Among the causes of the diffusion of the cult of St. Francis Xavier, both in Navarre and outside of it, are the confraternities dedicated to him throughout Christendom. In Navarra, leaving aside the archconfraternity founded in the parish of San Agustín in 1885 and the brotherhood established in 1940, the old confraternities were located in Uztárroz (1676), Caparroso (1692), Isaba (1694), Mélida (1705), Estella (1706), Puente la Reina (c. 1714), Lesaca, only for women (1720), Aoiz (1723), Javier (1726), Sangüesa (1742), Falces (refounded in 1784), Abaurreas (refounded in 1806) and Ochagavía. The issue is not spectacular, with respect to those of the Virgin of the Rosary and other advocations that Gregorio Silanes has studied in his thesis . However, there is no doubt that the new model of sanctity, represented by Javier, was assumed by the elites, although it was more difficult to assimilate by the people, always more attached to traditions and legends, also in the religious field.

The confraternities were inspired, in some cases by the Jesuits, often after the realization of popular missions; in others by nobles, educated in the Society and, finally, by special devotees, such as the canon of Compostela, a native of Puente la Reina, Don Francisco de Olaegui. In this partnership we will focus on the brotherhood of Javier.

Two years later than in Aoiz, established in 1723, the confraternity of the town of Xavier, hometown of the saint, was constituted. The census of confraternities of Navarre, carried out in 1771 and preserved in the National Historical file , tells us about it: "The mayor of Xavier informs us that there is only one confraternity of St. Francis Xavier, founded in his chapel by Brief of His Holiness in 1723, and on the authority of the Reverend Bishop of this diocese, of which the vicar is perpetual prior and the mayor is its steward. It does not have more sacred or profane expenses than four reals that are given to the vicar for two masses that he celebrates annually for the brothers and what they are forty candles with which they illuminate the Lord said brothers in the two masses referred and in the per diem of the brothers, whose expense matters little, it is made with the alms that some brother who enters the brotherhood or the particular bag of each brother. It has no funds and has several indulgences for several solemn days".

The date provided by this text is confirmed by Father Escalada in his book on the saint and his castle. The edition of the same in 1881 (Pamplona, Regino Bescansa) also repeats the date, in this case extending it: 1723-1724. However, the careful enquiry of the book of the confraternity that covers between 1726 and 1886, guarded secularly in the parish of the mentioned locality, points out that the foundation took place in the holy chapel of Javier, inside the enclosure of the castle, on December 8, 1725, being confirmed its constitutions by the vicar general of the diocese, Don Gaspar de Miranda y Argaiz, future bishop of Pamplona and very devoted to the holy missionary from Navarre, on January 15, 1726. This is recorded in the notarial copy that Blas Dionisio de Beguioiz, scribe of Sangüesa, left handwritten in the initial pages of the aforementioned book. The date of 1723 corresponds, in reality, to a papal brief, dated in Rome on June 18, 1723, by which a series of indulgences were granted to the confraternity that was to be created.

The founders were the vicar of the parish of Javier, Don Francisco Azcoiti and the mayor of the same town and of the palace, Don Javier Jerónimo de Azcoiti, together with the other landlords and inhabitants of the town. All of them decided to place themselves "under the protection of San Francisco Xavier, apostle of the Indies, hoping with his protection and devotion, to achieve the end of our desires. And for this we agree to institute and form, from now on for in perpetuum, brotherhood and confraternity among the said landlords, inhabitants of Xavier, under the invocation of the said Glorious Saint in his altar and chapel, located inside the palace of the said town, site of his happy birth for the glory and honor of the Divine Majesty and worship of his servant San Francisco Xavier, so that by this means, united wills and affections, in community, more easily obtain the benefit of his sponsorship and protection, for which purpose we have obtained from the Holiness of Our Very Holy Father Pope Innocent the thirteenth (as stated in his Brief, dispatched in Rome on the eighteenth day of June of last year of one thousand seven hundred and twenty-three) the concession of jubilee or plenary indulgence in perpetuity and remission of sins for said confraternity in favor of the existing members and others who enter ..... making the diligences that in this concession are ordered...".

The graces granted by the Roman Pontiff were won by visiting the altar and chapel of St. Francis Xavier in his native house, after confession and communion, praying to God for the exaltation of the Church, the extirpation of heresies, the conversion of the infidels, peace and harmony among the Christian princes and the health and success in the decisions of the Pope. The aforementioned plenary indulgence was gained on the day of entry into the confraternity, on the feast day chosen by the confraternity, which was fixed for December 3 every year, as well as at the moment of death, "invoking the sweet name of Jesus with the mouth, or not being able to, with the heart". The papal brief granted other minor graces for other days such as that of the Immaculate Conception, the Sunday that fell within the novena of Grace and other important festivities.

The chapters or ordinances of the confraternity are very simple and even sparse in their issue. In the first one, the members are mentioned again, as well as the annual quotas, fixed at two reales per house and year, with the purpose of celebrating the saint's feast. The second establishes the amount to be paid by the brothers from outside the town of Javier, which would be two reales, in this case per person. In the third one, some celebrations are established, such as a mass within the octave of the saint's feast for the living and deceased of the brotherhood, another mass within the novena of the month of March, with attendance of the brotherhood owners of the houses of the town, if they did not have a justified impediment. In the fourth one it is about the suffrages to celebrate for the deceased, fixing the recitation of the decennial of St. Francis Xavier by the survivors, which consisted of "ten Pater Noster and ten Hail Marys for the soul of the deceased, in having news of his death, in reverence of the ten years that the saint went on pilgrimage and preaching for the conversion of the infidels, and they will gain for it sixty days of indulgence".

The fifth regulates the government of the confraternity, by means of a prior, position that would fall on the vicar of the parish, chaplain at the same time of the chapel of the saint, a steward and depositary in the person of the mayor of the town. In the sixth, the document again lists the graces granted by the pope to the confreres for the internship some works of mercy, such as accompanying the Viaticum, visiting and comforting the sick, teaching Christian doctrine, hosting pilgrims and helping the needy with alms. The founding document concludes with the names of the founding members who were Saturnino de Azcoiti, Juan José de Azcoiti, Domingo Martínez, Francisco Martínez, Fermín Martínez, Valentín Martínez, Pedro Artajo, Juan Miguel Murillo, Juan Francisco Arboniés, Francisco José Murillo, Martín de Arboniés major, Cristóbal de Arboniés, Martín de Arboniés minor, Martín de Arboniés, grandson of the major, María Antonia García de Celaya, Ana Cruz de Brun, Catalina Labari, Isabel de Iturralde, Magdalena Martínez, Juan Lanzaco, Águeda de Abinzano, Josefa Escudero and María de Hugalde.

The confraternity had a long life and the conference proceedings of visit of the bishops or their delegates have left us testimony of some data, such as the lack of accounts during some years or the approval of the same in other cases. Likewise, we find lists of confreres that are of great interest. In a list of people who joined the confraternity in the middle decades of the 18th century, before the visit of 1760, many names appear, not only from Javier, but from many towns such as Unzué, Artieda, Guembe, Cintruénigo, Cáseda, Mendigorría, Salinas de Oro, Castillonuevo, Yesa, Oriz, Sangüesa, Lerga, Undués, Pamplona, Goñi, Tafalla, Falces and undetermined places in Castile and Andalusia. Among the outstanding names are members of prominent noble families of Ágreda (Don José de Orobio y Bravo) and Cintruénigo (Don Juan Francisco Navascués), Pamplona (Don Pedro José de Echenique, Doña Fermina de Goyeneche and Don Manuel Borda, Doña María Ventura Daoiz); clergymen, like the vicar of the Abaurreas or the one of the hospital of Sangüesa and personalities of the administration, like Don Francisco Leoz Asiain y Echálaz, oidor of the Real committee of Navarre and his family, Don Pedro Cano, fiscal of the same institution or Don Andrés de Valcárcel, mayor of Court in Madrid. The lists were swollen with many people whose names appear, generally with their origin. On September 25, 1766, Joaquín de Arteaga, Marquis of Valdediano, resident in Guipúzcoa, his wife Micaela Idiáquez, daughter of Antonio Idiáquez, Count of Javier and Duke of Granada de Ega, entered with their seven children and a nephew. The cause was none other than the recovery of the speech of one of those children, for which reason they left a votive offering of a silver language with its corresponding registration, which has been preserved.

In 1773, Doña María Luisa Dominga de Aróstegui, born in Havana and married to Agustín Tomás de Jáurequi, viceroy of Peru and resident in Pamplona, together with her daughters Doña María Josefa de Jáuregui and Fermina; Don Miguel Antonio, Doña Fermina and Doña Córdula Balanza, the latter a waitress of the Virgen del Camino and mother of the first academician of San Fernando, Doña Agustina Azcona, were admitted. In 1779, Doña María Ramona and Doña Fermina Ripalda; in 1780, Don Martín José de Cordeu and his family; in 1788, Don Antonio Cerezo y Arriaga, a native of Sangüesa; in 1791, the Marquis of Gaona with his entire family and, in 1792, Don Diego María Baset, secretary of the Cortes and of the Diputación del Reino, together with his wife and children. In 1799, Don Miguel Úriz, canon of Pamplona, entered. The lists are very long and we have highlighted some notable people who, surely taking advantage of their visit to the place where the saint was born for vows or other reasons, enlisted in his confraternity.