PAUL FERNANDES
Old Goa, as a global pilgrimage centre, has its focal point around the iconic Basilica of Bom Jesus, the repository of St Francis Xavier’s Sacred Relics. Little, however, is known about two other missionaries, who like the Spanish saint, tried to take the faith from the former capital of Goa to the Far East.
On November 29, even as thousands of pilgrims were attending novena masses in preparation for the feast of St Francis Xavier, another Eucharistic celebration was being held a little distance away.
On Wednesday morning, a small congregation converged at the ruins of Discalced Carmelites first foundation monastery in India to commemorate the death of 17th century missionaries – Blessed Dionysius (Denis) and Redemptus.
It was at this desolate spot, where only a part of a majestic façade of the church of what was a beautiful complex remains, barely a kilometre from the Basilica, that the two martyrs had taken their vows before setting out for Indonesia. Ensconced in a thickly wooded area on an eastern hill, this little-known holy place is turning out to be a pilgrimage place of sorts for Carmelites all over the world and for others, too.
After the advent of the Portuguese in Goa, Catholic missionaries followed. The 17th century was the golden age for the propagation of the faith in Asia and Old Goa served as a launch pad for several religious orders.
The Carmelites were one of them, their history in India is over 400 years old and the Convento do Carmo, the monastery at the spot, was the first one of the Carmelites in India.
At the concelebrated mass, the main celebrant Fr Rosario Oliveira, parish priest of Se Cathedral, traced the life of the martyrs – who are one rung away from sainthood – while delivering the homily. “They had delved deeper into their faith to be rooted in Christ,” he said.
It was in 1610 that efforts were first made by Carmelites from Italy to set up a foundation for their order in Goa. A monastery was first built around 1620 and a church by 1630. Soon, it grew into a novitiate community.
Father Dionysius of the Nativity, as he is known, was a French sailor and a cartographer while Blessed Redemptus was a Portuguese soldier, but in an amazing transformation in their lives, they gave up their worldly pursuits to join the religious order.
“Blessed Denis was in the Navy and helped in warfare as a pilot-in-chief and cosmographer. Brother Redemptus was posted as a soldier in Pakistan, Mylapore and Chennai in India, but both decided to dedicate their lives to God,” Brother John Marshall, a researcher on the Carmelite Congregation and Old Goa said.
Even after being ordained a priest, Father Denis fought against the Dutch during the famous blockade to protect Goa in 1636. Later, they joined ambassador Francis D’Souza on a diplomatic mission of the viceroy to Sultan of Acheh in Indonesia.
The duo was taken into custody while the ambassador and his troupe were allowed to go. Both were forced to convert to Islam but they refused and were tortured and killed. In 1900, Pope Leo XIII beatified the duo.
A definitory was held at Old Goa in February 2019 to celebrate 400 years of the Carmelite presence in India and the focal figures were the little-known Carmelites – the Discalced Carmelites first martyrs in the world.