The "Failure" of St. Francis Xavier - another biography of the Apostle of the Indies and Japan. This one focusses on how the people of his time (his family, University Officials, the King of Portugal, even St. Ignatius) must have seen him as a "failure".

The article is beautifully written, and I strongly advise you to read it.

... St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the East, was not wholly a success; had he been that he would have failed to resemble his Master, the Failure of Calvary. And in that very failure, more than in all his triumphs, is the real greatness of the saint to be found. For through it all he never once flinched or surrendered.

He appealed to be brought home, but he did not linger for the recall. He appealed for better support, but he went on using what he had at his disposal. He saw in all his failures proof of his own incompetence; but he strove with might and main to give without reserve the little he had to give. Xavier was great, not so much because of what he did as because of what he failed to do.