Location Kagoshima Denomination Roman Catholic Church | Country Japan | |
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The St. Francis Xavier Cathedral (Japanese: 聖フランシスコ・デ・ザビエル司教座聖堂) also called Xavier Church is the name given to a religious building that is affiliated with the Catholic Church and is located in the town of Kagoshima in the prefecture of the same name, in the Asian country of Japan.
It received its name because the priest, religious and missionary Francis Xavier who arrived here in August 1549 and founded a Catholic mission.
In 1908 the first stone church was built on the site in recognition of their missionary efforts, but was destroyed during World War II being replaced by a wooden church in 1949 and the present church in 1999.
The temple follows the Roman or Latin rite and is the principal church of the diocese of Kagoshima (Dioecesis Kagoshimaensis カトリック鹿児島教区) which was raised to its current status by Pope Pius XII with the Bull "Qua sollicitudine" in 1955.
It is under the pastoral responsibility of the Bishop Paul Kenjiro Koriyama.