COLOMBO: A sea of humanity, estimated at over half a million, according to some agencies, watched Pope Francis declare our own Fr Joseph Vaz, a saint for the Universal Catholic Church, the first saint for Goa and Sri Lanka.
The crowds, extending to a length of around a kilometre, at Galle Face Green in Colombo, a gathering perhaps never seen before, gave Pope Francis a tumultuous welcome, waving papal flags, and photographs of the pope. This was followed by traditional Sinhalese and Tamil dance performances by the youth of Sri Lanka as a greeting for the Holy Father.
In a short and meaningful ceremony, the Holy Father began the mass in Latin. A little later, the Bishop of Kandy, Vianney Fernando and the Archbishop of Goa, Filipe Neri Ferrao, presented to the pontiff the request for canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz.
This was followed by the rite of canonization which was marked by the pealing of bells, beating of drums and a thundering applause from the crowd overwhelmed by the proclamation of the apostle of Sri Lanka as a saint of the church.
The liturgy then proceeded with readings in Sinhalese, Tamil and English, while the Holy Father continued with the eucharist in Latin and English.
In an exceptionally short homily which lasted less than five minutes, Pope Francis praised the work of St Joseph Vaz, who chose to leave Goa and travel to Sri Lanka to revive the faith of the people who were deprived of the freedom to practice their religion. He emphasized that St Joseph Vaz served the people of this region without any distinction of race and religion. The homily was translated into Sinhalese and Tamil.
The ceremony concluded with a hymn in Konkani, “Zuze Vasa amchea bhava”, sung by a Goan group directed by Fr Joaquim Loiola Pereira. A large contingent of Goans was seen in the audience and most were accorded special places, not very far from the main stage.
Around 40 cardinals and bishops participated in the eucharist. Among them were Goan bishops serving in various dioceses of the country. Besides Archbishop Ferrao and Archbishop Emeritus Raul Gonsalves, there were Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi, Bishop Allwyn Barreto of Sindhudurgh and Auxiliary Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas of Ranchi.
Several Goan priests too participated in the service and these included Fr Cosme Costa, SFX, through whose birth, considered a miracle, Joseph Vaz was beatified. He was given a place of honour among those who concelebrated the Pontifical Mass.
Among those who attended the service were some Buddhist, Muslim and Christian members of the Sri Lankan cabinet, the mayor of Colombo and the brother of the former President Chnala Rajapaksha.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo thanked the Holy Father for his visit to Sri Lanka and particularly for his gift of St Joseph Vaz.
“That gift makes us truly happy for Sri Lanka has now its own saint, the pride of Goa and God’s precious gem for Sri Lanka. We thank you for this precious gift, whose life and service here in his adoptive land saved the faith of the Catholics during a difficult and painful period of history and left a lasting legacy to the unending love of God for us. God truly inspired this holy man to give up his own beloved homeland and people and to launch into the unknown, like Abraham, and to singlehandedly revive the faith of our ancestors. We thank the church in Goa for this precious gift of their son to us. There are in fact many who have come here to join us today from this lively church along with their patriarch and we welcome them with grateful hearts,” he added.
The speech of the cardinal, especially his references to Goa, was often interrupted by loud applause particularly from the Goan community present for the mass.
At the end of the celebration, Pope Francis presented to Cardinal Ranjith, a reproduction of the “Sannas”, engraved on copper of the document by which in 1694 King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe of Kandy authorised Fr Juan Sylveira of the Order of St Philip Neri and his companions to preach the gospel and build churches in his kingdom, and the people to convert to Christianity should they wish to do so. The original decree was given to Pope Leo XIII by the then Archbishop of Colombo, Christopher Bonjero OMI. The faithful of Sri Lanka reciprocated by donating 70,000 dollars to Pope Francis for papal charity.
