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| Sitting with a modern St. Xavier |
O God,
grant that we may desire You,
and desiring You seek You,
and seeking You find You
and finding You be satisfied
in You forever.
+ St. Xavier
I was recently reveling in the best smash burger in Worcester (see Smash Burger at Peppercorn's) with my beloved son and sharing with him how I was enjoying learning more about his namesake, St. (Francis) Xavier, a Jesuit and Roman Catholic priest who was one of the greatest witnesses to Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom in all of human history. Michael Frost, in his marvelous book, Mission Is the Shape of Water, shares this about St. Francis Xavier:
St. Francis Xavier,
one of the seven founders of
the order of the Jesuits,
is thought to be one of the
most effective evangelists
of Christian History ...
he has converted more people
to Christianity than anyone
since St. Paul.
After highlighting pivotal moments in human history in which St. Patrick and the Celtic Missionary Movement (400s), St. Benedict and the Cistercian Monasteries (500s and 1100s), and Count Z and the Moravians (1700s) warmed multitudes of people, young and old, to the flame of Christ around the world, I now want to take a moment to honor my son, Xavier, who shines in all sorts of illuminating ways, and St. Francis Xavier's reflection of Jesus (1500s) that continues to reach new people via this excerpt from Frost's Mission Is the Shape of Water. The story starts with a Spanish courtier and soldier.
Iñigo López de Ońaz y Loyola
By his own account, Iñigo wasn't a particularly likeable young man. In 1521, while defending the fortress town of Pamplona, Spain, a French cannonball shattered his leg. The army doctors didn't set the leg properly, and the protruding bone created an ugly lump under the skin. So, he insisted on having the leg rebroken and rest. Without anesthetic, of course. The consequence was that his injured leg ended up shorter than the other, leaving the once-dashing Iñigo with a limp for the rest of his life.
He had grown up in the castle of Loyola, the thirteenth child of Don Beltrán Yañez de Oñaz y Loyola — a brash, free-spirited womanizer who had fathered several children by other women. Iñigo's grandfather was an even more shadowy character, regularly in conflict with the crown. But as landed gentry, society let them get away with bad behavior. Iñigo figured that being a courtier of Loyola allowed him to flout convention and behave any way he liked. And he did. He paid more attention at dancing and fencing classes than academic ones. Like his father, he became a dandy, a womanizer, and sensitive to insult.
But things changed after the siege of Pamplona. While recovering in his castle after his broken leg was reset, Iñigo began to experience visions and moments of spiritual euphoria. This was extremely out of character; normally he fantasized about beautiful women or personal glory. Now St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic visited him in his dreams. He started reading John Fleetwood's illustrated Life of Christ and a book of saints' legends.
Everyone agreed that
something very strange was happening.
At thirty years of age,
having shown no prior interest
in spiritual matters,
Iñigo began to devote himself
to serving Christ —
something very strange was happening.
At thirty years of age,
having shown no prior interest
in spiritual matters,
Iñigo began to devote himself
to serving Christ —
a process that took
nearly two decades
and included
intense study,
pilgrimages,
and
submission
to a rigorous system
of what he called
This was a vocation to which he felt himself eminently unqualified. Due to his disinterest in formal education as a child, he was barely literate. He was forced to start his education all over, sitting in classes with people much younger than himself ... The dashing, arrogant courtier turned into a humble, limping monk. He joked that he had turned from a beautiful butterfly into an ugly caterpillar. While a student at the University of Paris, though he was then in his forties, Iñigo developed a close bond with several other devout younger men — including Francis Xavier (a fellow Spanish nobleman) and Peter Faber. It was at this time that Iñigo began calling himself by the Latin, Ignatius.
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| Our Church Speaks: An Illustrated Devotional |
Ignatian Spirituality Based on the Gospels
The group acknowledged Ignatius as their leader and embraced his spiritual exercises as their collective rule. Together they were to form the nucleus of what would later become a religious order known as the Society of Jesus — or, more popularly, the Jesuits. Approved as an official religious order by Pope Paul III in 1540, the Jesuits wanted to elect Ignatius as their first leader. He declined after the first vote, believing his vanity and the licentiousness of his earlier life disqualified him. He also knew most of his companions were far more theologically knowledgeable. However, they insisted, and eventually he accepted the position and served until his death sixteen years later.
Ignatian spirituality
is based on the Gospels and
on St. Ignatius Spiritual Exercises
... The Exercises culminate in a
contemplation whereby one
develops a facility to
The Jesuits' motto is
ad majorem Dei gloriam
("for greater glory of God").
I can't begin to recount
the enormous influence
the Jesuits have had on
global Christianity.
Theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar; philosophers, including Pierre Teilhard de Chardin; writers such as Gerard Manley Hopkins; and martyrs, missionaries, and even Pope Francis, have all been influenced by the Jesuit flame, which has illuminated far-flung peoples and places of Jesus' Church.
Today, the Ignatian Exercises
still offer many a means of
finding freedom through recognition
that God loves us,
wherever we are
and whatever we have done.
Ignatian spirituality aims
to help people overcome preoccupation
with self and turn their energies
to serving others.
Their commitment to flame bearing
has made the Jesuits
an extraordinary missionary force
throughout the world.
St. Frances Xavier,
one of the seven founders of the order,
is thought to be one of the
most effective evangelists of
Christian history.
St. Francis Xavier Loves East Asia
Francis was born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta in 1506 in Javier (Xavier in Navarro-Aragonese), in the Kingdom of Navarre (present-day Spain). He was was the third son of the president of the council of the king of Navarre. Ignatius provided the order's central leadership, but Francis went on to be its most effective evangelist. Historian Stephen Neill said of him,
"To a passionate
"To a passionate
but disciplined nature,
profound devotion, and an
eager longing for the salvation of souls,
Xavier added the wide outlook
of the statesman and
the capacity of the strategist
for organization on a large scale."
The Jesuits quickly became so successful in their ministry of preaching and care of the sick throughout central Italy, that they were approached by King John III of Portugal, who commissioned Francis Xavier to evangelize people in his new Asian dominions. In 1542, Francis set out for Goa in West India, the center of Portuguese activity in the East. He spent three years evangelizing pearl-fishing communities along the coast, baptizing around ten thousand of them. While in India, Francis turned the Jesuit creed into poetry for recital by the Goans. Out of this sprang a vibrant indigenous tradition of music and dance in Indian churches. Francis moved his center of operations to Malacca on the Malay Archipelago, preaching to tribal people in the Spice Islands (Moluccas).
During this time,
Francis met a Japanese man
named Anjirō, a samurai warrior
who had been charged with murder
and fled his homeland.
Anjirō had heard of Francis
and traveled from Kagoshima
to Malacca specially to meet him.
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 Sante Fe.
Francis met a Japanese man
named Anjirō, a samurai warrior
who had been charged with murder
and fled his homeland.
Anjirō had heard of Francis
and traveled from Kagoshima
to Malacca specially to meet him.
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 Sante Fe.
As a result of meeting Anjirō,
Francis's eyes were now fixed on
taking the flame of the gospel to Japan.
And so, in 1549, Francis, Anjirō, and several companions arrived in the Japanese port of Kagoshima. Francis was deeply impressed with the Japanese people, but he had to adapt his missionary methods to reach them. When evangelizing the Paravas (the Goan pearl fishers) and the Malays, his vow of poverty impressed them greatly. But the Japanese were repelled by such humility, thinking him unworthy of their attention. So, Francis pivoted. He abandoned any outward expression of poverty for a kind of asceticism more attractive to the Japanese. In 1551, when the Japanese church had grown to two thousand converts, Francis returned temporarily to India, leaving the church in the care of his companions.
If you look at a map of
Francis Xavier's world journeys,
you will be astonished by his
extensive itinerary.
While many of us struggle to
Francis was instrumental in
the growing wildfire of Christianity,
taking the gospel to India, Japan,
the Malay Peninsula, and the
Moluccan Islands (Indonesia).
Owen Chadwick wrote of Francis Xavier:
He was a man of sudden decisions
or insights or enthusiasms,
always eager to be
penetrating new ground
and converting unknown tribes
and undergoing danger for his faith.
Jesuit monks bore
the flame of the gospel either alone
or in pairs to villages where
no white man had ever been,
dethroning idols,
challenging shamans
to contests of holiness, and
planting churches in their place.
Ignatius outlined the
various ways this could be achieved:
"public preaching,
other ministries of the Word of God,
spiritual exercises,
education in Christianity,
hearing confessions, and
administering other sacraments,
works of charity,
reconciling the estranged,
ministering to persons in prison
and hospitals and similar services."
The flame-bearing mission
of the Jesuits was rooted in a
deep dedication to the glory of God
and an intense personal love of Jesus.
They were completely at the disposal
of the universal Church,
willing to serve anyone anywhere, and
totally devoted to each other as
fellow companions.
In both their visible activity
and their contemplative life,
they were
hardworking,
adaptable,
learned, and
+ pgs. 50-55, Chapter 3: Flame Bearing in
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| Our Church Speaks: An Illustrated Devotional of Saints |
More Saint + Revival Posts:
+ St. Patrick & Celtic Christianity
+ God Moves Thru Unlikely Saints
+ Count Z & the Moravian Refugees
+ Facing Death w/ "Of Gods & Men"
+ Revival: Unfettered in Small Things
+ Presence & Prayer for Renewal
+ In Our Time: Not Far from God
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With presence and peace in Christ,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
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