EUROPA/SPAIN - Feast of St Francis Xavier: preparations for special celebrations for the 5th centenary of the birth of this great missionary which will commence next year

Friday, 3 December 2004

Navarra (Fides Service) - Preparations are underway to celebrate the 5th centenary of the birth of St Francis Xavier 1506-1552 progress, Jesuit Father Ricardo Sada, Rector of Javier Shrine in Navarra, Spain told Fides. Because Javier Castle and Church are being renovated to host the planned activities, the Mass on 3 December, St Francis’ feast day, presided by Archbishop Fernando Sebastián Aguilar of Pamplona and Tudela will be held in the cathedral and not at the shrine church. At the end of the Mass priests, men and women religious and lay people will receive the mission cross and mandate. Among those present, civil authorities which are collaborating with the work of renovation and building new infrastructures which should be opened on 3 December 2005, which will mark the official opening of celebrations for the 5th Centenary of the birth of the Saint. All Jesuit Provincial Superiors and the Society’s Prepositer General will be present.
Three preparatory commissions are working hard, Father Sada told Fides. In 2006, 5 - 11 March, besides praying the novena, people from surrounding towns and villages and from Navarra itself will make traditional Javeriadas pilgrimages to Javier Castle where St Francis was born. Special events will also be organised for April 7 and 22 and 3 December 2006, the closing date of the centenary celebrations.
Initiatives for the occasion include congresses before and during the 5th centenary year; a St Francis Xavier Information Centre with iconographic documentation by the Saint’s biographer Georg Schurhammer S.J; an exhibitions of paintings and statues and a catalogue of all works of art preserved in Jesuits houses in Spain; a formation programme prepared by the diocesan education delegation consisting of didactic material for schools of all grades on this great missionary saint, a son of Navarra; plays and other initiatives to bring his figure closer to children and young people of today. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 3/12/2004, righe 32, parole 441)


Share: