Saint Francis Xavier was an ambitious missionary, willing to sail to all the nations of the world to convert everyone to the Christian faith.
He spent much of his missionary career in India and Japan, sowing the seeds of the Gospel in those areas.
His last wish was to reach China and to spread Christianity among the people there.
According to MT Kelly in A life of Saint Francis Xavier“He… had been very attracted by the Chinese merchants whom he met in Japan. He believed them to be just as intelligent as the Japanese and as eager to acquire knowledge, if at least they were not superior in intelligence. Through his investigations, he discovered that China was a rich country and full of religious sects…even though he didn’t believe there were any Christians there. This would probably prove a fruitful mission And if the Chinese embraced the true faiththe Japanese would soon abandon their paganism.
Saint Francis Xavier made many preparations for this trip, including “a translation of his work on Christianity in the Chinese language.”
He spent a lot of time thinking about the logistics of his journey and planning each step of his journey, ready to suffer martyrdom if it was God’s will.
Many obstacles
The Portuguese did not want Saint Francis to go to China because they feared their trade agreements would end. They did everything in their power to try to stop him from going to China, but he persisted and didn’t want to be delayed any longer.
The boat he was on stopped at a few islands along the way and on one of them, Saint Francis came down with a fever. After 15 days, he regained his health, but “he thought of nothing else and could think of nothing other day and night than convert China. He often walked along the shore turn your eyes to China and he told friends that his only wish was to be deposited at the gates of Canton and that he would not worry about what might happen next.
The closest point to China was Shangchuan Island. He fell ill again and died in a cabin on the island, without ever reaching the mainland.
Even though his mission failed, many other missionaries took up the challenge of sowing the seeds of the Gospel among the Chinese people.
