When Pope Francis proclaimed Joseph Vaz a saint shortly before 9 am on January 14, an estimated million-odd devotees attending the canonization ceremony broke into jubilation amid thunderous applause. For one person in that multitude of devotees it was a momentous occasion.

Fr Cosme Joseph Vaz Costa of Aldona, professor at the Pilar Theological College, was there and there were tears in his eyes. It was his birth that was the only approved miracle in the path that took Joseph Vaz to sainthood. The saint also happens to be the godfather of Fr Costa.

In an interview, Fr Costa narrates his emotional trip to Sri Lanka to attend the canonization of his godfather.

In Goa, you are fondly known as the ‘miracle child’. What was the reception accorded to you in Sri Lanka?

Fr Cosme Costa: As a special invitee of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka, I was treated as a VIP. Everyone addressed or introduced me as ‘the miracle child’.
As I came out of the plane, there was an airhostess with my name placard and a wheel-chair to move me to the VIP room of the airport building. They got me cleared through the immigration and other formalities, collected my luggage and drove me to St Mary’s Senior Citizens Home, some 25 kms away, in the heart of Colombo.
Because of my ill-health, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith had entrusted me to the sisters and they treated me with great affection and love. A university student escorted me and we reached there at 1.30 am. What a contrast between the entry of St Joseph Vaz into Sri Lanka as a coolie in 1687 and my entry into Sri Lanka as a VIP for his canonization ceremony 327 years later.
I was confused. I have done nothing to merit all this. It was my mother, Quiteria C P Noronha e Costa, who deserved it and she is no more. I thank the Lord and St Joseph Vaz for showering me with these blessings, because of her prayers.

The canonization was indeed the culmination of your mission and work as a priest devoted to spread the veneration of St Joseph Vaz. What were your experiences of the canonization ceremony?

Fr Cosme Costa: The inmates and Sisters at the Senior Citizens Home were taken to the venue of the canonization at 4 am in buses, but I was told to rest till 5 am and a VIP car with a police escort took me to a VIP hotel.

There, I met three Indian cardinals Telesphore Toppo (Ranchi), Oswald Gracias (Mumbai) and Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal (Trivandrum), Goan Archbishops Filipe Neri Ferrao and Raul Gonsalves, Evaristo Pinto (Pakistan) and Anil Couto (Delhi), as well as Goan bishops Allwyn Barreto (Sindudhurg), Alex Dias (Andamans), Theodore Mascarenhas (Ranchi) and Derek Fernandes (Karwar), four more bishops from Bangladesh and elsewhere.

At 7 am, these cardinals, bishops and I were escorted with security guards in a convoy of cars to the venue of the canonization, where a sea of humanity had already assembled. We dressed for the mass and went in procession. The Pope arrived and drove through the crowds till 8 am. Then, he came with the cardinals and 15 Sri Lankan bishops, walking in procession and started the mass.

Among the 120 clergymen, including the above-mentioned four cardinals, 25 archbishops and bishops, as well as representatives of diocesan and religious priests from Sri Lanka, I was the only priest from Goa (India) to be included inside the special altar enclave with the Pope. Over 6000 priests were in the congregation outside the altar enclave, who concelebrated with us. They later came to distribute holy communion.
According to police and security estimates, there were 10.5 lakh people in the congregation at the papal mass, which is nearly three times Goa’s entire Catholic population.

What was your reaction at the very moment Pope Francis canonized Joseph Vaz?

I have no words to express my feelings of the moment. I was simply overwhelmed. Tears came to my eyes. I thanked God for Joseph Vaz’s tremendous courage and dedication and prayed that Goa and my Society of Pilar may, in the present and future, produce missionaries of such calibre to spread Christ’s message. The huge wooden statue of Joseph Vaz was in front of me. I looked at the statue with intense emotion as he is my godfather. I thanked him for hearing the prayers of my mother and interceding before God to save my life. I felt fulfilled and surrendered myself to God’s will.

Was there any interesting moment during the pontifical mass?

What many Goans may not know is that an extraordinary favour had been obtained through the intercession of St Joseph Vaz in a very difficult delivery of twins to a Sri Lankan couple at Connecticut (USA).
According to medical advice, one of the twins was supposed to be very abnormal and doctors advised and insisted on performing an abortion, in order to save the other who was normal. The parents prayed to Saint Joseph Vaz and refused to undergo any abortion. The twins were delivered normal in due time. Bishop Vianney Fernando of Kandy went to Connecticut and formulated the process of this extraordinary favour obtained through the intercession of St Joseph Vaz in the difficult delivery of the twins.
This process was then submitted to the Sacred Congregation of Saints in Rome. But because its study for the approval would take a long time, the requirement of a second approved miracle was waived off by the Pope. These twins were present for the canonization mass and were even included in the offertory procession, but no announcement was made of this fact.

Did you get an opportunity to meet the Pope during his visit to Sri Lanka?

On January 13, the 78-yr-old Pope Francis had overexerted himself while greeting the people in an open pope-mobile, as they had lined up on both sides, all over the 25-km route, from the airport to Colombo. While the vehicle was being driven, the Pope was moving from left to right, all the time.
Following advice from his medical team, he had to cancel a number of audiences and a meeting with the bishops of Sri Lanka. So, I had no chance of a personal meeting with Pope Francis.
But since my miracle had been accepted for beatification, I had been presented to Pope St John Paul II in 1995. I was given a personal blessing by this saint.

This interviews appeared in heraldgoa.in