Another time, walking through the streets of the same city, his thoughts were so wholly taken up with God, that he perceived not a furious elephant, who, being broken loose, caused a general terror, and every man made haste out of his way.  It was in vain to cry out to the Father, that he might avoid him; he heard nothing, and the enraged beast passed very near him without his knowledge.

In his voyages at sea, he continued earnestly in prayer, from midnight even to sun-rising, and that regularly.  From thence it came almost to a proverb amongst the seamen, “That nothing was to be feared in the night, because Father Francis watched the vessel; and the tempests durst not trouble them, while he held conversation with God.”

A man of Manapar, at whose house he lodged, and who observed him at divers hours of the night, found him always on his knees before a crucifix, and frequently beheld the chamber enlightened by the rays which darted from his countenance.

While he was sojourning among Christians, the small repose he gave to nature was commonly in the church; to the end he might be near the blessed sacrament, before which he prayed all the remainder of the night.  But in countries where yet there were no churches built, he passed the night in the open air; and nothing so much elevated his soul to God as the view of heaven, spangled over, and sowed, as it were, with stars; and this we have from his own relation.

The Pope had permitted him, in consideration of his employments and apostolical labours, to say a breviary which was shorter than the Roman, and had but three lessons:  it was called the “Office of the Cross,” and was easily granted in those times to such who were overburdened with much business.  But Xavier never made use of this permission, what affairs soever he was pressed withal, for the service of Almighty God:  on the contrary, before the beginning of every canonical hour, he always said the hymn of Veni, Creator Spiritus; and it was observed, that while he said it, his countenance was enlightened, as if the Holy Ghost, whom he invoked, was visibly descended on him.

He daily celebrated the sacrifice of the mass with the same reverence and the same devotion with which he had said it the first time, and most ordinarily performed it at break of day.  Those heavenly sweets which overflowed his soul at the altar, spread their mild inundations even over the assistants; and Antonio Andrada reported of himself, that, being then a young soldier, he found such an inward satisfaction when he served the Father, in serving at mass, that, in that consideration, he sought the occasions of performing the clerk’s office.