TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Liturgical services, prayers and abstinence marked Good Friday as the Catholic community participated in services across the State to reflect on the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.
Prayer services were conducted in most churches, chapels and Catholic institutions in the morning, with people participating in the Way of the Cross to reflect on the 14 key events on the day of Christ’s crucifixion on Mount Calvary.
The main religious services were conducted amid packed congregations all over the diocese in the evening. While Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrao was the main celebrant at the services in the Se Cathedral, Arichishop Emeritus Raul Gonsalves celebrated the Good Friday services at the chapel attached to the archbishop’s house in Panjim.
In his homily, archbishop Gonsalves highlighted the suffering of Jesus and stated that Jesus did not want to run away from suffering, but accepted it as the will of his father.
While no Mass is celebrated on Good Friday, the Church celebrated a special liturgy service in which the account of the Passion of Jesus was read, followed by a series of intercessory prayers (prayers for special intentions) for the Church and the entire world, Christian and non-Christian, religious and secular leaders and for those who are suffering.
This was then followed by the veneration of the Cross by the faithful and the Good Friday liturgy concluded with the distribution of Holy Communion.
After the liturgy services, most parishes conducted processions of Christ symbolically laid in a coffin, which were followed by prayer services and night vigils.
A unique Good Friday ceremony, popularly known as ‘Xempdeachem Pursanv’ (Procession of Tails), was conducted in the Se Cathedral in Old Goa, a practice which reportedly dates back to 1534, when Pope Paul III raised the former church to the status of Se Cathedral.
The ‘Xempdeachem Pursanv’ consisted of canons of the Cathedral Chapter attired in black robes, faces covered and with tails attached behind their robes, participating in a procession.
According to church leaders, Goa is the only place in the world after Rome where such a procession is held on Good Friday. Incidentally, Se Cathedral is the only one in Asia to have a cathedral chapter and at present, there are seven canons in the cathedral chapter.
