Relic coming to St. FX
Incorrupt arm said to be from saint
Francis Xavier is one of the most exciting and adventurous figures of the 16th century.
He travelled to distant places, to India, to Malaysia, to Japan and to China. He undertook long and arduous voyages, risking everything to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to fisherman and farmer, emperor and king.
His relic is coming to St. Francis Xavier University on January 8, 2018, beginning with a service at 1 p.m. at the chapel, followed by an afternoon of veneration and concluding with mass at the chapel at 6:30.
Who is Francis Xavier and why do we venerate his relic?
Francis was born in 1506 only a few miles from the birthplace of St. Ignatius at Loyola. While students at the University of Paris in the 1520s, they became lifelong friends.
Both were from noble and wealthy families, assured of comfort, success and fame.
But Ignatius was already devoting his life to helping souls. Ignatius’ persistent and gentle challenge to Francis stating, “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his life?” eventually inspired Francis.
Joined by others at Paris, these first companions formed the Society of Jesus, bound by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, ready to go wherever the need was greatest.
These first Jesuits were on fire with the love of God, a love which showed itself in deeds: begging alms, teaching catechism, tending to the poor, the sick, and prostitutes and to those rejected by society.
In 1539, Francis joined the flourishing Portuguese colony of Goa in India, where he worked among the Christians of Goa (whose faith, by tradition, was planted by St. Thomas the Apostle in the first century).
Eventually his work led him to the very southern tip of India, where Francis learned Tamil, the local language, and translated the creed and prayers so that these people could hear Christ in their own tongue. This adaptation of the faith to the local language and customs was to become a hallmark of Jesuit missions.
Francis spent seven years on the South India coast, constantly travelling, preaching the gospel, teaching, consoling, comforting, begging alms for the poor, and visiting the sick. During this time he sailed to Malaysia and eventually to Japan. On December 3, 1552, Francis Xavier died within sight of his next mission, mainland China. Francis Xavier was declared a saint with Ignatius, his great friend and fellow founder of the Society of Jesus, in 1622.
The relic that is coming to St. FX is the right forearm and hand of St. Francis Xavier. It is estimated he baptized more than 100,000 people with this arm. This relic remains in a reliquary in Rome at the Jesuit mother church, the Church of the Gesù. The remainder of his body is entombed in Goa, India.
His arm, as well as the rest of his body, is incorrupt. Saints are referred to as incorrupt when their body, miraculously, does not experience natural decay. It has been 465 years since his death.
The veneration of relics is a longstanding practice inside within Christianity. The practice rests on the belief that God came to humanity in the flesh, namely in the physical person of Jesus of Nazareth. Important sacraments of the faith also include water, wine and bread physical elements that take on spiritual, supernatural value and characteristics.
Similarly, the relics of saints provide for a tangible experience of God’s graces. As well, Catholics believe that saints can intercede for humanity as the “Communion of Saints.” The visit of this relic will be a wonderful opportunity for people of faith to seek the intercession of the patron saint of one of our local universities.