14 January, Caranzalem: The 14th of January has been a red letter day in the history of the Church of Goa. Our very own Goan saint has today been raised to the honours of the altar. In Sri Lanka, His holiness, Pope Francis, declared him a ‘Saint’. This great occasion gave us all a reason to exult and rejoice. We celebrated this great event here with much joy and pride. The picture of St. Joseph Vaz was decorated and displayed in a prominent place at the entrance of the school and on the school grounds where we had a solemn prayer service. The notice boards too were decorated for the occasion with the words ‘The pride of our Goan soil’. The prayer service included a brief history about the life and misson of St. Joseph Vaz, miracles that were worked during his life time, hymns in Konkani in honour of the saint and prayers of intercession. At 9 am the approximate time of the canonization in Sri Lanka, all the Churches in Goa were asked to ring the bells in joyful exultation. The entire school community, i.e. the sisters, the teaching and non-teaching staff, the primary and secondary students were present on the school grounds in silence and gratitude as they heard the peeling of the Church bells and the sound of crackers. All thanked the Lord for this great blessing to Goa and prayed in silence to this great saint. To solemnize the occasion all on our premises: students, teachers, support staff, drivers, attendants, construction workers and Sisters were given a bar of chocolate.
In the evening, we had a prayer service for the students of the NIOS in the chapel in front of the decorated picture of the great saint.
May St. Joseph Vaz intercede for us before the throne of God.
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I too was fortunate to be in Goa today to share in the pride and joy of the Goan people as a son of the soil – St Joseph Vaz – was raised to the honours of the altar by Pope Francis in Sri Lanka. I had the good fortune of visiting the place of his birth in Benaulim and also the place where he lived with his family and grew up as a saintly young man….Sancoale..along with the community of Velim. All praise and glory to God for this new Indian saint. May he help us to love God above all and be passionate and zealous evangelizers of the young…as he was of the Sri Lankan catholics.
St. Joseph Vaz, pray for us!