The Miracles of St. Francis Xavier

This monumental painting was displayed alternately with The Miracles of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Inv. No. GG 517) on the high altar of Antwerp’s Jesuit Church. St. Francis Xavier stands preaching to a crowd of people. Some of the miracles he performed as part of his missionary activity in Asia are vividly depicted, both as a testimony to the Counter-Reformation and as preparation for the beatification of St. Francis Xavier in 1619. A man is summoned back from the dead, the blind and lame are healed, and in the temple an idol is falling, broken, to the ground.