Francis Xavier

The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 15, December · S. Francis Xavier, S.y. at San Can; a.d. 155a ( see Nov. 30).

S. Francis Xavier, S.y. at San Can; a.d. 155a ( see Nov. 30).

S. LUCIUS, K.

(date uncertain.)

UC1US, king of Britain, baptized by Timothy the disciple of S. Paul, by solemn decree converted all the heathen temples throughout his realm into Christian churches, and transformed the sees of twenty-eight flamens and three archflamens into so many bishoprics and archbishoprics. According to another ver- sion of the story, Lucius sent letters to Pope Eleutherius (171-186)1 desiring instructors in the Christian religion, and was supplied with Faganus and Duvanus, who con- verted all Britain, and then returned to Rome to give an account of their success. Lucius died childless at Glou-

* Or 179-194-

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14 Lives of the Saints .

cester, says Geoffrey of Monmouth, and was buried there in the cathedral. But according to the belief of the Church of Coire in the Grisons, he made a pilgrimage to Rome in company with his sister Emerita, and died at Coire, where he was honourably interred, and where his relics are shown to this day.

Such are the extravagant stories of fiction. It is necessary now to ascertain on what foundation they repose. The story of Lucius, the British king, sending to Eleutherius for missionaries rests solely on the later form of the u Catalogus Pontificum Romanorum,” which was written about a.d. 530, and which adds to the “Vita Eleutherii” in the earlier catalogue, among other things, that “ He (Eleutherius) received an epistle from Lucius, king of Britain, that he might be made a Christian by his command.” But this passage was not in the original catalogue, written shortly after a.d. 353, and was manifestly added in the time of Prosper, with the spirit of whose notices of the missions of Germanus and Palladius in 429 and 431 it precisely tallies. Bede (H. E., i. 4, v. 24, and Chron. in an. 180), copies the Roman account, giving however two different dates, and adding the names of the emperors, whom he calls Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. Gildas (a.d. 560), his usual authority for British Church history, knows no- thing of Lucius. The earliest British testimony to the story is that of Nennius (9th century), who says, “ After the birth of Christ one hundred and sixty-seven years,1 king Lucius, with all the chiefs of the British people received baptism, a legation having been sent by the emperors of Rome and by Evaristus, the Roman Pope. Lucius was called Lleuer Maur, that is of Great Splendour, on account of the faith which came in his time.”

The Roman story is copied — with fewer blunders, but

1 Other versions 164 and 144. Evaristus was pope about 100-109.

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Biographical overview

Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; 7 April 1506 – 3 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative of the Portuguese Empire, led the first Christian mission to Japan. Born in the town of Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre, 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. He led extensive missionary work across Asia, primarily within the Portuguese Empire in the East, and played a significant role in the evangelization of early modern India, particularly through his activities in Portuguese India. In 1546, Francis Xavier wrote to King John III of Portugal proposing measures to strengthen the Christian faith in Goa. Some historians interpret this letter as a request for the establishment of the Goan Inquisition, while others contend that he instead called for the appointment of a special minister dedicated solely to promoting Christianity in Goa. As a representative of the King of Portugal, he was the first major Christian missionary to venture into Borneo, the Maluku Islands, Japan, 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 also extended his mission to Ming China, where 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", "Apostle of the Far East", "Apostle of China" 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, along with Saint Fermin. The "Day of Navarre" marks the anniversary of Francis Xavier's death, on 3 December.