The chapel of St Francis Xavier
The chapel in the right transept was designed by for Monsignor, later Cardinal, Giovanni Francesco Negroni, who held its patronage. Four great columns of veined red marble with Corinthian capitals carry a broken pediment, and in the gap a large stucco relief shows Xavier carried to heaven by angels in a burst of gilded rays.
The altarpiece, by , shows Xavier dying on the island of , in the far East. On the arch above, Giovanni Andrea Carlone painted the saint in glory, the crucifix he lost at sea and that a crab brought back to him, and the baptism of an Indian princess.
On the altar step is the that holds the right forearm of the saint. It was separated from his body, which is venerated in Goa, by the Jesuit General in 1614.
Sources: the chapel of st francis xavier
The church's own site and its printed guide describe the chapel, the painters and the relic.
The man in the reliquary
Xavier left Goa for Japan on 15 April 1549 with Anjirō and his Japanese companions and two Jesuits, Father Cosme de Torres and Brother Juan Fernández. He landed at Kagoshima on 15 August, the feast of the Assumption, was welcomed by Anjirō's family and friends, and on 29 September was received by Shimazu Takahisa, lord of Satsuma, who gladly let him preach. In Yamaguchi, with gifts first meant for the emperor, he won leave to preach from Ōuchi Yoshitaka, and his house filled with visitors asking about the earth, the sun, eclipses and comets. Hubert Cieslik SJ, writing of the whole Japan mission, says that every missionary after him worked in the light of the way Xavier had opened.
Building the Gesù
wished to build a larger church on the spot and dedicate it, like his order, to the Name of Jesus. Foundation stones were laid around the end of 1550 and again on 6 October 1554, both times with Ignatius present, but disputes with neighbouring families stopped the work. In July 1561 Cardinal Alessandro Farnese promised to pay for the church, and the definitive first stone was laid with great festivity on 26 June 1568. Vignola, the Farnese architect, designed a single wide nave with side chapels. On 25 November 1584 Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santori, delegate of Pope Gregory XIII, consecrated it. Four months later, on 23 March 1585, the four young envoys from Japan reached Rome and were received by the same pope.
Ignatius and Xavier
Across the transept from Xavier is the chapel of St Ignatius; on 23 July 1637 his body was laid in a gilded bronze urn by Alessandro Algardi, given by a benefactress, Francesca Giattini.
