Even though the Portuguese India stamps got printed from the period, 1871, the stamps of Saint Francis Xavier were first printed in 1931. A set of six stamps were printed, which included Cassock, SFX arrival in Goa, Bom Jesus Basilica and the Tomb.
The second time SFX stamp was printed was on 1946 as a part of the tribute to the “Historical Men of India” and later in 1948 as a part of “Great men in India”.
On October 25, 1952, to commemorate the 4th Death Centenary, only three stamps were issued – that of the statue, the miraculous arm and the tomb. A Set of three post cards were issued on SFX with the above mentioned stamps are shown. Also several types of Air Mails were also printed . Another cover dates back to December 4, 1952 when the first philatelic exhibition ‘Exposiciao Filatelica – Goa 1952’ was held in Goa.
A special cancellation on SFX exposition was made by our GPNS member, S N Prabhu for the 1984 SFX Exposition held at Velha, Old Goa. This has both Devanagiri and Emglish script for the Cancellation and “ Give The World Jesus “ in Konkani, Devanagiri and English and a Cachet of SFX on the cover.An FDC on the SFX was issued by the Department of Posts on 24th December, 1974. A Special cover on SFX was released on 21 December, 2014 during the GOAPEX 2014 held at ESG, Panaji, Goa.
Also included in this article is a recently released stamp on Bom Jesus Basilica as part of a set of five commemorative postage stamps and a miniature sheet on UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India on 15th August 2020 on the occasion of 74th Independence Day. The cover has the Bom Jesus Basilica stamp and also the recently released Permanent Pictorial cancellation of the Bom Jesus Basilica, which was done on 9th October, 2020 by the Department of Posts, Goa Postal Division, Goa on World Post Day.
(All stamps are presented by
Dr M R Ramesh Kumar, President, Goa Philately and
Numismatics Society, Goa)
