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Catholic Christian Outreach

The tour was arranged to coincide with Canada’s 150th birthday and organizers hope the relic will be seen by 100,000 people during its time in Canada. It is believed the tour will result in “a conversion of souls, the raising of disciples and healing,” according to the CCO.

The relic very rarely leaves the Church of the Gesù in Rome, CCO co-founder Angèle Regnier told The Catholic Register.

“That’s the arm that baptized hundreds of thousands,” she said.

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Xavier was born in 1506, studied in Paris and became one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, more familiarly known as the Jesuits. He spent most of his life converting to Catholicism people in India and the rest of Asia. He died in 1552 and was buried on an island in China. However, by the following year his body was moved to India in a silver and glass casket. Though his right forearm and other bones were removed to serve as relics, his body is considered “incorrupt” because it has not decayed.

Xavier was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622.

St. Francis Xavier’s arm will arrive in Montreal Jan. 28 at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral, 1085 de la Cathédrale St. On Jan. 30, it will be moved to St. Ignatius of Loyola Church, 4455 West Broadway St., then Church of the Gesù, 1202 de Bleury St. For details and times of public venerations, go to cco.ca/relic.

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