TEAM HERALD
CORTALIM: The feast of the Patron of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, Blessed Joseph Vaz will be celebrated at Sancoale Sanctuary on January 16.
Masses will be at 5, 6, 7 and 8 am and 4 pm and 5.30 pm. Archbishop-Patriarch Felipe Neri Ferrao will be the main celebrant at the concelebrated mass at 10 am. A procession from the Sanctuary to the paternal house of Blessed Joseph Vaz at Sancoale followed by mass will be at Noon.
Blessed Vaz entered Sri Lanka in 1687 during the Dutch occupation, when Calvinism was the official religion. He travelled through the island nation bringing the Eucharistic and sacraments to Catholics. Blessed Vaz who died in Kandy, Sri Lanka on January 16, 1711, managed to save the Catholic faith from extinction there.
The 17th Century missionary Joseph Vaz was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1995 at Galle, Sri Lanka and needs one more miracle to be declared a Saint.
Meanwhile, the traffic arrangements on the feast day (January 16) will be as follows.
Vehicular traffic from Cansaulim, Zuari Nagar will have to halt at the Sancoale church ground while traffic via Cortalim will have to halt at Cortalim Church ground. Shuttle buses will ply to transport the devotees from 4 am from both the places till the end of church services.
