It's the Feast of St. Francis Xavier today and we marked it by a Mass and some wine and cheese in the church hall afterwards. Such is life and I'm not complaining.
Xavier, in case you didn't know, was a friend of St. Ignatius Loyola and a founding father Jesuit Order. You know, back in the days when the Jesuits burned with fidelity to the Gospel and the Church, the 1500s.
Not content with teaching philosophy at Paris, Xavier sailed to Southern India where he worked tirelessly as a missionary. Conservative estimates say he baptized 30,000 people, others say 100,000, and the churches he founded survive to this day.
Xavier was revered as a saint in his own day because of his remarkable holiness and many miracles. Not least healing, exorcism, and raising the dead. Scoff, if you like, but remember the churches he founded still exist, and, if you're a Christian, never discount Divine Power.
If you do, consider this. When and if you go against God you will be relentlessly destroyed, like Debenhams in the UK. Do not choose that route.
LSP
4 comments:
Did the work of Xavier or Loyola improve the lives of people? I'm not talking about the people who they employed and fed. The actual flock. Were they better off? It would be interesting to have been a fly on the wall back then.
Interesting piece of history, thanks!
I don't know, LL, but I do know that Xavier worked tirelessly amongst the poor and "untouchables." Not unlike Teresa. Also, his missions lived and are there today -- by their fruits ye shall know them.
Modern Jesuits? Some would say "conventicle of Satan." I would say, "Suppress then re-found." A bit like our political system here in the US.
Look him up, NFO. Remarkable Saint.
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