St Francis Xavier - Saint and Adventurer

Patron saint of Goa

Dr Uday Dokras
Architect Srishti Dokras
Karan Dokras

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 The castle of the Xavier family was later acquired by the
Society of Jesus.

Goencho Saib
Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: Franciscus
Xaverius; Basque: Frantzisko Xabierkoa; French: François Xavier, Spanish: Francisco
Javier; Portuguese: Francisco Xavier; (7 April 1506 – 3 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis
Xavier, was a Navarrese Catholic missionary and saint who was the co-founder of the Society of
Jesus.He is the patron saint of Goa and his remains lie in holiness there.Fondly known today as Goencho
Saib
Born in Javier (Xavier in Old Spanish and in Navarro-Aragonese, or Xabier (Basque language for "new
house")), Kingdom of Navarre (in present-day Spain), he was a companion of Ignatius of Loyola and one
of the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris in 1534.[3] He led an
extensive mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time and was influential
in evangelization work, most notably in India. Although some sources claim that the Goa Inquisition was
proposed by Francis Xavier, his letter to the king of Portugal, John III, asked for a special minister whose
sole office would be to further Christianity in Goa. He also was the first Christian missionary to venture
into Japan, Borneo, the Maluku Islands, and other areas. In those areas, struggling to learn the local
languages and in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India. Xavier was
about to extend his missionary preaching to China when he died on Shangchuan Island.
He was beatified by Pope Paul V on 25 October 1619 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on 12 March
1622. In 1624, he was made co-patron of Navarre. Known as the "Apostle of the Indies" and "Apostle of
Japan", he is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since Paul the Apostle. In 1927, Pope Pius
XI published the decree "Apostolicorum in Missionibus" naming Francis Xavier, along with Thérèse of
Lisieux, co-patron of all foreign missions. He is now co-patron saint of Navarre, with Fermin. The Day of
Navarre in Navarre, Spain, marks the anniversary of

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Francis Xavier's death, on 3 December 1552.

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Francis Xavier was born in the royal castle of Xavier, in the Kingdom of Navarre, on 7 April 1506
according to a family register. He was the youngest son of Juan de Jasso y Atondo, seneschal of Xavier
castle, who belonged to a prosperous farming family and had acquired a doctorate in law at the University
of Bologna. Basque and Romance were his two mother tongues. Juan later became a privy counsellor and
finance minister to King John III of Navarre (Jean d'Albret).  Francis's mother was Doña María de
Azpilcueta y Aznárez, sole heiress of two noble Navarrese families. He was through her related to the
great theologian and philosopher Martín de Azpilcueta.
In 1512, Ferdinand, King of Aragon and regent of Castile, invaded Navarre, initiating a war that lasted
over 18 years. Three years later, Francis's father died when Francis was only nine years old. In 1516,
Francis's brothers participated in a failed Navarrese-French attempt to expel the Spanish invaders from
the kingdom. The Spanish Governor, Cardinal Cisneros, confiscated the family lands, demolished the
outer wall, the gates, and two towers of the family castle, and filled in the moat. In addition, the height of
the keep was reduced by half.. Only the family residence inside the castle was left. In 1522, one of
Francis's brothers participated with 200 Navarrese nobles in dogged but failed resistance against the
Castilian Count of Miranda in Amair, Baztan, the last Navarrese territorial position south of the Pyrenees.
In 1525, Francis went to study in Paris at the Collège Sainte-Barbe, University of Paris, where he would
spend the next eleven years. [13] In the early days he acquired some reputation as an athlete [14] and a high-
jumper.
In 1529, Francis shared lodgings with his friend Pierre Favre. A new student, Ignatius of Loyola, came to
room with them. At 38, Ignatius was much older than Pierre and Francis, who were both 23 at the time.
Ignatius convinced Pierre to become a priest, but was unable to convince Francis, who had aspirations of
worldly advancement. At first Francis regarded the new lodger as a joke and was sarcastic about his
efforts to convert students. When Pierre left their lodgings to visit his family and Ignatius was alone with
Francis, he was able to slowly break down Francis's resistance. [18] According to most biographies Ignatius
is said to have posed the question: "What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul?"  However, according to James Broderick such method is not characteristic of Ignatius and there is
no evidence that he employed it at all.
In 1530, Francis received the degree of Master of Arts, and afterwards taught Aristotelian philosophy at
Beauvais College, University of Paris.

Saint Francis Xavier preaching in

Goa (1610), by André Reinoso

Missionary work: On 15 August 1534, seven students met in a crypt beneath the Church of Saint Denis
(now Saint Pierre de Montmartre), on the hill of Montmartre, overlooking Paris. They were
Francis, Ignatius of Loyola, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laínez, Nicolás Bobadilla from Spain, Peter
Faber from Savoy, and Simão Rodrigues from Portugal. They made private vows of poverty, chastity, and
obedience to the Pope, and also vowed to go to the Holy Land to convert infidels. Francis began his study

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of theology in 1534 and was ordained on 24 June 1537.In 1539, after long discussions, Ignatius drew up a
formula for a new religious order, the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Ignatius's plan for the order was
approved by Pope Paul III in 1540.
In 1540, King John of Portugal had Pedro Mascarenhas, Portuguese ambassador to the Holy See, request
Jesuit missionaries to spread the faith in his new possessions in India, where the king believed that
Christian values were eroding among the Portuguese. After successive appeals to the Pope asking for
missionaries for the East Indies under the Padroado agreement, John III was encouraged by Diogo de
Gouveia, rector of the Collège Sainte-Barbe, to recruit the newly graduated students that would establish
the Society of Jesus.
Ignatius promptly appointed Nicholas Bobadilla and Simão Rodrigues. At the last moment, however,
Bobadilla became seriously ill. With some hesitance and uneasiness, Ignatius asked Francis to go in
Bobadilla's place. Thus, Francis Xavier began his life as the first Jesuit missionary almost accidentally.
Leaving Rome on 15 March 1540, in the Ambassador's train, [27] Francis took with him a breviary,
a catechism, and De Institutione bene vivendi by Croatian humanist Marko Marulić,[28] a Latin book that
had become popular in the Counter-Reformation. According to a 1549 letter of F. Balthasar Gago from
Goa, it was the only book that Francis read or studied. [29] Francis reached Lisbon in June 1540 and, four
days after his arrival, he and Rodrigues were summoned to a private audience with the King and the
Queen.
Francis Xavier devoted much of his life to missions in Asia, mainly in four centres: Malacca, Amboina
and Ternate, Japan, and off-shore China. His growing information about new places indicated to him that
he had to go to what he understood were centres of influence for the whole region. China loomed large
from his days in India. Japan was particularly attractive because of its culture. For him, these areas were
interconnected; they could not be evangelised separately.
Goa and India
Francis Xavier left Lisbon on 7 April 1541, his thirty-fifth birthday, along with two other Jesuits and the
new viceroy Martim Afonso de Sousa, on board the Santiago. As he departed, Francis was given a brief
from the pope appointing him apostolic nuncio to the East. From August until March 1542 he remained
in Portuguese Mozambique, and arrived in Goa, then capital of Portuguese India, on 6 May 1542, thirteen
months after leaving Lisbon.
The Portuguese, following quickly on the great voyages of discovery, had established themselves at Goa
thirty years earlier. Francis's primary mission, as ordered by King John III, was to restore Christianity
among the Portuguese settlers. According to Teotonio R. DeSouza, recent critical accounts indicate that
apart from the posted civil servants, "the great majority of those who were dispatched as 'discoverers'
were the riff-raff of Portuguese society, picked up from Portuguese jails." Nor did the soldiers, sailors, or
merchants come to do missionary work, and Imperial policy permitted the outflow of disaffected nobility.
Many of the arrivals formed liaisons with local women and adopted Indian culture. Missionaries often
wrote against the "scandalous and undisciplined" behaviour of their fellow Christians.
The Christian population had churches, clergy, and a bishop, but there were few preachers and no priests
beyond the walls of Goa. The Velliapura family of Velim, Goa, of the St Thomas Christians sect,
welcomed the missionaries. Xavier decided that he must begin by instructing the Portuguese themselves,
and gave much of his time to the teaching of children. The first five months he spent in preaching and
ministering to the sick in the hospitals. After that, he walked through the streets ringing a bell to summon
the children and servants to catechism. He was invited to head Saint Paul's College, a
pioneer seminary for the education of secular priests, which became the first Jesuit headquarters in Asia.

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Conversion of the Paravars by Francis Xavier in South India, in a 19th-century colored lithograph RIGHT On 15 August
1534, seven students met in a crypt beneath the Church of Saint Denis (now Saint Pierre de Montmartre), on the hill
of Montmartre, overlooking Paris. They were Francis, Ignatius of Loyola, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laínez, Nicolás
Bobadilla from Spain, Peter Faber from Savoy, and Simão Rodrigues from Portugal. They made private vows of poverty,
chastity, and obedience to the Pope, and also vowed to go to the Holy Land to convert infidels. [20][21] Francis began his
study of theology in 1534 and was ordained on 24 June 1537.

Xavier soon learned that along the Pearl Fishery Coast, which extends from Cape Comorin on the
southern tip of India to the island of Mannar, off Ceylon (Sri Lanka), there was a Jāti of people
called Paravas. Many of them had been baptised ten years before, merely to please the Portuguese who
had helped them against the Moors, but remained uninstructed in the faith. Accompanied by several
native clerics from the seminary at Goa, he set sail for Cape Comorin in October 1542. He taught those
who had already been baptised, and preached to those who weren't. His efforts with the high-caste
Brahmins remained unavailing.
He devoted almost three years to the work of preaching to the people of southern India and Ceylon,
converting many. He built nearly 40 churches along the coast, including St. Stephen's Church,
Kombuthurai, mentioned in his letters dated 1544. He is credited with preaching and converting a
number of Paravars. Paravar (also known as Bharathar or Bharathakula) is a Tamil caste in Tamil
Nadu, India and Sri Lanka. They are thought of being in ancient times coastal inhabitants, seafarers,
maritime traders, who as well were according to at least one modern writer, described as "ferocious
soldiers", claiming to be Kshatriyas. There are many theories as to their origins but they have since
ancient times been recorded in the area of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka
In modern India, Paravars are concentrated along the coastal belt extending around the  Gulf of Mannar,
from Kilakarai through to Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) and then on almost as far as Thiruvanathapuram.

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There are also Paravar settlements on the outskirts of inland villages, and there has been a significant
number among the population of Thoothukudi, a major town, since the 1580s. In Sri Lanka, a section
of Bharathakula are classsified as a separate ethnic group, since 2001
Thomas the Apostle  also called Didymus ("twin") was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to
the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "Doubting Thomas" because he doubted Jesus'
resurrection when first told of it (as related in the Gospel of John alone); later, he confessed his faith, "My
Lord and my God," on seeing Jesus' crucifixion wounds.
According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of modern-day Kerala in India, Thomas
is believed to have travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as
the Malabar Coast which is in modern-day Kerala State, India. According to their tradition, Thomas
reached Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor in Kerala State, India) in AD 52.[2][3][1] In
1258, some of the relics were brought to Ortona, in Abruzzo, Italy, where they have been held in the
Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle. He is often regarded as the patron saint of India, and the
name Thomas remains quite popular among Saint Thomas Christians of India.
During this time, he was able to visit the tomb of Thomas the Apostle in Mylapore (now part of
Madras/Chennai then in Portuguese India) He set his sights eastward in 1545 and planned a missionary
journey to Makassar on the island of Celebes (today's Indonesia).
As the first Jesuit in India, Francis had difficulty achieving much success in his missionary trips. His
successors, such as de Nobili, Matteo Ricci, and Beschi, attempted to convert the noblemen first as a
means to influence more people, while Francis had initially interacted most with the lower classes; (later
though, in Japan, Francis changed tack by paying tribute to the Emperor and seeking an audience with
him).

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Southeast Asia
In the spring of 1545 Xavier started for Portuguese Malacca. He laboured there for the last months of that
year. About January 1546, Xavier left Malacca for the Maluku Islands, where the Portuguese had some
settlements. For a year and a half he preached the Gospel there. He went first to Ambon Island, where he
stayed until mid-June. He then visited other Maluku Islands, including Ternate, Baranura, and Morotai.
Shortly after Easter 1547, he returned to Ambon Island; a few months later he returned to Malacca.
History of Roman Catholicism in Japan

In Malacca in December 1547, Francis Xavier met a Japanese man named Anjirō.[35] Anjirō had heard of
Francis in 1545 and had travelled from Kagoshima to Malacca to meet him. Having been charged with
murder, Anjirō had fled Japan. He told Francis extensively about his former life, and the customs and
culture of his homeland. Anjirō became the first Japanese Christian and adopted the name of 'Paulo de
Santa Fé'. He later helped Xavier as a mediator and interpreter for the mission to Japan that now seemed
much more possible.
In January 1548 Francis returned to Goa to attend to his responsibilities as superior of the mission there.
[39]
 The next 15 months were occupied with various journeys and administrative measures. He left Goa on
15 April 1549, stopped at Malacca, and visited Canton. He was accompanied by Anjiro, two other
Japanese men, Father Cosme de Torrès and Brother Juan Fernández. He had taken with him presents for
the "King of Japan" since he was intending to introduce himself as the Apostolic Nuncio.
Europeans had already come to Japan: the Portuguese had landed in 1543 on the island of Tanegashima,
where they introduced matchlock firearms to Japan.

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From Amboina, he wrote to his companions in Europe: "I asked a Portuguese merchant, ... who had been
for many days in Anjirō's country of Japan, to give me ... some information on that land and its people
from what he had seen and heard. ...All the Portuguese merchants coming from Japan tell me that if I go
there I shall do great service for God our Lord, more than with the pagans of India, for they are a very
reasonable people." (To His Companions Residing in Rome, From Cochin, 20 January 1548, no. 18,
p. 178)
Francis Xavier reached Japan on 27 July 1549, with Anjiro and three other Jesuits, but he was not
permitted to enter any port his ship arrived at until 15 August, when he went ashore at Kagoshima, the
principal port of Satsuma Province on the island of Kyūshū. As a representative of the Portuguese king,
he was received in a friendly manner. Shimazu Takahisa (1514–1571), daimyō of Satsuma, gave a
friendly reception to Francis on 29 September 1549, but in the following year he forbade the conversion
of his subjects to Christianity under penalty of death; Christians in Kagoshima could not be given any
catechism in the following years. The Portuguese missionary Pedro de Alcáçova would later write in
1554:
In Cangoxima, the first place Father Master Francisco stopped at, there were a good number of Christians,
although there was no one there to teach them; the shortage of labourers prevented the whole kingdom
from becoming Christian.

— Pacheco 1974, pp. 477–480

He was hosted by Anjirō's family until October 1550. From October to December 1550, he resided
in Yamaguchi. Shortly before Christmas, he left for Kyoto but failed to meet with the Emperor. He
returned to Yamaguchi in March 1551, where the daimyo of the province gave him permission to preach.
However, lacking fluency in the Japanese language, he had to limit himself to reading aloud the
translation of a catechism.
Francis was the first Jesuit to go to Japan as a missionary. He brought with him paintings of the Madonna
and the Madonna and Child. These paintings were used to help teach the Japanese about Christianity.
There was a huge language barrier as Japanese was unlike other languages the missionaries had
previously encountered. For a long time Francis struggled to learn the language
Having learned that evangelical poverty did not have the appeal in Japan that it had in Europe and in
India, he decided to change his approach. Hearing after a time that a Portuguese ship had arrived at a port
in the province of Bungo in Kyushu and that the prince there would like to see him, Xavier now set out
southward. The Jesuit, in a fine cassock, surplice, and stole, was attended by thirty gentlemen and as
many servants, all in their best clothes. Five of them bore on cushions valuable articles, including a
portrait of Our Lady and a pair of velvet slippers, these not gifts for the prince, but solemn offerings to
Xavier, to impress the onlookers with his eminence. Handsomely dressed, with his companions acting as
attendants, he presented himself before Oshindono, the ruler of Nagate, and as a representative of the
great kingdom of Portugal, offered him letters and presents: a musical instrument, a watch, and other
attractive objects which had been given him by the authorities in India for the emperor.
For forty-five years the Jesuits were the only missionaries in Asia, but the Franciscans also began
proselytising in Asia as well. Christian missionaries were later forced into exile, along with their
assistants. Some were able to stay behind, however Christianity was then kept underground so as to not be
persecuted.
The Japanese people were not easily converted; many of the people were already Buddhist or Shinto.
Francis tried to combat the disposition of some of the Japanese that a God who had created everything,
including evil, could not be good. The concept of Hell was also a struggle; the Japanese were bothered by
the idea of their ancestors living in Hell. Despite Francis's different religion, he felt that they were good
people, much like Europeans, and could be converted.

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Xavier was welcomed by the Shingon monks since he used the word Dainichi for the Christian God;
attempting to adapt the concept to local traditions. As Xavier learned more about the religious nuances of
the word, he changed to Deusu from the Latin and Portuguese Deus. The monks later realised that Xavier
was preaching a rival religion and grew more aggressive towards his attempts at conversion.

The Altar of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines. Saint Francis is the principal
patron of the town, together with Our Lady of Escalera.RIGHT Baciccio Title- The Vision of St Francis
Xavier

With the passage of time, his sojourn in Japan could be considered somewhat fruitful as attested by
congregations established in Hirado, Yamaguchi, and Bungo. Xavier worked for more than two years in
Japan and saw his successor-Jesuits established. He then decided to return to India. Historians debate the
exact path he returned by, but from evidence attributed to the captain of his ship, he may have travelled
through Tanegeshima and Minato, and avoided Kagoshima because of the hostility of the daimyo.
China
During his trip from Japan back to India, a tempest forced him to stop on an island
near Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, where he met Diogo Pereira, a rich merchant and an old friend
from Cochin. Pereira showed him a letter from Portuguese prisoners in Guangzhou, asking for a
Portuguese ambassador to speak to the Chinese Emperor on their behalf. Later during the voyage, he
stopped at Malacca on 27 December 1551, and was back in Goa by January 1552.
On 17 April he set sail with Diogo Pereira on the Santa Cruz for China. He planned to introduce himself
as Apostolic Nuncio and Pereira as ambassador of the King of Portugal. But then he realized that he had
forgotten his testimonial letters as an Apostolic Nuncio. Back in Malacca, he was confronted by the
captain Álvaro de Ataíde da Gama who now had total control over the harbour. The captain refused to
recognize his title of Nuncio, asked Pereira to resign from his title of ambassador, named a new crew for
the ship, and demanded the gifts for the Chinese Emperor be left in Malacca.

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In late August 1552, the Santa Cruz reached the Chinese island of Shangchuan, 14 km away from the
southern coast of mainland China, near Taishan, Guangdong, 200 km south-west of what later
became Hong Kong. At this time, he was accompanied only by a Jesuit student, Álvaro Ferreira, a
Chinese man called António, and a Malabar servant called Christopher. Around mid-November he sent a
letter saying that a man had agreed to take him to the mainland in exchange for a large sum of money.
Having sent back Álvaro Ferreira, he remained alone with António. He died from a fever at Shangchuan,
Taishan, China, on 3 December 1552, while he was waiting for a boat that would take him to mainland
China.
RELICS:

Casket of Saint Francis Xavier in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, India

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Xavier was first buried on a beach at Shangchuan Island, Taishan, Guangdong. His body was taken from
the island in February 1553 and temporarily buried in St. Paul's church in Portuguese 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 15 April 1553, and moved it to his house. On 11 December 1553,
Xavier's body was shipped to Goa.
The body is now in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, where it was placed in a glass container encased in
a silver casket on 2 December 1637. This casket, constructed by Goan silversmiths between 1636 and
1637, was an exemplary blend of Italian and Indian aesthetic sensibilities. There are 32 silver plates on all
four sides of the casket, depicting different episodes from the life of Xavier:

 Francis lies on the ground with his arms and legs tied, but the cords break miraculously.
 Francis kisses the ulcer of a patient in a Venetian hospital.
 He is visited by Jerom as he lies ailing in the hospital of Vicenza.
 A vision about his future apostolate.
 A vision about his sister's prophecy about his fate.
 He saves the secretary of the Portuguese Ambassador while crossing the Alps.
 He lifts a sick man who dies after receiving communion but freed from fever.
 He baptises in Travancore.
 He resuscitates a boy who died in a well at Cape Comorin.
 He cures miraculously a man full of sores.
 He drives away the Badagas in Travancore.
 He resuscitates three persons: a man who was buried at Coulao; a boy about to be buried at
Multao; and a child.

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 He takes money from his empty pockets and gives to a Portuguese at Malyapore.
 A miraculous cure.
 A crab restores his crucifix which had fallen into the sea.
 He preaches in the island of Moro.
 He preaches in the sea of Malacca and announces the victory against the enemies.
 He converts a Portuguese soldier.
 He helps the dying Vicar of Malacca.
 Francis kneels down and on his shoulders there rests a child whom he restores to health.
 He goes from Amanguchi to Macao walking.
 He cures a dumb and paralytic man in Amanguchi.
 He cures a deaf Japanese person.
 He prays in the ship during a storm.
 He baptises three kings in Cochin.
 He cures a religious in the college of St. Paul.
 Due to the lack of water, he sweetens the sea water during a voyage.
 The agony of Francis at Sancian.
 After his death he is seen by a lady according to his promise.
 The body dressed in sacerdotal vestments is exposed for public veneration.
 Francis levitates as he distributes communion in the College of St. Paul.
 The body is placed in a niche at Chaul with lighted candles. On the top of this casket there is a
cross with two angels. One is holding a burning heart and the other a legend which says, "Satis est
Domine, satis est." (It's enough Lord, it's enough)
The right forearm, which Xavier used to bless and baptise his converts, was detached by Superior
General Claudio Acquaviva in 1614. It has been displayed since in a silver reliquary at the main
Jesuit church in Rome, Il Gesù.

Saint Francis Xavier's humerus at St. Joseph's Church, Macao (2008)

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Another of Xavier's arm bones was brought to Macau where it was kept in a silver reliquary. The relic
was destined for Japan but religious persecution there persuaded the church to keep it in
Macau's Cathedral of St. Paul. It was subsequently moved to St. Joseph's and in 1978 to the Chapel of St.
Francis Xavier on Coloane Island. More recently the relic was moved to St. Joseph's Church.

Andre Reinos 1619 STORMY WEATHERS OF THE SAINT

Francis Xavior is the patron saint of missionaries and one of the founders of the Jesuit
order, Saint Francis Xavier sought religious converts throughout Asia during the 1500s. a
member of the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in 1534 and
devoted to missionary and educational work. 2 : one given to intrigue or equivocation. Bending
Vatican rules once again to bypass the usual requirement that a second miracle be
confirmed, Pope Francis on Wednesday signed off Blessed Vaz.. Francis is expected to canonize
Vaz, a 17th-century Goan missionary, during his January visit to Sri Lanka. Blessed Vaz is the
patron of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. He is the first Goan to be named a saint.Another
Goan, Venerable Agnelo is also on the road to sainthood.Vaz will be the third saint from India.
While St Alphonsa is the first Indian saint, Blessed Kuriakose will be canonized in November
this year.Vaz was born in Benaulim in 1651, but chose to work in Sri Lanka amid persecution of
Catholics by Dutch colonial rulers, who were Calvinists. He is credited with having

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 Saint Francis Xavier – Patron saint of Goa
Saint, Priest, Missionary (1506- 1552)

The patron saint of missionaries and one of the founders of the Jesuits order – the Society of
Jesus was officially recognized by Pope Paul III in 1540. He was beatified by Pope Paul V on
25th Oct 1619 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12, 1622.

Francis Xavier was born on April 7, 1506 to an aristocratic family in Navarre, Spain. He had a
happy childhood until the age of nine when his father passed away. He received his early
education from his mother and a parish priest and later left home to pursue his studies at the
University of Paris in 1525. He met Ignatius of Loyola in 1529, who was a roommate and 15
years elder to him. After several dialogues with Ignatius who had undergone a religious
conversion, Xavier became one of the first seven Jesuits to undertake the vows of poverty and
chastity, and also pledged his allegiance to the Pope. Francis Xavier was ordained a priest on
June 24, 1537 in Venice. On the Popes order, he became the first foreign missionary to visit
India. After landing in Goa, he started learning the local language. He began preaching, attending
to the sick and teaching children. He was admired for his ability to live and work side by side
with the poor. After India, he visited Indonesia, Ceylon, Malaysia and Japan. On Aug 15, 1549,
Xavier landed at Kagoshima, Japan. He arranged for the translation of religious texts which
helped him reach move converts in the time spent in Japan (2years). He then decided to visit and
carry the Gospel to China, his last mission and legacy. He travelled to the Shangchuan Island but
could not access the mainland because at that time foreigners were not allowed to enter. Before
he could find a way inside the country, illness struck him. He died of a fever on Dec 3 1552. He
was buried on the Island and his body was placed in quicklime to hasten its decomposition so
that it could be brought to India. But on being exhumed, it was found to be in perfect condition.
St. Francis Xavier suffered extreme hardships, wore himself out with ceaseless activity but lived
a deeply spiritual life. His friendliness and cheerfulness were trademark characteristics that
would draw people to him throughout his missionary life. He built a total of 40 churches and
converted 40 to 50 thousand people. St. Francis Xavier was the greatest Roman Catholic
Missionary of modern times who was instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in India.
Millions of pilgrims from all walks of life and various parts of the world visit and pay homage to
St. Francis Xavier. The body of St. Francis Xavier rests in a silver reliquary in the Basilica of
Bom Jesus, Old Goa, India.

Francis Xavier (Francisco de Jassu y Javier, 1506-1552), was the first Jesuit missionary and the
prototype who inspired many men to enter the Society of Jesus and evangelize far off nations.
One of the original group of seven men who founded the Jesuits, he was sent to India before the
new religious order received formal approval from the Church.

When Xavier wen to Paris to begin university studies at the College of Sainte-Barbe one of his
roommate was Peter Faber (Pierre Favre) from the Savoy region of France. Four years later
everything changed when an older student moved in, Ignatius Loyola (Iñigo Lopez de Loyola), a
failed Basque courtier given to prayer. Loyola soon won Faber over to wanting to become a
priest and work for the salvation of souls, but Xavier aspired to a worldly career and was not at
all interested in being a priest. He earned his licentiate degree in the spring of 1530 and began

16
teaching Aristotle at the College of Dormans-Beauvais; he remained living in the room with
Favre and Loyola. When Faber went to visit his family in 1533, Ignatius finally broke through to
Xavier who yielded to the grace God was offering him. Four other students also became close
friends through their conversations with Ignatius who was became a spiritual guide and inspired
the whole group with his desire to go to the Holy Land. Xavier joined his friends Aug. 15, 1534
in the chapel of Saint-Denis in Montmartre as they all pronounced private vows of poverty,
chastity and going to the Holy Land to convert infidels.

Xavier and Loyola began studying theology in 1534. Two years later Xavier set out for Venice
with the rest of the group except for Loyola who had returned to Spain earlier. Venice was the
point of departure for ships going to the Holy Land. The companions spent two months waiting
for a ship and working in hospitals, then went to Rome to ask papal permission for their
pilgrimage and ordination of the non-priests among them. Xavier, Loyola and four others were
ordained by the papal delegate in his private chapel on June 24, 1537. And they continued to
wait for a ship, but because of Venice's impending war with the Turks none sailed for a whole
year, something quite extraordinary. The companions then decided that Ignatius should go to
Rome and place the group at the disposal of the pope. Meanwhile, they would go to various
university centers and start preaching. Xavier and Nicholas Bobadilla went to Bologna.

Xavier went to Rome in April 1538 and began preaching in the French church of St. Louis. He
also took part in the famous deliberations during Lent 1539 in which the companions agreed to
form a new religious order. Before Pope Paul III granted his approval of the plan, he asked
Ignatius to accede to King John III of Portugal's request to send two of the companions to the
new colony in India. Ignatius chose Simon Rodrigues and Nicholas Bobadilla, but the latter got
sick and could not go. Francis Xavier was the only one of the companions not already committed
to a work so Ignatius asked him to go, even though they were the closest friends and the
departure meant that they would never see each other again.

Xavier and Rodrigues left Rome March 15, 1540 and arrived in Lisbon by the end of June. The
fleet had already left so the two priests had to remain in Lisbon until the following spring. They
devoted themselves to preaching and caring for prisoners. The king was so taken by their work
that he asked one of them to stay and start a school; Rodrigues was chosen, leaving Xavier to
head off alone as the first Jesuit missionary. As Xavier boarded the ship Santiagio, the king's
messenger gave him a letter in which the pope named him apostolic nuncio, which meant that he
had authority over all Portuguese clergy in Goa. The ship set sail April 7, 1541, on Xavier's
thirty-fifth birthday.

It took 13 months for Xavier to arrive in Goa, including a long wait in Mozambique for favorable
winds. As soon as he arrived, the energetic Spaniard set about preaching to the Portuguese,
visiting prisons and ministering to lepers. He also tried to learn Tamil, but had to rely on
interpreters for his first mission to the Paravas, pearl fishers who lived on India's southeastern
shore above Cape Comorin. They had converted to Christianity but been without a pastor, so
Xavier reinstructed them in the faith, baptized those who were ready and prepared catechists to
remain with them as he moved on from one village to the next. By the end of 1544 he reached
the western shore of India at Travancore; in November and December of that year he is reported
to have baptized 10,000 persons. He moved northward to Cochin, and then sailed to the

17
Portuguese city of Malacca in Malaya; from there he headed for his goal, the Moluccas, or the
Spice Islands where he landed on Feb. 14, 1546. He visited the Christian villages and baptized
over 1,000 persons at nearby Seran. Then he did a reconnaissance trip to the islands Ternate and
Moro, known for its headhunters. He returned to Malacca in July 1547 and arranged for two
Jesuits to take his place.

When Xavier returned to Malacca, he learned about Japan from a Japanese nobleman named
Anjiro who was interested in becoming a Christian. This revelation of a culturally advanced
nation that had not yet heard of Christ captured the Spanish Jesuit's imagination. Before he could
do anything about Japan, Xavier had to return to Goa to fulfill his responsibilities as mission
superior and assign newly arrived Jesuits to their posts. He was not able to set sail for Japan with
Anjiro and several Jesuits until April 1549. The party got back to Malacca easily enough but
could find no ship's captain willing to take the risk of sailing into unknown waters. So Xavier
hired a pirate to take them. They left June 24, 1549 and landed on August 15 at Kagoshima in
southern Japan, Anjiro's home city.

At first the mission went very smoothly. The local prince gave permission to the foreigners to
preach Christianity, but he himself would not convert. Xavier decided that the way to convert
Japan was to begin with the emperor, but no one would tell him how to get to the Imperial City,
Miyako (today's Tokyo). They spent a year in Kagoshima but only made 100 converts, so the
Jesuits left for Hirado, a port used by the Portuguese on the upper coast of Kyushu. Another 100
Japanese became Christians but Xavier remained eager to see the emperor, so he moved to the
country's second largest city, Yamaguchi. He preached in the streets but suffered a very
unsuccessful meeting with the daimyo, so he left that city in December 1550 for Sakai.
Their fortune turned and they finally found a prince willing to take them to the Imperial City.
Xavier and Brother John Fernandez were hired as domestic servants and arrived in January 1551,
the first Catholic missionaries to see Asia's largest and most beautiful city. For 11 days they tried
without success to secure an audience with the emperor, so they returned to Hirado. They went
back, though, with the knowledge that the most powerful lord in Japan was not the emperor, but
the daimyo of Yamaguchi, whom they had failed to convince in their first meeting. Xavier
resolved to try again, appearing not as a poorly-clad European but as an individual worthy of the
daimyo's attention.

The two Jesuits rented horses and a litter and dressed themselves in colorful silken robes. When
they ceremoniously arrived in Yamaguchi, they were received at the daimyo's palace without any
suspicion that they were the same barbarians who had been brushed away only months earlier.
Xavier presented the daimyo with expensive gifts of clocks, music boxes, mirrors, crystals, cloth
and wine as signs of friendship; and he presented impressive credentials: letters from King John
III of Portugal and Pope Paul III. The daimyo granted the Jesuit's request to preach the Christian
religion in the empire, and gave people the freedom to become Christians if they wanted to. He
also gave the Jesuits a residence in the city, where many people visited. Within six months they
had gained 500 converts.

Xavier thought it was time for him to move on so he brought Father Cosmas de Torres to replace
him in Yamaguchi so he could return to India. Xavier set out in September 1551, and found a
ship for Malacca. He hoped to return to Japan the following year, but the ship got caught in a

18
typhoon that drove it 1,000 miles off course. On December 17, the vessel entered the Bay of
Canton and anchored off Sancian Island. As Xavier looked towards nearby China, he felt that
country calling him. The two Jesuits were able to board a ship that happened to be bound for
Singapore, which they reached at the end of the month. There Xavier found a letter from Ignatius
appointing him provincial of the ""Indies and the countries beyond.

He was back in India in January 1552 and found another letter telling him to return to Rome to
report on the mission; he decided that visit could wait until he had first gone to China. In April
1552 Xavier set out from India and entered the Bay of Canton in September. He landed on
Sancian Island which was both a hideout for Chinese smugglers and a base for Portuguese
traders. None of the smugglers was willing to risk taking the Jesuit missionary over to China;
one who said he was, took Xavier's money and then disappeared. On November 21 he came
down with a fever and could not leave his leafy hut on the island's shore. Seven days later he fell
into a coma, but on December 1 regained consciousness and devoted himself to prayer during his
waking hours. He died on the morning of December 3 and was buried on the island, but his
remains were later taken to Malacca and then to Goa where they were interred in the church Bom
Jesus.

He was canonized in 1622 and made patron of the Propagation of the Faith in 1910 and in 1927
was named patron of the missions. Francis left for India, arriving at the city of Goa in 1542.
For the next ten years the missionary Francis Xavier traveled from Goa to Cape Comorin in
south India, then to the East Indies, Malacca, and the Moluccas, and onward to Japan. It was
Francis Xavier’s great ambition to get permission to enter China as a missionary. He died in
1552, exhausted from his labors and fasts, on a small island off the coast of China with a single
companion at his side.

St. Francis Xavier’s great ambition was to bring the world to

Jesus Christ
St. Francis Xavier’s great ambition was to bring the world to Jesus Christ. Armed only with his
breviary and a book of meditations, Francis preached the Gospel to the poor and sick, spending
most of his time ministering to their needs. His nights were taken up in prayer. His only attention
to his personal needs was to have a pair of boots. He barely ate enough to stay alive. As the
missionary Francis Xavier, SJ, moved on, he left behind flourishing churches that were the
foundations for the Catholic faith in Asia.

Francis Xavier (Francisco de Jassu y Javier, 1506-1552), was the first Jesuit missionary and the
prototype who inspired many men to enter the Society of Jesus and evangelize far off nations.
One of the original group of seven men who founded the Jesuits, he was sent to India before the
new religious order received formal approval from the Church.The Society of
Jesus (SJ; Latin: Societas Iesu) is a religious order of the Catholic Church headquartered
in Rome. It was founded by Ignatius of Loyola and six companions with the approval of Pope
Paul III in 1540. The members are called Jesuits (/ˈdʒɛzjuɪt/; Latin: Iesuitæ). The society is
engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations. Jesuits work in

19
education, research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and
parishes, sponsor direct social ministries, and promote ecumenical dialogue.

The Society of Jesus Formed by him

The Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General. The headquarters of the society,
its General Curia, is in Rome. The historic curia of Ignatius is now part of the Collegio del
Gesù attached to the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit mother church. Religious orders established
in the medieval era were named after particular men: Francis of Assisi (Franciscans), Domingo
de Guzmán, later canonized as St Dominic (Dominicans); and Augustine of
Hippo (Augustinians).

Members of the Society of Jesus were expected to accept orders to go anywhere in the world,
where they might be required to live in extreme conditions. This was so because St. Ignatius, its
leading founder, was a nobleman who had a military background. Accordingly, the opening lines
of the founding document declared that the society was founded for "whoever desires to serve as
a soldier of God[a] to strive especially for the defence and propagation of the faith and for the
progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine".Jesuits are thus sometimes referred to
colloquially as "God's soldiers","God's marines", or "the Company".The society participated in
the Counter-Reformation and, later, in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council.
Foundation

20
 Ignatius of Loyola

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a Navarre nobleman from the Pyrenees area of northern Spain, founded

the society after discerning his spiritual vocation while recovering from a wound sustained in
the Battle of Pamplona. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others follow the teachings
of Jesus Christ. In 1534, Ignatius and six other young men, including Francis Xavier and Peter
Faber, gathered and professed vows of poverty, chastity, and later obedience, including a special
vow of obedience to the Pope in matters of mission direction and assignment. Ignatius's plan of
the order's organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by a bull containing the "Formula
of the Institute".

On 15 August 1534, Ignatius of Loyola (born Íñigo López de Loyola), a Spaniard from

the Basque city of Loyola, and six others mostly of Castilian origin, all students at the University
of Paris, met in Montmartre outside Paris, in a crypt beneath the church of Saint Denis,
now Saint Pierre de Montmartre, to pronounce the religious vows of poverty, chastity, and
obedience.[12] Ignatius' six companions were: Francisco Xavier from Navarre (modern
Spain), Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laínez, Nicolás Bobadilla from Castile (modern Spain), Peter
Faber from Savoy, and Simão Rodrigues from Portugal. The meeting has been commemorated in
the Martyrium of Saint Denis, Montmartre. They called themselves the Compañía de Jesús, and
also Amigos en El Señor or "Friends in the Lord", because they felt "they were placed together
by Christ." The name "company" had echoes of the military (reflecting perhaps Ignatius'
background as Captain in the Spanish army) as well as of discipleship (the "companions" of
Jesus). The Spanish "company" would be translated into Latin as societas like in socius, a
partner or comrade. From this came "Society of Jesus" (SJ) by which they would be known more
widely.

Ignatius of Loyola and his followers appropriated the name of Jesus for their new order,
provoking resentment by other orders who considered it presumptuous. The resentment was
recorded by Jesuit José de Acosta of a conversation with the Archbishop of Santo Domingo. In
the words of one historian: "The use of the name Jesus gave great offense. Both on the Continent
and in England, it was denounced as blasphemous; petitions were sent to kings and to civil and
ecclesiastical tribunals to have it changed; and even Pope Sixtus V had signed a Brief to do away
with it." But nothing came of all the opposition; there were already congregations named after
the Trinity and as "God's daughters".

In 1537, the seven travelled to Italy to seek papal approval for their order. Pope Paul III gave
them a commendation, and permitted them to be ordained priests. These initial steps led to the
official founding in 1540.

They were ordained in Venice by the bishop of Arbe (24 June). They devoted themselves to
preaching and charitable work in Italy. The Italian War of 1535-1538 renewed between Charles
V, Holy Roman Emperor, Venice, the Pope, and the Ottoman Empire, had rendered any journey
to Jerusalem impossible.

Again in 1540, they presented the project to Paul III. After months of dispute, a congregation
of cardinals reported favourably upon the Constitution presented, and Paul III confirmed the
order through the bull Regimini militantis ecclesiae ("To the Government of the Church

21
Militant"), on 27 September 1540. This is the founding document of the Society of Jesus as an
official Catholic religious order. Ignatius was chosen as the first Superior General. Paul III's bull
had limited the number of its members to sixty. This limitation was removed through the
bull Exposcit debitum of Julius III in 1550.

Ignatius laid out his original vision for the new order in the "Formula of the Institute of the
Society of Jesus", which is "the fundamental charter of the order, of which all subsequent official
documents were elaborations and to which they had to conform".He ensured that his formula was
contained in two papal bulls signed by Pope Paul III in 1540 and by Pope Julius III in 1550. The
formula expressed the nature, spirituality, community life, and apostolate of the new religious
order. Its famous opening statement echoed Ignatius' military background:

A fresco depicting Ignatius receiving the papal bull from Pope Paul III was created after 1743 by Johann
Christoph Handke in the Church of Our Lady Of the Snow in Olomouc

Whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God beneath the banner of the Cross in our Society,
which we desire to be designated by the Name of Jesus, and to serve the Lord alone and the
Church, his spouse.

22
 Jesuits at Akbar's court in India, c. 1605

In fulfilling the mission of the "Formula of the Institute of the Society", the first Jesuits
concentrated on a few key activities. First, they founded schools throughout Europe. Jesuit
teachers were trained in both classical studies and theology, and their schools reflected this.
Second, they sent out missionaries across the globe to evangelize those peoples who had not yet
heard the Gospel, founding missions in widely diverse regions such as modern-
day Paraguay, Japan, Ontario, and Ethiopia. One of the original seven arrived in India already in
1541.[21] Finally, though not initially formed for the purpose, they aimed to
stop Protestantism from spreading and to preserve communion with Rome and the successor
of Saint Peter. The zeal of the Jesuits overcame the movement toward Protestantism in
the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and southern Germany.
Ignatius wrote the Jesuit Constitutions, adopted in 1553, which created a centralised organization
and stressed acceptance of any mission to which the Pope might call them. His main principle
became the unofficial Jesuit motto:Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam ("For the greater glory of God").
This phrase is designed to reflect the idea that any work that is not evil can be meritorious for the
spiritual life if it is performed with this intention, even things normally considered of little
importance.

The Society of Jesus is classified among institutes as a mendicant order of clerks regular, that is,
a body of priests organized for apostolic work, following a religious rule, and relying on alms, or
donations, for support.
The term Jesuit (of 15th-century origin, meaning one who used too frequently or appropriated
the name of Jesus) was first applied to the society in reproach (1544–1552). The term was never
used by Ignatius of Loyola, but over time, members and friends of the society adopted the name
with a positive meaning.

Early works
The Jesuits were founded just before the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and ensuing Counter-
Reformation that would introduce reforms within the Catholic Church, and so counter
the Protestant Reformation throughout Catholic Europe.
Ignatius and the early Jesuits did recognize, though, that the hierarchical church was in dire need
of reform. Some of their greatest struggles were against corruption, venality, and spiritual
lassitude within the Catholic Church. Ignatius insisted on a high level of academic preparation

23
for the clergy in contrast to the relatively poor education of much of the clergy of his time. And
the Jesuit vow against "ambitioning prelacies" can be seen as an effort to counteract another
problem evidenced in the preceding century.

Ignatius and the Jesuits who followed him believed that the reform of the church had to begin
with the conversion of an individual's heart. One of the main tools the Jesuits have used to bring
about this conversion is the Ignatian retreat, called the Spiritual Exercises. During a four-week
period of silence, individuals undergo a series of directed meditations on the purpose of life and
contemplations on the life of Christ. They meet regularly with a spiritual director who guides
their choice of exercises and helps them to develop a more discerning love for Christ.
The retreat follows a "Purgative-Illuminative-Unitive" pattern in the tradition of the spirituality
of John Cassian and the Desert Fathers. Ignatius' innovation was to make this style of
contemplative mysticism available to all people in active life. Further, he used it as a means of
rebuilding the spiritual life of the church. The Exercises became both the basis for the training of
Jesuits and one of the essential ministries of the order: giving the exercises to others in what
became known as "retreats".

The Jesuits' contributions to the late Renaissance were significant in their roles both as a

missionary order and as the first religious order to operate colleges and universities as a principal
and distinct ministry. By the time of Ignatius' death in 1556, the Jesuits were already operating a
network of 74 colleges on three continents. A precursor to liberal education, the Jesuit plan of
studies incorporated the Classical teachings of Renaissance humanism into
the Scholastic structure of Catholic thought.
In addition to the teachings of faith, the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum (1599) would standardize the
study of Latin, Greek, classical literature, poetry, and philosophy as well as non-European
languages, sciences, and the arts. Furthermore, Jesuit schools encouraged the study of vernacular
literature and rhetoric, and thereby became important centres for the training of lawyers and
public officials.

The Jesuit schools played an important part in winning back to Catholicism a number of
European countries which had for a time been predominantly Protestant,
notably Poland and Lithuania. Today, Jesuit colleges and universities are located in over one
hundred nations around the world. Under the notion that God can be encountered through created
things and especially art, they encouraged the use of ceremony and decoration in Catholic ritual
and devotion. Perhaps as a result of this appreciation for art, coupled with their spiritual practice
of "finding God in all things", many early Jesuits distinguished themselves in the visual
and performing arts as well as in music. The theater was a form of expression especially
prominent in Jesuit schools.

Jesuit priests often acted as confessors to kings during the early modern period. They were an
important force in the Counter-Reformation and in the Catholic missions, in part because their
relatively loose structure (without the requirements of living and celebration of the Liturgy of
Hours in common) allowed them to be flexible and meet diverse needs arising at the time.
After much training and experience in theology, Jesuits went across the globe in search of
converts to Christianity. Despite their dedication, they had little success in Asia, except in
the Philippines. Francis Xavier, one of the original companions of Loyola, arrived in Goa,

24
in Portuguese India, in 1541 to consider evangelical service in the Indies. In a 1545 letter to John
III of Portugal, he requested an Inquisition to be installed in Goa (see Goa Inquisition). He died
in China after a decade of evangelism in Southern India. In Goa, the Inquisition also prosecuted
violators of prohibitions against the observance of Hindu or Muslim rites or festivals, or
interfered with Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to Catholicism. The Inquisition
was the judicial system over Indian Catholics, Hindus and of Portuguese settlers from Europe
(mostly New Christians and Jews). The Inquisition laws made reconversion to Hinduism, Islam
and Judaism and the use of the Konkani language a criminal offense. The inquisition was also a
method of confiscating property and enriching the Inquisitors. Additionally, Hindu children
whose father had died were required to be handed over to the Jesuits for conversion to
Christianity. As a result of such oppression, Hindus, and later Christians and Muslims, fled Goa
in large numbers to the surrounding regions that were not in the control of the Jesuits and
Portuguese India.

The Portuguese Jesuit António de Andrade founded a mission in Western Tibet in 1624.

Two Jesuit missionaries, Johann Grueber and Albert Dorville, reached Lhasa, in Tibet, in 1661.
The Italian Jesuit Ippolito Desideri established a new Jesuit mission in Lhasa and Central Tibet
(1716–21) and gained an exceptional mastery of Tibetan language and culture, writing a long
and very detailed account of the country and its religion as well as treatises in Tibetan that
attempted to refute key Buddhist ideas and establish the truth of Catholic Christianity.
Jesuit missions in America became controversial in Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal
where they were seen as interfering with the proper colonial enterprises of the royal
governments. The Jesuits were often the only force standing between the Native
Americans and slavery. They also built schools, organized people into villages, and created a
writing system for the local languages of Brazil. José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega were
the first Jesuits that Ignacio de Loyola sent to America.

Jesuits in Goa
Under Portuguese royal patronage, Jesuits thrived in Goa and until 1759 successfully expanded
their activities to education and healthcare. In 1594 they founded the first Roman-style academic
institution in the East, St. Paul Jesuit College in Macau, China. Founded by Alessandro
Valignano, it had a great influence on the learning of Eastern languages (Chinese and Japanese)
and culture by missionary Jesuits, becoming home to the first western sinologists such as Matteo
Ricci. Jesuit efforts in Goa were interrupted by the expulsion of the Jesuits from Portuguese
territories in 1759 by the powerful Marquis of Pombal, Secretary of State in Portugal.
Jesuit missionaries were active among indigenous peoples in New France in North America,
many of them compiling dictionaries or glossaries of the First Nations and Native American
languages they had learned. For instance, before his death in 1708, Jacques Gravier, vicar
general of the Illinois Mission in the Mississippi River valley, compiled a Kaskaskia Illinois–
French dictionary, considered the most extensive among works of the missionaries. Extensive
documentation was left in the form of The Jesuit Relations, published annually from 1632 until
1673.

China: The Jesuits first entered China through the Portuguese settlement on Macau, where they
settled on Green Island and founded St. Paul's College.

25
The Jesuit China missions of the 16th and 17th centuries introduced Western science and
astronomy, then undergoing its own revolution, to China. The scientific revolution brought by
the Jesuits coincided with a time when scientific innovation had declined in China:

Canada
During the French colonisation of New France in the 17th century, Jesuits played an active role
in North America. When Samuel de Champlain established the foundations of the French colony
at Québec, he was aware of native tribes who possessed their own languages, customs, and
traditions. These natives that inhabited modern day Ontario, Québec, and the areas around Lake
Simcoe and Georgian Bay were the Montagnais, the Algonquins, and the Huron. Champlain
believed that these had souls to be saved, so in 1614 he initially obtained the Recollects, a reform
branch of the Franciscans in France, to convert the native inhabitants. The Jesuit mission in
Quebec was re-established in 1842. There were a number of Jesuit colleges founded in the
decades following; one of these colleges evolved into present-day Laval University.

United States
Ecuador
Church of the Society of Jesus (Spanish: La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús), known
colloquially as la Compañía, is a Jesuit church in Quito, Ecuador. It is among the best-known
churches in Quito because of its large central nave, which is profusely decorated with gold
leaf, gilded plaster and wood carvings. Inspired by two Roman Jesuit churches – the Chiesa del
Gesù (1580) and the Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola (1650) – la Compañía is one of the most
significant works of Spanish Baroque architecture in South America and Quito's most ornate
church.
Over the 160 years of its construction, the architects of la Compañía incorporated elements of
four architectural styles, although the Baroque is the most prominent. Mudéjar (Moorish)
influence is seen in the geometrical figures on the pillars; the Churrigueresque characterizes
much of the ornate decoration, especially in the interior walls; finally the Neoclassical
style adorns the Chapel of Saint Mariana de Jesús (in early years a winery).

Mexico
The Jesuits in New Spain distinguished themselves in several ways. They had high standards for
acceptance to the order and many years of training. They attracted the patronage of elite families
whose sons they educated in rigorous newly founded Jesuit colegios ("colleges"),
including Colegio de San Pedro y San Pablo, Colegio de San Ildefonso, and the Colegio de San
Francisco Javier, Tepozotlan.

26
27
Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchoó in the 18th century, the first permanent Jesuit mission in Baja California,
established by Juan María de Salvatierra in 1697
Northern Spanish America

Peru: The Jesuits arrived in the Viceroyalty of Peru by 1571; it was a key area of the Spanish
empire, with not only dense indigenous populations but also huge deposits of silver at Potosí. A
major figure in the first wave of Jesuits was José de Acosta (1540–1600), whose book Historia
natural y moral de las Indias (1590) introduced Europeans to Spain's American empire via fluid
prose and keen observation and explanation, based on fifteen years in Peru and some time
in New Spain (Mexico). Viceroy of Peru Don Francisco de Toledo urged the Jesuits to
evangelize the indigenous peoples of Peru, wanting to put them in charge of parishes, but Acosta
adhered to the Jesuit position that they were not subject to the jurisdiction of bishops and to
catechize in Indian parishes would bring them into conflict with the bishops. For that reason, the
Jesuits in Peru focused on education of elite men rather than the indigenous populations.

Between 1637 and 1715, Samuel Fritz founded 38 missions along the length of the Amazon
river..Paraguay: The first Jesuits arrived in 1588, and in 1610 Philip III proclaimed that only the
"sword of the word" should be used to subdue Paraguayan Indians, mostly Guarani. The church
granted Jesuits extensive powers to phase out the encomienda system of forced labor, angering
settlers dependent on a continuing supply of Indian labor and concubines. The first Jesuit
mission in the Paraguay area (which encompassed the border regions of Paraguay, Argentina,
and Brazil) was founded in 1609. By 1732, the Jesuits had gathered into 30 missions
or reductions a total of 141,382 Guarani. Due to disease, European politics, and internal discord,
the population in the missions declined afterwards

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Colonial Brazil
The first Jesuits, guided by Manuel da Nóbrega, Juan de Azpilcueta Navarro, Leonardo Nunes,
and later José de Anchieta, established the first Jesuit missions in Salvador and in São Paulo dos
Campos de Piratininga, the settlement that gave rise to the city of São Paulo. Nóbrega and
Anchieta were instrumental in the defeat of the French colonists of France Antarctique by
managing to pacify the Tamoio natives, who had previously fought the Portuguese. The Jesuits
took part in the foundation of the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1565.
The success of the Jesuits in converting the indigenous peoples is linked to their efforts to
understand the native cultures, especially their languages. The first grammar of
the Tupi language was compiled by José de Anchieta and printed in Coimbra in 1595. The
Jesuits often gathered the aborigines in communities (the Jesuit Reductions) where the natives
worked for the community and were evangelised.

Suppression and restoration

The Suppression of the Jesuits in Portugal, France, the Two Sicilies, Parma, and the Spanish
Empire by 1767 was deeply troubling to Pope Clement XIII, the society's defender. On 21 July
1773 his successor, Pope Clement XIV, issued the papal brief Dominus ac
Redemptor, decreeing:

Having further considered that the said Company of Jesus can no longer produce
those abundant fruits, the suppression was carried out on political grounds in all
countries except Prussia for a time, and Russia, where Catherine the Great had
forbidden its promulgation. Because millions of Catholics (including many Jesuits)
lived in the Polish provinces recently part-annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, the
Society was able to maintain its continuity and carry on its work all through the
stormy period of suppression.

The period following the Restoration of the Jesuits in 1814 was marked by tremendous growth,
as evidenced by the large number of Jesuit colleges and universities established during the 19th
century. During this time in the United States, 22 of the society's 28 universities were founded or
taken over by the Jesuits. It has been suggested that the experience of suppression had served to
heighten orthodoxy among the Jesuits. While this claim is debatable, Jesuits were generally
supportive of papal authority within the church, and some members became associated with
the Ultramontanist movement and the declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1870.

In Switzerland, the constitution was modified and Jesuits were banished in 1848, following the
defeat of the Sonderbund Catholic defence alliance. The ban was lifted on 20 May 1973, when
54.9 per cent of voters accepted a referendum modifying the Constitution.

Statistics
Jesuits in the world — January 2013
Region Jesuits Percentage
Africa 1,509 9%
South Latin America 1,221 7%

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 Jesuits in the world — January 2013
Region Jesuits Percentage
North Latin America 1,226 7%
South Asia 4,016 23%
Asia-Pacific 1,639 9%
Central and East
1,641 10%
Europe
South Europe 2,027 12%
West Europe 1,541 9%
North America 2,467 14%
Total 17,287

Today,the society is divided into 83 provinces along with six independent regions and ten
dependent regions. On 1 January 2007, members served in 112 nations on six continents with the
largest number in India and the US. Their average age was 57.3 years: 63.4 years for priests, 29.9
years for scholastics, and 65.5 years for brothers.
The current Superior General of the Jesuits is Arturo Sosa. The society is characterized by its
ministries in the fields of missionary work, human rights, social justice and, most notably, higher
education. It operates colleges and universities in various countries around the world and is
particularly active in the Philippines and India. In the United States the Jesuits have historical
ties to 27 colleges and universities and 61 high schools. The degree to which the Jesuits are
involved in the administration of each institution varies. As of September 2018, 15 of the 27
Jesuit universities in the US had non-Jesuit lay presidents. According to a 2014 article in The
Atlantic, "the number of Jesuit priests who are active in everyday operations at the schools isn’t
nearly as high as it once was" Worldwide it runs 322 secondary schools and 172 colleges
and universities. A typical conception of the mission of a Jesuit school will often contain such
concepts as proposing Christ as the model of human life, the pursuit of excellence in teaching
and learning, lifelong spiritual and intellectual growth, and training men and women for others.
Jesuits do not have an official habit. The society's Constitutions gives the following instructions:
"The clothing too should have three characteristics: first, it should be proper; second, conformed
to the usage of the country of residence; and third, not contradictory to the poverty we profess."
(Const. 577)

Historically, a Jesuit-style cassock which the Jesuits call Soutane became "standard issue": it is

similar to a robe which is wrapped around the body and was tied with a cincture, rather than the
customary buttoned frontA tuftless biretta (only diocesan clergy wore tufts) and
a ferraiolo (cape) completed the look.

Today, most Jesuits in the United States wear the clerical collar and black clothing of ordinary
priests, although some still wear the black cassock. Jesuits in tropical countries use a white
cassock.

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 Jesuits in
Brazil(LEFT) and China(Right)

The First Jesuit Pope- Pope Francis

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