Javier - Travel & Tourism Guide Javier - Espagne

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This village of 122 inhabitants (2023) is inseparable from its castle, birthplace of the famous Saint Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary from Navarre in the 16th century, and a place of pilgrimage on the occasion of the Javieradas (early March). Co-founder of the Society of Jesus, Francis Xavier was canonized on March 12, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, along with his great friend, priest and theologian Ignatius of Loyola. The Javieradas have been celebrated since 1886, when Navarre was ravaged by a cholera epidemic that the invocation of St. Francis Xavier is said to have put an end to. The pilgrimage continues today as a tribute to this historic episode.