Francis Xavier & Ruiji Izumi
Did you know that a blood relative of the Saint Francis Xavier is currently living in Japan? Saturday night’s episode of Sekai Ichi Uketai Jyugyou introduced him to television viewers in a short trivia segment:
Ruiji Izumi (Luis Fontes prior to naturalization) is a descendant of Francis Xavier’s brother. Just like Xavier, he is a Jesuit priest. According to JCN, he works at a church in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
In 2005, he wrote a book of life lessons in Japanese, which appears to be out of print. Amazon.co.jp is also selling a book about Ruiji Izumi’s life.
Interesting factoid mentioned in the video clip: The painting of Francis Xavier at the top of this post, which is a familiar image in almost every Japanese history textbook, was actually painted long after Xavier’s death. He may have looked nothing like the man in that painting, and as a Jesuit he probably would not have sported a semi-shaved head.
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