VENERABLE FATHER JOSE VAZ

By: Alfredo De Mello <ademello@adinet.com.uy>

Since the year 1518, when the Portuguese Viceroy Lopo Soares de Albergaria erected a fortress in Colombo, Ceylon, the Franciscan fathers who accompanied the Portuguese troops started evangelizing the natives. Ceylon consisted of seven kingdoms,mostly Singhalese,and of Tamil origin in the northern peninsulas of Jafna and Manaar.

In 1544 the inhabitants of Manaar, having heard of the work of St. Francis Xavier in the Fishery Coast of Coromandel, where fellow Tamils lived, invited him to come and preach the word of the Roman Catholic religion. The natives embraced the religion with great eagerness, and in spite of the perse- cution of their King of Jafna, at least six hundred preferred martyrdom rather than abjure Christianity. The efforts of the King of Jafna were foiled, to the extent that his two sons, a sister and a nephew were converted. The king ordered his eldest son to be killed, but the prince managed to flee to Goa, where he was baptized in 1546.

In 1548 Francis Xavier visited personally the converted in Manaar and went to Jafna to persuade the King to cease the persecution, and to form an alliance with the Portuguese.In 1580, the king allowed a church to be built in his capital.

One of the most important successes of the Church's history in Ceylon was the conversion of the emperor of Kota, called Dharma Paala, who was baptised D. Joƒo; his example was followed by his first adikar, or prime
minister, and by many nobles.

The Buddhist author of Rajavalti, commenting on this, observes sarcastically "..since then, both the wives of the principal persons of rank of Kota, as well as the women of the inferior castes, such as barbers, fishermen, huunawas, chalklias, for the love of Portuguese gold, started to become Christians, and to live with the Portuguese, whilst the Buddhist priests, who until then had resided in Kota, were obliged to withdraw to
Sitawaka and Kandy".

The Portuguese ruled the entire coast of Ceylon from 1518 until they were finally ousted by the Dutch in 1658, that is one hundred and forty years later. There were two churches in Colombo,, four convents, one of them
belonging to the Franciscans, another to the Dominicans, one to the Augustinians, and Capuchins, as well as a Jesuit college, where the classics and philosophy were taught. Outside Colombo, there were seven parishes. In Gale there were some six hundred christians,a church parish and a Franciscan convent. There was also a church in Malwana,and a hospital of the Portuguese.Chaplains,were in Caltura, Negombo and Batticaloa. In Manaar there were seven churches, likewise in Wanny, whilst in Jafna, besides a Franciscan convent, there was a church and a Jesuit college at the west of the city, and a church and convent of Dominicans on the east of the city.

When Colombo was captured by the Dutch, some fifty priests,left Ceylon. In the province of Walligam there were fourteen churches whereas in Temmarrachy five, in Wadmarachi three, in Patchellepalli three, and one in
each of the neighbouring islands. In Putlam there was a church and about one thousand native christians, probably mookwas.

The Dutch had an implacable hatred for the Portuguese and also for the Roman Catholic religion, as they were Protestant Calvinists. The Dutch ordered various catholics residents in Jafna to be killed including a
Jesuit father called Caldeira, who had not escaped.

The Dutch compelled the catholics to be converted to Protestantism. The catholics were excluded from any jobs, unless they became calvinists. Three plackaats or decrees were issued by the Dutch, the first in September 19, 1658 which forbade anybody to give shelter or hiding to catholic fathers, under the penalty of death.

The second plackaat is dated January 11, 1715, which prohibited public or private assemblies among the catholics, and fixed a fine of 100 rixodolars for the first transgression, 200 for the second, and an arbitrary
punishment for the third time.

The third plackaat is dated 8th August 1715, which rigourously determined, under severe penalties, that nobody should be allowed to be baptized, nor educated by catholic fathers.

Many catholics, obviously, conformed to the new creed, partly out of fear of the penal laws, partly for the love or necessity of obtaining jobs from the government. Nonetheless many remained catholic, and observed religious sessions in their homes at night.

The King Raja Singha II, who had helped the Dutch to oust the Portuguese from Colombo, with the understanding that Colombo would be returned to him, found that the Dutch did no comply. Thus, he gave asylum to those catholics, to avoid the Dutch persecution. More than seven hundred Portuguese families settled in Ruanwelle, and also a similar number in Galgamuva. And those Portuguese who were held as prisoners in the last two wars, and were imprisoned in Kandy, were allowed to settle in the villages of Wawodda, Kalugalla and Wahakotta.

Unfortunately, due to a caprice of the king, the churches were ordered to be demolished, though the catholics were allowed to continue in his domains. When Knox was a captive in Kandy from 1659 to 1679, he related
that the Christians "did not have churches,nor gathered on Sundays for the divine cult; but every one read or prayed in their homes."

Harassed on the one hand by the king of Kandy, and on the other by the Dutch, the situation of the catholics in Ceylon could not flourish. Their total extermination was imminent. It was under these critical circumstances
that father Jose Vaz , of the congregation of the Oratory of St.Philip Neri, who was in Goa, decided to go to Ceylon to reestablish catholicism, by all means.

Jose Vaz was the son of Cristovao Vaz and Maria de Miranda, both of Brahmin origin,from the village of Sancoale in the province of Salcete, Goa. Jose‚ was born on 21st April 1651, and baptized in the church of Benaulim (St.John the Baptist) on the eighth day. He was baptised in Benaulim because he was born in the house of his maternal grandparents who were the Mirandas of Benaulim. The church of St.John the Baptist of Benaulim was built in 1581 by the Communities of Adsulim, Benaulim and Can , under the surveillance of the Jesuits. In 1787 a fire destroyed this church. He learnt Latin in Benaulim where he heard mass every day. He carried a rosary and prayed on the way.

He studied humanities in the university of Goa (College of St. Paul) which was under the Jesuits,and his further studies in the academic college of St. Thomas de Aquino in Goa.Whilst he studied humanities, he lived in the chapel of St. Anthony; whereas, while he studied philosophy, he lived in the church of Our Lady of Rosary. He studied Philosophy and Theology for four years; he passed with flying colours, shining in his literary works and his manner of preaching.

In the year 1674 when he was twentyfour he was appointed subdeacon, and deacon on 1675, conferred upon him by D. Custodio de Pinho, hailing from Salcete, Goa, bishop of Hierapolis, vicar and apostolic commissioner in the kingdoms of the Great Moghul, Adil Shah and Golconda. In the year 1676 he was ordained priest by Fr. Antonio Brandƒo,Archbishop of Goa,and he was sought by the most famous persons, including Dr. Rodrigo da Costa, Governor of India, whose confessor he was.

J. Vaz opened in his house a school of Latin and together with the lessons of this language, he gave his disciples spiritual documents. He spent five years in Goa, and in 1681 he undertook missionary work.

He went to Canara, where missionaries were missing ever since the Portuguese lost the fortresses of Mangalore, Barcelor and Honor, in these three towns there were three abandoned churches. But,in spite of his being appointed vicar, he had in mind another greater task which was the mission in Ceylon, where since 1658 the Dutch ruled and had done everything possible to extirpate the catholic religion, planted by the Portuguese. The catholics in Ceylon were like sheep without a shepherd.

Vaz accepted the mission of Canara because from its ports it would be easier for him to learn how to sneak into Ceylon. He left Goa in March 1681, going overland, passing by the lands of Sunda and the port of Honor,
where there was only one missionary, and reached Bathkal where his jurisdiction started upto Manjefaran, twenty leagues within the kingdom of Canara. He gave away to the poor all the money that people from Goa had given him,as well as his own clothes, wearing only the frock he had on his body. He was joined by his nephew Jose Carvalho, who later returned to Goa to be ordained priest, and eventually went to Ceylon, to join his uncle.

It is not easy to describe how much Vaz worked in this mission, of Canara which has a sea coast of 150 km and a circuit of almost 450 kilometres. He rebuilt the church in Mangalore which was a thatched barrack. He built a church in Barcelor and another in Gangalym where there were many Christians. He had many chapels built elsewhere. Vaz suffered hunger and thirst, and many injuries from the justice ministers of the land, who were against his proselyting work. He went to the house of an apostate, who refused to receive him, and said
that he had never been a Christian and could not have as guest a priest of a religion which he did not profess. Nevertheless Vaz stayed on in front of his house; he suffered the insults, and always talked to him lovingly and
softly, declaring that the reason for coming to his house was to seek lost souls and show them the way to salvation.He spent there many days, hungry and thirsty, but did not cease to preach and exhort the rebel and to pray to God with tears. Finally his patience and obstinacy yielded the desired results. The apostate, repenting, prostrated at his feet, and became a Christian again.

On another occasion in the land of Ulala, some bad Christians gave him a beating,but against this crime God punished the land,so that it became a desert..

At first Vaz was finding opposition from D. Tomas de Castro, the bishop of Fusivelem, missionary of the Propaganda. He, although a native of the island of Divar, had gone to Rome and had been previously sent to Sumatra and Borneo,and had arrived in India in 1674 with the title of apostolic vicar, inquisitor general and founder of the missions in the whole coast of Canara. This bishop who was in the good books of the queen of Canara, said that Vaz was not vicar of the mission but only the chaplain of the factory which the Portuguese had in the port of Mangalore, and sometimes treated him as a schismatic. Vaz entreated this bishop, very submissively, to abstain from such censures, which only gave rise to scandals not only among the flock ,
but also among the gentiles. The bishop accepted the truce, but they were truces of short duration.

He was confirmed Vicar in Canar by Manuel de Sousa de Meneses, the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa.Applauding the zeal of Vaz, the Archbishop sent him Goan priests to help him: Nicolau de Gamboa, Jacinto de Melo, and Antonio de Melo. The archbishop gave rigourous orders to Vaz, that by all means he should sustain the right of his jurisdiction because even if the lands were no longer under Portuguese rule, the religious sphere was subject to the Padroado, granted by the Pope, and therefore under the theological jurisdiction of Goa.

Vaz asked to be subrogated by Nicolau de Gamboa, who was a competent priest because Vaz was anxious to undertake the mission in Ceylon, which had been abandoned for close to forty years. Since he could not travel directly to Colombo because of the Dutch rule, he requested Nicolau de Gamboa to have him sold as a slave to the Dutch, so that he might enter Ceylon. Gamboa did not want to have Vaz sold, and thus Vaz returned to Goa.But before returning he went to the bishop Tomas de Castro, and told him that he had never offended the bishop and begged his pardon for any misunderstandings. Astounded at such humility, and recognizing the truth and virtue of Vaz, the bishop reconciled with him, which was obvious as the aggressor saw the aggressed kneeling at his feet.

He did not seek his brothers nor his mother in Salcete, instead he went as missionary to the islands of Goa, accompanying the priests Manuel das Entradas and Jorge das Saidas, from the Varatojo convent in Portugal. He accompanied them for several months, and explained in Konkani the sermons that the above two Portuguese priests preached in Portuguese; this was very important for the congregation who understood little Portuguese. He was already recognised as a true missionary.

Vaz retired to the church of Santa Cruz dos Milagres on the Boa Vista hill in Goa, where lived hermits of the Oratory of S. Philip Neri, whose leader from Margƒo was father Pascoal da Costa Jeremias, and who was very highly trained in prayers and penitence. Vaz was named prefect of this congregation,due to his virtues and humility.

However, his brother Pedro Vaz became very ill and sent word that Jose Vaz should assist him in his last moments. He did not bide with such requests, and advised him that he should seek his own parish priest, who would guide him better. Thus Vaz abstained from all contact with his relatives, including his mother. Vaz continued to pray, always at the foot of the miraculous Cross, where on the February 23, 1619 Jesus Christ had appeared performing many miracles. This miracle is remembered to these days with a solemn feast.

Vaz was cloistered for six months and since September 25, 1685, he subjected his body to corporal punishments, hair shirts, a crown of spines.Beat himself with iron chains, during public processions at night,
he visited the via sacra and read in Konkani, so that everybody might understand his meditations. He prayed with such fervour that everyone heard his sighs; since he keenly felt the abandonment of Christianity in
Ceylon, he was resolved to undertake such an arduous enterprise, so full of perils.

He left Goa on March 1686, accompanied by a father and a brother of the congregation, and of a young Kundbi by the name of Joƒo. During the attacks and sieges of the Mahratta Sambhaji, son of Sivaji, at which time Goa almost fell in 1683, many Christian families from Bardez had emigrated south to the lands of Canara.For the consolation of these Christians, he remained with them for nine months, as a good shepherd, baptizing many gentiles who became converted due to his preachings.

On January 3, 1687 he left the lands of Canara south to Malabar, en route to Ceylon. In Telllicherry, his companions Father Paulo de Sousa and the brother Estevao Sequeira aban- doned him with frivolous excuses, so he continued his journey with young Joƒo.

Having embarked on a mooorish ship from Quilon to Cochin together with Joƒo, he had no money to pay for their trip,Vaz suffered great insults and affronts from the captain; the only things that he carried, were the
implements for saying mass.

Fortunately the Bishop of Cochin hearing about his troubles, paid to the Moorish captain what was due. Since he entered in the coast of Malabar, he started learning the Tamil language, which was very necessary for
communicating with the people in north Ceylon. When he reached Topo on the coast of Travancore, he met fathers of the company of his college, who were very charitable to him, because not only they gave him advice on how to proceed with caution on his mission, but also counseled him to discard his priestly robe. They gave him a shirt similar to those worn by the slaves of the Dutch.

From Travancore he trekked eastward on bare feet almost three months, and in March he reached the port of Tuticorin on the Fishery Coast. On this port, the Dutch had a fortress, whose captain Marten Huysman was very severe, and fervent Calvinist. Vaz met a Goan Jesuit priest in a church, who recognized him in spite of his disguise. Since it was Holy Week , condescending to the request of the Jesuit, he put on a priestly robe and administered the sacraments: this became known, and the captain, figuring that Vaz had come to Tuticorin in order to sail to Ceylon, gave express orders that nobody should take him on his boat without his permission.

Providence solved this obstacle, for captain Huysman became ill and in three days passed away. Another Dutchman who took his place as captain, did not know about this disguised missionary. So, dressed as a poor slave, he requested permission to go to Jafna, to seek for work. Vaz had the mass implements tied to his waist and thus embarked with Joao, his faithful companion. On the ship, he found a Portuguese passenger, who promised that on arrival at Jafna he would take him to the house of a Roman Catholic, so
that he might assist the flock, without the knowledge of the Dutch.

The trip from Tuticorin to Jafna generally lasted about three days, but a severe storm determined that the boat sailed for twenty days before reaching Mannar, situated at a cape, south of Jafna. There was not enough
food nor water, so from the seventh day he did not drink or eat. He disembarked almost dying of hunger, nor could he avail of the help of the Portuguese passenger who had died on the trip, and had to beg for food and
drink, and walked north to Jafna, which is a peninsula in the north of Ceylon. To reach Jafna he and Joƒo had to walk 110 km.He fell sick, as a result of the thirst and hunger that he suffered ever since leaving Tuticorin. After seeking shelter in many homes, finally a pious woman allowed him to spend the night on her outer doorway, where he laid exposed to the inclemencies of the weather. Seeing him lying on the ground,
exposed to the sun during the day and the cold at night, a woman, who passed by, brought him some rice broth, with which she fed him for some days.

It was very difficult at first for Vaz to become known among the Catholics, without the Dutch learning about it. Though dressed as a slave, he wore around his neck the rosary of the Virgin Mary, and the Dutch discovered him to be a Catholic stranger,and scorned him with insults and beatings.Dressed as a beggar, he walked for a long time, and tried to find out, by the ways the people behaved, who were Catholics.He sought shelter among one of them, and by the way that he said his prayers, and meditations, the host suspected he was a priest in disguise. He communicated this suspicion to another catholic by the name of Paulo de Barros, a pious man, and respected by the Dutch. Barros sought Vaz and asked him if he was a priest, and if so, that
he should console the few Christians who lived on that land, and who were so bereft of the holy sacraments.To shelter him from the Dutch, he would have him as his guest with all caution and secrecy. Thus during the
nights, the family and the Jafna Christians gathered in his house to hear mass and receive the sacraments from Vaz. He was taken to Silale, another locality in Jafna, where he was sheltered by the Catholics there. Silale was quite far away from the colony of the Dutch, and he found there a chapel which had been built during the Portuguese occupation.

For lack of a priest, the Silale Catholics were governed by elders, who instructed them in the Christian doctrine, and resolved their doubts, and corrected their errors. Vaz became attached to one of these elders, in
order to learn the ropes, to discover who were the faithful, and who were the infidels, in order to act accordingly. He did his missionary work there, and went from time to time to visit the Jafna Catholics, always
barefoot. He walked at night through flooded areas, where leaches attacked his legs,and on land, where spines martyrized his feet. In these villages, inhabited by gentiles and Protestants, he made many conversions, by the example of his saintly life and the efficiency of his sermons. The gentiles admired his disinterest in worldly things, and the Protestants applauded his abstinence. He was being sought in order to be catechized and instructed in the Catholic religion.

Thus catholicism flourished in Jafna, and the houses of the catholics looked like religious oratories, where every night one could hear hymns and praises to God. The Dutch ignored the presence of Vaz, but thought that
some Jesuit was hiding in their lands. As they knew that the christians gathered at night in the houses of the main natives, the Dutch tried to nab them on Christmas night. The Dutch general commissioner for all the island of Ceylon its peninsulas and fortresses, was one Hendrick Adriaan van Rhede, of Drakenstein, Lord of Mydrecht.He seemed more keen on dogmatizing heresy than on governing politically and militarily. He had already tried to root out Catholicism in the Fishery coast, by expelling the missionaries and destroying the churches. Now his ire passed on to Jafna, where he gathered Dutch and gentile soldiers in various squadrons, to besiege the houses of the principal Catholics.

On Christmas night, the Catholics were gathered in three houses, and altars were erected on each, where Vaz was supposed to conduct mass in each altar. Suddenly the soldiers assaulted the houses and beat the people cruelly, and made prisoner more than threehundred men and women, demolished an altar and desecrated the sacred images. On the next day, van Rhede ordered the women to be freed, fined the men except eight of the principal men of means, whom he ordered to be whipped tyrannically. One of them, who shortly before had embraced Protestantism, but now through Vaz had become a Catholic again, ordered such torments and whipping that a man called Pedro died. The other seven were chained on the
feet and were ordered to carry stones for building a new fortress. Miraculously Vaz, who had been sought everywhere, escaped from this persecution.

Jesuit father Andre Freire, in the province of Malabar, wrote a letter to the Governor in Goa, D. Miguel de Almeida gave an account of the ferocious acts of van Rhede in the Fishery Coast and Jafna; he added: "Father Jose Vaz, Brahmin, who was sent from Goa, some years ago, and went disguised to that kingdom, in order to cultivate Christianity in Jafna, was officiating there as an apostle, with such a great spirit, that he was venerated by all, as a holy man"

Vaz waited a long time for the tempest to subside, but since the persecution of the Catholics continued unabated, he decided to get out of Jafna, after a stay of almost three years, and enter into Ceylon. There,
through forests and dangerous trails, he entered the domains of the king of Kandy, and finally reached the port of Puttalam, on the west coast, some 120 km north of Colombo. Puttalam was the only port not under the domain of the Dutch. Together with Jafna and Mannar, Ceylon's two peninsulas, Ceylon was divided into seven kingdoms. In these lands there were many Catholics baptized during the 140 years of Portuguese rule.In Puttalam there were almost one thousand Catholics, and there was a small church built by the Portuguese. Vaz, going from village to village, preaching , exhorting continuously and giving the Catholics the sacraments, did missionary work for more than one year.He had the church rebuilt, taught local catechists to gather the people in the church, and explained cathecism on Sundays and holy days.

Now he wanted to get inside the kingdom of Kandy, in the middle of the island. This was a dangerous task because foreigners who entered the court were forbidden to leave; and Vaz recognized as a priest coming from Goa, would be thought as a spy of the Portuguese.

In August 1692, he left Puttalam. He was accompanied by his faithful Joƒo and a Christian called Antonio Souto, a native of Ceylon, son of a Portuguese father, who lived near the court and had come to Puttalam on
business. After eight days of trekking, he arrived at the bottom of a high ridge of mountains called Bevoddƒ, where was the village of Antonio Souto. He waited some time whilst waiting for the consent of the king to enter his court.

Antonio Souto ,sending for a relative of his, who was in the good books of the king Wimala Dharma Suriya II, sought for his consent. But this relative, Nanclars de la Narolle, happened to be French Calvinist who had
been sent by the French Company to make a commercial deal with the king of Candy; he could not leave the kingdom of Kandy; thus, either for fear of the Dutch or by caution of the king,he stayed on in Kandy, married a
Singhalese, and served in the palace, as a private secretary of his majesty. This Frenchman denounced to the king that Antonio Souto was confederated with the Portuguese, and sheltered in his home a Catholic
priest, coming from Goa as a spy.

This false report caused such a stir that the king sent a squadron of soldiers to bring Antonio Souto and his guests, as prisoners. After five days of jail, without almost any food, the king, who was benign, ordered
Souto to be freed, whereas Vaz and his inseparable Joƒo continued as prisoners, fed by the king,even though after examining Vaz, and recognizing his humility and modesty,for which he did not look like a spy.

There were in Kandy many Catholics descendants of the Portuguese, who, as a consequence of the Dutch invasion, had sought refuge in the reign of Kandy. Some were well regarded in the palace, and one called Antonio de Horta, was even given the title of Dissava, which corresponds to Count. Nevertheless he could not sollicit the freedom of Vaz, as the royal decrees were venerated. Thus three months elapsed, and Vaz learnt Singhalese, prayed to God and taught Latin to Joƒo, so that the latter could conduct mass.

The rigours of prison started diminishing,and as a result, Vaz could walk within the compound. In the backyard, a spacious orchard, he built a shed covered with a thatched roof, which was the first church that he
consecrated to God in Kandy. In there he started praying, singing litanies to the holy Virgin, so that other people would notice it. He celebrated mass on Christmas night, without being bothered by the guards, while there were many who witnessed everything that he did in the shed. Many months went by, and a zealous catholic,who was very artistic, embroidered a cloth, which he gave to the king as present. The king was much pleased and asked what he could do for him. His wish was to be allowed to speak with the priest who was in prison. The king astounded at how this Christian venerated his priest gave him permission at once; this however facilitated the permission to others; thus Vaz was able to hear confession of those Catholics, who had not seen a priest in forty years, to baptize their sons and grandchildren, and to marry couples in holy matrimony, - all this in the space of two years while he remained a recluse in prison. After which period he had the permission to walk within the city, but with orders not to cross the river, and the boatmen were notified accordingly.

With the help of the catholics he built a church, called Our Lady of Conversion of the Faithful. Whilst there were few gentiles who sought conversion, Vaz had a lot of work to reform the Christians who had become very depraved in their habits.

It was not smooth sailing, as a new persecution, greater than the former, was started by some French Protestants and Buddhist priests, called Sangattars. They asked the king to have the church torn down, and Father Vaz banished, where he could not communicate with the Catholics. Twice they sought the king, trying to make him understand that Vaz was a real spy sent from Goa, and someday he would rebel. But the king, answered that it was unworthy of a king to exterminate a poor pilgrim, who had asked for shelter in his court, that he had observed Vaz and there was no sign of his being a spy to cause a rebellion, and that he understood that he was on pilgrimage only on account of his religion.

His enemies counselled the king that he should not admit the religion of the Portuguese, his ancient enemies; the Buddhists complained that even the servants of the king's palace, followed the religion of the priest from
Goa. These servants being obliged to carry flowers for the sacrifices of their gods, excused themselves, saying that they were Christians.

The king, who was not against the Catholics, answered that it seemed to him that the religion of the Portuguese seemed more truthful than that of the Dutch and other heretics, and that he was an enemy of Portugal as a nation, but not of its religion. To the Sangattars he confounded them saying that they should take the example of the priest and zeal to increase the converts to the Budhist religion. Regarding the flowers, he would order his servants to take them to those who were not Christians, and from their hands the Sangattars would receive them and offer to Buddha.

Nonetheless the enemies of Vaz were so powerful that they threatened great punishments to the priest if he admitted Christians in the church,or if he should seek them in their homes. Many Christians were molested and beaten; yet, with great fortitude and patience, they withstood these on- slaughts and followed the inspiration of their priest.

There came about a great drought in the kingdom of Kandy. The Buddhist sangatttars prayed for rain, but in vain. The king was very worried, and then begged the Christians who served in his palace to tell their priest,
that he should implore from his God, the favour in benefit of so many lives who were perishing from lack of water.

Vaz answered that he would obey the request of the king,and he ordered a small altar to be built in the main square, placed on it the Holy Cross, and on his knees started praying. Soon after, black clouds covered the
skies and plentiful rains fell, which was deemed a miracle. The most astounding fact, noted by all witnesses, was that while it rained everywhere, on the small altar, where Vaz prayed, not a single drop of water fell ...

As a result many conversions took place, especially among renegade christians. The king allowed Vaz to preach anywhere in his kingdom; however, without permitting him to leave the island. Neither could he be
absent for a long time, and he was subject to a Singhalese dissava, who gave him the meals sent by the king.

With this permission, Vaz made missionary work in various parts of the territory held by the Dutch. He entered the city of Colombo dressed as a beggar. He found there many good Catholics, both native and European, and with their help he even brought within the fold various Dutch people; he baptized many sons of Christian parents, married many couples, and consoled everyone with the sacraments of confession and communion. However all these acts were celebrated at night, in the houses of the principal Catholics, where many could gather without being noticed. He travelled all over the island and continued his mission in Gurubel, Malvana, Sativaca, Safragan, Mantota, Jafna, Punerym, Trinquimale, Puliardiva, Baticaloa, Puttulam, and many months later he returned to his church in Kandy.

During this time, the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Nery sent two priests to Ceylon, at the request of Vaz, namely Father Jose de Menezes, and Father Jose Carvalho, his nephew. Later, Father Pedro Ferrƒo,
and these priests took to Vaz his appointment as Vicar General with full powers in Ceylon. The priests were assigned various areas, and Vaz took with him to Kandy, his own nephew.

In the middle of the year 1697 there started in Kandy an epidemic of smallpox, which took toll of countless lives.In those times, this contagious disease was thought to be caused by malignant spirits,and as a result, those stricken with the disease were abandoned by their own family, and thus many people affected by smallpox died of hunger. The king fled from Kandy, and nobody took care of the corpses, which were eaten by dogs and jackals. Vaz, aiding the sick whether Chris tian or gentiles, became the nurse of the whole city. Fortunately the good Christians from Colombo, sent alms and four storehouses of rice,thus Vaz and his nephew Jose,visited the sick twice a day, taking on their shoulders cauldrons of cooked rice and water to feed the sick, cleaned the sores, washed them , and buried the dead.

The number of sick grew to such proportions that Vaz chose four big houses, which had been abandoned by their owners, to serve as hospitals. Realising the fulltime dedication of the two priests, whilst their own families had abandoned them, many gentiles offered their children and diseased relatives to be baptized. This epidemic lasted almost one year, during which Vaz had no respite; he baptized more than onethousand gentiles, many of whom inevitably died.

All this while, Vaz had his share of enemies,and two of them deserve mention.One was an apostate, who had been baptized before the coming of the Dutch,and now already advanced in age, had been appointed Adigar, a rank just below the king. He complained to the king that the charity from Vaz was mere ambition, and that the priests made money from the deaths, just like the doctors had done on previous occasions when there was an epidemic. Another was a gentile married to a Christian woman, whose father and relatives also called themselves Christians. Vaz reprehended the brother of this woman for indulging in a supertitious game, ordered by the king to appease the devil of the smallpox. He sent a Christian to take away this game and have it broken.The gentile went to the palace asking the king for Vaz to be jailed. But the king did not pay heed to either of the enemies, and was angry that they should talk ill about a man who was reputedly a
good and saintly man.

The gentile's wife and family all perished from the smallpox, and the gentile who had been Vaz's enemy was cast out of the house of his father-in-law,as he also became sick. Vaz learnt about his illness and went to his help, as if he were his best friend. This gentile recovered from the ministrations of Vaz, and when he became well, he asked his benefactor to pardon him for his offense.He received baptism,and lived thereafter as a
good Catholic.

Vaz's reputation and fame grew in the concept of the king of Kandy, who wanted four such priests in his kingdom, because if it weren't for Vaz, the court and the whole town would have been deserted.

Leaving Kandy in the care of Jose Carvalho, Vaz set off to visit the coast of Ceylon,which was under Dutch rule, where Father Jose de Meneses had converted about three thousand souls. Vaz stayed in Gurubel on the
outskirts of Colombo, for thirteen days, and during this period, he converted and baptized more than one thousand Singhalese, mostly noble people of the land. The Dutch governor hearing about this, sent an armed
patrol to have Vaz arrested, but as Vaz wore a disguise of a beggar, he could not be traced,even though he was in the presence of the soldiers.

He travelled back to the dominions of the king of Kandy, stopping in Sitacava and giving thanks to God for having saved him from the Dutch. He visited four chapels which, on his prior mission, he had built.

In Sitacava he received news from Jose Carvalho, that by order of the king the church in Kandy was to be exterminated. This news hurt Vaz immensely, so he went on his way back, walking to the capital. On the way back, he felt consolation from God about another incident, which showed that providence and love sheltered catholicism in Ceylon.

In the village Candagama within the jurisdiction of Safragan, the Christians had built a chapel, dedicated to St. Anthony. This chapel was built in a place where in bygone times there were the king's storehouses for rice, but long since des- troyed. The dissava of Safragan now wanted to reconstruct the storehouse on the same place and notified the Christians to demolish their chapel. However,they did not obey his order. Before issuing
a second summons, it became known that he was removed from the office of dissava by the king as a punish- ment for going against the church of the christians. The dissava became angrier at this rumour and decided to
proceed with his wishes, sitting undeer the eaves of the chapel,he gave an audience to the village people, had dinner served there, and ordered the workers to start demolishing the chapel. On seeing this determination, the Christian congregation tearfully took away the sacred images, but in less than twentyfour hours the dissava was stricken with paralysis, and could not move his limbs. His doctors could not do anything to cure him, and in desperation he called the Christians and confessed publicly that he would not touch their chapel,and that they should restore the sacred images, begging them to pray to God to pardon him for his sin. He ordered to give away alms in money and large quantities of rice to be distributed among the poor for three days.

The Christians gathered in the chapel, and prayed to God. Miraculously the dissava was cured instantly, and everybody could hardly believe this prodigy. As he got back his health, the thankful dissava ordered a bigger
church to be built within those grounds, and confessed that the true God was the one who was adored by the Catholic Christians.

Whilst Vaz was attending his flock on the coast of Ceylon,a storm was brewing in Kandy against the church of Jose Vaz. Near the church, there lived a singhalese who took it ill for the priests to have used four neighbouring houses as hos- pitals, during the smallpox epidemic. He believed that the sickness and death which those houses had seen would contaminate his family, and during Vaz's absence he ordered Father Jose Carvalho to demolish those houses. Carvalho replied that the homes were not
his to destroy.

Intrigues were woven by the dissava who was in charge of giving the daily ration to Vaz on behalf of the king. Vaz very often refused the rations sent by the king, because he could live on alms given by the faithful. On
the other hand the sangattar buddhist priests complained because their gains were diminishing on account of the increased number of Catholics. Other nobles of the court were scandalized that Vaz was administering
baptism to their servants and slaves, and the latter would not obey their masters whenever they were asked to send a present to Buddha, declaring that they were Christians, and their religion forbade them to adore God and Buddha at the same time.

The intrigues swelled, when the nobles reminded the king what had happened to the king's ancestors, who had become Christians during the time of the Portuguese: one king was Yamasinha who had been baptized with the name Dom Felipe and his son Dom Joƒo. The subjects of the kingdom had rebelled, and D. Felipe lost his throne and went to Goa, where he died, whereas D.Joƒo had to flee and had sailed to Portugal, ending his life in Lisbon. The fact that Vaz distributed alms to the sick and poor, might be construed as an
indication of an impending rebellion, in which case they might expect once again a military expedition from Goa, as the Portuguese would come to the rescue of the Catholics. In short, they counselled the king to have the church in Kandy demolished, lest it become an enemy stronghold.

The king who had a high opinion of Vaz, only allowed that Jose Carvalho be banished and permitted him to take his belongings. Carvalho left the implements for saying mass at the house of Antonio da Horta who lived in the outskirts. Twentyfive days after Carvalho left Kandy, the schemers led by the Singhalese, who had started the whole uproar on account of the four houses used as hospitals, demolished the church.

These sad tidings reached Vaz who was doing mission work on the coast, and caused him great anxiety and pity: the Catholics were being persecuted, and the missionaries could not be safe either in the lands of the Dutch, nor in those of the king of Kandy. He went to the village where Jose Carvalho had retired, and learnt all the gruesome and nonsensical details.

After praying a long time, Vaz decided to go to Kandy and face the music. He stopped by the house of Antonio da Horta, and during the night prayed with the Christians who had gathered in this house. While he was saying mass, the doctor of the king, a moor called Gopala Mundaliar, came to pay a visit to Horta, and upon learning about the happenings which had occurred, decided to talk with the king: he stressed the innocence of the priests, and the illwill of their envious enemies. The king who was partial towards Vaz thereupon decided that Vaz could live in Kandy, rebuild his church, carry on his missions together with Jose Carvalho, and preach the word of Christ freely. Thus within an hour, Vaz obtained more than he had achieved in six years of proselyting.

A new church was built, and on the 8th September 1699 he celebrated the first mass. Next to the church, he built a public hospital to attend all the sick who were poor, and it was always busy and of great solace to the
population.

However, the good graces of the kings of yore were fickle and fragile, as can be seen by the events that followed.

In the first years in Kandy, Vaz had baptized a young Singhalese, son of Gebada Ball..., who was inspector of the royal treasury, and well connected in the court. As this conversion would provoke an uproar, Vaz counselled the boy to keep this conversion secret.However, since being in court, he would have been obliged to attend the Buddhist rites, the boy decided to live in a village in the lands of his father, where he would not run any danger. Later, as he could not marry a Christian woman without declaring himself a Christian, he married a gentile, with whom he lived in seclusion for more than eleven years, during which period, four children were born.

In the meantime Carvalho had died at the age of thirtyseven on July 22, 1702, and he was substituted by another Goan priest called Pedro de Saldanha. This boy, now a full grown man, was virtuous, and Vaz had him in great esteem, and remembered him very often, thinking that through him christianity would flourish. One day, this father of four children woke up feeling that God was talking to him, chiding him for not caring for his
salvation. Repenting and in penitence, he went to the church where father Saldanha was preaching in the absence of Vaz. He confessed to Saldanha all his travails and decided to serve Jesus Christ openly and publicly. He returned to his village, catechized his wife, children, mother, and other relatives and neighbours, and brought forty new converts to the Catholic faith. Father Saldanha hurried to the village and baptized all, admin-istered the sacraments of confession and communion, and had the man married to the the mother of his children. Thus, he fulfilled the prophecy of Vaz, that through him, the number of Christians would be increased.

This mass conversion caused a stir in Kandy, and the enemies of Vaz set forth accusing Vaz to have baptized that young man with cow's blood mixed with water, and that for this purpose he had killed a cow. In India and Ceylon, the cow is sacred, and the killing of a cow is considered one of three most grave sins, the second sin being killing a hooded cobra, and the third, the killing of a Brahmin.This false rumour of baptism was upheld by many witnesses. Yet, the king questioned many imprisoned Catholics, who swore that no such abomination took place in baptism, and that baptism of the christians was made with clean water, with some drops of perfumed oil, and never with the blood of a cow.

The king was satisfied with this explanation, he set the catholics free, and all together with Vaz thanked God for having delivered them from the perilous machinations of their enemies.

Thus Jos‚ Vaz preached the word of God in Ceylon for more than twenty years and performed many miracles.There are many instances of his feats, of taming wild elephants, bears and other beasts, as he fearlessly and praying to God,went about through the forests, always barefoot. The wild animals that normally would have attacked people, let him, as well as his followers, go by unharmed and on one occasion, a wild elephant, instead of attacking and crushing him, actually knelt before Vaz and bowed his head and trunk, which was witnessed by his followers. On another occasion, Vaz had to ford a river, but saw that many gentiles were on the edge of the river, without daring to ford it, as the volume of water, caused by a previous heavy downpour of rain, created a cur- rent, which made the fording impossible. Yet, Vaz went with his stick, and stood in the middle of the river, while his followers forded the river. He was the last to cross the remaining half of the river.

Witnesses claimed that the rushing waters were suspended, as if by a miracle, and soon after, the unbelieving bystanders wanted to ford the river.They could not do so because the rushing waters, stopped temporarily, continued to flood the river, making it impassable.

When his last illness prevented him to carry on the missionary work, he was already hailed as the restorer of the faith and apostle, in the kingdom of Canara, and the seven kingdoms of Ceylon. Throughout his life he never accepted a bed for his sleep. He preferred to sleep on the bare floor, or else on the steps of the altar of a church. His whole life was one of sacrifice: the Catholics of Colombo sent him presents of sweetmeats and
biscuits. He never touched them, and distributed these presents among the sick.-

In the last months of his life, an abcess in his ear provoked pains and made his whole body tremble. But he never complained. He was so humble that he wrote several spiritual works in Tamil,which were very useful to
the mission, but did not acknowledge that they were his and divulged them in the name of another missionary.

The miracles that he performed during his lifetime were numerous, by healing people through prayer. One of the most striking cases was that of a woman, whose baby had died in the womb for three days, was unable to expel the dead child. Vaz knelt beside her and prayed for hours, until the woman was miraculously saved by an unexpected parturition.

His life was an example of humility and charity. On various occasions he tried to decline the post of vicar general and Superior of the mission in Ceylon, whose onus did not weigh on him, but rather he shunned the honorary title. He slept on a simple mat on the humid floor, and only later in life he was forced to sleep on a wooden bench, which looked like a coffin. His meals never varied from the black rice, used by the poorest of the poor. He mortified his body, as a penance, and invariably he went on his knees from the entrance of the church right up to the altar. His abstinence was so rigourous as to cause frequent accidents due to hunger. During his last illness he had an abcess in one ear which was very painful. When he could not longer preach, he passed his post to Father Jose de Menezes. Vaz never gave orders during his life, but rather suggested something as a counsel, and his wishes were thus obeyed. He never raised his voice, and what attracted people was his gentleness and his lamblike demeanour.

He passed away after months of great illness on January 16, 1711 in the presence of the Goan priests Pedro Saldanha, Jacome Gonsalves, Manuel de Miranda, Inacio de Almeida and Basilio Barreto,and several Christians. King Navedra Singha ordered all the Christians in his household to attend his funeral. Indeed Kandy had never witnessed such masses following his bier, surpassing the funerals of the kings. At the time of his death there were more than seventy thousand Catholics in Ceylon,in spite of the plackaats of the Dutch rulers.

Many miracles are attributed to him after his death ; mostly in Goa, there were unbelievable cures by touching a piece of his clothing,and prayer invoking the name of Jose Vaz. The process of beatification started barely
twenty years after,but evidently Rome was reluctant to beatify an Indian catholic. It was mainly through the efforts of Dr.Solon de Quadros of Sancoale, who zealously promoted the cause of the Beatification since 1928, who founded a monthly magazine, an orphanage and a school, in the name of Jose Vaz, and were the vehicles for gaining at last the earnest attention of the Catholic Authorities.

The people of Goa have been waiting for 284 years for their first saint. As I am writing these lines, I was informed that he will be beatified by the Pope on his next visit to Sri Lanka, on the 16th January 1995. In the
interim he was known as the Venerable Father Jose Vaz.

REFERENCE:

Father Sebastiao do Rego "VIDA DO VENERAVEL PADRE JOSE VAZ " 3rd Edition. 1962. Imprensa Nacional de Goa. Edicao comemorativa do 250º aniversario da morte do Veneravel Padre Jose Vaz.

Magazine: Ven. Pe. Jos‚ Vaz - Mensario de propaganda do seu culto.