{"id":2249,"date":"2017-12-03T00:33:59","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T05:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharecatholic.com\/blog\/?p=2249"},"modified":"2026-07-05T16:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T20:07:16","slug":"st-francis-xavier-feast-day-december-3rd-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharecatholic.com\/blog\/st-francis-xavier-feast-day-december-3rd-2","title":{"rendered":"St. Francis Xavier (Feast day – December 3rd)"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Francis Xavier, Missionary & Co-Founder of the Society of Jesus (Feast day – December 3rd)<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in the family castle of Xavier, near Pamplona in the Basque area of Spanish Navarre, he was sent to the University of Paris, met Ignatius Loyola and became one of the seven who founded the Society of Jesus.
\nHe travelled to Goa, India in 1542 with Fr. Paul of Camerino an Italian, and Francis Mansihas, a Portuguese. There he began preaching to the natives and attempted to reform his fellow Europeans, living among the natives and adopting their customs on his travels. During the next decade he converted tens of thousands to Christianity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Working against great difficulties, language problems ( contrary to legend, he had no proficiency in foreign tongues ), inadequate funds, and lack of cooperation, often actual resistance, from European officials, he left the mark of his missionary zeal and energy on areas which clung to Christianity for centuries.<\/p>\n

Pray for us, St. Francis Xavier!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Francis Xavier, Missionary & Co-Founder of the Society of Jesus (Feast day – December 3rd) Born in the family castle of Xavier, near Pamplona in the Basque area of Spanish Navarre, he was sent to the University of Paris, met Ignatius Loyola and became one of the seven who founded the Society of Jesus. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[18,33],"tags":[105,311],"class_list":["post-2249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-saint-of-the-day","category-saints","tag-saint-of-the-day-dec","tag-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Francis Xavier: Feast Day & Missionary Story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the life of St. Francis Xavier, missionary and co-founder of the Jesuits, celebrated on his feast day, December 3, in the Catholic Church.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sharecatholic.com\/blog\/st-francis-xavier-feast-day-december-3rd-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Francis Xavier: Feast Day & Missionary Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the life of St. Francis Xavier, missionary and co-founder of the Jesuits, celebrated on his feast day, December 3, in the Catholic Church.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sharecatholic.com\/blog\/st-francis-xavier-feast-day-december-3rd-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Share Catholic - 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