Fr Paul D’Souza celebrates his 90th birthday today, September 28. He calls his recent days spent at the Carmelite as the, “preparing my journey to the Lord”. Every morning, Fr Paul is up early and co-celebrates the 6.15 am English mass, come rain or shine.
From early boyhood, Fr Paul loved reading and was interested in general information. He did his schooling at St Vincent’s High School in Pune under the German Jesuits. “When I was about eleven, Italian prisoners of war, captured by the British in Africa, were interned in three camps in Pune. They were allowed a good deal of freedom and some of them used to come to our residence in Pune. One of them was Giuseppe Matera, who I think was an army cook. We gave him flour, and he took that along with me – on the cross bar of his cycle, to the camp. A few days later, he brought a cake for us from the flour we had provided,” reminisces Fr Paul.
Stuck by lighting and partially blinded in one eye, Fr Paul continues to see the light amidst a grey world and continues to light the lives of the Carmelite fathers, the community and the Postulants (pre-novitiates) day by day. An avid reader, Fr Paul is currently providing his varied inputs while assisting in setting up a library at the Carmelite Monastery, Margao.
He informs, “At the end of the war in 1945, the prisoners were repatriated. I was still a student at Vincent’s High School for the Indian Independence in 1947, and for the first Republic Day in 1950. That same year, I returned to Goa. I often visited the little chapel of the Hospicio do Clero in Margao. There, Jesus gave me signs of His overwhelming love. I did not have to choose the next step in my life. I knew I was chosen. I was led to the Carmelite Monastery in Margao on June 16, 1950. It was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – to whom my mother had great devotion. Having made my first profession in July, 1951, I began the study of philosophy. Among my professors was a Belgian Carmelite who was a great metaphysician.”
He further adds, “Since India was independent and Goa was Portuguese, I could not be sent for theology to anywhere in India. Along with Chagas Silva (Benaulim), I was sent to our Carmelite Theologiate in Rome. We could not proceed to Bombay to catch our ship, so we were flown to Karachi. There, we were detained by the police. We would have to return to Goa next day because our papers were not ready. Two Goan gentlemen working at the airport learned of our plight. They informed the Portuguese consul, who immediately came and signed some papers. So we could board in Karachi the same ship we had missed in Bombay. Therein, began our ten-day voyage to Naples.”
Fr Paul began to study theology in 1955. They visited Lourdes in 1958 and he believes that the dip in the water there has helped his over-all health. “After obtaining a Licentiate in Theology, I visited Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal. The Padroado provided the ticket for my return to Goa, where I reached on October 11, 1960,” he says.
Fr Paul vividly remembers the eve of Goa’s Liberation, “On December 18, 1961, I decided to pay a routine visit to Raia on my cycle. Somewhere near Fatorda, I beheld a long line of armored cars speeding in the direction of Margao. The Indian army had invaded Goa. I reached Raia safely. At about 10.30 am, we heard a huge explosion that shook the windows of our house. Later, we came to understand that the Portuguese had blasted the Borim Bridge. Eleven years earlier, I was present for India’s Independence, then, as a school-boy, now, as a Discalced Carmelite priest.”
In 1966, Fr Paul was transferred to Kerala and asked to teach philosophy. He has teaching experience of about 45 years principally in Mysore, Kerala, and also in Mangalore and for two years in Bangalore. “My mind had made excursions into metaphysics, cosmology, spirituality, literature and history,” he says.
Fr Silvester D’Souza, Provincial of the Carmelites recently mentioned to the congregation, that Fr Paul writes good poetry and has a great sense of humour. Fr Paul is a source of guidance, inspiration and exemplary priesthood to the postulants and the community.
One has to meet and interact with Fr Paul and interact with him to experience his Joie-de-Vivre of life, of a deeply devoted, intense and spiritually blessed priest and his great sense of humour, wit, deep sense of devotion to Mount Carmel and St Theresa and the knowledge one can acquire from a priest who is referred to as a ‘Monk’ and has 90 years of life experience.
“Now my main occupation is thanking and praising God for creating and calling me and for all the opportunities His Graciousness has given me,” concludes Fr Paul.
