St Francis Xavier continues to pull in the crowds

Over the weekend the BBC website had a report about the public display of the body of St Francis Xavier in Goa. This is a ten yearly event and veneration continues until January 4th. The report, which has a series of photographs, can be seen at Pilgrims flock to Goa to see Saint Francis Xavier remains.

The Daily Telegraph has a report about the celebrations at Sacred relics of St Francis Xavier carried in procession.

There is an illustrated online account of his extraordinary life from 1506-1552 and of his achievements as a missionary at the online account in St Francis Xavier.

Given its age, the climate of the region and the distance between where St Francis died at Shangchuan and Goa, whither it was transported in 1553, the survival of his body is little short of miraculous in itself.