Joseph Vaz apostle of
Sri Lanka:
Catholicism was under siege!
The beatification of Fr. Joseph Vaz - the Apostle of Sri Lanka on
January 21, 1995, by His Holiness Pope John Paul II at Colombo's Ocean
front Galle Face Green, Sri Lanka, is a glowing tribute to the Church of
Asia.
In the seventeenth century when the island of Sri Lanka was known as
Ceylon and its capital was Kandy (not Colombo, as today), Dutch settlers
arrived there. They were staunch Calvinists and did their utmost to
extinguish the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.
All European Catholic missionaries were expelled, all Portuguese
forts destroyed. Churches were desecrated.
Tough laws were decreed against Catholics who were compelled to send
their children to Dutch Calvinist schools to save their homes from ruin.
The Holy Spirit stirred the heart of a young priest of Goa, Fr.
Joseph Vaz, to leave India and enter Sri Lanka at the risk of his life.
The strong presence of the Catholic Church in this island today owes its
gratitude to this Apostle of Sri Lanka.
A true Sanyasi
Joseph Vaz was born on April 21, 1651, the third child of Christopher
Vaz and Maria de Miranda, under whose care Joseph grew up in the love of
God. His father's house was at Sancoale, a picturesque village not far
from the estuary of the River Zuari, with its fringe of palm trees, as
in so much of beautiful Goa, silhouetted against the sky much like the
delicate lace of a lady's petticoat.
It was to her mother's house at Benaulim, in the Province of Salcette,
that Maria went for her confinement. At an early age, he started looking
after the poor and backward children in the village so as to merit the
title of 'my little saint' from his mother.
Persecution of Catholics in Sri Lanka
It was around this time that he learnt of the plight of the Catholics
in Sri Lanka. This Church, traces of which go back to the 6th century
AD, took roots towards the beginning of the 16th century, thanks to the
evangelising work of Portuguese missionaries.
When the Calvinist Dutch began to assert their power over Sri Lanka
in their campaign to oust the Portuguese they tried every means to
destroy Catholicism in the island. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka was
decimated. Churches, colleges and schools were razed to the ground or
changed to Calvinist centres of cult or education. Priests were
expelled, when not put to death.
Joseph approached his Superiors for permission to go to Sri Lanka to
the rescue of the Catholics there. His request was turned down, and,
instead he was sent as Vicar Forane to Kanara. During the time there was
a jurisdictional dispute between the Archbishop of Goa and the Vicar
Apostolic of Bijapur in Kanara. Joseph was used as a pawn in this unholy
ecclesiastical power game.
On fire for the faith
On September 25, 1685 Joseph Vaz joined a community of priests at the
Church of the Holy Cross of Miracles who were seeking to live an
ascetical life. He helped them to adopt the Rule of the Oratorians
founded by St. Philip Neri. He was elected superior and became the
founder of the Institute of the Oratory in India.
Fr. Joseph Vaz could not make his intention of going to Sri Lanka
public, as he would be a ready target for the Dutch bullet. He obtained
his permission and the approval of the Archbishop of Goa. He then took
with him the two latest members of the Community, Fr. Paul de Souza and
Bro. Stephen Sequeira and also a faithful family servant, Joao (or John)
Vaz from Sancoale.
The four of them set out on foot in March 1686, Joseph Vaz as usual
on barefoot, on the long trek southwards through Kanara and Malabar (Kerala),
onward to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as it was then called. En route he
revisited and ministered unto the Catholic he had earlier brought back
to the faith.
In January 1687, full nine months later, he reached Tellicherry.
There for the first time he disclosed to his two companions his real
intention of travelling further southwards into Dutch territory. It was
not surprising that the two remained behind on some pretext, abandoning
him and the young Joao (a Goan gawda boy) to go on ahead 'into the jaws
of death'.
Fr. Joseph Vaz and Joao decided to disguise themselves as coolies
(porters) and enter Sri Lanka, which was the stronghold of the Dutch.
But in Tuticorin he was persuaded to take part in Holy Week services.
His identity as a Catholic priest was disclosed. When the Dutch
Officer at Tuticorin heard that a priest disguised as a coolie was
probably trying to enter Sri Lanka, he put out a red alert. Joseph Vaz
was in deep distress.
To his relief, quite unexpectedly, only three days later, the Dutch
Officer took ill and died. His successor not knowing the reason for his
predecessor's order had no hesitation in granting passage to two poor
labourers who had applied for permission to sail to Sri Lanka to earn an
honest living there. They smuggled in sacred vessels for Mass and an
altar stone.
On December 25, 1689, the 'Christian' High Commissioner of Jaffna,
Hendrick Adriann van Rheede, had the Catholics of Jaffna and other
places paraded before him. While he let off the already degraded women
and their children with a warning. Eight men were kept back for "refined
treatment".
One of them, Don Pedro who was a lapsed Catholic turned heretic, but
who had returned to the faith of his fathers inspired by the apostolic
zeal of Fr. Joseph Vaz, was singled out for exemplary treatment.
He was severely scourged in the very presence of the High
Commissioner. Two days later he succumbed to his wounds, the first
Catholic of the new fledgling Church of Sri Lanka to lay down his life
for his faith. Imprisoned for life, flogged and ill-treaded in every
atrocious way four of them died before the end of the year (1689) and
the rest shortly afterwards.
Kandy was the capital of the Sinhalese Kings since the seventeenth
century. When de la Nerolle, who was violently anti-Catholic, heard that
a Catholic priest was at Veuda, he went slyly to King Vimaladharma's
palace and alarmed the King by telling him that a Portuguese spy had
entered the kingdom in the guise of a Catholic priest. The King ordered
his men to bring the priest, his host Antonio, and Joao to him bound in
chains. For five days, Joseph, Joao and Antonio were subject to the
harshest form of imprisonment.
The King had a watch placed on the behaviour of the trio. Antonio was
soon released because of his influential friends. The priest seemed a
harmless enough ascetic while his companion was truly just a devoted and
reverential servant of the holy man.
The King convinced that Joseph was no spy permitted him and Joao to
quit their prison, but on no account to move out of the city of Kandy.
He got people to build a simple Church with a thatched roof which he
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Joseph Vaz was concerned about the
Catholics outside the town on the other side of the river which he was
forbidden to cross. But soon he had already crossed the river eight
times to assist the sick and the dying.
The impious de la Nerolle could not stomach the return to the Faith
of those whom he had converted to his heresy. He incited the Buddhist
monks to hostility against the Catholics.
Joseph, Elijah of Old
There was at this time a long continued drought in Kandy. Not only
was the earth parched and thirsting for rain, there would be no rice
crop.
This would bring about a terrible catastrophe. The usual
superstitious practices for rain-making produced no results; the prayers
and chanting of monks, proved sterile. An anxiety-ridden monarch,
Vimaladharma Surya, recalling the holiness of the Indian Christian
ascetic conceived the idea of testing Joseph's power of intercession.
He asked Joseph Vaz to pray for rain. Like Elijah of old, Joseph set
about raising an altar in the public square facing the palace, placed a
cross upon it and humbly but fervently called upon the Father to have
pity upon His children-all His children! Rain drops fell, first gently,
then thick in abundance all around him on the whole country side but the
Altar and his person were completely dry!
Did this actually happen or was it a legend which grew in the
telling? It doesn't matter. What did happen as a consequence of this
extraordinary incident, which could have passed into folklore, was no
legend. This incident proved to be the "greatest and the most striking
turning point in the career of Fr. Joseph Vaz.
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