Xavier, Francis

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XAVIER, FRANCIS

XAVIER, FRANCIS (1506–1552), Jesuit missionary to India Francis Xavier was born in 1506 in the Pyrenees kingdom of Navarre. At eighteen he went to the University of Paris, where nine years later he joined the faculty and came under the influence of Ignatius Loyola, who was planning to start the Society of Jesus. Xavier was one of the first six to join Loyola.

Eventually Xavier was commissioned by King John III of Portugal to Christianize his eastern colonies. Xavier left for India on 7 April 1541. As papal nuncio, he was given supreme authority over all missions and churches already in existence. He landed in Goa on 6 May 1542.

Late in 1542, he went to Madras (Chennai), converting the Parava fisher people in great numbers. though their acquiescence was not necessarily spiritually motivated. Harassed by pirates at sea and powerful vested interests on the land, they readily agreed to become Christians in return for the protection of the king of Portugal. Xavier had no fluency in any of the local vernacular languages, so he memorized the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the Ten Commandments. His method was to gather the people of a village together on Sundays. "We begin," Xavier wrote, "with a profession of faith." He would then recite the Creed and the Commandments and the people would respond in a "mighty chorus . . . with their arms folded on their breasts in the form of a cross," affirming that they believed (Firth, p. 59). In such a fashion, in one month, he baptized as many as ten thousand. After a year, Xavier turned his attention to the west coast, journeying through Travencore to Cochin. Here he repeated his efforts. Everywhere he went he endeavored, but without much success, to train Indian workers, both ordained and lay, to provide for the spiritual nurture of the young Christian community. In addition, he instructed his fellow Jesuits to "build schools in every village, that the children may be taught daily." Remarkably, the Parava remain Christian to this day.

Subsequent to his work in India, Xavier attempted, but failed, to enter China, and he died of a fever on 2 December 1552 off the south coast of China. He was eventually buried in Goa and was canonized to sainthood in 1622.

Graham Houghton