Religion: Missionary's Return

"Da mihi animas [give me souls]," was the prayer of bearded, stern-faced St. Francis Xavier, greatest missionary of the Roman Catholic Church since Apostolic times. One of the first Jesuits, who helped St. Ignatius Loyola found the order, Francis Xavier journeyed to India .and then to the Far East in his historic quest for converts. On Aug. 15, 1549, the astonished farmers and fishermen of Japan first saw his black-clad figure. For more than two years thereafter, Francis Xavier moved tirelessly among the Japanese, of whom he wrote: "These people are the delight of my soul." He made hundreds of converts,...

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