3rd December - Saint Francis Xavier - Independent Catholic News

3rd December - Saint Francis Xavier - Independent Catholic News: Jesuit missionary. Patron of foreign missionaries. St Francis was a Basque Spaniard, born in 1506 at the castle of Xavier in Navarre. He studied at the University of Paris where he met Ignatius Loyola and joined the group of seven who took their vows at Montmarte in 1534. They were ordained priests three years later in Venice. In 1541, Francis sailed from Lisbon with Simon Rodriguez, for Goa, at the invitation of the King of Portugal. He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio for the East. The journey took thirteen months.