More than 350 Catholics from Pakistan to India to venerate Saint Francis Xavier

Goa (AsiaNews/UCAN) – More than 350 Pakistani Catholics are leaving Karachi for Goa to see the remains of Saint Francis Xavier. The 16th solemn exposition of the Saint’s remains is scheduled to run from November 21, 2004, to January 2, 2005, in Old Goa, once the capital of the former Portuguese colony of Goa on India's western coast.

Goan Catholics from all over the world revere the 16th-century Jesuit missioner as their Goencho Sahib (Goan savior). Organizers expect 3 million pilgrims to visit the site over the six-week period.

According to Fr Robert D'Silva, parish priest at St. Lawrence's Church in Karachi, a record number of pilgrims are set to go from Karachi to Goa this year. On November 7 local pilgrimage organizers gave 355 people their visa-stamped passports at the church.

Father D'Silva attributes this high number to a thaw in India-Pakistan relations. Since 1947 the two countries have fought two wars and upped the ante by testing nuclear weapons in the late 1990s. They severed all air, road and rail links after India accused Pakistan of supporting armed men, who attacked the Indian parliament on December, 13, 2001. Following that incident they came to the brink of war after mobilizing forces along their common border.

Now Indian and Pakistani leaders say they are working towards a “credible and mutually acceptable” solution to all outstanding issues.

Francis Coutinho, a frequent traveler to Goa, said the partition of the subcontinent split hundreds of Goan families. The pilgrimage becomes “the perfect excuse for a trip to our beloved land,” he said, but “this does not detract from our purpose to take part wholeheartedly in the exposition.”

Goans traditionally say they owe their faith to Portuguese missioners who made Goa their base after arriving there in 1510. Starting from the 1800s, many Goans who wanted to improve their lot moved first to Mumbai and later to Karachi. In 1961 India re-established its sovereignty over Goa, which a few years later became an Indian state.

Goans in Karachi have traditionally held events every year to mark the feast of Saint Francis Xavier on December 3. The century-old Karachi Goan Association observes the feast with a High Mass followed by a program celebrating Goan culture, art and music.

Profile: Nobleman from the Basque reqion. Studied and taught philosophy at the University of Paris, and planned a career as a professor. Friend of Saint Ignatius of Loyola who convinced him to use his talents to spread the Gospel. One of the founding Jesuits, and the first Jesuit missionary. Priest.

In Goa, while waiting to take ship, India, he preached in the street, worked with the sick, and taught children their catechism. He would walk through the streets ringing a bell to call the children to their studies. Said to have converted the entire city.

He scolded his patron, King John of Portugal, over the slave trade: "You have no right to spread the Catholic faith while you take away all the country's riches. It upsets me to know that at the hour of your death you may be ordered out of paradise."

Tremendously successful missionary for ten years in India, the East Indies, and Japan, baptizing more than 40,000. His epic finds him dining with head hunters, washing sores of lepers in Venice, teaching catechism to Indian children, baptizing 10,000 in a single month. He tolerated the most appalling conditions on long sea voyages, enduring extremes of heat and cold. Wherever he went he would seek out and help the poor and forgotten. He traveled thousands of miles, most on his bare feet, and he saw the greater part of the Far East. Had the gift of tongues. Miracle worker. Raised people from the dead. Calmed storms. Prophet. Healer.
Born: 1506 at Javier, Spanish Navarre
Died: 2 December 1552 at Sancian, China of a fever contracted on a mission journey
Beatified: 25 October 1619 by Pope Paul V
Canonized: 12 March 1622 by Pope Gregory XV

St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier
Feast Day: December 3, 2007
(1506-1552)

Jesus asked, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:26a). 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 honor before him.
     Francis Xavier, 24 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 persuasion 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 (the infant Society of Jesus). Together at Montmartre 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 and from there sailed to the East Indies, landing at Goa, on the west coast of India. For the next 10 years he labored 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 to simple folk, 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. His remains are enshrined in the Church of Good Jesus in Goa.

Comment:

All of us are called to “go and preach to all nations” (see Matthew 28:19). Our preaching is not necessarily on distant shores but to our families, our children, our husband or wife, our coworkers. And we are called to preach not with words, but by our everyday lives. Only by sacrifice, the giving up of all selfish gain, could Francis Xavier be free to bear the Good News to the world. Sacrifice is leaving yourself behind at times for a greater good, the good of prayer, the good of helping someone in need, the good of just listening to another. The greatest gift we have is our time. Francis gave his to others.

Saint Francis Xavier, Priest

Saint Francis Xavier, Priest
Memorial
December 3rd

Saint Francis Xavier
Andrea Pozzo - 1701 -- Oil on canvas
Kiscelli Museum, Budapest

Go and teach my gospel to all people, said the Lord. I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Matthew 28: 19, 20

Francis Xavier, one of the greatest missionaries of all time, was born in Navarre, Spain, April 6, 1506, studied in Paris where he met Ignatius of Loyola, and was one of the founding members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

Soon after the Society of Jesus was officially recognized (1540), he began his work of evangelization. His amazing zeal for spreading the Gospel and his remarkably extensive missionary journeys, overcoming great obstacles, during a mere ten years (May 6, 1542 - December 2, 1552), led to the establishment of missions and Churches in India and southeast Asia, as well as in Japan. Countless conversions resulted from his tireless, difficult and very often dangerous work. He is justly considered to be the greatest missionary since the time of the Apostles.

While he was preparing to begin work in China, Francis Xavier suddenly became ill and died on the island of Sancian, near the China coast, on December 2, 1552. He was canonized with St. Ignatius in 1622, although because of the death of Pope Gregory XV, the Bull of canonization was not published until the following year

Collect:
God our Father, by the preaching of Francis Xavier You brought many nations to Yourself.
Give his zeal for the faith to all who believe in You,
that Your Church may rejoice in continued growth throughout the world.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-23
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my preaching I may make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel.

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Gospel Reading: Mark 16:15-20
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.