FRANCIS
233
FRANCIS
and for several years he ministered alone to a vast
district. In spite of difficulties, he succeeded in keep-
ing up the fervour of the Christians and bringing many
pagans into the fold. In July, 1812, his church and
school-house were destroyed, but he escaped. In
1818 the persecution broke out again with renewed
fury. After several remarkable escapes from the
searching parties, he was betrayed by a Chinese Chris-
tian, for the 1500 dollars set on his head, and was
taken, 16 June, 1819. He had to undergo the greatest
cruelty for five weeks, but not a word of complaint
escaped him. 3eing transferred to another prison, he
was treated more humanely and found there Father
Chen, a Chinese Lazarist, from whom he could recei^'e
the sacraments. On 1 Jan., 1820, however, sentence
of death was passed on him. The execution took
place, 18 Feb., 1820. He was tied to a stake erected
like a cross, and was strangled to death, the rope hav-
ing been rela.xed twice to give him a three-fold death
agony. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII, 27 May,
1900, and his feast day is on 17 February. His re-
mains rest in the chapel of the mother house of the
Lazarists, in Paris. His holy life and death were the
inspiration of Blessed John Gabriel PerbojTe, also a
Lazarist, who was martyred in China iu 1840.
Lives by Vadbis (Paris, 1853); Deminuid (2 vols., Paris, 1893); RoNGEST (Paris, 1900); de Mongestv (Paris, 1906). B. Randolph.
Francis Solanus, S.unt, South American mission- ary of the OrdiT of i liars Minor; b. at Montilla, in the Diocese of ('ordi)va, Spain. 10 March, 1.349; d. at Lima, Peru. 14 July, ItilO. His parents, Matthew Sanchez Solanus and Anna Ximenes, were distinguished no less for their noble birth than for their virtue and piety. When Francis was twenty years old, he was received into the Franciscan Order at Montilla, and after his ordination, seven years later, he was sent by his super- iors to the convent of Arifazza as master of novices. In 1589 he sailed from Spain for the New World, and having landed at Panama, crossed the isthmus and embarked on a vessel that was to convey him to Peru. His missionary labours in South America extendetl over a period of twenty years during which time he spared no fatigue, shrank from no sacrifice however great, and feared no danger that stoofl in the waj' of evangelizing the vast and savage regions of Tucuman and Paraguay. So successful, indeed, was his apos- tolate that he has been aptly styled the Thaumaturgus of the New World. Notwithstanding the number and difficulty of the dialects spoken by the Indians, he learned them all in a very short time, and it is said that he often addressed tribes of different tongues in one language and was understood by them all. Be- sides being engaged in active missionary work, he filled the office of custos of the convents of his order in Tucu- man and Paraguay, and later was elected guardian of the Franciscan convent in Lima, Peru. In 1610, while preaching at Truxillo he foretold the calamities that were to Ijcfall that city, which was destroyed by an earthquake eight years later, most of the inhabitants perishing in the ruins. The death of St. Francis, which he himself had foretold, was the cause of general grief throughout Peru. In his funeral sermon at the burial of the saint. Father Sebastian!, S.J., said that " Divine Providence had chosen Father Francis Solanus to be the hope and edification of all Peru, the example and glory of Lima and the splendour of the Scrapliic Or- der". St. Francis was beatified by Clement X, in 1675, and canonized by Benedict XIII, in 1726. His feast is kept tluougliout the Franciscan Order on the twent v-fourth of July.
Lifr'of SI. rranm Soianus (Now York, 1888); Leo. Lives of Ih,- Siiinln and HUsseJ of the Three Orders of St. Francis (Tauii- tiiii. ISSG). II, 50«-5l-'i;; Ada SS.. July, V, 847-910.
Stephen M. Donovan.
Francis Xavier, Saint, b. in the Castle of Xavier near Sanguesa, in Navarre^ 7 April, 1506; d. on the
Island of Sancian near the coast of China, 2 Deceml^er,
1552. In 1525, having completed a preliminary course
of studies in his own country, Francis Xavier went to
Paris, where he entered the College de Sainte-Barbe.
Here he met the Savoyard, Pierre Favre, and a warm
personal friendship sprang up between them. It was
at this same college that St. Ignatius Loyola, who was
already planning the foundation of the Society of
Jesus, resided for a time as a guest in 1529. He soon
won the confidence of the two young men; first Favre
and later Xavier offered themselves as his companions,
and were the first to associate themselves with hini in
the formation of the Society. Four others, Lainez,
Salmeron, Rodriguez, and Bobadilla, having joined
them, the seven made the famous vow of Montmartre,
15 Aug., 15.34.
After completing his studies in Paris and filling the post of teacher there for some time, Xavier left the city with his companions 15 November, 15.'56, antl turned his steps to Venice, where he displayed zeal and char- ity m attending the sick m the hospitals. On 24 June, 1537, he received Holy orders with St. Ignatius. The following year he went to Rome, and after doing apos- tolic work there for some months, during the spring of 1539 he took part in the conferences which St. Ignatius held with his companions to prepare for the definitive foundation of the Society of Jesus. The order was approved verbally 3 September, and before the writ- ten approbation was secured, which was not until a year later, Xavier was appointed, at the earnest solici- tation of John III, King of Portugal, to evangelize the people of the East Indies. He left Rome 16 March, 1540, and reached Lisbon about June. Here he re- mained nine months, giving many admirable examples of apostolic zeal.
On 7 April, 1541, he embarked in a sailing vessel for India, and after a tedious and dangerous voyage landed at Goa, 6 May, 1542._ The first five nionths he spent in preaching and ministering to the sick in the hospitals. He would go through the streets ringing a little bell and inviting the children to hear the word of God. When he had gathered a number, he woukl take them to a certain church and would there explain the catechism to them. About October, 1542, he started for the pearl fisheries of the extreme southern coast of the peninsula, desirous of restoring Christianity which, although introduced years before, had almost disap- peared on account of the lack of priests. He devoted almost three years to the work of preaching to the peo- ple of Western India, converting many, and reaching in his journeys even the Island of Ceylon. Many were the difficulties and hardships which Xavier had to encounter at this time, sometimes on account of the cruel persecutions which some of the petty kings of the country carried on against the neophytes, and again because the Portuguese soldiers, far from seconding the work of the saint, retarded it by their bad example and \-icious habits.
In the spring of 1545 Xavier started for Malacca. He laboured there for the last three months of that year, and although he reaped an abundant spiritual harvest, he was not able to root out certain abuses, and was conscious that many sinners had resisted his efforts to bring them back to God. About January, 1546, Xavier left Malacca and went to the Molucca Islands, where the Portuguese had some settlements, and for a year and a half he preached the Gospel to the inhabitants of Amboyna, Ternate, Baranura, and other lesser islands which it has been difficult to iden- tify. It is claimed by .some that during this expedition he landed on the Island of Mindanao, an<l for this reason St. Francis Xavier has been called the first Apostle of the Philippines. But although this state- ment is made by some writers of the seventoonth cen- tury, and in the Bull of canonization i.ssued in 1623, it is said that he preached the Gospel in Mindanao, up to the present time it has not been proved absolutely
