Saint Joseph Vaz
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The Church he re-founded in Sri Lanka was persecuted and survived isolation from Rome for 140 years: | The Church he re-founded in Sri Lanka was persecuted and survived isolation from Rome for 140 years: | ||
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=The Process for his Recognition as a Saint= | =The Process for his Recognition as a Saint= | ||
1713 - The Jesuit Bishop of Cochin begins his Cause. | 1713 - The Jesuit Bishop of Cochin begins his Cause. | ||
Revision as of 14:15, 14 January 2015
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
The authors of this article are …
Melvyn MIsquita, Herald Goa 18 Sep, 2014, teamherald@herald-goa.com
Mangala Dilip, IBTimes January 14, 2015
Paul Fernandes,TNN, The Times of India | Jan 14, 2015
Timeline
1651, 21 April: Born in Benaulim, Goa, India.
1676: Ordained a priest in Goa
Shortly thereafter, volunteers to go to Sri Lanka where the Dutch were persecuting Catholics and had banned all priests from entering the island. The Chapter of Goa refuses his offer because the mission would have meant certain death for him.
1681 - Is sent to rescue the almost extinct mission in Kanara, present-day Karnataka in India. Rebuilds the Church in Mangalore and Kanara, establishes missions, tends to the sick, ransoms prisoners.
1684 - Returns to Goa and joins a band of native Indian priests who formed a community.
1685 - Founds a religious Congregation, the 'Oratory of St. Philip Neri', on September 25.
1686 - Leaves Goa secretly and sets out for Sri Lanka, which in 2015 was home to up to 1.2 million Catholics
1687 - Arrives in Jaffna in the Tamil region of Sri Lanka, with a servant, John Vaz, both disguised as coolies. He works with a price on his head.
St Vaz first entered the island country after travelling from his hometown Goa in India, disguised as a porter, The Wall Street Journal reports.
1691 - Is almost captured by the Dutch and is advised to go to Kandy. Is brought into Kandy in chains and imprisoned as a Portuguese spy by the Buddhist King, Vimaladharna Surya II.
Mistaking him for a Portugese spy, the Dutch officials had imprisoned him in 1691, and was sent to the central province of Kandy.
1693 - Works a miracle of rain during a severe drought. The King releases him and gives him protection and freedom to preach in his kingdom. As in Goa and in Mangalore, is often seen in ecstasy in prayer. The people call him "Sammana Swami" or Angelic Father. He was let go by the Buddhist King Vimaladharna Surya II, believing that he miraculously ended a drought by bringing rain through prayer.
Fearing that the Portuguese might try to win back the colony, which was under the Dutch rule, under the pretext of protecting the Church, the Dutch launched a fierce campaign to wipe out every trace of the faith in Sri Lanka. All priests were expelled from the island nation, and a few who resisted even wound up dead.
Vaz, who often ministered in secret at nights, is credited with the revival of Catholicism in Sri Lanka. CruxNow reports that Vaz converted 30,000 locals in Ceylon and took gratification in serving the poor, essentially re-establishing the Catholic faith in a nation predominantly filled with Buddhists and Hindus.
St Vaz founded several churches and chapels, helping revive the faith amidst persecution of Catholics by Calvinists.
1697 - Is joined by three of his Indian Oratorians from Goa. During a small-pox epidemic in Kandy, the King and the people flee the capital. Fr. Vaz and Fr. Carvalho, tend to the dying and abandoned victims for almost two years.
1705 - Dedicates the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu.
1711, 16 January: The Goan priest dies in Kandy, Sri Lanka
1995, January 21: beatified by Pope John Paull II, in Colombo.
Declared as: Apostle of Sri Lanka, Patron of Archdiocese of Goa, Daman
2015, January 14: Pope Francis declared Blessed Joseph Vaz a saint at an Eucharistic celebration at Galle face green park. Church bells rang and lakh of people clapped as Pope Francis said, "We declare and define Blessed Joseph Vaz to be Saint and we enroll him among the Saints, decreeing that he is to be venerated as such by the whole Church."
Pope Francis lauded the perservance and hard work of Vaz, stating that he lived as a true icon of the Lord's Word.
The Work of Blessed Joseph Vaz
His missionary work was not colonial, not helped, authorized, associated with conquest by a colonial power.
He gained the protection of a non-Christian King, Vimaladharma Surya II, a devout Buddhist.
He used Inculturation as a missionary method. He founded a Catholic para-liturgy and literature using the two languages and cultures of Sri Lanka, Tamil and Sinhalese; he practiced and taught Meditation.
He educated his servant John Vaz, a member of the Indigenous tribe of Kunbis, and sent him back to Goa with a letter of recommendation to the priesthood. At that time, the Portuguese Church Councils reserved the priesthood only for the two higher castes in Goa.
He rescued and expanded the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, one of the 5 officially crowned Marian Shrines of the Church. It was crowned for its fame for miracles and for pilgrimages in 1924, even before Fatima. He is the first non-European native in modern times to found a Mission and Church in a "Third World" country; to found a fully native Catholic Religious Congregation; and to be given the official title of "Apostle" (of Kanara and Sri Lanka) by the Church, for his work in rescuing th Church there. His Indian Oratorian Mission is the only fully native, non-European Catholic Mission of our colonial era.
The Church he re-founded in Sri Lanka was persecuted and survived isolation from Rome for 140 years:
The Process for his Recognition as a Saint
1713 - The Jesuit Bishop of Cochin begins his Cause.
1896 - Mons, Zalesky, Papal Nuncio and founder of the Papal Seminary in India, suggests that a new Cause be started. It begun by the Goan Church.
1953 - The diocesan ordinary process is sealed and sent to Rome. It contains volumes of miracles, including the three required outstanding miracles.
1954 - All 78 Bishops of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka sign a Petition to Pope Pius XII to beatify him.
1976 - Cardinal Cooray of Sri Lanka petitions Pope Paul VI for action. A Positio Historica, summary of the historical documents relating to the life and work of Father Joseph Vaz, is requested.
1985 - The Positio is submitted and the Bishops of Sri Lanka petition Pope John Paul II to beatify Vaz.
1993 - The miracle required for Beatification is approved by the Sacred Congregation for the Saints and the Pope issues the Decree of Beatification.
Miracle: the birth of Fr Costa
Numerous miracles have been attributed to St Joseph Vaz, but only one miracle – the birth of Fr Costa – was officially recognized by the Vatican. Fr Cosme J Costa is a native of Aldona (Goa, India) and in 2014 was serving at the Pilar Theological College.
Narrating the details of the miracle association with his birth, Fr Cosme J Costa said: “the process of a miracle worked by the intercession of Fr Joseph Vaz was submitted to Rome by Fr Urbino Monteiro, Vice-Postulator in Goa and the canonical enquiry was held in 1991 and submitted to the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, Rome, by the Postulator Fr James Fitz-Patrick.”
“It was studied by five eminent medical Surgeons from Rome and England. It concerned the difficult pregnancy of my mother, Quiteria de Noronha e Costa, due to “placenta previa.”
“On October 28, 1992, the Medical Council declared, “Sudden and perfect cessation of the hemorrhages followed by the delivery by leg of a premature child that survived: this event cannot be explained in our science.” “On February 19, 1993, the Congress of Theologians was held and on May 4, the session of cardinals and bishops and this fact was declared to be extraordinary. And so on July 6, 1993, Pope John Paul II declared this to be a real miracle. The beatification ceremony was held at Colombo, Sri Lanka, on January 21, 1995,” said Fr Costa.
Canonisation
2014, 18 Sep: Pope Francis approved the votes of the Ordinary Session of the Cardinal and Bishop Fathers in favour of the canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz.
A VIS press release stated, “The pontiff approved the votes of the Ordinary Session of the Cardinal and Bishop Fathers in favour of the canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz, Indian priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, founder of the Oratory of the Holy Cross of Miracles in Goa (1651-1711).”
Pope Francis, determined to honour Vaz, who is popularly known as the "Apostle of Sri Lanka", set aside one of the norms for bestowing sainthood: performing a second miracle. Calling him as "an exemplary priest", who went "out to the peripheries" to search out the people who needed him most, Pope Francis said that Vaz set the perfect example of "transcending religious divisions in the service of peace."
AP news agency reported that Pope Francis decided to “bend the Vatican's rules once again to bypass the usual requirement that a second miracle be confirmed” in the case of Blessed Joseph Vaz, who will also be Sri Lanka's first saint.
“Pope Francis had approved a decision by the Vatican's saint-making office to canonize Vaz. Usually, the Vatican must approve one miracle for beatification, and a second one for canonization. The pope usually signs an official decree attesting to the miracles.”
“But Francis bent the rules in the case of Vaz, using the same process he applied to canonize St John XXIII without a second miracle attributed to his intercession,” reported AP.
Belongs to both Goa and Sri Lanka
When Pope Francis officially approved the canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz, the question arose as to whether Blessed Joseph Vaz would now be considered a saint “belonging” to Sri Lanka, the place where he worked and died, or Goa, the place of his birth and his priesthood?
This became the subject of discussion in various circles in Goa, including the social media. Herald, Goa’s leading newspaper, set the tone by reporting that “Bl. Joseph Vaz ‘belongs’ to both Goa & Sri Lanka”
A church official clarified that though a person is declared a saint for the universal Catholic church, a peculiar situation has arisen where Blessed Joseph Vaz as a saint would “belong” equally to the diocese of Kandy (Sri Lanka) and to the archdiocese of Goa.
“This is a very peculiar situation. Unusually, saints “belong” to the diocese where they have died. Hence, Mother Teresa is known as St Tereza of Kolkata and not of Albania, her native country,” informed Fr Loiola Pereira, secretary to Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao.
“In the case of Blessed Joseph Vaz, the cause for the canonization has been known officially as the “Kandyan or Goan cause”. Therefore, Blessed Joseph Vaz ‘belongs’ equally to the diocese of Kandy (Sri Lanka) and to the archdiocese of Goa,” Fr Pereira added.
See also
Catholic saints and blesseds: India for a complete list, as well as links to the biographies of other Christian saints and blesseds
