Wednesday 3December 2008 - Memorial St. Francis Xavier

[BarbaraTherese]

Memorial
St Francis Xavier



St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) was born in the castle of Xavier in Navarre, Spain. In 1525 he went to Paris where he met St. Ignatius Loyola and with whom he received Holy Orders in Venice in 1537. In 1540 he was sent to evangelize India. He labored in western India, the island of Ceylon, Malacca, Molucca Islands, island of Mindanao (Philippines), and Japan. In 1552 he started on a voyage to China but died on Sancian Island.

To read all about St. Francis, go to above link.

Solemnities, Feasts, and Memorials

1. As it celebrates the mystery of Christ in yearly cycle, the Church also venerates with a particular love Mary, the Mother of God, and sets before the devotion of the faithful the memory of the martyrs and other saints. [4]
2. The saints of universal significance have celebrations obligatory throughout the entire Church. Other saints either are listed in the General Calendar for optional celebration or are left to the veneration of some particular Church, region, or religious family. [5]
3. According to their importance, celebrations are distinguished from each other and named as follows: solemnities, feasts, memorials.
4. Solemnities are counted as the principal days in the calendar and their observance begins with evening prayer I of the preceding day. Some also have their own vigil Mass for use when Mass is celebrated in the evening of the preceding day.
   The celebration of Easter and Christmas, the two greatest solemnities, continues for eight days, with each octave governed by its own rules.
5. Feasts are celebrated within the limits of the natural day and accordingly do not have evening prayer I. Exceptions are feasts of the Lord that fall on a Sunday in Ordinary Time and in the Christmas season and that replace the Sunday office.
6. Memorials are either obligatory or optional. Their observance is integrated into the celebration of the occurring weekday in accord with the norms set forth in the General Instructions of the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours.
   Obligatory memorials occurring on Lenten weekdays may only be celebrated as optional memorials.
   Should more than one optional memorial fall on the same day, only one may be celebrated; the others are omitted.
7. On Saturdays in Ordinary Time when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is allowed.

 

[beckycmarie]

St. Francis Xavier wrote a wonderful Morning Offering which is mentioned in Abandonment to Divine Providence:

When you wake raise your soul to God, realising His divine presence; adore the Blessed Trinity, imitating the great St. Francis Xavier,

“I adore You, God the Father, who created me, I adore You, God the Son, who redeemed me, I adore You, God the Holy Ghost who have sanctified me, and continue to carry on the work of my sanctification. I consecrate this day entirely to Your love and to Your greater glory. I know not what this day will bring me either pleasant or troublesome, whether I shall be happy or sorrowful, shall enjoy consolation or undergo pain and grief, it shall be as You please; I give myself into Your hands and submit myself to whatever You will.”

Source: Abandonment to Divine Providence, Spiritual Counsels, Part II

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Thank you Becky! Heaps of wonderful treasures in Abandonment to Divine Providence huh?

One I like also is by a missionary priest, who says it on waking every morning “Lord, please dont let me get in your way this day” and follows that with the traditional Morning Offering.

As an aside and another subject entirely…I read somewhere too but cannot recall where that St. Francis Xavier was once novice master in the Jesuits and was so demanding and over zealous that he often sent erring novices away from the Order…and novices can and do err and at times often…the expelled novice would then contact St. Ignatius Loyola who would organize for them to go into another noviciate far away from St. Francis. I can’t recall where I read it though. It just may be one of those ‘stories’ that attach to a saint the truth of which can never be known.

Thank you again for sharing…Barb