The successors of the Apostles, the Popes and bishops, and the most renowned priests of the Catholic Church of all times have paid profound veneration to the Blessed Virgin; they have saluted her as their Queen, and placed their Apostolic labors under her protection. We know, for example, that St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of India and Japan, venerated Mary all his life with sentiments of reverence and tenderness. He made his first vows in Paris on the feast of the Assumption of Mary in the church of Montmartre, which is dedicated to Mary, the Queen of Heaven. The thought of her was ever in his mind. When he implored God for any grace, it was through Mary's intercession. Frequently he made the glories and the goodness of Mary the subject of his instructions, admonishing his hearers to venerate Mary. He urged them to consecrate themselves to her service, and he concluded all his discourses with the "Hail, Holy Queen". He never undertook anything without having first invoked her, and he always had recourse to her for protection in the innumerable dangers to which he was so frequently exposed. He considered it an honor to show exteriorly that he was her servant. He wore around his neck her Rosary, which he said daily, and which he used in performing some of his miracles whereby many unbelievers were converted. When on his missionary journeys he met great sinners, he fervently prayed to the Mother of Mercy to obtain for them the grace of a return to her Divine Son.
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