The Exposition of the Holy Relics of St Francis Xavier 2014

22^nd November 2014 to 4^th January 2015

This year Goa will be host to the exposition of the Holy Relics of St. Francis Xavier, an event that happens once every decade. Known as the Patron Saint of Goa he is loved and revered by one and all. People from all over the world throng to Goa to venerate and pay homage to the Saint, who is regarded as the ‘Apostle of the Indies’.

The Life of the Saint

Francis Xavier, SJ, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta (7 April 1506 – 3 December 1552), was a Roman Catholic missionary born in Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre (now part of Spain), and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He with St. Ignatius of Loyola and seven others took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, (Paris) in 1534, thus leading to the formation of the Society of Jesus, later known as the Jesuits. 

St Francis Xavier left Lisbon on 7 April 1541, Xavier's thirty-fifth birthday, along with two other Jesuits on board the Santiago. As he departed, Francis was given a brief from the pope appointing him apostolic nuncio to the East. He arrived in Goa, then capital of Portuguese India on 6 May 1542, thirteen months after leaving Lisbon.

During his time in Asia, St Francis Xavier worked as a missionary in Goa to restore Christianity among the Portuguese settlers. He set himself to learn the local languages. He devoted almost three years to the work of preaching to the people of southern India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In addition, his missionary work extended through the Indonesian archipelago, Malacca, the island of Borneo and Japan. His overriding desire was to go to mainland China and bring Christianity to the vast country. To this end he made several attempts and permission was denied by the Chinese Emperor.   

Death and Burial

He died at Shangchuan island from a fever on 3 December 1552, while he was waiting for a boat that would agree to take him to mainland China.

 He was first buried on a beach at Shangchuan Island. His incorrupt body was taken from the island in February 1553 and was temporarily buried in St. Paul's church in Portuguese Malacca. On 11 December 1553, Xavier's body was shipped to Goa.

The Holy Relics

Silver Casket holding the body of St. Francis Xavier

The body is now in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, where it was placed in a glass container encased in a silver casket on 2 December 1637.The right forearm, which Xavier used to bless and baptize, was detached by Superior General Claudio Acquaviva in 1614 and has been displayed since in a silver reliquary at the main Jesuit church in Rome, Il Gesù. Another of Xavier's arm bones was later brought to Macau where it was kept in a silver reliquary. The relic was destined for Japan but religious persecution there persuaded the church to keep it in Macau's Cathedral of St. Paul. It was subsequently moved several times and is currently a relic at St. Joseph's Seminary and the Sacred Art Museum.

St. Francis Xavier was beatified by Paul V on 25 October 1619, and was canonized by Gregory XV on 12 March 1622. He is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since St. Paul. His feast is celebrated all over the world on 3rd December, in remembrance of his death.

The body of St Francis Xavier which miraculously defied the laws of nature, of turning into dust, lies till this day in a silver casket in the Church of Bom Jesus Basilica in Goa, India. Once every 10 years, the relics are brought down from the mausoleum and placed in Sé Catedral, which is opposite the Basilica, for veneration.