To commemorate his 274th death anniversary on July 17, a religious service will be held, at the Our Lady of Piety, at his native island.
With the support of the village panchayat and other authorities, the main village road of the island, fronting his three and half century old ancestral house, will be named ‘Fr Jacome Gonsalves Road’.
A statue of the illustrious son of Divar will also be installed at the ancestral house, where presently the Our Lady of Divar High School is functioning.
A book, Fr Jacome Gonsalves — A Magnificent Life, by Eng Jose F F de Albuquerque is under publication.
In Goa, Fr Eremito Rebello, former vice-postulator for the cause of canonization of St Joseph Vaz, initiated in 2015 the spade work for pursuing the cause of canonization of Fr Jacome, and preliminary action has been initiated with the active participation of his co-islanders of Divar.
The parishioners at Our Lady of Piety Church, at his native island of Divar, held the first annual commemoration day to pay tribute to the great missionary last July. On the occasion, the Divarkars formulated a plan to undertake the preliminary work of instituting the cause of canonization of the illustrious son of the island. An executive committee was formed to coordinate all the local activities and a prayer group formed to pray for the cause.
This illustrious son of Piedade-Divar, was born on June 8,1676, the eldest son of Thomas Gonsalves, from Navelim-Piedade, and Mariana de Abreu, from the neighbouring island of Chorão.
He was born at Graça-Chorão, at his mother’s home. His family was one of the earliest converts to Catholicism in the early 16th century, at the beginning of the Portuguese Rule, and he grew up in the religious environment of a profoundly Catholic family.
With an intense and exuberant temperament, and a lively and precocious intelligence, he had a delicate and pleasant personality. After his elementary schooling in the island, at the young age of 17 years, he joined the Jesuit ‘Colégio de S.Paulo’. After a brilliant course, he obtained his degree in Arts, in 1696.
He then pursued studies in theology at the Dominican College of St. Thomas Aquinas (‘Academia de S. Tomaz de Aquino’), in the city of Goa. He had a tremendous intellectual capacity, with a high receptivity and faculty to absorb immense knowledge. He completed his course on theology with great distinction.
In Sri Lanka, where his missionary action took place and he rests in a grave at the St Mary’s Church at Bolwatte, the congregation venerate Fr. Jácome as a saint, hoping that he would be beatified very soon. In fact, there is a strong movement in his diocese to promote the cause of his canonization.
Fr Jácome was a very close companion to St Joseph Vaz. In fact, to him he had entrusted the tremendous task of creating a truly native Catholic culture and enculturation of Ceylon.
His life and mission is closely intertwined with the life of St Joseph Vaz. He was there to assist him with great devotion and love during his last days of his life, till his saintly death on January 16, 1711. As a close companion to St Vaz, he lived painfully the whole saga of his suffering and death.
One of Fr Jácome’s great works of profound impact on the future of the Catholic Church in Ceylon was the ‘Colonisation of Catholic Communities’. The persecution by the Dutch had created in the Catholic communities in Ceylon a peculiar sort of faint heartedness, which only a courageous and very confident leader could overcome. Fr Jácome had this ability and charisma to impart confidence to this demoralised flock, and thus continued the extraordinary work initiated by St Vaz and further developed it, with an innovative approach.
