Contrary to common beliefs, Saint Francis Health System was not named after St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment. Rather, it was named for St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of all foreign missionaries.
St. Francis Xavier's Life
Francis Xavier, the “Apostle of the Indies,” was born Francisco de Jaso y Azpilicueta in Xavier Castle near Pamplona, Spain, on April 6, 1506. He was a Basque of Navarre, a region along the southern slope of the Pyrenees. He spoke Euskara, the ancient Basque language whose origins are unknown.
He was ordained at Venice in 1537 and a year later went to Rome for direction. Under the banner of King John III of Portugal, his missionary work began in Goa, a Portuguese colony on the western coast of India. His travels were wide and swift — Malaca, New Guinea, Morotai and Japan, all in a five-year span.
Francis Xavier died on December 3, 1552 while on Shangchuan Island. He died praying between spasms of fever induced delirium at age 46.
His Mission
His education, indeed his mission, began at the University of Paris under the tutelage of Ignatius Loyola. Francis Xavier was among the seven original Jesuits who, on August 15, 1534 at Montmartre, took vows of poverty and chastity, to “enter upon hospital and missionary work in Jerusalem, or to go without questioning wherever the pope might direct.” (Stewart Rose, St. Ignatius Loyola and the Early Jesuits).
Francis Xavier was named the patron saint of all foreign missionaries by Pius X, in an apostolic letter of 1904. He was canonized in 1622 by Gregory XV.
The Saint Francis Connection
William K. Warren, the founder of Saint Francis Hospital, was born on December 3, 1897, the feast day of Francis Xavier. Learn more about Mr. Warren, his dedication to Catholicism and to the Tulsa community at the links below.