Saint Francis Xavier

Saint Francis Xavier was an extremely intelligent philosopher who taught this subject in Paris in the early 1500s. At the age of 24, he met Saint Ignatius Loyola, who convinced him to join his Society of Jesus, later known as the Jesuits, in 1534. In 1537, Francis was ordained a priest and traveled from Venice to the East Indies, where he preached to numerous crowds about Our Lord and His love for us. He always stayed with the poorest of the poor, living as Christ did. Eventually Francis traveled to Japan, where he learned basic Japanese and preached to the simple. It is said of Francis that he baptized so many people that his hand became permanently bent in the position it would be in while baptizing. In 1552 he began to journey to China but died on the way.

Feast Day: December 3
Patron Saint of Japan and missionaries.