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Apr. 17 Exposition of St. Xavier Draws Thousands of Pilgrims. The body of St. Francis Xavier, which is revealed every ten or twelve years, is now on view to thousands of devoted catholic pilgrims, who come from all over India and from overseas, to see the miraculously preserved body in the SE Cathedral of Old Goa, India, The body has been enshrined in the Basilica of Bom Jesus, in Goa, since the death of the Saint in 1552. St. Francis, known as the apostle of the east, came to Goa, the Portuguese colony on the west coast of India, in 1542 as a missionary. he was born in Spain. The extraordinary resistance to natural decaying influences, is regarded as a miracle, it is easily recognisable though shrunken. The pilgrims file past continuously at an average rate of 15 per minute, after queuing in the 100F plus temperatures outside the cathedral. Confessionals are conducted in 6 Indian languages and English and Portuguese. Goa itself has a catholic population of about 340, 000. It is being suggested that this could be the last exposition, but this has been rumoured on previous expositions. A pilgrim lights her candles to the glass tomb cover, to be blessed by the presence of the Saint. many pilgrims press rosaries and crosses to the glass for blessing

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