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If you have already visited Xavier Castle in Navarre (Spain), you could dispense with this paragraph, which must be kept very short. Francis was born in Xavier Castle on April 7, 1506, the youngest of five children, three males and two females. His mother Maria de Azpilcueta belonged to the Navarrese nobility, and his father Juan de Jassu was for some years President of the Royal Council. Navarre was still independent when Francis was born, and would become part of Spain only in 1515, the year when Juan de Jassu died. The war for the independence of Navarre continued unabated for some years more. Taking part in that war were, on the Spanish side, Inigo of Loyola, who was seriously wounded in the siege of Pamplona, and on the French-Navarrese side, the two brothers of Francis, Miguel and Juan. They did not return to the castle until l524, when the town of Fuenterrabia finally surrendered and the war came to an end.
By then Francis had grown into a handsome young man of eighteen who had already finished his secondary education. For that, he did not have to leave his village. The parish priest of the local St. Mary Church and his two assistants were at the same time chaplains of the castle, and became tutors to the boy Francis. To tell the truth, the youngest son of Dna Maria de Azpilcueta proved himself to be an outstanding student. So much so that when his brothers returned from the war, he declined to follow in their steps and pleaded instead to be allowed to go to university. And so it happened that one morning in the late summer of 1525 Francis mounted his horse and left for the University of Paris. Far behind was left forever Xavier Castle, his beloved place of birth.
Xavier reached Paris in early October, with the course already started, and took lodgings at Sainte-Barbe College where he was to study philosophy. Within the precincts, both in and out of the classroom, Latin was mandatory. A certificate of proficiency in Latin was a prerequisite for further studies, and could only be attained through a rigorous test. Francis had to spend his first year in Paris preparing himself for this examination.
His study of arts (as philosophy used to be called at the time) started in October 1526, and ended with the examination ad licentiam in March 1530. A few days after he had his investiture as Master of Arts, the highest degree granted by the Faculty of Philosophy. In this way Francis became a member of the faculty and from October 1530 through the spring of 1534 he would teach philosophy at Beauvais College in Paris.
All this notwithstanding, Xavier never thought of staying in Paris forever as a university professor. His plan was to complete his studies with a doctor's degree, to be ordained a priest and then to obtain a good position in some ecclesiastical institution, preferably a canonship in the cathedral of Pamplona. As the benefices most in demand were often reserved to the upper classes, Francis submitted from Paris in 1531 a request to the Official Council of Navarre for a certificate of nobility. Francis' interests were by no means limited to his studies and his future. While staying at Xavier Castle he had often practised horsemanship and swordplay, but in Paris he proved himself quite a sportsman, mostly in jumping competitions. And yet . . .
Everything changed for Francis that 15th of August, 1534, when together with Inigo (Ignatius) of Loyola and five other companions he attended the Mass celebrated by Peter Favre in the chapel of Montmartre. All seven took vows of poverty, chastity and of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, devoting themselves thereafter to the salvation of Christians and non-Christians, ministering to the sick in the hospitals, preaching and administering the sacraments, all that without receiving any payment for their spiritual work. The ensuing September, Xavier made the Spiritual Exercises for thirty days under the direction of Inigo, an event that would mark his life ever after. All his dreams and plans, the canonship in Pamplona among them, had been left far behind. What had happened to Xavier?
The answer to this puzzle has to be found first in God, and secondly in Inigo of Loyola, Francis' friend from Guipuzcoa. In February 1528, the 36-year-old Inigo had come to Paris to study for the priesthood, but he needed time to get his Latin certificate and could not start the study of Philosophy until October 1529. Inigo took lodgings and attended lectures at Sainte-Barbe College, and had as roommates the Savoyard Peter Favre and our Navarrese Francis Xavier. Friendship between Francis and Inigo did not come the easy way. The Navarrese hidalgo did not see eye to eye with this fellow-countryman from Guipuzcoa who lived on alms at the expense of others. Inigo was the favourite target of Xavier's witticisms, and Francis used to laugh at Lainez and Salmeron, who had come all the way to Paris attracted by InigoLs reputation as a holy man.
Inigo, however, was a man who knew how to wait. Always careful not to hurt Xavier, he somehow managed to divert to him part of his alms, because the Navarrese insisted on living like a hidalgo and remittances from Xavier Castle did not keep step with his expenses. And when Francis started to teach--with no salary other than the modest fee paid per student--Inigo did not miss a chance to find him new alumni and to bring them personally to Francis.
In the end, it was this daily acquaintance with Inigo that finally brought Xavier to his knees. It was his friend's refrain--"of what avail is for a man to win the whole world if he loses his soul"?--that gave the coup de grace to Xavier's resistance and made him start a new life. Francis made a general confession, decided to practise daily examination of conscience and obliged himself to go to confession and Holy Communion once a week. After completing his teaching assignment he still remained in Paris for two years studying theology, before finally leaving for Italy with other eight companions at the end of 1536. In Venice Inigo was already waiting for them. He had arrived there some months before from Spain, where he had travelled from Paris in 1535.
