58 Facts About Joseph Vaz

Joseph Vaz, CO was a Portuguese Oratorian priest and missionary in Sri Lanka.

Originally from Sancoale in Portuguese Goa, Vaz arrived in Ceylon during the Dutch occupation, a time when the Dutch had banned Catholicism in Ceylon and imposed Calvinism as the official religion after taking control from the Portuguese Empire.

Joseph Vaz travelled throughout the island bringing the Eucharist and the Sacraments to clandestine groups of crypto-Catholics.

The third of six children, Joseph Vaz was born in 1651 at Benaulim, his mother's village in Goa, then known as Portuguese India, part of the Portuguese Empire.

Joseph Vaz was baptised on the eighth day at the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Benaulim by its pastor, Jacinto Pereira.

Joseph Vaz learned Portuguese in Sancoale and Latin in Benaulim.

Joseph Vaz was a bright pupil and respected by his teachers and fellow students.

Joseph Vaz made such rapid progress in his studies that his father decided to send him to the city of Velha Goa for further studies; where he did a course in rhetoric and humanities at the Jesuit college of St Paul.

Joseph Vaz further studied philosophy and theology at the St Thomas Aquinas' Academy of the Dominicans.

In 1675, Joseph Vaz was ordained a deacon for the Archdiocese of Goa by Custodio de Pinho, the Vicar Apostolic of Bijapur and Golconda.

Joseph Vaz opened a Latin school in Sancoale for prospective seminarians.

Joseph Vaz was appointed the Vicar Forane of Canara by the Padroado in 1681, and sent with the purpose of asserting their jurisdiction against the Propaganda Fide.

In light of the fact that the bishop had legitimate authority, Joseph Vaz recognised his authority and while continuing to adhere to the Padroado system, zealously worked for the religious welfare of the people.

Joseph Vaz often spoke to him and pleaded with him not to issue so many excommunications, but to wait for a final decision from the pope.

Joseph Vaz pointed out that the Hindus were scandalised and the Christians bewildered by these arguments.

Joseph Vaz reconstructed the Rosario Cathedral in Mangalore and built new churches at Onore, Basroor, Cundapore, and Gangolim.

Joseph Vaz set up small schools in some of the villages with the co-operation of their residents.

Joseph Vaz was compelled to do so due to a shortage of priests, and as such an Irmidade brought together the Catholics of a place where there was no church or resident priest.

Joseph Vaz did yeoman service to the cause of the upliftment of the downtrodden.

The serene Joseph Vaz knelt down on the rock and held his stick straight on the ground.

When Joseph Vaz sought permission to return to Goa, the request was refused by the archbishop.

When Joseph Vaz returned to Goa, he spent his time preaching in the surrounding villages.

Joseph Vaz joined a group of priests of the archdiocese who had decided to live together in a religious community.

In 1686, Joseph Vaz obtained permission to give up this office and to proceed to Ceylon.

On landing at Jaffna, Joseph Vaz found a strong Calvinist presence.

Joseph Vaz suffered from acute dysentery, contracted from the terrible travelling conditions.

Joseph Vaz was taken in and ministered to his secret flock by night.

In 1689, taking up his residence in a village called Sillalai where the Catholics were numerous and resolute, Joseph Vaz succeeded in reviving the spirit of the faithful.

When Joseph Vaz regained his health sufficiently to start begging from house to house in the town of Jaffna he tried to identify the houses where Catholics lived.

Joseph Vaz therefore adopted the expedient of wearing a large rosary round his neck and observing the effects of this emblem of the Catholic faith on the inmates of the houses at which he begged for alms.

On being asked point blank whether he was a priest and if so to own it as he was in a position to offer shelter in his own house with perfect safety, Joseph Vaz showed him the credential letter empowering him to exercise his priestly ministry.

When Joseph Vaz came to know of this organization, he adopted it and established it in every Catholic village and the institution has come down to the present time in Catholic villages, where there is no resident priest, the Catechist being now known as the Muhuppu.

Joseph Vaz made Sillalai his headquarters and for more than two years at a stretch he ministered to those in Sillalai and the neighbouring villages, going out after nightfall and returning before dawn invariably with a safe escort.

StJoseph Vaz first ministered to them and thereafter went from village to village in the Seven Korales preaching, administering the Sacraments, re-building churches and appointing catechists.

Joseph Vaz made use of his enforced inactivity to study the Sinhala language.

Thereupon the King, Vimaladharma Surya, sent some of his Catholic courtiers to Joseph Vaz inviting him to pray for rain.

In 1692, Joseph Vaz settled in Kandy, the capital of the independent Kingdom of Kandy, as his centre of operations.

Joseph Vaz was organising the basic mission structure when smallpox broke out in Kandy.

Joseph Vaz carried his mission to the main centres of the island.

Joseph Vaz completed the construction of his new church, and went into service for the king, translating Portuguese books into Sinhala.

From this vantage point, Joseph Vaz intensified his ministry, and converted some Sinhalese notables.

Joseph Vaz worked on the creation of Catholic literature comparable to that of the Buddhists, and to affirm the rights of Catholics with those of the Dutch Calvinist Government.

Joseph Vaz humbly declined the offer made to him in 1705, to be the bishop and first Vicar Apostolic of Ceylon, preferring to remain a simple missionary.

Towards the middle of 1697 when Joseph Vaz returned to Kandy from a visit to Colombo he found a violent outbreak of smallpox in the city.

StJoseph Vaz then went from house to house attending to the abandoned patients in their own homes, and he accommodated the others in vacant houses close to the church which he rented out one by one until there were altogether four such houses full of patients.

Joseph Vaz found that the descendants of the Portuguese and the local people who were Catholics were strong in their faith.

The number and influence of the Catholics in the Pettaha enabled Joseph Vaz to remain for some time, unknown to the Dutch, in different parts of the city and in the suburbs to carry out his ministry by night and to make several conversions.

Joseph Vaz ministered for some time, caused chapels to be set up, and Muhuppus and Annavis to be appointed before making his way to Jaffna, which he was re-visiting after an absence of four years.

Joseph Vaz visited Batticaloa in 1710 in order to revive the Catholic faith during the time of Dutch persecution against Catholics.

Joseph Vaz visited a church in Thandavenveli, now known as Church of Our Lady of Presentation, where he was tied to a tree and beaten.

King Vimaldharna Surya II, Joseph Vaz's patron, died in 1707, but Vira Narendra Sinha, his successor, proved to be an even greater supporter.

In 1710, despite health problems, Joseph Vaz took another apostolic trip.

Joseph Vaz recovered from a series of infections and fevers, but was left weakened.

Joseph Vaz was a great admirer of Joseph Vaz, did his own research, and published a multi-issued biography of him.

In November 2013, Patriarch Filipe Neri Ferrao stated that the cause for Joseph Vaz's canonisation had reached a 'crucial stage'.

Joseph Vaz was canonized by Pope Francis on 14 January 2015 in Colombo at Galleface, Sri Lanka.

Joseph Vaz is the first saint to have been canonised in Sri Lanka, the first saint of Sri Lanka and first originally from the area of Goa, India.

In Karnataka, there is a parish dedicated to Joseph Vaz in Mudipu and in Sri Lanka, there is a chapel under his patronage in a remote village called Aluthwewa, about 10 miles off Galewela, in the Parish of Wahakotte.