Saint Francis Xavier
“What leads me to love You, O my God, is not the Heaven You promise me; what leads me to no longer offend You, is not Hell, so dreadful. What brings out these feelings in me is You, Lord.” - Saint Francis Xavier.
A priest, co-founder of the Society of Jesus, missionary and apostolic nuncio, François-Xavier, canonized in 1622, is the patron saint of missions and was a tireless man of faith! He gave his life to evangelize to the people on the other side of the world and spread the love of God to Japan.
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Biography of Saint Francis-Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies
Saint Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Society of Jesus
Born in Navarre, in 1506, in Xavier, in a large family of former Basque nobility, François did not wish to embrace a military career like his father and his brothers. In a context of European war against Protestant heresy, he decided to become a priest and study theology in France. At the Sorbonne, he met Pierre Favre and Ignace de Loyola, his roommates. They, other future priests, founded the Society of Jesus in 1539. Their goal was to act everywhere “for the greater glory of God” (Ad maiorem Dei gloriam). The Jesuits respond to the three wishes of monastic life: chastity, poverty and obedience. However, the latter also responded to a fourth wish, which was their own, that of special obedience to the pope with regard to missions. It is clear that Saint Francis Xavier followed this rule to the letter. He became a great missionary in the Far East.
Saint Francis Xavier, missionary in the Far East and apostolic nuncio
On May 6, 1542, Saint Francis-Xavier arrived in Goa, at the time a Portuguese trading post, and began to evangelize to the Portuguese present. Thanks to him, some people changed their lives radically. This was just the beginning of a very long series of conversions. Stubborn and unstoppable, the apostolic nuncio went, with his companions, to the Comoros archipelago, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Moluccas (Indonesia), Japan, India, and China. He estimated that in seventeen months in Japan, he converted twelve thousand people. Travelling throughout Asia for ten years, he managed to build churches, create communities, evangelize to people, and convert hearts. He died on the island of Sancian in 1552, leaving behind formidable letters of his missions and journeys.
Three Beautiful Prayers by Saint Francis Xavier
“My God, I love you! It is not for heaven that I love you, nor because those who do not love you, you punish them with eternal fire. At the cross, my Jesus, you pressed me to your heart. You endured the nails, the spear, the height of shame, the pain without number, the sweat and anguish, death ... all for me, in my place, for my sins. So, O very loving Jesus, why not love yourself with a selfless love, forgetting heaven and hell, not to be rewarded, but simply as you have loved me? This is how I love you, as I will love you: only because you are my king, only because you are my God. So be it.”
“O my divine sovereign! O Mary! You the hope of Christians, the Queen of angels and saints who surround the throne of God in heaven! I entrust myself to your hands, I commend myself to your powerful protection and that of all the saints, for all the days of my life and for the moment of my death. O my Sovereign, who is also my mother, preserve me from the dangers that surround me! The world and the demon never stop setting traps for me, they make every effort to drag me into the abyss and precipitate me into hell. O Mother full of tenderness and kindness! Don't let them triumph; save me! I implore you! So be it.”
“I want to serve You, O my God! I want to serve You because I love You, and not through fear of Your justice and the punishments it reserves for those who offend You. I want to serve You because You attract me to You. O Jesus, my Savior and Redeemer! Your adorable heart, opened by a spear, the Cross to which your sacred body is attached, the divine blood that flows from your wounds, bind me to You forever. Had I not hell to fear or immortal glory to hope for, I would love You, O my God, my Creator! I would love You for your infinite perfections! I would love You for the tender care of your ineffable Providence! I would love You for your love alone! O only-begotten Son of God, Son of a Virgin! You, full of meekness and strength, of innocence and love, Jesus Christ, O my God! Who wanted to die for me, grant me to love You with all the love that your Love deserves! Amen.”
Quotation from a letter by Saint Francis Xavier
In his letter to his friend, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Francis-Xavier tells us how he taught people the foundations of the Catholic faith and how he was touched by the thirst for knowledge of Portuguese children.
“We went through the villages of Christians who had converted a few years ago. No Portuguese live in these places, because the land is extremely barren, and the Christians who live there, for lack of priests, know nothing other than to say that they are Christians. They have no one to say Mass; no one to teach them the Creed, the Pater Noster, the Hail Mary or the Commandments of the law of God. So, since I came here, I have not stopped: I have actively traveled through all the villages, I have baptized all the children who were not yet baptized. Thus, I made children of God a large number of little children who, as they say, did not know how to distinguish their right from their left. The children would not let me recite the divine office or eat or rest until I had taught them prayers; then I began to understand that it is to them that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs.”
Pray to Saint Francis Xavier with Hozana !
Continue your prayer through Hozana, and, like Saint Francis-Xavier, seek to become a missionary of God by learning from the daily annotated bible verse.
Saint Francis Xavier told us that the Kingdom of Heaven belonged to children, join this community of prayer and pray with your children!
