Home › Authors › Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier Quotes
1506–1552 Spain
Francis Xavier, S.J. (7 April 1506; 3 December 1552), was a Navarrese Basque Roman Catholic missionary, born in Javier (Xavier in Navarro-Aragonese or Xabier in Basque), Kingdom of Navarre (present day Spain), and a co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a companion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris, in 1534.
Random Francis Xavier quote
7 quotes
If it were not for the Brahmins, we should have all the heathens embracing our faith.
They are liars and cheats to the very backbone. Their whole study is, how to deceive most cunningly the simplicity and ignorance of the people
The second necessity which obtains in India, if those who live there are to be good Christians, is that your highness should introduce the holy Inquisition [...]
Almost from the time of Xavier's actual presence on the Coast, the work of legend-building began, and it came to be firmly believed that he possessed miraculous powers, which extended even to the raising of the dead. Xavier never made such extravagant claims for himself.
By the aid of the vice-regal troops he pulled down the heathen temples in the neighbourhood of Goa, and appropriated their very considerable property for the use and benefit of the new College." (Page 89)
When all are baptized I order all the temples of their false gods to be destroyed and all the idols to be broken in pieces. I can give you no idea of the joy I feel in seeing this done, witnessing the destruction of the idols by the very people who but lately adored them.
There are in these parts among the pagans a class of men called Brahmins. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and to whom applies the Psalm which says: ‘From an unholy race, and wicked and crafty men, deliver me, Lord.’ If it were not for the Brahmins, we should have all the heathens embracing our faith.
Topics Francis Xavier is quoted on