He was born in the kingdom of Navarre, his father was a privy counselor and finance minister to the King of Navarre. He was the youngest in family and lived in castle.
As the young Francis grew, he was surrounded by war. Once the war ended, he was sent to study at the University of Paris and met St Ignatius of Loyola. He was encouraged to become priest by Ignatius of Loyola.
Then, he and some of his friends made vow of poverty, chastity and obedience and found the order Jesuits.
While he was becoming the priest, Portugal was colonizing India. However the Portugal settlers have lost their catholic faith and the values therefore the King of Portugal asked the Pope to send the missionaries there and in short, Francis was sent to India.
He arrived at Goa, and he quickly recognized the nature of the people and their intentions. Many sailors and settlers were former prisoners who had been recruited from Portuguese jails or were fleeing mistakes they made back home. None of them came to spread or live virtuous life.
He ministered the sick and children first, then spent 3 years with native people but was often embarrassed by the conduct of Portuguese men who were already catholic but misbehaved. He encountered difficulty in his mission because he worked to convert the people first, not the leader.
He eventually traveled to Malacca and Maluku island and while in Malacca, he met a japanese man and he managed to convert him and made him the first Japanese convert to Christianity.
He was very interested in visiting Japan and finally he got the chance.
However, there were some challenging, language barrier and legal obstacle and his poverty was another barrier of communication because poverty was not respected in Japan.
So he changed the strategy, on one occasion, when meeting with a local prince, he arranged to be finely dressed and had gifts from India delivered to him. The charade had the desired effect and improved his reputation.
Despite his efforts, the Japanese were not easily converted. Most held fast to their traditional buddhist or shinto beliefs. Some traditionalists grew hostile toward Xavier and Christianity. Eventually Christianity became the subject of great persecution and forcing many to go underground with their belief.
During his voyage to return back to India, he was petitioned to met China Emperor. After so much challenges during his efforts to go to China, he finally managed to arrive in China on his own.
He managed to find a man to agree to take him to China for a large fee, but while he was waiting for his boat to arrive, he became ill with a fever and died on December 3rd, 1552.
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