-asia-our-inspiration-today|archive-date=13 April 2013}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Guo |first=Nanyan |title=Making Xavier's Dream Real: Vernacular Writings of Catholic Missionaries in Modern Japan |date=2020 |publisher=Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture |location=Tokyo |isbn=978-4-86658-134-7 |edition=First English |url=https://www.jpicinternational.com/books/culture/24e4ebfd545ae4e13e123491a7b73fe5d71778a0.html}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Xavier, Francisco de | volume= 28 |last= Jayne | first= Kingsley Garland |author-link= | pages = 882&ndash;883}}
* [[Andrew Dickson White]] (1896 first edition. A classic work constantly reprinted) ''[[A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom]]'', See chapter 13, part 2, ''Growth of Legends of Healing: the life of [[Saint Francis Xavier]] as a typical example''.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{EB1911 poster|Xavier, Francisco de}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141110083742/http://bomjesus.org/ Official website of Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa] The Shrine of Saint Francis Xavier
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090831074329/http://www.bomjesus.in/ Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa] The Shrine of Saint Francis Xavier
*[http://strobertbellarmine.net/books/Torsellino--Xavier.pdf ''The Life of St. Francis Xavier'']
*[https://archive.org/details/lifelettersofstf01coleuoft ''The life and letters of St. Francis Xavier''] Francis Xavier, Saint, 1506–1552 Coleridge, Henry James, 1822–1893 London: Burns and Oates, (1872)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20021214062137/http://www.jesuites.com/xavier/index.html ''Saint François Xavier''] {{in lang|fr}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031016220801/http://www.jesuites.com/xavier/images/sancian_maxi.jpg Picture of Shangchuan island. The chapel marks the location of his death]
*[http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Miracles/Miracles_005.htm The Miracles of St Francis Xavier] by [[John Hardon|John Hardon, SJ]]
*[http://www.goacentral.com/Goahistory/StFrancisXavier.htm Brief History of Saint Francis Xavier] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010192645/http://www.goacentral.com/Goahistory/StFrancisXavier.htm |date=10 October 2018 }}
*[http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Francis%20Xavier-121/StFrancisXavier.htm Colonnade Statue St Peter's Square]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Francis Xavier}}
* {{Librivox author |id=8401}}

{{Jesuits}}
{{History of Christianity}}
{{History of the Roman Catholic Church|collapsed}}
{{History of Catholic theology|collapsed}}
{{Christianity and China}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xavier, Francis}}
[[Category:1506 births]]
[[Category:1552 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:16th-century Spanish Jesuits]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]
[[Category:Jesuit missionaries in China]]
[[Category:Jesuit saints]]
[[Category:Lutheran saints]]
[[Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in Japan]]
[[Category:Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:Spanish Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Spanish exploration in the Age of Discovery]]
[[Category:Portuguese exploration in the Age of Discovery]]
[[Category:Canonizations by Pope Gregory XV]]
[[Category:People from Tafalla (comarca)]]
[[Category:16th-century people from the Kingdom of Navarre]]
[[Category:Incorrupt saints]]