St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier was a 16th century Basque missionary who spread Catholicism throughout Asia.

A Jesuit, Xavier arrived in Goa, India in 1542. He lived with Hindus of the east and west coasts of India for over to year.

In 1545, he sailed to Malacca and worked in Malaysia and Indonesia.

He traveled to Japan in 1549. By the time he left Japan, in 1551, he had made 1000 converts.

His missions were extremely successful. By the late 16th century, over 300,000 Japanese had converted to Catholicism.

However, in 1614, it became illegal to practice Christianity in Japan, and the Jesuits were eventually expelled.

Xavier had planned to convert the Chinese, but he died of a fever when he was 46 years old on an island off the Chinese coast while he was waiting for permission to enter China

Francis Xavier was canonized in 1622. He is the patron saint of all foreign missions.