Francis Xavier

Francisco de Jasso Azpilcueta Atondo y Aznares de Javier, known in Italy as Francesco Saverio (1506-1552) came from a noble family in Navarre. He was part of the small group that, in Paris, was formed around Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) to become the Society of Jesus (1534). Ordained a priest in 1537, he left four years later, at the request of John III of Portugal (1502-1557) and on the recommendation of Ignatius, to the Far East. His missionary work took him to India, China, Japan and the Moluccas. He died of illness in 1552. His body was buried in the church of the Jesuits of Goa, but his right arm was sent to Rome, where it is still preserved in a reliquary of the Church of the Gesù. Francis Xavier was proclaimed a saint by Pope Gregory XV (1554 – 1623) in 1622, along with Ignatius of Loyola.