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St. Francis Xavier
Born - 7 April 1506
Died - 3 December 1552 in China

Feastday - 3 December
Canonized - 12 March 1622 by Pope Gregory XV

Statue created - c.1669-1670
The statue is part of a group of 16 that were installed betwen March 1670 and March 1673.

Sculptor - Lazzaro Morelli
The statue is definitely attributable to Morelli. The face and typology are similar to St Joseph (131) and St Peter Celestine (111).

Height - 3.1 m. (10ft 4in) travertine
He is represented in priestly robes in the act of bringing his hands to his chest. The statue originally had a lily under the left arm.

St Francis Xavier was co-founder of the Jesuits with St Ignatius Loyola. He led extensive missions into Asia. His missionary activity was on the coast of India south of Bombay ("Mumbai"), then he passed through Malacca to work in what are now called the Moluccas in Indonesia, then south-west Japan especially Kyushu. He was trying to get to Canton when he died on the island of Shangchuan, west of Hong Kong, off the coast of China.