With due consideration for the vast and multi-faceted erudition of Prof. Nandkumar Kamat, I must point out to a serious misrepresentation in the otherwise scholarly article of Prof. Kamat on Abbe Faria, appearing in The Navhind Times of 29th May last and in Goanet Digest, III, 547.
The extensive article refers to the father of the Abbe as one who, rather strangely, "had taken the vows of priesthood" and "left the religious duties" in order to get married to the one who, two years later, would become the mother of the great Father of Hypnotism. Stranger still, Prof. Kamat says a little later that "they .separated after the birth of Jose Custodio" (the Abbe) and the father "became a priest again," thus implying that a Catholic priest took leave of his priesthood for the sake of a trial marriage and was all too easily re-admitted by the Church into the priesthood within a couple of years, after the marriage failed. Well aware of the confusion that the above statements of the learned Professor may create in the minds of his readers, leading them eventually to a derogation of the Church's teaching on the Order of Priesthood, I would like to set the record straight: Caetano Vitorino de Faria was indeed studying to be a priest. But he left the seminary, admittedly even "after completing his theological education," as Kamat states, but certainly before he could receive the Sacred Orders, that is, before he could become a priest. His marriage with Rosa Maria de Sousa lasted for at least six years, but ended in both of them agreeing to seek church dispensation in order to pursue a religious vocation. Thus Caetano became a priest and Rosa, a nun, with the father taking over the custody of the son, who in turn would also become a (very famous) priest. It is a lesser-known fact that both father and son were among the first priests from Goa to earn a doctorate in Theology, in Rome, the son going ahead to take yet another doctorate in Philosophy. It is even less known that the son who would later be known as Abbe Faria was personally invited by Pope Pius VI to preach on the Feast Day of the Holy Spirit, in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, in the presence of the Pope. The year was 1780, the sermon was in Latin and brown-skinned Fr. Jose Custodio de Faria was only twenty four years of age! Of course, he would later preach also to the Queen of Portugal, teach Philosophy in the University of Paris and end up being acclaimed as the creator of hypnotism. Fr. J. Loiola Pereira _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)
