The Cartographer's Vow

A Voyage Across the Known World

Trace the missionary path of Saint Francis Xavier from his birthplace in Navarre to the threshold of China — click any station along the route to read what he achieved there.

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Click the gold markers · scroll the list to navigate

1506Birth

Javier, Navarre

Born into a noble Basque family in the Castle of Javier, orphaned early, he inherited both a broken estate and a restless longing that would one day carry him to the farthest edge of the known world.

The Stations of the Voyage

Et porta eternity, et navis caeli.

For as I walked among you, the whole world was a vessel, and every soul a shore I longed to reach. — Saint Francis Xavier, Letter from Goa, 1543

Founding of the Society of JesusPatron of the Foreign MissionsFeast — December III

Cartography of Covenant · MMXXVI