Xavier
FRANCISCO, a Spanish missionary and saint of the Roman Catholic Church, usually styled the Apostle of the Indies; born of a noble family, whose family seat of Xavier lay to the N. W. of Pampeluna, April 7, 1506. At the College of Sainte Barbe, in Paris, he attained while still young some importance as a lecturer on philosophy; but a friendship which he formed with his fellow countryman Loyola, turned his attention in a new direction, and he became one of the first members of the Society of Jesus. In the early part of 1540, before the Society had received papal approbation, he was chosen for the mission to India, and received the title of apostolic nuncio from Paul III.
The rest of his life was consecrated with high-souled devotion to the work of an evangelist. From Goa, his headquarters, where he arrived in May, 1542, he extended his labors S. to Ceylon, Malacca, and Celebes. The last two years of his life were spent in Japan, where he met with remarkable success, and he was on his way to China when he fell ill with fever, and was abandoned to his fate on the island of Sancian by the shipmen with whom he sailed. He expired Dec. 2, 1552. His body was conveyed to Goa, where it remains in the Church of the Bom Jesus. Once in a century it is shown to the people on the saint's day, XENIA Dec. 3. The last occasion was in 1878.
Xavier was canonized in 1622, and in 1747 Benedict XIV. declared him the Protector of India.