Blessed Joseph Vaz Jubilee year begins in Sri Lanka

(19 Jan, 2010): The Jubilee Year for Blessed Joseph Vaz , considered the Apostle of Sri Lanka, began on 14 January with a solemn Mass. Celebrations will end on 16 January of next year, marking 300 years since his death. Blessed Vaz was beatified by John Paul II when he visited the island nation in 1995. Now, many people hope that the country’s only blessed can be canonised. The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Harold Anthony Perera of Kurune-gala,
along with Bishop Emeritus Raymond Peiris, Fr Reginold Lucien a Tamil priest and the vicar general of Kurenala diocese Fr Augustin Marcus Fernando near the shrine dedicated to Vaz in the village of Maha Galga-muwa, where the blessed lived. Chants and readings in Tamil and Sinhala marked the service attended by some 2,000 worshippers.
Bishop Perera said that Blessed Vaz was a perfect example of a believer who came to an unknown land, where the Dutch persecuted the Christians, who had no priests, and where people were helpless. To that land, he brought back the light of faith, said the prelate.
Joseph Vaz was born in 1651 in the Portuguese colony of Goa. He was ordained priest in 1676 and became a member of the Congregation of Saint Philip Neri. He arrived in Sri Lanka in 1687 and lived on the island for the next 24 years until his death in 1711. During that time, he took part in the translation of the catechism, a summary of the Catholic doctrine, as well as litanies devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary into Tamil and Sinhala.
Legend has it that when Tamil residents asked him to protect them from many local wild beasts, serpents and elephants, Vaz donated his wooden cross, which according to tradition still lies in a reliquary at his shrine.
Celebrations marking the blessed’s 300th anniversary will take place in various places on the island. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith celebrated on 16th January the Jubilee’s beginning at the Church of the Blessed Joseph Vaz in Makola parish, in the diocese of Colombo.