In the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, the feast of St Sebastian is celebrated on January 20, annually. In Goa, various crosses, chapels and churches are dedicated to St Sebastian and the last of these festivities culminate a Sunday before Ash Wednesday. For parishioners of
St Sebastian Church, Aquem, Margao, the feast and Margao Carnival coincide.
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The faith in Margao, revolved around the quaint 16th Century chapel, famous as, Puddam Copel or Pandava Copel, having an archeological heritage of the laterite stone caves. The first seed of the Catholic faith was laid here by Portuguese missionaries and the conversion of the Hindu temple, ‘Pandavanchem Diull’, at the foot of Monte Hill followed. The temple belonged to Tipu Santu Naique Sar Dessai of Aquem, a self-proclaimed descendent of Pandavas. A chieftain, Dessai along with locals, embraced Christianity on the leap day, February 29, 1560. Aquem was mainly a Kshatriya (warrior tribe), dominated area. Dessai, agreed to be baptized as, ‘Sebastian Coelho’, and from 1562, the feast of St Sebastian is celebrated on the Sunday proceeding to Ash Wednesday.
Catholics from Chinchinim, Sirlim, Navelim, Benaulim, Colva, Raia, Loutolim, Curtorim, Davorlim, Margao, Borda, Fatorda and Aquem Baixo to even Sao Jose de Areal worshipped St Sebastian as legend of healings spread. On November 3, 2003, the chapel was elevated to a church. Later, in 2009, the new church was inaugurated by Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao, with Fr James Torres e Silva as the parish priest.
The sacred relics of St Sebastian
The gem studded golden reliquary bearing a relic of St Sebastian was brought from Italy as per late Fr Elias Dias. Considered the pride of the chapel, it was incorporated in the altar. The congregation was blessed with the relics and during the maddi, novena-salves and feast, the relics were kept for public veneration. A plague and small pox ravaged Margao, which after taking out the image and relics of St Sebastian, subsided. Mothers with children, as also the sick would seek blessings.
The famous Torsan Zor
St Sebastian’s miraculous healing is also associated to a fresh water spring called, Torsan zor in Aquem, frequented by many. A frame with the saint’s picture stood fixed at the rock and from a crater gushed water. The spring didn’t dry even during peak summer.
(The writer is a parishioner of
St Sebastian Church, Aquem).
