Panaji: More than five lakh people are expected to gather at Old Goa village near here from tomorrow, November 24, onwards to participate in the religious events celebrating patron saint of Goa, St Francis Xavier.
The relics of St Francis Xavier are preserved at Basilica of Bom Jesus, a Church located amidst several Churches at Old Goa, UNESCO World Heritage site, nine kms away from here.
“From tomorrow onwards the annual Novenas to celebrate Jesuit St Francis Xavier will begin, which will culminate into a fest on December 3,” Fr Patricio Fernandes, Rector of the Basilica said.
He said that during the ten days, including nine days of Novenas, more than five lakh people from across the country and also abroad would be arriving here to seek blessings of the patron saint.
The Church has set up three dimension stage in the precincts of the Basilica which will host the high mass on December 3 at 10.30 a.m. which would be concelebrated by Bishop of Bombay Fr Barthol Baretto along with other Bishops including Archbishop of Goa and Daman Rev Fr Filipe Neri Ferrao.
Fernandes said that the Church has been propagating eco-friendly celebration of the events due to which from the last year onwards, the backdrop of plastic material was done away replacing it with that of cloth.
“First time we have set up three dimension stage. It is nice, so that the people can have good experience. First time we will have screens and LED walls so that the person even at the last row can see the masses. There will also be live telecast on television and also on the YouTube Channel,” he said.
Fernandes said that the theme for this year “Like St Francis Xavier, let us live the Beatitudes and Be Holy.”
“Beatitudes are the attitudes of Lord Jesus. They are next level from Ten Commandments in the Bible,” he said explaining about the theme.
In one of the important feature for the celebrations, the pilgrims from the areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra, walk up to Old Goa from their villages, as a mark of the respect for the patron saint.
“ There is always pilgrimage taken by the disciples. They come from areas like Kolhapur, Ajra, Gadhinglaj, Nesargi, Madhwal, Deshnur which are Marathi and Kannada speaking areas,” Fr Fernandes said.
The Church has made elaborate arrangements for them, he said adding that there will be pilgrim mass for them on December 2 which will be in Konkani, Marathi and Kannada languages.
“It’s a unique kind of pilgrimage that they have. They general travel from three days to five days, they come walking,” he said.
During the ten days, the masses would be in the Indian languages, Konkani, English, Tamil, Malyalam, Hindi, Telagu, Kannada and Marathi, he said.
The Spanish and French mass is also scheduled on the Feast day, he added.
