THURSDAY, MAY 02, 2024
Fr Jacome Gonsalves, an Oratorian Priest and Missionary along with St Joseph Vaz in Sri Lanka, is an illustrious and extraordinary talented son of soil of Divar Island. Born on June 8, 1676 in the Island of Graca (Maddel) Chorao at his mother’s home, Fr Jacome went to become the most successful missionary in the Island of Sri Lanka. On July 17 marked the 279th Anniversary of this Saintly Goan Missionary who toiled silently in the land of Ceylon with Faith, Love and Sacrifice.
Fr Jacome studied at Parochial School Divar, after that he joined at St Paul’s College, a deemed University of Goa, in Old Goa and obtained the Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1696. He then pursued his studies in Theology at the Dominican College of St Thomas Aquinas in Old Goa, where he also holds the post of Organist. He was Ordained Priest in April 1700 by Rt Rev Agostinho de Anunciacao, Archbishop of Goa at the Cathedral of St Catharine.
Fr Jacome Gonsalves later joined the Oratorian Congregation and went to Sri Lanka on May 9, 1705 to join St Joseph Vaz. He carried out his arduous missionary work for 36 years. He died on July 17, 1742 and was buried in the Church of Bolwatte in Sri Lanka. He was known as the “Father of Catholic Literature of Sri Lanka”. That is because of the service he had done to the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka through his books. He has written 42 books including 22 in Sinhala, 14 in Tamil, five in Portuguese and one in Dutch.
Strange as it may appear with the Canonisation of St Joseph Vaz in Sri Lanka by Pope Francis in January 2015. The people of Divar took the initiative for the cause of Fr Jacome Gonsalves with great enthusiasm and effervescence with the formation of Committee for the cause of Canonisation of Fr Jacome Gonsalves on November 22, 2015 under the chairmanship of Fr Jose Dias, Parish Priest of Our Lady of Piety Church, Divar.
The Parishioners of Piedade then decided to have an Annual Commemoration on July 17, to pay tributes to the great missionary -- Fr Jacome Gonsalves. On July 17, 2016, a naming ceremony of the main village road fronting his three- and–a-half century old ancestral house as “Fr Jacome Gonsalves Road” was held. The plague was jointly unveiled by Fr Ermito Rebello and Engineer Jose de Albuquerque, in the presence of large crowd.
In July 2017 a biographical book “Fr Jacome Gonsalves – A Magnificent Life” by Engineer Jose de Albuquerque was released. Again in the year 2018 on July 17, a plague of Fr Jacome Gonsalves on the wall of Our Lady of Piety Church, Divar was inaugurated by Fr Jose Dias. In the year 2019, the Parishioners of Divar installed two statues – One of Fr Jacome Gonsalves and another of his Companion St Joseph Vaz in front of the church.
Last year, on July 17, a Statue of Fr Jacome Gonsalves was installed in the room of Fr Jacome Gonsalves Ancestral House (presently Our Lady of Divar High School). Also the Nursery, Lower and Upper KG Classrooms were renovated and named after Fr Jacome Gonsalves, on the occasion.
This year the 279th anniversary of Fr Jacome Gonsalves could not be celebrated in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. So on July 17, 2021, the Islanders decided to have a Tree Plantation Programme in the yard of Our Lady of Piety Church, Divar. Let us pray that the Church may acknowledge Fr Jacome as a Saint.
