Chapel of St Francis Xavier, Coloane, Macau

Chapel of St Francis Xavier (11 November 2007)


The Chapel of St Francis Xavier or Igreja de São Francisco Xavier is a small chapel built in 1928 in the Baroque style, and located in the small village of Coloane, in southern Macau. At the pediment of the chapel is its bell tower. The chapel is painted cream and white, a color scheme that is prevalent on most of the colonial buildings in Macau.

When I started writing this article, I cannot decide whether to call it the Church of St Francis Xavier or the Chapel of St Francis Xavier. The roadsign says "church" though most brochures call it "chapel". I think it is more correct to call it chapel, though it is probably interchangeable.

In front of the chapel is a monument commemorating the victory of the locals over pirates in 1910. As the church was only built in 1928, that would make the monument older than the church.

The Chapel of St Francis Xavier's most sacred relic was the bone from the arm of St Francis Xavier, which was kept in a silver reliquary. I said "was" because it had since been moved to the St Joseph's Seminary. St Francis Xavier died on the island of Sanchuan, about 50km from Macau. His relic was intended for Japan, but religious persecution there persuaded the church to move it to Macau. It was initially installed at St Paul's Cathedral. Then, it was moved to St Joseph's and in 1978, to the Chapel of St Francis Xavier. Recently, it has gone back to St Joseph's.

Direction sign pointing to Chapel of St Francis Xavier and other sights in Coloane (11 November 2007)

Getting there

Take bus nos. 21 or 26 to Coloane village. The bus will deposit you at the bus stop near the small roundabout. There is a direction signboard pointing the way to the chapel (it states "Church of St. Francis Xavier). From there, walk in the direction of the sea until you reach a coastal promenade. Turn left and walk along the promenade. A short distance down the road, you will see the Chapel of St. Francis Xavier.


Monument to the victory over pirates (11 November 2007)

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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