Saint Francis Xavier by Catholic Art Studio

Saint Francis Xavier

Who they were

Ignatius's first companion, who sailed to India, Indonesia and Japan and baptised tens of thousands before dying on an island within sight of China, which he never reached.

Why people ask for them

Patron of missions, navigators, and Goa. Feast day December 3. Died 1552.

About this drawing

One of the Charcoal Saints: forty-eight portraits drawn to the same sheet — willow charcoal and white chalk on toned paper, half-length, the face and hands finished and the rest left loose — so that any two of them hang together like family. Francis Xavier’s likeness and attributes come from the saint’s own iconography. The drawing hand is an image model working to a written brief; the eye that judged each candidate, sent the weak ones back with notes and asked again was a person’s. Some saints came at once; some took five tries and a change of heart. This is the one we would hang ourselves.