With joyful lips, pilgrims take off to witness once-in-lifetime event

PANAJI/DABOLIM: All their bags are packed and they are definitely ready to go. Scores of Goan pilgrims are either already on their way or set to follow a story that began in Benaulim and will conclude with the canonization of Catholic priest Blessed Joseph Vaz in Sri Lanka on January 14.
It is amid the awe, curiousity and pride that a son of the soil, known fondly in Konkani as Bhagivont Zuze Vaz, will be the first Goan to be canonized.
For travel agent Theresa D’Mello, the journey is particularly special. “His home in Benaulim is next to ours. We are also descendants of his family. We are overjoyed that a Goan son is going to be canonized and it is with faith in his intercession that 10 members of our family are travelling to Sri Lanka,” she shares.
Panaji-based architect Neville Monteiro says, “It is mainly because the ceremony is taking place next door and not as far as Rome that we are heading for Sri Lanka. It is great that the Sri Lankans followed up Vaz’s cause for sainthood. We should ensure that the same is now done with Venerable Agnelo de Souza’s case.”
On the pilgrims’ itinerary are the sites where miracles caused through the intercession of the to-be declared saint are believed to have taken place. “We will be visiting Kandy where he was arrested, as well as Joseph Vaz Pura, where he is believed to have planted an ebony cross as protection from wild animals and snakes which were a nuisance to villagers there. Having read two books on his life, I have been his devotee right from childhood and am grateful to be on this trip offered to me,” says Fr Eusebio Gomes, editor of Konkani magazine, Vauraddeancho Ixtt.
Margao-based MD of Travco Travels, Bruno Gomendes, has had to turn down numerous last-minute requests. “We were the first to conduct pilgrimage tours to Sri Lanka several years ago. Tickets are currently not available. Authorities should have ensured increased availability of tickets,” he laments.
Paul Sequeira of Zion travels says, “We have 450 pilgrims, including archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao, his secretary Fr Joaquim Loiola Pereira and bishop Alwyn Barreto. Our pilgrims have been divided into four tours, and the first left on Saturday.” Pilgrimage tour packages and airfares have spiralled with the peaked demand. Six-day packages that were introduced at 45,000 per person shot up to 55,000 each till a few days ago.
At Dabolim airport, parish priest, church of St Michael the Archangel, Taleigao, Fr Conceicao D’Silva says, “For me, Vaz is next to St Paul or St Francis Xavier. He did 300 years ago what the Vatican Council taught in 1962. He taught in the local language and developed local talent. The Church recognizes this now.”
Also spotted is a delegation of around 100 pilgrims that include Fr Jose Antonio da Costa, parish priest, Our Lady of Hope church, Chinchinim, and Fr Querobino Baptista, parish priest, Our Lady of Remedies church, Nerul.
Da Costa, who installed monuments dedicated to Vaz at his former parishes of Vasco and Navelim, intends to repeat this at Chinchinim. He says he also composed a special mando—“Padri Jose Vazu amcho apostl tum pe Indie Ceilanvacho, mogu kelo re Jezucho az patron tum amchea Goenkarancho”—along with Agostinho da Cruz in Vaz’s honour. It was sung by Vasco catechists at Old Goa 20 years ago.
Fr Aquileo Gomes, parish priest, Saviour of the World church, Salvador Do Mundo, says, “I hope it (canonization) will strengthen small Christian communities and concern for one another. As ordinary people we can do extraordinary things if there is concern for each other.”
Calling Vaz an inspiration for missionaries, Fr Joseph Fernandes, principal, Pilar ITI, says, “Having worked in Andaman & Nicobar islands, I can visualize the hardships he endured, which are an inspiration.”
Fr Rosario Oliveira of Our Lady of Rosary church, Navelim, and parishioner Martha Fernandes, part of a delegation of 31 pilgrims, are just as excited as devotees Micaela Crasto (Goa Velha), Julio P Pereira (Merces), Antonio and Celia Furtado, Carmina Cardozo, Theresa Dias and Melba Miranda (all Margao), Joao Henrique De Souza, Maria Socorrinha Pereira and Serafina De Souza (all Azossim-Mandur), Rufina De Souza and Skeeter Nazareth (both Carambolim) who had their petitions seeking cures of their ailments granted.
Francis Barreto, chairman, World Apostolate of Fatima, Goa, says, “It is a great moment. Now, next in line is the canonisation of Venerable Fr Agnelo de Souza that will take some time and we will have to work hard for him, too.”