St Francis Xavier was born in the Castle of Xavier in Navarre, Spain  on April 7, 1506.

He was, by birth, a Basque nobleman, and at age 19, he left his home to study at the University of Paris. He lived a rather worldly lifestyle until he met Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The battle-scarred Loyola convinced the worldly young man to dedicate himself to the service of Christ. And on August 15, 1534, with Ignatius and five others, Francis took a vow to consecrate his life to the service of Christ. With this act, the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) was born.

Francis accompanied Ignatius and his companions to Rome in 1538. In 1541, he embarked on a long and dangerous voyage to Goa, India. The voyage took 13 months.

His missionary work in Goa and on the southern and western coasts of India bore an abundance of fruits. Tens of thousands were baptized into the Church. Francis continued on further east and made it all the way to Japan where he established several Christian communities.

His entire missionary life, which lasted a little more than ten years until his death in 1552, was abundant in miracles and magnificent apostolic feats. However, he also experienced much opposition from European officials, most of whom had been exploiting the native populations.

In 1552 he set out for China and landed on the island of Sancian. Though he was within sight of the mainland coast, he died before he was able set sail on December 2, 1552. He was canonized in 1622.  He is the patron saint of all missions and missionaries.

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