This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Few letters have been so enthusiastically received & so widely diffused as those of the sixteenth-century Jesuit missionary & Saint, Francis Xavier. Written from India, the Indonesian archipelago, Japan, & the island of Sancian off the coast of China, these letters were copied, recopied, translated into Latin, German, French, & other languages, & frequently printed for wider circulation. They are filled with information on newly discovered lands & cultures, & they are filled with the missionary spirit, the zeal for the honor & glory of God, which animated the whole of Xavier's life & work. They constitute a religious classic & an historical resource heretofore unavailable in English. Francis Xavier was one of the first companions & followers of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In 1540, he set off as a missionary to southern Asia, where in the midst of ten years of ceaseless labor he produced the 138 letters & instructions that this book contains. The translator of this highly readable English version, M. Joseph Costelloe, S.J., is well known in scholarly circles for his masterful translation of the definitive four-volume biography, FRANCIS XAVIER, HIS LIFE, HIS TIMES by Georg Schurhammer, S.J., published by the Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome.