St. Francis Xavier Japanese Catholic Center

St. Francis was born in the Castle of Xavier in Navarre, Spain, on April 7, 1506. In 1529 he met St. Ignatius Loyola in Paris, France where he had gone to study at the university. Here plans for the foundation of the Society of Jesus Order begin and, by August 15, 1534, several others joined St. Francis and St. Ignatius taking vows to become the first members of the Order which is officially approved by the Pope on September 3, 1539. King John of Portugal appoints St. Francis to evangelize the East Indies (India, Ceylon [Sri Lanka]), and Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), for which he leaves on April 7, 1541. By 1547, he made his first contact with a Japanese trader who provided information about Japan. His zeal was immediately aroused to introduce Christianity into Japan. By August 15, 1549, he arrives in Kagoshima, Japan, and begins his historic evangelization of Japan. After two years and a half in Japan, he prepares to enter China and waits for an opportune time on the coastal Island of Sancian where he dies alone after becoming gravely ill, on December 3, 1552. St. Francis' body is enshrined in the Bon Gesu Church in Goa, India.