Feast of St Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

Francis Xavier is one of the great missionary saints of the Catholic church. As Columbans, we especially remember him, because he died of a fever on an island (Sangchuan) off the coast of China looking towards the land and people among whom he so desperately sought to preach the gospel.

 

The Columbans were founded to preach the gospel to the Chinese. In fact, our Society was initially known as the Maynooth Mission to China until we took on St Columban as our patron. Fracis Xavier is also known as the patron of all missions. He was part of the group who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Most of his missionary life was spent in India where he established many Catholic communities who, today, trace their roots back to St Francis Xavier.

 

Here in Lower Hutt, Aotearoa-New Zealand, many of our eucharistic community, people who join us for mass each weekday, are New Zealanders who have recently migrated from India. We join with them and our Columban sisters and brothers around the world in remembering the great missionary, St Francis Xavier.

 

I should briefly add that this day has special significance for me since I spent my first missionary assignment in Ba, a parish where the first group of Columbans assigned to Fiji established a secondary school, Xavier College. It was named in honour and under the patronage of St Francis Xavier because it was initially founded to provide education for Fiji-Indian children.