St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552)
This Spanish born Jesuit missionary spent the last decade of his life in Asia, traveling with the Portuguese fleet. He first arrived at Malacca in 1545. He passed through here many times on his shuttles between India, China, Japan and the East Indies. After his death in St. John's Island (上川島) near Macau, his body was briefly buried here in Malacca in 1553, before being returned to Goa, India.
In 1952, his statue was erected here in front of St. Paul’s Church.