I'm sure you've heard about the disastrous earthquake and aftershocks that has been inflicting China. This morning, the official death estimate was around 15,000 people, other estimates point north of 20,000 people were killed. That's a lot of people. We're talking REAL TRAGEDY here.

Rod Dreher in his CrunchyCon blog writes:

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a Chinese immigrant friend here in Dallas about China's rise. She told me not to be so sure of that. She said there are lots of bad things going on in China that never make the news -- natural disasters, man-made disasters and so on -- but news of which trickles out through word of mouth and the Internet. She said that the Chinese authorities are terrified of losing stability, and that to believe China is a rising monolith is really a mistake.

To hear that China is just a "paper tiger" means that they are totally unprepared to handle this mass tragedy, even if the country projects that they are strong and capable. They're going to be in a bad way, and may be that way for a very long time. Please take a minute and say a prayer for them-- they're in a Hell on Earth right now.

I took a second to look up who the patron saint is for China. There are 3 generally accepted patrons: Mary, St Joseph, and St. Francis Xavier. Mary and Joseph are patrons of everything, so I took a moment to look up St. Francis Xavier.

St. Francis Xavier is called the "Apostle to the Far East", and dedicated most of his life to preaching the Gospel to the farthest corners of the known world. Born to Basque nobility in 1506 (it seems like a lot of major saints were born rich!), the family castle and wealth was captured in one of the wars that would eventually unify Spain. Francis was ordained to the priesthood in Italy and studied and taught Philosophy at the great University of Paris (again with the U of Paris!). There he met Ignatius of Loyola (and a few others) and founded the once-illustrious Society of Jesus, which we commonly call the Jesuit order.

Xavier would travel the world, teaching around the horn of Africa, on the coasts of India and throughout Southeast Asia. Most Christians in the East have been touched by the history of Francis Xavier. He was asked by King John of Portugal to Evangelize to the people of the East Indies, then largely Portuguese territory from where they would capture slaves; Francis agreed to go, but famously admonished the King, saying "You have no right to spread the Catholic faith while you take away all the country's riches. It upsets me to know that at the hour of your death you may be ordered out of paradise."

His mission trip was a 10-year whirlwind, surviving shipwrecks, disease and infidels, he baptized thousands, ministered to the sick and taught the poor. Tradition holds that he could calm storms, speak in tongues and raise the dead! His reputation as a miracle worker brought thousands to the Faith, to which mankind could turn when the rest of life overwhelmed them.

Gentle reader, life still overwhelms mankind.

These are sad days for the Chinese. Thousands and thousands of homes are destroyed, thousands and thousands of people are dead or missing. People turn to their government to help, but in no one's estimation can the Chinese government help. I doubt that many governments could help if such tragedy was dumped into their lap. Central China is a mix of foreboding deserts and impenetrable mountains, the central Chinese are poor peasants without half the blessings of modernity. These are sad days, indeed.

Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us.