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The saints

St. Francis Xavier

He rang a bell through the streets of Goa, and died within sight of China.

Feast: 3 December · 1506 to 1552 · Reformation and missions · Navarre, Spain, to Goa, Japan and China

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The red laterite façade of the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa, India.

iMahesh, 2024. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Home / The saints / St. Francis Xavier

Goa, India, May 1542

After a long and dangerous voyage, a Spanish priest lands at Goa.1

He goes through the streets ringing a little bell, inviting the children to come and hear the word of God.1

He was one of the first companions of Ignatius of Loyola. In ten years he carried the Gospel from India to Japan.

Patron of the missions3

01St. Francis Xavier

To the ends of the earth

He preached in India, then met a Japanese man called Anger, and in 1549 set out with him for Japan.1

He died on the island of Sancian, off the coast of China, on 2 December 1552.1

The red laterite façade of the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa, India.
The Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa, where his relics rest. iMahesh, 2024. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

02St. Francis Xavier

Patron of the missions

In 1927 Pope Pius XI proclaimed St. Thérèse of Lisieux patron of the missions along with St. Francis Xavier.2

One man crossed half the world. One young nun never left her convent. The Church put them side by side.

Live it this week

Invite one person

Francis Xavier rang a bell in the streets to call people to learn the faith. You don’t need a bell. This week, invite one person to something: Mass, a parish event, or just coffee to talk about what you believe.

Notes

How we know · 3 sources for this page
  1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “St. Francis Xavier”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org
  2. Pope St. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Divini Amoris Scientia, 19 October 1997. Holy See, official English text. vatican.va
  3. Vatican News, Saint of the day: “St. Francis Xavier”. Dicastery for Communication, Holy See. vaticannews.va

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.