CATHOLIC FAMILY CELEBRATIONS
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  • November
    • November 1 All Saints Day
    • November 2 All Souls Day
    • November 9 Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
    • November 11 St. Martin of Tours
    • November 13 St. Frances Cabrini
    • November 15 St. Albert the Great
    • November 17 St. Elizabeth of Hungary
    • November 21 Presentation of Mary
    • November 22 St. Cecilia
    • November 30 St. Andrew
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    • Christ the King
  • Advent/Dec.
    • Advent Wreath
    • Jesse Tree
    • The Creche
    • December 3 St. Francis Xavier
    • December 5 St. Nicholas
    • December 7 St. Ambrose
    • December 8 Immaculate Conception
    • December 9 St. Juan Diego
    • December 12 Our Lady of Guadalupe
    • December 13 St. Lucy
    • December 14 St. John of the Cross
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    • January 1 Mary Mother of God
    • January 4 St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
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    • January 22 Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn Child
    • January 28 St. Thomas Aquinas
    • January 31 St. John Bosco
    • Superbowl Sunday
  • February
    • February 2 Presentation
    • February 3 St. Blaise
    • February 6 St. Paul Miki
    • February 10 St. Scholastica
    • February 11 Our Lady of Lourdes
    • February 14 St. Valentine
    • February 22 Chair of St. Peter
  • March
    • March 3 St. Katharine Drexel
    • March 7 Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
    • March 9 St. Frances of Rome
    • March 17 St. Patrick
    • March 19 St. Joseph
    • March 25 Annunciation
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  • Divine Mercy Sunday
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    • Pentecost Novenas
    • May 1 St. Joseph the Worker
    • May 3 Sts. Philip and James
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    • May 10 St. Damien Molokai
    • May 13 Our Lady of Fatima
    • May 22 St. Rita
    • May 26 St. Philip Neri
    • May 31 Visitation
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  • June
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    • June 13 St. Anthony of Padua
    • June 24 Nativity of St. John the Baptisi
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  • July
    • July 4th
    • July 6 St. Maria Goretti
    • July 11 St. Benedict
    • July 14 St. Kateri Tekakwitha
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    • July 25 St. James
    • July 26 Sts. Joachim and Anne
    • July 29 St. Martha
    • July 31 St. Ignatius of Loyola
  • August
    • Back to School
    • August 4 St. John Vianney
    • August 6 Transfiguration
    • August 8 St. Dominic
    • August 10 St. Lawrence
    • August 11 St. Clare
    • August 14 St. Maximillian Kolbe
    • August 15 Assumption
    • August 21 St. Pius X
    • August 22 Queenship of Mary
    • August 24 St. Bartholomew
    • August 27-August 29
  • September
    • Patrons of School and Study
    • Labor Day
    • Sept. 5 St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
    • September 8 Mary's Birthday
    • September 15 Our Lady of Sorrows
    • September 20 St. Andrew Kim
    • September 21 St. Matthew
    • September 23 St. Padre Pio
    • September 27 St. Vincent DePaul
    • September 29 The Archangels
    • September 30 St. Jerome
  • Family Dinner
  • October
    • Oct 1 St. Therese of the Child Jesus
    • October 2 Guardian Angels
    • October 4 St. Francis
    • October 7 Our Lady of the Rosary
    • October 17 St. Ignatius of Antioch
    • October 18 St. Luke
    • October 19 Sts. Isaac Jogues and John De Brebeuf
    • October 28 Sts. Simon and Jude
    • October 29 Blessed Chiara Badano
    • Halloween or All Hallow's Eve
  • Contact

December 3  St. Francis Xavier

Picture
Picture
St. Francis is the Patron Saint of missionaries. His body lies 
incorruptible in Goa, India where he did mission work.
To Do: 
 In honor of this 
saint, you could send a generous donation to a foreign mission like, http://www.xaviermissionaries.org. or any of your favorites. 

Watch a video--for the kids we like, Francis Xavier and the Samurai's Lost Treasure.  For older folks, Xavier.  

Tell his story.  Here is a version with reflections from HolySpiritInteractive.net.

This great missionary was born at Xavier Castle in Spain in 1506. He went to the University of Paris when he was eighteen. Here he met St. Ignatius Loyola, who was about to start the Society of Jesus. St. Ignatius tried to get Francis to join him. At first the happy-go-lucky young man would not think of it. St. Ignatius repeated to him the words of Jesus in the Gospel: "What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" At last, Francis saw clearly that his place in life was among the Jesuits.

When Francis was thirty-four, St. Ignatius sent him as a missionary to the East Indies. The king of Portugal wanted to give him presents to take along and a servant. Francis refused his kind offer and explained: "The best way to acquire true dignity is to wash one's own clothes and boil one's own pot." During the course of his amazing career in Goa, India, Japan and other lands of the east, St. Francis made thousands of converts. In fact, he baptized so many people that he became too weak to raise his arms. He gathered the little children around him and taught them the Catholic faith. 

Then he made little lay apostles of them. He invited them to spread the faith they had learned. There was nothing St. Francis wouldn't do to help people. Once he faced a fierce band of raiders, alone, with no weapon but his crucifix. They backed up and did not attack his Christian tribes. The saint also brought many bad-living Christians to repentance. His only "tools" were his gentle, polite ways and his prayers. In the midst of his painful journeys and great labors, the saint was full of a special joy coming from God. St. Francis longed to get into China, into which no foreigner was permitted. At last, the arrangements were made, but the great missionary became ill. He died almost alone in 1552 on an island off the Chinese coast. He was just forty-six-years-old. Francis Xavier was proclaimed a saint by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. He was in the best of company at the canonization ceremony in Rome. Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Philip Neri and Isidore the Farmer were also proclaimed saints that day. 

Reflection:
 Francis' love for Jesus was so strong that he could not rest at the thought of so many people who had never heard the Gospel. What would happen if I were able to share my faith with at 
least one person in my life? 




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