Missionary and patron saint: Mass celebrates 500th anniversary of birth of St. Francis Xavier

Photo caption: St. Barnabas parishioner Joseph Puvathingal of Indianapolis carries the cross in the procession on Dec. 2 at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis.

By Mary Ann Wyand

(Listen to the reporter read this story)

Asian Indian Catholics living in central and southern Indiana have two reasons to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis Xavier this year.

The Jesuit missionary, who was born on April 7, 1506, at Javier Castle near Navarre, Spain, is the patron saint of India and also a patron saint of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. His feast day is Dec. 3, which also was the first Sunday of Advent.

“Our Catholic Church is a missionary Church,” Capuchin Franciscan Father Bernard Varghese, a native of Kerala, India, emphasized in his homily during a Dec. 2 liturgy at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis.

“We need hundreds of Xaviers to continue our missionary charism,” he said. “We need people who can preach and teach by words and lives.”

Carmelite Father Matthew Joseph Choorapanthiyil, also a native of Kerala, India, who now ministers at the Carmelite Monastery of St. Joseph in Terre Haute, and Father William Munshower, a retired diocesan priest from Indianapolis, concelebrated the eucharistic liturgy that commemorated the life and ministry of St. Francis Xavier.

Asian Indian Catholics dressed in traditional costumes sang hymns in their native languages during the Mass and venerated the Eucharist with flowers, incense and candles.

“By the birth of Francis Xavier, God, in his divine providence, gave to Christianity a child who would sow the seed of Christianity in Asia and, in particular, India,” Father Bernard explained. “ … Let us also give St. Francis Xavier a birthday gift—a gift of a prayerful life, a life acceptable and pleasing to God, a heart full of missionary zeal and, above all, thank the Lord for this holy person and imitate his example and life.”

Also in 1506, Father Bernard told the gathering, “Vasco da Gama left the searoads of Lisbon, Portugal, in search of the East … [and] upon reaching India began a new tide which changed the whole history of India and the East at large.”

Father Bernard said the Portuguese explorer’s discovery of the land that is now India paved the way for St. Francis Xavier—a Spanish nobleman who became a priest with a strong faith and missionary zeal—to travel to the East with friends and arrive in Goa, India, in May 1542 after more than a year’s hard journey.

“With Goa as base, Francis Xavier, a man of remarkable energy and organizational ability, … traveled a lot, especially in the southern part of the country [converting people to Christianity],” Father Bernard explained. “His missionary zeal was so energetic that he moved to Sri Lanka, Japan and so on. … On one such missionary journey to China, without getting any medical aid, he died of severe fever at the age of 46.”

He said the Jesuit missionary’s body was buried on the island of Sancian off the coast of China and later taken to Malacca.

“When his grave was opened, the body was still fresh and lifelike,” Father Bernard said. “Therefore, on Dec. 11, 1553, St. Francis Xavier’s body was shipped to Goa and placed in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in a glass container encased in a silver casket,” which is displayed for veneration by pilgrims.

Father Bernard, who is currently in residence at St. Louis Parish in Batesville, explained that, “By the grace of God, I was privileged twice to celebrate Mass under this silver casket.”

Only about 2 percent of India’s people are Christian, Father Bernard said. Most Indians practice Hinduism or Islam.

“Christianity has contributed a lot in the development of the present India,” he said, “especially in the areas of education, health and mission.”

It is believed that there have been Christians in India from the very beginning of Christianity, Father Bernard said, citing

scriptural references about St. Thomas the Apostle, who was said to have arrived in India in 52 A.D. and evangelized people in the southern part of the country before he was killed there.

“From that time onwards, Christianity began in India,” he said, “but it has come to its zenith only after the arrival of St. Francis Xavier,” who brought about the second wave of evangelization there.

Reflecting on the life of the patron saint of India, Father Bernard told the gathering that St. Francis Xavier was a man of faith, prayer and conviction as well as a true and committed shepherd and a man with missionary zeal and love for the soul.

“The secret of his life was his prayer and spirit of dependence on God,” Father Bernard said. “He spent hours and hours in prayer, especially at night after his constant work. As St. James says, ‘A good man’s prayer is powerful and effective’ [Jas 5:16]. It was true in the life and activities of Xavier. He did everything in consultation with Jesus.”

Sadly, Father Bernard said, “the modern world wants to do everything without God or wants to do away with God.”

But St. Francis Xavier stands out as “a true model of prayer and faith,” he said, and a reminder “to consult God before everything, whether simple or great. His faith and conviction was so strong that, even without any knowledge of the [different] Indian languages, he spoke with the

language of love, which is the language of God.”

St. Francis Xavier was “a true shepherd in the sense of a great leader,” Father Bernard said, who lived his life for God and the people of God with tireless missionary zeal.

“He walked hundreds of miles in search of [the] poor and needy,” Father Bernard explained. “He was able to adjust with [the] mixture of peoples, cultures and behaviors. He rejected all the comforts for the sake of Christ and love for the soul. He lived a humble, holy life and was satisfied with the minimum.”

Sneha Mascarenhas, a member of St. Lawrence Parish in Indianapolis who welcomed the assembly, said during a reception after the liturgy that it was an honor to help with the celebration of St. Francis Xavier’s life and ministry.

“It is a pretty significant thing for our family because I am a new Catholic,” she said. “My husband was born and raised Catholic, and is deeply religious. He is, in a sense, an evangelist. So I can experience, perhaps to some extent, what some of the initial efforts were as far as evangelization and the initial reception to the word of God and the knowledge of Jesus Christ as the Savior.”

Mascarenhas said acknowledging the gifts of God at Mass and before meals serves as a way for families to express their appreciation for the important things in life.

As Father Matthew Joseph sampled a variety of traditional foods at the reception, he explained that most of the recipes came from his home region in southern India.

“[Catholics] are from diverse cultures,” he said, “and we share that diversity within the same faith.”

Sister Ushatta Mary, a native of Kerala, India, and a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who serve in Indianapolis, said Asian Indian Catholics are very thankful that St. Francis Xavier helped bring the Catholic faith to Asia.

“We celebrate the feast of St. Francis Xavier because … he came to our state in Kerala and also in Goa,” Sister Ushatta Mary said, “and so we love St. Francis as our father of our faith in our country.” †