Today, Jan. 16, is the Feast Day of Saint Joseph Vaz and is also Martin Luther King Day. As America celebrates the life and work of the great human rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr., let us remember and celebrate the struggle St. Joseph Vaz led in Sri Lanka for freedom of religion and worship.
Joseph Vaz was a missionary born on 21 April 1651 in Goa, India. He died on 16 January 1711 in Kandy, present day Sri Lanka. He was an Oratorian missionary priest. He arrived in Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) during the Dutch occupation. The Dutch had expelled the Portuguese who had introduced Catholicism to Sri Lankan. The Dutch then went on to impose Calvinism as the official religion in Sri Lanka. Father Vaz travelled throughout Sri Lanka, bringing the Eucharist and Sacraments to clandestine groups of Catholics. He would sometimes disguise himself as a beggar in order to facilitate his mission. Later, he founded a shelter in the Kingdom of Kandy where he intensified his missionary work of ministering to both the minority Tamil and Sinhalese ethnic groups. By the time of his death, he had managed to rebuild the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. He was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on 21 January 1995, in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, and canonized there by Pope Francis on 14 January 2015. Fr. Olvin Veigas, S.J., our new Board member, celebrated Mass today in Bangalore on this Feast Day and for our special intention this year for the approval of the miracle submitted for the Beatification of Ven. Fr. Agnelo de Souza of Pilar. For more information on our celebration of our Goan saints and our world-wide campaign for the Beatification of Ven. Fr. Agnelo, see http://josephnaikvaz.org/archives/239 Happy Feast Day. Joseph Naik Vaz Institute http://josephnaikvaz.org/
