#st. francis xavier

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 3)

On December 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who went on to evangelize vast portions of Asia.

Francis Xavier was born on 7 April 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France.

His mother was an esteemed heiress while his father was an adviser to King John III.

While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris. He studied philosophy and later taught it after earning his masters degree.

In Paris, the young man would discover his destiny with the help of his long-time friend Peter Faber and an older student named Ignatius Loyola — who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God's call. Ignatius' humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him.

But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ's question to Francis:

“What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced the young man to give up his own plans and open his mind to God's will.

In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber, and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity, and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the Pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order — the Jesuits.

During that year, the king of Portugal asked the Pope to send missionaries to his newly-acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith.

On his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India's west coast.

There, however, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior.

This situation spurred the Jesuit to action.

He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians.

Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

Xavier's missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes and encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims.

In 1545, he extended his efforts to Malaysia, before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts.

Many said that they were willing to suffer martyrdom rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

St. Francis Xavier became ill and died on 3 December 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely-guarded kingdom of China.

He was beatified by Paul V on 25 October 1619.

On 12 March 1622, both Francis Xavier and Ignatius Loyola were canonized by Pope Gregory XV.

Pius XI proclaimed him the "Patron of Catholic Missions."

[bootlegatem]

This is possible a bad idea on my part, but I wanna win so...

It is officially bikeathon season at my school. Me and my friends are participating, but I have my eyes set on the $500 gift basket for individuals that got the most donations.

https://www.studentquickpay.com/ecsd/MyAccount/Main.aspx?webitemid=5800

I have till March 8th to get in all donations, after that it's up to the judges.

Our team name is Pinkalicious, and for the participants name just gotta put in my nickname Onyii Nwosu.

So, PLS PLS PLS. HELP ME OUT HERE MAN.

[gods-blade]

St Francis Xavier converted to Christianity an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 indians, chinese and japanese, and from other areas of East Asia.

"They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and I always apply to them the words of the holy David, 'From an unholy race and a wicked and crafty man deliver me, O Lord.' They are liars and cheats to the very backbone." -St. Francis, on Hindu Brahmin priests

[famousinuniverse]

St Francis Xavier Church is a parish Roman Catholic church in the 7th arrondissement of Paris dedicated to Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missions. Built in the late 19th century, It gave its name to the nearby Metro station Saint-François-Xavier.

[vintagepipemen]

Unidentified faculty, St. Francis Xavier College in Canada, 1981.

[anastpaul]

Novena in Honour of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: LINK to the Fifth Day – THE FIFTH DAY – 3 December Vergine di Montesanto / Our Lady of the Holy Mountain, Rome, Italy (1659) – 3 December: https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/03/vergine-di-montesanto-our-lady-of-the-holy-mountain-rome-italy-1659-and-memorials-of-the-saints-3-december/

(via Vergine di Montesanto / Our Lady of the Holy Mountain, Rome (1659), The 5th Day of the Immaculate Conception Novena, St Francis Xavier and the Saints for 3 December – AnaStpaul)

[unclemoriarty]

Hello, could you do 15, 30 and 36 from the catholic asks please:)

Hi there!

15) Have you ever prayed for St. Anthony's intercession?

All the time! My family often jokes about how he takes our stuff and when we can't find it we go, "Come on Anthony, where'd you put it"

30) Who is your favorite saint?

How dare you ask me to pick a favorite. Anyways it's my Confirmation saint. Funny story about that--when I was in Confirmation class, we had an assignment to pick our saint and give a presentation about them. For the longest time I couldn't choose, and so a couple nights before the deadline, I just picked the saint I was reading about at the time. The book was Set All Afire by Louis de Wohl, and the saint, St. Francis Xavier--patron of foreign missions, specifically in Asia.

Flash forward to the present, and I am fluent in Korean, learning Japanese and Mandarin, and have a deep desire to be a witness to the Catholic faith in South Korea (where I already have lived two times now). Looking back, I find it funny how I just picked him in the spur of the moment, while God had chosen him to be my friend long before that.

36) Do you have a favorite painting of a Bible story?

This one up on my wall! It's of the sinner woman (or St. Mary Magdalene, depending on your tradition) washing Jesus' feet! I absolutely LOVE this painting. Idk if you can see, but tears are running down her face. She was so intent on making up for her sins that Jesus has to lift her chin so she can look at Him. And look how he's holding her! His touch is so gentle and loving. That's what everything is all about--letting God love us and loving Him back. He'll heal our brokenness in time, but first he wants to heal our hearts :')

Thank you so much for this ask!

[kadunud]

Source

[emvidal]

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER, PRIEST AND MISSIONARY

Jesus asked, "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" The words were repeated to a young teacher of philosophy who had a highly promising career in academics, with success and a life of prestige and honour before him.

Francis Xavier, twenty-four years old at the time, and living and teaching in Paris, did not heed these words at once. They came from a good friend, Ignatius of Loyola, whose tireless work and example finally won the young man to Christ. Francis then made the spiritual exercises under the direction of Ignatius, and in 1534 joined his little community, known as the Society of Jesus. Together they vowed poverty, chastity and apostolic service according to the directions of the pope.

From Venice, where he was ordained priest in 1537, Francis Xavier went on to Lisbon. From there he sailed to the East Indies, landing on the west coast of India. For the next 10 years he laboured to bring the faith to such widely scattered peoples as the Hindus, the Malayans and the Japanese. He spent much of that time in India, and served as provincial of the newly established Jesuit province of India.

Wherever he went, he lived with the poorest people, sharing their food and rough accommodations. He spent countless hours ministering to the sick and the poor, particularly to lepers. Very often he had no time to sleep or even to say his breviary but, as we know from his letters, he was filled always with joy.

Francis went through the islands of Malaysia, then up to Japan. He learned enough Japanese to preach in a simple way, to instruct and to baptize, and to establish missions for those who were to follow him. From Japan he had dreams of going to China, but this plan was never realized. Before reaching the mainland he died.

It is estimated that St. Francis Xavier baptized more than 100,000 people during his years as a missionary. The relic of his right forearm is at the Church of the Gesu in Rome, a remembrance of the power of the Gospel to bring people to new life in Christ through baptism.

___________________________

O God, who by the preaching and wondrous works of Saint Francis Xavier didst unite unto thy Church the peoples of India: mercifully grant that we who venerate his glorious merits, may likewise follow him in all virtuous and godly living; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

https://frchristophergphillips.blogspot.com/2024/12/st-francis-xavier-priest-and-missionary.html

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 3)

On December 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who went on to evangelize vast portions of Asia.

He was a Catholic missionary and saint who co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative of the Portuguese Empire, led the first Christian mission to Japan.

Francis Xavier was born on 7 April 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France.

His mother was an esteemed heiress, and his father an adviser to King John III. While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris.

He studied philosophy and later taught it after earning his masters degree.

In Paris, the young man would discover his destiny with the help of his long-time friend Peter Faber and an older student named Ignatius Loyola – who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God's call. Ignatius' humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him.

But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ's question to Francis:

“What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced the young man to give up his own plans and open his mind to God's will.

In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity, and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the Pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order called the Jesuits.

During that year, the king of Portugal asked the Pope to send missionaries to his newly-acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith.

On his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India's west coast.

However, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior. This situation spurred the Jesuit to action.

He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians.

Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

Xavier's missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes and encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims.

In 1545, he extended his efforts to Malaysia, before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts.

Many said that they were willing to suffer martyrdom, rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

Francis Xavier became ill and died on 3 December 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely-guarded kingdom of China.

He was beatified by Pope Paul V on 25 October 1619. He and Ignatius Loyola were canonized by Pope Gregory XV on 12 March 1622.

[xdivinedecay]

Patron saints for US election aftermath

Below are some saints I humbly recommend to pray to as the United States faces this new and challenging era after the results of our recent election. Those that use prayer for intercession may find comfort in learning more about the saints below, and building a communication with them.

Social justice — St. Martín de Porres Poverty — St. Francis of Assisi Women — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Immigrants — St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Racial justice — St. Katharine Drexel Ecology and environment — St. Kateri Tekakwitha (the first Indigenous American saint) Education/teachers — St. John Baptist de La Salle

If you'd like, I have included some notes and extras below —

Please if you can, take some time to learn about St. Martín de Porres! His soul is beautiful and his work was absolutely selfless as he cared for others in the face of social abuse and adversity. He really is someone to aspire to be like.

I nominate St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in this particular instance as it's difficult to pin down a definitive patron saint of women (all of my cross-references didn't produce a strong label on any one saint; many were for mothers or some other aspect attributed to womanhood, so there are many options). But St. Elizabeth was the first American-born citizen to be canonized as a saint, and in her life she started a Catholic school for girls. She is most known for founding of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s, the first religious order in America who contributed significant humanitarian work. In the wake of the US election results, I think she is an apt choice for connecting with for intercession.

I'm a biased St. Joan D'Arc follower, but hear me out. She was the crux of saving her home country from the very literal brink of being lost to Britain in a war that spanned a century. She rallied the last skeleton crew of the remaining French monarchal power that had all but been defeated already, and helped to take their name and land back from the English. I will be continuing to pray to her regularly to help find ways to fight for our freedom and remain courageous. I encourage others to do the same if you pray to her, or would like to start.

While I wish I had a suggestion for a saint to pray to for the LGBTQIA+ community, as they are adopted through history (St. Sebastian) or are not strictly official. But there are some interesting perspectives to find online, I just couldn't find a saint I could comfortably name with my whole chest for this particular group. I was intrigued by some responses on this Quora thread on the matter in question.

As always, these are only suggestions based on my imperfect research, as I am still newly navigating my reclaimed faith. If you have other patrons to recommend, please add them in a reblog so that others may learn about them.

divider made by animatedglittergraphics-n-more

more lists of patron saints — Patron Saints for your problems • Patron Saints for World Mental Health Day

[queerprayers]

"O my Lord," Rabi'a (717-801), Muslim saint & Sufi mystic

"My God, I Love Thee, Not Because," attr. St Francis Xavier (1506-1552), Spanish Catholic saint & missionary

[rinielsaerwen]

St. Francis Xavier Cathedral - Green Bay, WI

[anastpaul]

(via One Minute Reflection – 3 December – ‘ … Even today! …’ – AnaStpaul)

[juicetrump2]

[myhauntedsalem]

Mary Ellen Spook Farm

In January of 1922, farmer Alexander MacDonald, his wife Janet, and their adopted daughter Mary Ellen fled their home in Caledonia Mills, Nova Scotia after a rash of poltergeist activity, including more than 30 unexplained fires. Though several researchers, journalists, detectives, and paranormal investigators would eventually examine the farm and house, the so-called “fire spook” was never fully explained.

The poltergeist activity that had plagued the household for almost an entire year included moving the cattle around when no one was in the barn, mixing ashes into the stored milk, and even braiding the tails of horses. Most notable, however, were the fires which earned the haunting its name.

The fires would spring up spontaneously all over the house and grounds, often far from the hearth or any other source of a spark. Everything from wallpaper to wet towels were said to burst into flame: it got so bad that the family organized a kind of “neighborhood watch” to guard against arsonists, though none were ever found. Eventually, the family fled the property for good.

Once the family moved out of the house, journalists and would-be paranormal investigators moved in. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was invited to explore the phenomena. Some of the most notable accounts include those of Harold Whidden, a reporter from the Halifax Herald, and police detective Peachey Carroll, who spent two nights in the house. During this time they both experienced several odd events, including the feeling of being slapped on the arm and face by phantom hands. Whidden was so troubled by his experiences that he never published them in his lifetime, though they have since been released by his family.

Another prominent investigator who visited the home for several days was Dr. Walker Franklin Prince, who concluded that the poltergeist activity emanated from the family’s then-15-year-old adopted daughter, Mary Ellen–this in spite of the fact that Dr. Prince, himself, experienced no unusual phenomena during his stay. Members of the family were even brought back to the house during his investigation in an attempt to “trigger” the ghost. Dr. Prince did, however, report unexplained rapping noises in his office back in New York for several weeks after he had completed his investigation into the Caledonia Mills “Spook Farm.”

Unfortunately for Mary Ellen, Dr. Prince’s suggestion that she was the cause, albeit unknowingly, of the fires and other poltergeist activity stuck with her throughout her life. People began calling her Mary Ellen Spook, and, according to some accounts, she was even confined to an asylum for many years. Regardless of the cause, after she and her family moved away from the farm in Caledonia Mills, the phenomena ceased.

However, that wasn’t the end of the story of the Caledonia Mills Spook Farm. Over the years, several other explanations have been put forth as new detectives attempt to solve the mystery. Edward J. O’Brien, a lecturer who stopped off at the nearby St. Francis Xavier University, posited that the fires might have been caused by radio waves passing through Caledonia Mills between the radio towers at Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, though to modern science that theory sounds perhaps even more preposterous than “fire spooks.”

Arsonist or no, the Caledonia Mills legend persists. Even today, long after the farm and house have disappeared, people say that if you take home any item from the property, your house will burn down. According to one couple, who call themselves P.O.N.I. (Pair of Normal Investigators), “This has been tested by regular every day people and the buildings always catch fire.”