We send wishes for the Feast if St Joseph Vaz from the devoutly Catholic diocese of Mangalore. While we give the spotlight to Goa, his birthplace, and to Sri Lanka where his major missionary work took place, the devotion and admiration for St Joseph Vaz here where he also worked to rescue the Church from extinction, is outstanding and inspiring.
Every day this week there’s a great celebration T a church or place where he worked. It’s in local languages of Konkani or Kannada. There’s a totally grassroots feeling about these Feast celebrations. We send a picture of an altar where he himself said Mass in Kundapura in 1681. Fr Olvin Veigas, S.J. one of our many Indian graduates from Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union and Jesuit School of Theology said Mass for us at Mudipu hill. This scenic place is known as the Miracle Mountain of St. Joseph Vaz because 3 springs of water sprung up where he knelt to pray. We cordially invite everyone to attend our own Jan 27 Mass at Noon for his Feast at Oakland’s beautiful Cathedral of Christ the Light to show our appreciation for this heroic first canonized native saint of Goa, Karnataka, and Sri Lanka. >From Mangalore, India Jan 16, 2019
