Xavier (zav'-i-er), St. Francis. A Jesuit missionary, styled usually the "Apostle of the Indies," was born in 1506 of a noble family in the north of Spain. He was a student of Sainte-Barbe in Paris, took to philosophy, became acquainted with Ignatius Loyola, and was associated with him in the formation of the Jesuit Society. He was sent, in 1541, under sanction of the pope, by John III of Portugal, to Christianize India, and arrived at Goa in 1542, from whence he extended his missionary labors to the Eastern Archipelago, Ceylon, and Japan, which enterprises were attended with success. On his return to Goa in 1552, he proceeded to organize a mission to China, in which he experienced such opposition and so many difficulties that on his way to carry on his work there, he sickened and died, and was buried at Goa. Xavier was beatified by Paul V in 1619, and canonized by Gregory XV in 1622.

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