Two Goan priests beatified by Orthodox Syrian Church

Panaji: Two Goan priests, Fr Antonio Francisco Alvares (Mar Julius) and Fr Roque Zeferino Noronha were declared blessed saints by the Catholicos of the Indian Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, at Brahmavar, Karnataka at 8.30 am on Sunday.

The beatification ceremony at St Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Cathedral was attended by thousands of devotees, including members of Noronha’s family.

Fr Alvares (1863-1923), a priest from Verna was the first Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop of Goa and Ceylon and was declared blessed earlier at Ribandar, but sources said the confirmation came at the ceremony in Brahmavar. Barely 13 kms north of Udupi, the Syrian Orthodox church in Brahmavar along NH-17 is the only Konkani-speaking community in that church in India, sources said.

“This is a honour to Christians in Goa, as both priests are from this state,” Elgar Noronha, a resident of Salvador do Mundo told Times of India on Sunday.

Fr Noronha was from Anjediva but his family members settled at Badem, Salvador do Mundo, Dongorim and Chorao. Noronha, who attended the ceremony said, “Fr Alvares brother was my great grandfather.”
After serving as an assistant parish priest and chaplain in Salvador do Mundo he joined the Syrian Church at Brahmavar.

Sources said he built St Mary’s Church through his own efforts and lived his entire life ministering to the poor people.

“His tomb lies in the heart of the Church, always full of candles lit by thousands of his devotees. Many miracles and healings have been reported at the same for last 80 years,” Fr Isac CA, Vicar General of St Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Cathedral.

A month before his death, a Cross appeared on his back. “It was clearly visible by those who served him, especially a woman who is nearly 90 years old now,” Fr David Crasta, a parish priest of St Anthony’s Church, Kololgiri said.

The beatification of both priests follows the canonization of another Goan missionary, St Joseph Vaz in January 2015. Bishop Alvares, too, is known for his great work as he ministered to the poor afflicted by epidemics like cholera, typhoid and plague around 1871. He died at Ribandar hospital in 1923 after working in Canara and Ceylon. “The beatification is is the penultimate stage, as in the Roman Catholic Church, before canonization,” Fr Isac said.