ST FRANCIS XAVIER
St Francis Xavier is the patron saint of missionaries in Portugal and one of the founders of the Jesuit order. Saint Francis Xavier was born on April 7, 1506, in a castle near Sangüesa in Navarre (part of present-day Spain). With encouragement from his friend Ignatius of Loyola, Xavier devoted himself to religious service and became one of the founders of the Jesuit order. Much of his life was spent tending to missions in areas such as India and Japan. He was a member of a noble family, and his childhood was one of privilege—however, it was disrupted by his father’s death, as well as by outside efforts to take control of Navarre. Forming the Jesuit Order In 1525, Xavier went to study at the University of Paris. There, he encountered Ignatius of Loyola, who had experienced a religious conversion