St. Francis Xavier, the great missionary to the East, arrived in
Malacca
in 1545 and served the sick and the children there. He left shortly
afterwards, but came back to the town in 1547, when a military victory
was attributed to him. He traveled to many countries and stopped by
Malacca whenever he was around the region.
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| Francis Xavier Church, Melaka, Malaysia |
His
fame spread far throughout Asia. In 1574, the saint died in a ship
before he could reach China, a place that he was anxious to
Christianize. People found his body perfectly in-corrupt, and sailed it to Malacca. The body of
St. Francis Xavier was later shipped to
Goa in India, after parts of the relics were stolen or taken by different people. Today, most of his remains still rest in
The Basilica of Bom-Jesus in Old Goa. Francis Xavier Church, Melaka, Malaysia was built by Father Farvé, in 1856, in honor of
St. Francis Xavier. It was at one time the largest church built by the
MEP (Paris Foreign Missionary) in the
Malay Peninsula. The Resident Councillor of the East India Company
in Malacca, in a reply dated 16th April 1849 to Bishop Boucho, made an
offer to sell a parcel of land for the expressed condition of buildings
of religious and educational purposes. The offer was the site of the
ruins of
The Dominican Convent of Our Lady of the Rosary and the ramparts of the A Famosa near the
Bastion of St. Domingo. The offer was accepted and Fr Favre began the work of building a new church based on a
Neo-Gothic Design, believed to be based on the model of
The Cathedral Of St. Peter in Montpelier, Southern France.
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| Francis Xavier Church, Melaka, Malaysia(Interior) |
Finally
in 1856, the church was completed for general use and Bishop Boucho
blessed the new church on 13th January 1856. The finishing touches to
the church were completed in 1859 by Fr Allard. In 1874, the present day
presbytery was built. St Francis Xavier’s Church still serves its
function as a Catholic church, with regular mass services being held.
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