It's not often that you get to meet one of the most famous missionary saints in history, even if it's just his arm.

Saint Francis Xavier is a famous missionary. He travelled to the far edges of Asia but died before he could make it to China.

"In the church, he would be considered the greatest missionary after Saint Paul," said Angele Renier, the founder of Catholic Christian Outreach and one of the main organizers of the relic's visit. Catholic Christian Outreach is a national university student movement in campuses around Canada, including the University of Winnipeg.

Saint Francis Xavier died on December 3, 1542, just off the coast of China, where he was hoping to evangelize. This is where his story gets interesting, says Renier.

"When he died, they knew he would have to bring his body back to Malaysia," Renier explained. "While waiting for better weather, they buried him in quicklime so he would decompose faster."

But he didn't. When the crew dug him up two months later, his body hadn't decomposed or corrupted. They brought Saint Francis back to Malaysia, where they buried him again, this time by just throwing him in the dirt. He was dug up once again a year and a half later to be moved. He still hadn't decomposed.

"This isn't trying to preserve a body because we admire this person," Renier said. "This is just unexplainable."

The 466-year-old severed arm has still not been tampered with and remains incredibly preserved. Renier says the hand still has flesh on it.

"It's not pretty," Renier said. "It doesn't look fresh . . . but it's also not a [466-year-old] hand."

Renier says that Saint Francis Xavier is important to their movement and their ministry because he came to faith in university with the help of his roommates. She thinks that is the perfect inspiration for the students that she is working with.

"I would compare this to the experience of John Paul coming for his cross-Canada visit," Renier laughed. "Maybe not that much [but] we just don't get this kind of thing often in Canada."

The arm is permanently housed at the Church of the Gesu in Rome, but they have allowed it to visit Canadian soil for the first time. The tour lasts 30 days and will arrive in Winnipeg on Tuesday, January 16 at St. Mary's Cathedral. Organizers expect close to 100,000 people to come visit the arm during it's tour.

"The fact that [the Church of the Gesu] gave us this extraordinary privilege is crazy," Renier said.