The Pilgrim’s Ledger
Click through the major missionary stops of Saint Francis Xavier — each station reveals its key date and what he accomplished there.
Station 01 / 12
April 7, 1506
42°N · 1°W
Birth & Inheritance
The restless soul of the future Apostle of the Indies was first forged in a broken castle among the Basque hills of the Kingdom of Navarre.
What he accomplished here
Examination of the Voyage
Six questions drawn from the road you have just walked. Choose your answer for each, then submit to be judged.
01Where was Saint Francis Xavier born?
02Who is said to have asked him, “What profits a man the whole world if he lose his soul?”
03From which port did he sail for the East on his thirty-fifth birthday?
04Where did Xavier meet Anjirō and first learn of Japan?
05On what date did he land at Kagoshima, Japan?
06On which island did Francis Xavier die within sight of the China he never reached?