| In 1927, Pope Pius XI declared St Francis Xavier together with the then newly canonized St Teresa of Lisieux, patron Saints of all Catholic Missions. 
The choice of these two Saints has a very important message, but, at first, it left a number of people puzzled why a Carmelite nun, St Teresa of the Infant Jesus (1873-1897), was chosen as co-patron of Missions. St Teresa spent nine years in the Carmelite convent of Lisieux: she entered the convent at the age of 15 and died at age of 24. She never left the convent.
St Francis is evidently the model of all missionaries and missionary work.
In the short space of ten years (from 6 May, 1542, his arrival in Goa, to 2 December, 1552, his death on the island of Shangchuan), Francis had visited India, Malacca, Japan and was planning the evangelization of China. He had traversed so many seas, preached the Gospel to so many nations, and converted so many people. The incomparable apostolic zeal which animated him, and the stupendous miracles which God wrought through him, explain this marvel, which has no equal elsewhere. He was canonized together with St. Ignatius in 1622.
The body of the saint is still enshrined at Goa in the church, which formerly belonged to the Society of Jesus. St Francis continues to attract pilgrims from all over the world and from all races and religions.
No one has ever queried the choice of St. Francis Xavier.
But then, we may ask ourselves,why choose Teresa of the Infant Jesus as patroness of Missions?
Even as a child, Teresa was fascinated by the missions. She lived at a time of epic missionary expansion, which saw hundreds of young priests and nuns leaving for Africa, South America, China and the South Seas...
When she entered the Carmel, she said: “I came to save souls and especially to pray for priests”. By praying for priests, she wanted to become an “apostle of apostles” and so make herself an even more effective missionary.
Increasingly, the whole purpose of her life became “to love Jesus and make Him loved”.
She was delighted when she was given two “spiritual brothers” and asked to help them in their ministry: Father Maurice Belliere later became a White Father and missionary in Africa; Father Adolphe Roulland, of the Paris Foreign Missions, went to China. Teresa wrote to them until she died and, in so doing, extended her vision of salvation to embrace the whole world.
This desire for the missions continued until she was on her very deathbed, culminating in the hope that she would become an even greater missionary in the life to come. She wrote to Father Roulland: “I will not be inactive in heaven, my desire is to continue working for the Church and souls. I ask this of the Good Lord and I am sure He will grant me this wish.” St Teresa would also say, “I will pass my heaven in doing good on earth.”
St Teresa repeatedly promised her sisters “I will return...”, “I will come down...” Terese of Lisieux was canonized by Pius XI in 1925 and the most astonishing thing of all is that, in 1927, the Church actually proclaimed her Universal Patron Saint of the missions (together with St Francis Xavier).
Her deep life of prayer and communion with missionaries, made her co-sharer of the work of evangelization. We may say that in the heart of St Francis Xavier there was the prayerful heart of St Teresa and in the heart of St Terese there was St Francis’ fire of evangelization.
The two saints represent the two sides of evangelization: action in contemplation and contemplation in action. They are indeed the model of all evangelizers.
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