December 3, Feast of St. Francis Xavier

Death

The Altar of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines. St. Francis is the principal patron of the town, together with Our Lady of Escalera.On 21 November, on Shangchuan Island, he fainted after celebrating Mass. He died on 3 December 1552, at age 46, without having reached mainland China.

He was first buried on a beach of Shangchuan Island. His incorrupt body was taken from the island in February 1553 and was temporarily buried in St. Paul's church in Malacca on 22 March, 1553. An open grave in the church now marks the place of Xavier's burial. Pereira came back from Goa, removed the corpse shortly after April 15, 1553, and moved it to his house.

On 11 December, 1553, Xavier's body was shipped to Goa. The body is now in the in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, where it was placed in a glass container encased in a silver casket on December 2, 1637.


Casket of Saint Francis Xavier in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in GoaThe right forearm, which Xavier used to bless and baptize his converts, was detached by Pr. Gen. Claudio Acquaviva in 1614. It has been displayed since in a silver reliquary at the main Jesuit church in Rome, Il Gesù[2].

In 1950 this arm, as a "relic," was taken on tour, including in the United States, where a photograph of it was published in Life Magazine. A doctor's wife wrote to the magazine saying, "That's not a right arm, it's a left arm." The magazine replied, saying that can't be--the saint's left arm is still attached to his body, buried in India.


[edit] Legacy
St. Francis Xavier is noteworthy for his missionary work, both as organizer and as pioneer. By his compromises in India with the Christians of St. Thomas, he developed the Jesuit missionary methods along lines that subsequently became a successful blueprint for his order to follow. His efforts left a significant impression upon the missionary history of India and, as one of the first Jesuit missionaries to the East Indies, his work is of fundamental significance to the propagation of Christianity in China and Japan. He was a inspiration to many people with his miraculous work.

Pope Benedict XVI said of both Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier: "not only their history which was interwoven for many years from Paris and Rome, but a unique desire — a unique passion, it could be said — moved and sustained them through different human events: the passion to give to God-Trinity a glory always greater and to work for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ to the peoples who had been ignored."[3]

As the foremost saint from Navarre and one of the main Jesuit saints, he is very venerated in Spain and the Hispanic countries where Francisco Javier or Javier are common male given names[4]. As a spin-off, Xavier itself became a male name popular in Portugal, Brazil, France, Belgium, and southern Italy. In Austria and Bavaria the name is spelled as Xaver (pronounced Ksaber and often used in addition to Francis as Franz-Xaver. Xavier is one of the few names starting with X in English.