St Francis Xavier
The Patron Saint of the Parish of Frankston is St Francis Xavier.
St Francis Xavier, Pray for UsBorn 7th April, 1506 in Basque. Died 3rd December 1552 on a desolate island off the Chinese coast.
St Ignatius Loyola heavily influenced him.
Was a founding member of the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits in 1534.
Was devoted to preaching and teaching the Gospel and had an extraordinary devotion to caring for the sick.
In 1541 he was chosen to undertake his life’s work to preach the Gospel in Asia.
He arrived in Goa, India, May 6th 1542. He spent 10 years baptising and establishing communities of faith.
He visited India, Sri Lanka, Malacca, Japan and many of the islands of Indonesia.
He was declared a saint in 1622 and is buried in the Basilica of Good Jesus, Goa, India.
In 1927 St Francis Xavier and St Therese of Lisieux were declared the Patron Saints of Missions and Australia
The Parish symbols are the CRAB and the CROSS – one of the legends of St Francis Xavier is recalled beautifully in the large stained glass window by artist Alan Sumner. It shows Francis disembarking from the ship on one of his many journeys in South-East Asia. As he steps into the little boat to go ashore, his “mission cross” falls into the water.
The cross meant a great deal to him since it was given to him by St Ignatius Loyola, who sent Francis to Asia. Francis thought he had lost the cross in the deep water, but to his amazement when he stepped ashore a large crab was holding it between its claws.
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