2015-01-12 15:38:00

Bells to peal in Goa at canonization of Bl. Joseph Vaz ‎


Catholic churches in the Indian state of Goa will ring their bells in celebration on Wednesday when Pope Francis declares Blessed Joseph Vaz, a Catholic priest of Goan origin, a saint in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.  "The canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz, Jan 14, is the culmination of over three centuries of expectation and supplication on the part of his devotees from Goa, Mangalore, Sri Lanka and elsewhere," Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman said on Friday.  

Fr. Vaz was born on April 21, ‎‎1651, in Goa, in what is India today.  The Oratorian priest arrived in Sri Lanka ‎as ‎a ‎missionary in April 1687 at a time ‎when Dutch colonizers persecuted Catholics ‎and ‎sponsored ‎Calvinism as the official religion. He ‎travelled throughout the island bringing the ‎Eucharist ‎and the ‎sacraments to clandestine groups of ‎Catholics.  He died on January 16, 1711 in ‎Kandy.  He ‎was ‎declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II ‎in 1995 at a ceremony in Colombo.

‎Fr. Vaz will be Sri Lanka's first saint and the third of Indian origin to be conferred sainthood by the Vatican.  Archbishop Ferrao said Goans across the globe were "spiritually and eagerly" awaiting Wednesday’s canonization "as a sign of our deep spiritual communion with the Church gathered in Colombo, bells be pealed at 9 a.m. Jan 14 in all the churches and chapels of our Archdiocese".  (Source: UCAN)








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