FRANCIS DE SALES, sal; Fr. French prelate, founder of the Order tion: b. of a noble Savoyard family, inn. teau of Sales, near Geneva, 21 Aug :.`": Lyons, 28 Dec. 1622. He was educated Jesuits at Paris, studied law at Padua r: ing a strong bent to theology and a re`_ life, entered the Church. Earnest and s•t: ful as a preacher, he was sent in 1594 r:1 kinsman, Louis de Sales, to preach in th of Chablais, and bring back, if possihk I Roman Catholic Church the followers vin. He had a large measure of • conferences with Theodore de Beaa successor, at Geneva, were, however. result. He went to Paris in 1602, there with great success and steadily the offers of dignities made by the Frere The same year he was appointed Geneva, and taking Saint Charles Boaz his model, applied himself zealously to form of the diocese and its monaister•t• was disinterested and free from worleFr tion, and declined the offer of a carerl: and the renewed invitations of the kl France. In 1610 he founded the Orderr' Visitation, of which the first direettetsr...' friend, Madame de Chantal. His works are the 'Introductions to 2 rr Life,' which has been translated iter:' languages, and 'A Treatise on the 1.6° He was canonized' by Pope Alexander in 1665. Consult 'Life' by Camus. FRANCIS XAVIER, zavl-er, Fr. ksiv-e-a, it, Spanish Jesuit missionary: b. Castle of Tier, Navarre, 7 April 1506; d. Island of cian, 2 Dec. 1552. Saint Francis Xavier born in Spain, of one of the noblest Lilies of the kingdom of Navarre. After usual collegiate studies in his own country, went to Paris for a course of philosophy in university. In spite of his extreme youth, extraordinary ability secured for him a fessorship in the affiliated College of Beau .. It was in Paris that he met the man shaped his destinies, Ignatius of Loyola r.). Abandoning his professorship, he took the study of theology, practised the rudest terities, bound himself to a life of evangeli poverty, chastity and obedience, and with atius and five other companions estab ed what is known as the Society of Jesus.
The original purpose of this organization to evangelize Christians living in the Mo amedan countries of. the East. Failing in t, they offered themselves to the Pope and re employed by him in most responsible sts in various parts of Europe, which, how .r, they combined with labor in pest houses, sons and among the abandoned poor. A nand coming from John III of Portugal for missionaries to evangelize the new Fortu ne possessions in India, Francis Xavier was )sen, but went alone, invested with the dig y of Apostolic Nuncio, a dignity which he talon* kept out of sight.
The day after the command was given, he t Rome for Lisbon, making the journey on Dt, preaching and teaching on the way. In irtugal his influence was so instantaneous d so great that the king purposed to keep rn in his dominions. But Xavier set sail for e 7 April 1541, having refused even see his own relatives before leaving. The urney meant more than a year of great suf ring, and he reached Goa only on 6 May 42. The ignorance and immorality which evailed there were deplorable and a complete d immediate revolution in conditions fol wed his arrival.
Then began his series of amazing apostolic urneys. They can only be appreciated by fe lling the methods of travel of those days; the rilous character of the seas through which he .ntinually sailed, and the savage or barbarous mire of the people he had to evangelize. rom Goa he went around Cape Comonn and eylon, then back to Goa, then through every •ncipality of Hindustan, off through the scat red islands of the coasts, until he reached the stint Moluccas; establishing missions every here, and managing all the complicated and ultiplied works which necessanly resulted. he story of his life is simply a series of sur •ising evangelical conquests, bringing thou .nds to Christianity by the efficacy of his -eaching, the prodigies he wrought and the rtraordinary sanctity of his life.