The embalmed body of St Francis Xavier

Goa's patron saint Francis Xavier, was born into a wealthy and aristocratic family in Navarre, Spain, on 7th April 1506. A brilliant scholar, he studied at Paris University where he met and became friends with Ignatius Loyola and thus came to the turning point in his life. Together with five others, in August 1534, they formed the Society of Jesus and almost immediately hatched plans to travel to the Holy Land, where they hoped to convert the Muslims. Although the plans fell through, there was plenty to be done in other areas and when missionaries were requested for the eastern empire, it seemed an ideal opportunity.

In April 1541 Xavier sailed from Portugal arriving in Goa in May 1542. After a brief spell teaching, he commenced his travels, which took him to places like Ceylon, Malacca and Japan. In February 1552 he persuaded the viceroy to allow him to plan an embassy to China, a mission which his death cut short. He died on the island of Sancian, off the Chinese coast, on 2 December 1552.

After his death his servant is said to have emptied four sacks of quicklime into his coffin to consume his flesh in case the order came to return the remains to Goa. Two months later, the body was transferred to Malacca, where it was observed to be still in perfect condition refusing to rot despite the quicklime. The following year, Francis Xavier's body was returned to Goa where the people were declaring its preservation a miracle. The church was slower to acknowledge it, requiring a medical examination to establish that the body had not been embalmed. This was performed in 1556 by the viceroy's physician, who declared that all the internal organs were still intact and that no preservative agents had been used. He noticed a small wound in the chest and asked two Jesuits to put their fingers into it. He noted, 'When they withdrew them, they were covered with the blood which I smelt and found to be absolutely untainted.'

It was not until 1622 that canonisation took place. By then, holy relic hunters had started work on the incorrupt body. In 1614 the right arm was removed and divided between Jesuits in Japan and Rome and by 1636 parts of one shoulder blade and all the internal organs had been scattered through Southeast Asia. By the end of the 17th century the body was in an advanced state of desiccation and the miracle appeared to be over. The Jesuits decided to enclose the corpse in a glass coffin out of view, and it was not until the mid 19th century that the current cycle of 10 yearly expositions began.