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Name:
Francis Xavier
Apostle to the Indies
Apostle to Japan
Dates:
Born: April 7, 1506 in the Castle of Xavier near Sanguesa, in Navarre, Spain
Died: December 2, 1552 on the Island of Sancian
Canonized by Pope Gregory XV: March 12, 1622
Biography:
A Jesuit priest who joined the Society of Jesus after personally meeting Ignatius of Loyola
and was in fact one of that group's founding members, Francis Xavier was charged with the
task of doing missionary work with Christians in the East.
Xavier's first stop was Goa, India, where in 1542 he baptized a large number of lower caste Indians - Christianity was very appealing to the lower castes, especially at the time period. He was not, however, successful in achieving much with the higher castes.
After that, Xavier moved on to Malacca in Malaya, where he met a Japanese nobleman and decided to take his missionary work to Japan. He arrived there in 1549 and spent two years successfully establishing Chrisitanity as a new and growing religion. After that, he intended to take his work to the Chinese mainland, but he died before that could be accomplished.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
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A system of human beliefs, ideals and practices which is harder to define than it may at first appear. Read more about how dictionaries, scholars and others have tried to define and explain religion.
