Father Joseph Vaz to be canonised a Saint on 304th death anniversary

by S.B. Karalliyadde

His Holiness Pope Francis I is scheduled to visit our country on January 13. In this visit His Holiness will canonise a Saint, Rev. Father Joseph Vaz of the Orachorian Sect who rendered yeomen service in Sri Lanka to the Catholic Church and religious education for over 22 years from 1689 to 1711. Father Joseph Nike Vaz or Juse Vaz as popularly known by Sri Lankan was to be canonised a Saint on two occasions before.

The first attempt was by the Rev. Bishop of Kochin Franciscois de Vasconcellers, a few years after the demise of Rev. Father Vaz. The second attempt was during His Holiness Pope Benedict XIV. But when this proposal was submitted to the Vatican it was rejected as the papal rituals and procedures were not followed and the Pope wanted the proposal submitted afresh.

But as the religious services in India collapsed towards the end of the 18th century action in this regard lapsed. What is bearing fruit now is the third attempt in coincidence with the date of his passing away commemorating the 304 years.

This is of significance to us the citizen of Kandy as his last days were spent there and he breathed his last in Senkadagala. Besides, this more significant instance for us to be proud will be highlighted in this essay. Rev. Joseph Vaz will be the first Asian Saint from East Asian region after this canonisation to Sainthood. Who is Father Joseph Vaz?

Birth

Born on April 21, 1651 in the city of Hankol (Goa) division of Salat he is a Brahamin of Konkani caste. Konkani is the mother tongue of this clan and hence known as Konkani Brahamin. Konkani is a language similar to Sinhala. This made father Vas to study Sinhala easy and in later years he delivered and developed religious stanzas in Sinhala which became popular among the Sinhalese. These were popularly known as Geethika.

Having received his early education at the Sangumali Primary School in Goa, he received his higher education in Theology and Philosophy for four years from Thomas Aquinas College and entered the priesthood under the Archbishop of Goa Mongsinghoor Antonio Branjab on August 6, 1676. His parents were Christopher Vaz and Mary Mirando. He landed in Ceylon (to Jaffna) at the age of 36 during the reign of Wimaladharmasooriya II (1684-1706) in Senkadagala. He started his first mission of propagating religion in 1687. From this date for 24 years he preached religion until his death due to a stroke.

At the time, an agreement signed by Rajasinghe II with the Dutch to drive away the Portuguese was in force. The Maritime Provinces were under the Dutch East India Trading Company. The intention of the Dutch was to engage in trade simultaneously propagating their religion the Dutch Reformed Protestant Christianity in the country. They offered various government titles to those who became Protestants.

Fate

The Catholics were banished to Jaffna, Mannar, Wanni, Batticaloa and Kalpitiya. The Catholics in Kandy faced a similar fate. At the time Father Joseph Vaz was in Kandy no prayer were said in Kandy for some years and Buddhism too faced a similar fate. There were no bhikkus who received Upasampada or higher Ordination and Welivita Saranankara too and not received higher Ordination. It was during this time that the Dutch provided ships to send a delegation to Siam to bring bhikkhus who could perform the rites and rituals to establish Upasampada in our country.

It was presumed that there were about 250,000 Catholics who were hiding in various parts of the country. Such was the situation here when three priests with Father Vas entered Senkadagala. At the time Sri Weeraparakrama Narendrasinghe (1707-1739) of Kundasale who ascended the throne at the age of 17 years was ruling in Senkadagala. He died at 47 on May, 13, 1739 and was the last Sinhala Monarch.

Role of Father Vaz

D.M. Lenarol, a French who was a Disawa in the king's Court reported to the king that these priests were spies of the Portuguese and kept them under custody. The king was convinced after some time that he got wrong information and set them free. The king later offered him a place to set up his residence and a church. There is speculation that this place is a spot in Katukele, spot in the Hindu kovil, a place behind the present Queens Hotel. But there is no archaeological evidence to confirm this spot.

My personal belief is that is a site in Katukele. Why I believe so is because there was an outbreak of a small-pox epidemic in Kandy towards the middle of 1679 when even the king left his palace in Kandy and the place was deserted when hundreds of victims died and Rev. Joseph Vaz nursed the patients carried their dead bodies in his back for disposal to Katukele woods. If not for him Kandy would have been deserted. This is a reason why I say that we are proud and grateful to Rev. Vaz.

Though he nursed, he took precautionary steps to curb the spread the disease, mingle with those afflicted with the disease due to the supernatural powers he possessed he lived to serve humanity. This is why we in Kandy should pray and show our gratitude to Rev. Father Vaz on this occasion He travelled from Kandy from time to time for religious activities to Puttalam, Batticaloa, Wanni, Trincomalee and Sabaragamuwa. There were very tedious trips on foot amidst wild animals infested jungles. Though he was confronted by wild elephants, bears, buffaloes and tigers he was never charged by them nor could he be assassinated by Dutch soldiers who were after him on the orders of the Dutch Governor.

Miraculous escape

There were eye witnesses who recorded his miraculous escape due to a supernatural mysterious power he had from God to whom he devoted his entire life. It was believed that he had powers to camouflage like the legendary Greek God Prothyas and disappear unnoticed. Eye witnesses record several instances of wild elephants retreating when they met the father face to face.

The jungles he traversed were full of tuskers and elephants and the main revenue of the island was the sale of elephants for export. For example, the king's revenue from 1669 to 1670 by the sale of elephants was guilders 1,92,697.12.11. which was 29 percent of the total revenue.

Today the guilder is not used and euro currency has replaced according to the Central Bank (Dutch Power in Ceylon-Department of Education Publication 1658-1687 - print 1969). He undertook tedious journeys to take the message of God to people.

It was a time that the Dutch had made it public that anyone who entertains a Catholic priest or allows them to congregate for prayers will be severely dealt with by the proclamation on January 11, 1715. Even before this on September 16, 1658 the Dutch Governor had announced the death penalty to anyone who admits a Catholic priest into a house or helps to say prayers. In another instance when the Governor Van Ree heard that Rev. Vaz was conducting prayers in a house in Jaffna he deployed his soldiers to apprehend the father.

But Rev. Vaz using his supernatural powers escaped without been seen by the soldiers. Rev.Vaz converted a Wellala person in Jaffna to Christianity and placed him in Jaffna before leaving for Kandy. When the Senkadagala Kingdom faced a severe drought that affected rice crops and other cultivations and people had no drinking water even the king asked the Maha Vihara bhikkhus to chant pirith to invoke the blessings of deities for rain. Temple bells rang for days with earthen lamps lit added to the smell of burning incense sticks and camphor and everyone in the area joined in pirith chanting but there was no rain.

The king ordered the kattadiyas around to perform their devil dancing rituals to bring rain, but without success. The king at last met Father Vaz and asked him to use the God's blessings to bring rain.

Universe

Following this request Rev. Vaz said God is the Creator of the universe and the element that causes the creation of earth should bring rains to flood the earth.

He then selected a place in the city within the king's sight and erected an Altar and placed God's statue on it and knelt down carrying a cross with the others who came to witness and started praying until it rained and the city was flooded. Where the father sat praying was not inundated with flood, and the place was covered with rainy clouds that the king could see from where her prayed. Father Vaz recited the prayers in such a manner that all his preachings were well received. Colonial Secretary Emerson Tennet had this to say about his prayers.

"Among the preachings of all preachers, the best is the preaching of Philineris's Orathorian Sect Father Juse Vaz". He appointed Rev. Jacome Gonsales Vaz who went to Kandy with him to compose Sinhala prayer songs set and those songs are very popular and used now in churches and the Salvation Army.

In Galle, Jaffna and Mannar there were Roman Dutch churches and there were 23, 34 and 14 schools in each church.

The church and school in Kandy were on the approach road to the Army headquarters today.

After the demise of Father Vaz, the main church in Kandy was relocated in Kalpitiya, Puttalam. Rev. Vaz breathed his last in Kandy while Fathers Gonsales Vaz and Almeida knelt beside him and prayed, "Subvenime St. Dary". His body was dressed in an Archbishop's attire and after a funeral oration by Rev. Gonsales Vaz and last respects paid by the masses the body was laid to rest. The Dutch Reformed Church followers in Kandy went to Matale and Wahakotte thereafter.