On the occasion of the 5th centenary of the birth of Saint Francis Xavier, the collection of photographs of the saint compiled throughout his life by Father Georg Schurhammer (1882-1971), author of one of the most outstanding biographies of the Navarrese saint and of hundreds of works about him, has been classified. 

Father Schurhammer had prepared the materials for a critically illustrated volume on the saint's miracles and on the cult of Xavier, with numerous bibliographical entries and thousands of photographs of engravings, paintings and sculptures. 

The count of the images carried out reports the existence of 24,175, of which 12,914 are photographic negatives and 11,261 positives on cardboard and paper. The issue number of positives and negatives is in clear conflict with what Fr. Wicki reports, who stated the figure of 3,000 photographs at the death of the historian from Jaén. The reason lies in the fact that many of the images are repeated three or even four times, as they are included in clichés, positives and in iconographic and provenance files.

This book is essentially an attempt to make known this collection of images that speak of an extraordinarily widespread cult and a rich and varied iconography in cycles and, above all, in iconographic cycles. Behind each painted, sculpted, engraved or enamelled image there is a devotee, a confraternity, a town council, a parish, a nobleman or a grateful soul. Therefore, all of them enjoy that condensing character that works of art, cultural goods, possess, as they are susceptible to an analysis multidisciplinary, in which history, promotion and patronage, artists, iconography, use and function, techniques and aesthetics are integrated.

The images in the collection are not limited to the chronology of the Baroque centuries, when his iconography was created and developed, but there are many, hundreds and hundreds of nineteenth and twentieth century production, in the form of devotional prints and missals, drawings, illustrations, magazine and newspaper clippings, etc.., This means that the interest is transferred to contemporary manifestations, at a time when the figure of Xavier is changing in some respects, especially after he was proclaimed Patron of the works of the Propagation of the Faith in 1904, and Patron of all the Missions together with Saint Therese of the Child Jesus in 1927.

It is clear that this collection of images is primarily of use to art historians who devote themselves to the discipline of iconography, due to the typological variety of the collection. It is also extremely useful for those who wish to locate sculptures, paintings or engravings of the saint or to enrich the production of this or that artist, especially if we take into account that many of the works contained therein have already disappeared, due to catastrophes or wars, or have changed location.
Many of the photographs in the Schurhammer collection put us on the right track to try to find out something about the patronage and sponsorship of sculptures, paintings, engravings and other pieces of sumptuary art. We are obviously referring to those that have been preserved in situ and have not passed into collections and museums. In the latter cases, the graphic testimony of the collection enhances its documentary interest, as other motifs of a historical and collector's nature are added.

At work we analyse the characterisation of the saint and his attributes, the engraved series, the graphic sources as the inspiration for a large issue of paintings and sculptures, the evolution of some iconographic themes and the patronages of Xavier as a reason for the dissemination of his images.