Margao: Goa’s first and only saint so far, St Joseph Vaz, will be honored by the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman with a special Eucharistic celebration at Se Cathedral, Old Goa, on Saturday, September 26.
Special masses dedicated to the saint, who is the patron of the archdiocese, will also be held on the following day, Sunday, in all parish churches in Goa, to celebrate his sainthood.
“This day is marked in the archdiocese calendar as the Day for Lay Apostolate, encouraging the involvement of the laity (ordinary people) in the pastoral work of the Church,” said convener of the celebration committee, Fr Aleixo Menezes.
Fr Menezes, who is also rector of the Rachol seminary, told The Times of India that “the main celebrant for the special Eucharistic celebration at Old Goa would be Cardinal Oswald Gracias of the Mumbai diocese with Bishop Joseph Vianney Fernando of Kandy, Sri Lanka, preaching the homily.”
“We have sent invites to bishops wherever St Vaz had worked as well as to all the bishops of Goan origin, and we are expecting the participation of 20 bishops, including some of Goan origin, at the special Eucharistic celebration,” he added.
There will also be a book release on the life and mission of St Vaz that has been edited by Fr Menezes, as well as an exhibition displaying eight canvas paintings by various Goan artists mounted on the walls of the Se Cathedral, highlighting the Goan saint’s life and
ministry.
“This will be on permanent display and this task has been undertaken under the leadership of parish priest Fr Alfred Vaz,” said Menezes.
The archdiocese has also now changed the name of the committee—Cause of Canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz to Promotion of Devotion to St Joseph Vaz—said Fr Eremito Rebelo, rector of the St Joseph Vaz shrine at Sancoale, the paternal village of the saint.
Fr Rebelo said, “Devotion to St Vaz has grown enormously after his canonization, with the shrine seeing an increase in the number of devotees, not just from across Goa, but also from Vengurla, Sawantwadi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, and Karwar and Udupi in Karnataka.
St Vaz worked in Karwar and was also the parish priest of Ganguly parish of the Udupi diocese before he proceeded to Mangaluru. After his return to Goa from Mangaluru, he lived at the Cruz de Milagres at Old Goa, where he had founded the first indigenous non-European congregation called the Congregation of Oratorians of Goa, explained Fr Rebelo.