Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier was a founder of the Jesuits and the most successful Christian missionary since the apostles. Born in the castle of Xavier in Navarre in 1506 to a noble family ruined when Ferdinand of Aragon annexed the kingdom, he went to the University of Paris in 1525 to study philosophy, intending an academic career. He shared a room with Ignatius of Loyola, who wore him down over several years with the question of what it profits a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul. He made the Spiritual Exercises and, in August 1534, was among the seven who took vows at Montmartre. King John III of Portugal asked for missionaries for his eastern possessions. The man chosen fell ill, and Xavier was sent at a day's notice, sailing in 1541 and reaching Goa in 1542 after thirteen months. He worked along the Fishery Coast of southern India among the Paravar pearl divers, in Malacca, in the Moluccas, and reportedly baptised tens of thousands, often by mass ceremony after the briefest instruction — a method later missionaries criticised. In 1549 he became the first Christian missionary to Japan, landing at Kagoshima. He spent two years there and concluded that the Japanese would not accept a religion the Chinese had rejected, since they looked to China for learning. He therefore set out for China, which was closed to foreigners, and died of fever in December 1552 on the island of Shangchuan within sight of the mainland, waiting for a boat. His body was taken to Goa, where it remains. He was canonised in 1622.
- Lived: 1506 CE – 1552 CE
- Nationality: Navarrese/Spanish
- Roles: missionary, jesuit_priest
