Basilica

When, how, why was the Basilica built?
The pediment inscription explains it: “In order to glorify God in this place, cradle of St. Francis Xavier; and so that the II Count of Guaqui may rest in peace under its shelter; the widow of this noble gentleman, the Duchess of Villahermosa, a descendant of the Apostle of the East, ordered the building of  this church in 1896; it was finished in 1900, consecrated in 1901, and declared Basilica by Pope Leo XIII. Do pray God for those buried here and for the founder”. But we have to go back in history, as there have been several shrines on this site and for the same reason.

The room where Francis had been born in 1506 became an ‘spontaneous’ shrine as soon as his death was known. The sixth witness at the Beatification Process, Fermín Cruzat, Parish Priest of Javier, declared on 14th march 1614: “because of the veneration and devotion towards the servant of God, people from diverse nations, some from India, come to the room where, as common tradition has it, was born the said Father Javier... they kiss the ground and the walls, and take bits of brick and splinters of the doors...” 

1619 25 October Beatification of Francis Xavier. 
The lord of the manor of Javier, Juan de Garro, stirred by the growing popular devotion, transformed the room into a place of pilgrimage and prayer.

1622 12 March Canonization of St. Francis Xavier.
Repairs, alterations and improvements were unavoidable along the passing of time; although not as many or significant as it’d have been if the lords of the manor would have been residents in the place, but they hardly, if ever, came to this small and inaccessible village.

1890 The owner of the place, Duchess of Villahermosa, decides to do something about her forgotten and broken down estate. First it was a semi-reconstruction of the ancient Castle, purposely kept half-way between a fully identical restoration [3], and the practical needs of the moment. The death of her husband in 1903 made her revise her original plans. She fancied a crypt as family pantheon (‘flooded in light’) underneath a glorious temple (‘capacious and luminous’) worthy of her ‘ancestor’ St. Francis Xavier. 

That was done in a later restoration in 1952-1956. In preparation to the V centenary of the birth of St. Francis in 2006, a third restoration was undertaken to clean, drain and repair the wear and tear, and to turn the northern polygon into a Museum, so that visitors may learn about the person and work of St. Francis Xavier, and the art his figure inspired.