Exquisite life-size Saint Francis Xavier wooden sculpture, measuring 163, 0 cm, almost the saint size. Of great sculptural quality, the Saint is standing, frontal, with rigid, but well-defined features, as commonly depicted in Indo-Portuguese wooden carvings. The Jesuit priest is dressed in a long black cassock covering his feet, with pearly buttons and a loop knot-tied belt, topped by a red-bordered round collar. His cassock is covered by a well-carved pleated cape, caught over the left arm, offering fluidity to the piece. The left hand is placed close to the heart as his right one would have been holding the cross.

Saint Jesuit Francis Xavier (1506-1552) was one of the original followers of Ignatius of Loyola and pioneered Christian missionary work in the Far East. He is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since Paul the Apostle, being recognized for leading an extensive evangelization mission into the then Portuguese empire, first arriving to the Indian continent in 1542. He also was the first Christian missionary to venture into Japan, Borneo, and other territories. The Jesuit priest was about to extend his missionary preaching to China when he passed away on Shangchuan Island, on his way to Macau. He was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1619 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622.

Nowadays, the influence of St. Francis Xavier is still felt through the pilgrimage to the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa every year, for the celebration of the saint, on December 3rd. In 2015, as a result of a rare relic exhibition that only happens every 10 years in Goa’s Cathedral, three million believers had visited the site.