The Meanderings of Francis Xavier

I confess—I became obsessed with Xavier. And like one of the Generals of the Society, Fr. Claudio Acquaviva, I dismembered this saint, adventurer, seeker, and reckless dogmatic troublemaker. I'd followed his journey for eight years after stumbling across a reference in Bernard Faure about Xavier's meeting a Zen master, Ninxit, in 1549. Then, when my friend Garry Demarest was in Goa, I had to have photographs of the Basilica of Bom Jesu.

I've put all four posts together here as a way of completing my tracking Xavier and a token of my admiration, with some reservations.

The Meanderings of Francis Xavier, May 22, 2010
“My friend Garry Demarest was in Goa a few weeks ago…”

A saint for the East or the Portuguese expansion into the East? May 21, 2010
“I had assumed that Xavier was in many ways the first multi-cultural saint, … Nothing could be farther from the truth.”

The Xavier I left on the cutting room floor, May 22, 2010
I collected more images than I felt I could use. But because of the interest among the Compañeros y compañeras, I created this page from what I felt that I couldn’t use.

Buddha S.J., December 11, 2008
A chapter from the book, Intimate Meanderings, which I put together with another ex-Jesuit Buddhist, Morgan Zo-Callahan.