Fairfield College Preparatory School - Hearthstone Yearbook (Fairfield, CT)

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GOD' LLA Saint Francis Xavier By FRANCIS XAVIER MATHEWS Editor-in-Chief of the 7953 HEARTHSTONE Heaven smiled down upon the hills of Goa, India, and flooded them with her sunlight. The massive six- teenth century cathedral looked out upon a sea of one hundred thousand faces. They were waiting- waiting for the appearance of the man who four hundred years before trod those same palm-dotted slopes. Now he came-God's humble man-amid a procession of seven hundred priests, scores of bishops, and the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon. From the Basi- lica of Bom Jesus through the hymn-singing throngs the procession accompanied the remarkably pre- served body of the Apostle of the Indies to the cathe- dral. There, in an open silver casket,yit was placed for public veneration. The day wasDecember 3, 1952, another page in the great epic of Francis Xavier. The work of man crumbles to dust. It is only the hand of God that can stay it from decay. That hand was in the work of St. Francis Xavier, so that his spirit still lives, and the seed he sawed ripens into eternal harvests. We of the Universal Church share in those harvests. Today we offer this humble tribute to the great Jesuit saint who four hundred years ago passed from this earth. XAVIER THE STUDENT We first see Francis, about 1526, as a man of twenty. That sudden gust, the Renaissance, had swept Spain and caught young Xavier up in its spirit. Am- bition stirred his soul. A great plan was forming in his mind-visions of a university professorship, of a comfortable ecclesiastical position at Pamplona. His plan began at the University of Paris. Only God knew how soon all that would change. For God foresaw greater things for Xavier. These greater things began in the farm of a limp- ing soldier, who arrived at the university leading a donkey laden with books. To Xavier fell the task of tutoring this man, Ignatius Loyola. Xavier the ath- lete, whose supple limbs could master the gymnastic dances of his Basque homeland, Xavier the student, whose mind was as facile as his body, met his match in a deliberate-thinking, limping soldier. Ignatius began with the little sword thrusts that cut away Francis' pride. What doth it profit a man, Francis, if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? No, it was not that Francis was too ambitious. He was not ambitious enough. The Basque nobleman was not made for mediocrity. Behind one great actor there is usually another. Such was Loyola to Xavier. Ignatius had himself recently experienced a spiritual reconversion and had written his Spiritual Exercises in retreat at the cave of Manresa. Because Francis was a man of remark- able will-power, he held out against Ignatius for years. But eventually the Great Lover caught up with him, and Francis, in giving in, gave himself com- pletely. Amid the cancerous moral decay of sixteenth century Paris, Ignatius found a diamond for God in Francis Xavier. I THE PRIEST OF GOD A warm summer day and a band of happy friends -fit was a day made for great undertakings. It was on this Assumption Day, 1534, that Xavier began hisgreatest undertaking--a new life. From the Uni- versity of Parisi-tothe little hill of Montmartre across theiSeine, journeyed sa group of seven, Ignatius and Franjcisyamong them. Their ,recentlytordained com- rade, Peterfaberr, saidf Mass, andfall pledged them- selves some observance of certain.vows.fThatAugust afternoon nourished the seeds thatfwere to blossom into the world-encompassing Society of Jesus. Francis was ordained ,shortly after, and spent a ,month preparing for his first Mass, anact that was typical-of his intense zeal. i'.,i- He went about on the continent preaching the Gospel. Everywhere people were won over by 'his irresistible charm and keen sin'cerity.qAt.thirty-two, his ceaseless, selfless labors had reduced him to a walking death-but one carry- ing the75ource of' all Life. I ,Xavier recovered, and when -the cry of souls went up from india and echoed across the seas to Portugal, he roseto follow. How often must he have recalled thetlast i.ii spoken words he was ever to hear from -Ignatius,-on ecirthi Go, and set all on fire ! Xavier did go, and in becoming God's..galIant conquistador, wancountlessisoulsi for Christ.. L I . I L xAviER THE MISSIONARY A Thetirst city, to fall was Goa.i'There Xavier set foot in 1542, carrying his own baggage. There lived the Portuguese officials and traderswho wore their Chris- tian faith 'as their painted gwomen wore their gaudy trinkets. No wonder the --natives' despised Christians! But it was not by denouncing these sinful men that Xavier began his mission, by giving himself to the service of lepers and criminals, by walking the streets ringing a bell to call the. people fta catechism. For the children he loved' Sowell' he putChristianity into rhyme. And when his love had borne fruit, he movedon. to the pearl tishersiaf-CapeIComorin. They were at -simplefolk,,whofmoved ,through aflifei filled withithe living nightmares offidevil and idol worship, inecroirnancyfand Hindu i,i' tgirs. Xavier rescued them from: their confused, woridjand brought the entire caste intoiifheiibosom ofthe Church. Xaviefsiilifetas a missionaryiwas one of love. What love lhe .bore for his Saviour! How he loved his co- religious, whose signatures, he wore, cut from their letters, over his heart along with a copy of his vows! Then there was the love of his little brothers and

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Rector of Fairfield University and the College-Preparatory School, loyal son of St. Ignatius and loving brother of St. Francis Xavier, we, the members of the graduating class of 1953, in the name of the student body affectionately dedicate this, the 1953 HEARTHSTONE. ,i X

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' I CO QUISTADOR 1 iv fi. m , k - .ef if A W .Jig 9. .ss Q . .. , fs,,.m.M ..k, , .Q K 2 ii This beautiful statue of St. Francis Xavier was given recently in memory of Father Gabriel G. Ryan, S.J., late member of the Fairfield University faculty, by his family. Standing beside the statue are Rev. Francis Xavier Carty, S.J., Principal of Fairfield College-Preparatory School and Francis Xavier Mathews, Editor- in-Chief of the i953 HEARTH- STONE. sisters whom he might lead home to God. Sometimes, when he climbed a banyan tree to preach, five or six thousand people would throng about him. He would pour out his fire and love until his voice had left him, would baptize until he could no longer lift his arm. In one month alone he converted ten thou- sand people in Southern India. Xavier always considered Japan to be his land of promise. When he left, it was not to desert the Japanese, but to plan a new meth- od of attack. Seeing the Japanese reverence for all that was Chinese, he saw that he must storm China to win Japan. China, a whole new empire, beckoned him at the age of forty-six. He was a visionary with a truly great vision-a world for Christ. XAVIER THE SAINT It was on the island of Sancian, across the bay from forbidden China, that Francis awaited a river- man to ferry him to the mainland. When the fever struck him, his mind was still busy with plans. The Great Planner, however, had other designs. On December 3, 1552, his eyes gazing on a crucifix, Xavier died. The light of the Indies went to ioin the Source of all light. Xavier, the man, is dead. His body lies in the Basilica at Goa. But his restless spirit lives on in the thousands of religious who have risen to follow him, in the millions of Catholics in the Indies who live the faith he preached to their fathers, in us, the members of the Universal Church. The shadow of the Saint stretches across the far- reaching sands of the East.