Page 150 - The mystery of faith

PEDRO ROLDÁN

(Seville 1624 – 1699)

14. Saint Francis Xavier and Saint Francis Borgia

c. 1656
Wood, polychromed and gilded
Each 114 cm (approx. 45 in.)
PROVENANCE: Andrés Gonzaléz Moro, Seville 1960; Juan Salas, Madrid

T he Jesuit saints Francis Xavier and Francis Borgia were the two key figures in the early
history of the Society of Jesus – the religious order founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1534.
Francis was co-founder of the Society and Francis Borgia its third vicar-general between 1565
and 1572.

The Navarran Jesuit Francis de Jaso y Azpilicueta, better known as Francis Xavier, was one of the
Society’s very cornerstones, largely through his extensive missionary work in Africa, India, the Maluku
Islands and Japan. This was so highly commended that it earned him the sobriquet ‘the giant of
missionary history’.1 He was canonized on 12 March 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.2 Images of Francis
Xavier can be identified by two main attributes: the Crucifix and the flaming heart.3 In sculptures, he
is generally depicted alone, while in paintings his image is often included as part of a narrative cycle.
Occasionally, sculptures of Saint Francis Xavier are paired with those of Saint Ignatius Loyola, or as
part of a group with other Jesuit saints. The present sculpture portrays the Jesuit standing and dressed
in priestly vestments including a cassock, surplice, stole.4 The vestments fall gently and naturally in
simple folds with no Mannerism or artifice. The head is lifted to regard the crucifix that would have
been held aloft in the left hand (now lost). The right hand is held loosely open, the arm slightly away
from the body; a pose that gives the composition a vaguely triumphant gesture of restrained
expressiveness. In terms of its original polychromy, the piece retains only the encarnaciones on the
hands and head, and the original gilded base of the vestments. Judging from the limited traces of
original colour, just visible at the neckline of the cassock and the lace of the surplice, the vestments were
originally decorated with black and gold estofado on the cassock and white and gold estofado on the
surplice, with some additional ornamentation on the stole.5

Francis Borgia (1510–1572) was, in addition to being the third vicar-general of the Society of Jesus,
fourth Duke of Gandia, Marquess of Lombay, a peer of the Spanish realm, and Viceroy of Catalonia.
He was also a cousin of the Emperor Charles V, who had appointed his young kinsman to be Master
of Hounds and equerry to his empress, Isabella of Portugal. When she died in 1539, it was Francis
Borgia who was entrusted to convey her remains from Toledo to Granada for interment in the royal
mausoleum. The Jesuit historian Pedro de Ribadeneyra recorded that during his transport of the
empress’s remains Francis was compelled to open the coffin to identify the corpse before it was officially

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