(Sept.28,2010) Some 1,000 people have petitioned the Vatican online, seeking the canonization
of Blessed Joseph Vaz, a Goan priest who evangelized in Sri Lanka. A group of Goans
working in the United States initiated the move to expedite the sainthood cause of
the priest, ahead of his 300th death anniversary on Jan. 16 next year. Blessed Vaz,
known as the “Apostle of Sri Lanka,” was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II in
Sri Lanka. The petitioners have signed an online memorandum addressed to Pope Benedict
XVI through a website. The group has been championing the cause of Father Vaz since
1980. Year-long special prayers are now underway in Goa to mark the priest’s death
centenary. The petition says that if miracles attributed to the priest are deemed
insufficient for canonization, Blessed Vaz could be canonized as a martyr due to the
persecution he suffered. It urges consideration of “the uniqueness of the situation
of persecution” he encountered. Blessed Vaz was born on April 21, 1651, at Benaulim
in Goa, his mother’s village, and was ordained a priest in 1676. He travelled to Sri
Lanka in 1686, disguised as a coolie during Dutch colonial occupation, when Calvinism
was the official religion. He worked to revive and strengthen clandestine Catholic
groups. Later in his mission, he found shelter in the Kandyan kingdom where he was
able to work freely. The online petition draws attention to the fact that Blessed
Vaz re-founded the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, a non-European and non-Christian
nation.