Documentary on St. Francis Xavier has New York premiere

Published: 2006-06-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- St. Francis Xavier never made it to mainland China. But then again, neither did the two Jesuits who recently finished a film about him. St. Francis Xavier considered himself a failure for not reaching China. The missionary, who preached in several places in Asia, died on an island off the coast of China before he could fulfill his desire to preach there, too. The filmmakers, Jeff Johnson and Jeremy Zipple, regents of the Jesuits' New Orleans province, traveled from Europe to India to Macau on a whirlwind labor of love to complete the film for the 2006 jubilee year of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits declared the year to remember three of the order's original members. Jubilee celebrations mark the 450th anniversary of the death of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, and the 500th anniversary of the births of two of his closest companions, St. Francis Xavier and Blessed Peter Faber. The documentary, "Xavier," premiered this spring at Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York with more than 300 people in attendance.

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