On Friday the 13th of January 2012, the Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a rock and partially capsized off the coast of Italy. Of the 4252 passengers and crew aboard, 17 died and 16 are still unaccounted for as of yesterday, 30th January. Our hearts and prayers go out to all . . . → Read More: Goa’s worst ferry disaster]]> by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

On Friday the 13th of January 2012, the Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a rock and partially capsized off the coast of Italy. Of the 4252 passengers and crew aboard, 17 died and 16 are still unaccounted for as of yesterday, 30th January. Our hearts and prayers go out to all the families of the victims and those still missing in the Costa Concordia accident, and especially for Russel Rebello from Mumbai, a steward on the ill-fated Costa Concordia, and the only Indian still unaccounted for among the 203 Indians that were on board the cruise ship (202 Indian crew members and 1 Indian passenger).

The capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship. (Pic by Rvongher)

The Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster took place almost exactly a century after the infamous Titanic tragedy of 15th January 1912, and brought to my mind the terrible Goa ferry boat disaster that took place on 3rd December 1901 in Goa.

Goa ferry accident

On that fateful day, the launch “GOA” capsized while crossing the Mandovi river from Verem to Panjim. There were around 170 passengers on the Goa ferry, of which 81 met their watery grave. The passengers were on their way to Old Goa, dressed in their Sunday best to attend the solemn feast Mass of St. Francis Xavier. The dead included 34 males and 47 females, of which 15 were children.  Of the victims on the ill-fated ferry, 21 were from Saligao, 17 from Calangute, 12 from Reis Magos, 10 from Candolim, six from Nagoa de Bardez, six from Parra, two from Siolim, two from Nerul, two from Pilerne and one each from Arpora, Anjuna and Panjim.

Mandovi memorial cross

A cross was built on the southern bank of the Mandovi, near the Caes dos Gujiras, Panjim, in memory of those who perished in the worst Goa ferry accident ever, and installed on 3rd December 1904. Two plaques were fixed on the pedestal, one on the northern side and the other on the southern side, both engraved in Portuguese.  Here is the English translation of the inscriptions:

“In memory of the 81 victims of the tragedy of the launch GOA on December 3, 1901 – dedicates the Goan diaspora of Aden.”

“In memory of the unfortunate 81 victims of the tragedy of the launch GOA that took place on 03-12-1901, this unique landmark is dedicated by the Goan diaspora of Aden requesting all those who pass by this place, a prayer for their eternal repose.”

This cross is still standing at the original spot and is protected by a canopy. Incidentally, one of those rescued from the capsized Goa ferry in the waters of the Mandovi was an eight-year-old boy, Faustino de Souza, who later joined the priesthood and became the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Holy Family of Nazareth (SFN) in Sancoale, Goa. The nascent congregation was housed in the ancestral house of Blessed Joseph Vaz in Sancoale on 16th June 1935.

Here is a list of those from Saligao who were confirmed as dead in the Goa ferry disaster of 1901.

1. Leopoldina de Sousa, 30 years, married.
2. Crystalina de Mello e Souza, 30 years, widow.
3. Luciana de Figueiredo, 39 years, wife of Santana Vaz.
4. Anna Candida Gomes, widow of Damião Caetano de Mello, 53 years.
5. Pedro dos Remédios, son of Caetano dos Remédios, 58 years.
6. Adelina Vas, daughter of Santana Vaz, married, aged 31 years.
7. Caetano Francisco Nunes, son of Joaquim Manuel Nunes, married, 36 years.
8. Robertina Vaz, daughter of Lourenço Caetano Vaz, age 15 years, spinster.
9. António Vicente Saldanha, son of Caetano António Saldanha, 20 years, married.
10. Joaquim Mariano Fernandes, son of Domingos Fernandes, bachelor, 28 years old.
11. Adelina Coelho, daughter of Manuel Coelho, 50 years old.
12. Escolástica dos Remédios, daughter of Pedro dos Remédios, 18 years old.
13. Rachel Gravatinha de Souza, daughter of Pedro Caetano de Sousa, married, age 17 years.

In spite of a search by divers from Dona Paula and Ribandar, sailors from the naval gunboat “Mandovy” and the crew of a patmari from Chapora, several of the passengers of the capsized Goa ferry remained missing and unaccounted for and were presumed dead.

However, in the case of the Costa Concordia accident 110 years later, we still hope and pray that Russel Rebello will somehow be found and rescued, alive and well.

References:

• PINHO, Vasco, Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History – I Pangim, 2007
• Death Registration Book, 1901, Mãe de Deus Church, Saligao, Goa.
• The Seer and the Server by Rev. Fr. Faustino de Souza, published by the Congregation of the Sisters of Holy Family of Nazareth, Sancoale, Goa, 1993.

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In days gone by, Saligao was reputed all over Goa as a nursery of budding Goan musicians. In the 1940s and 50s when I was a young lad, almost every household in Saligao had at least one young member learning music at school, and many took additional private lessons. The violin . . . → Read More: The Goan violinist in Ceylon]]> by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

In days gone by, Saligao was reputed all over Goa as a nursery of budding Goan musicians. In the 1940s and 50s when I was a young lad, almost every household in Saligao had at least one young member learning music at school, and many took additional private lessons. The violin was a very popular musical instrument then, as was the piano.

Even much earlier there had been well known private music schools in the village of Saligao that were famous in Goa and produced Goan musicians that distinguished themselves in Goa, Bombay and far beyond. The music school in Saligao run by Francisco Salvador Campos at the St Cajetan Chapel in Arrarim (Santo Caetano Chapel School) gave to India some of the outstanding Goan musicians from Saligao such as Hermenegildo Coelho and Caetano Paulo de Souza (both violinists) and Otolino de Souza (pianist). There being no pianos easily available in Saligao in those days of the late-1800s, Francisco taught the young Otolino (father of Hubert de Sousa and grandfather of Fr. Desmond D’Souza C.Ss.R.) the rudiments of piano playing on a cardboard with piano keys painted on!

Among famous Goan musicians, one of the remarkable Goan violinists from the village of Saligao was Adriano Daniel Fernandes who hailed from the Cotula ward in Saligao. He made a name for himself in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and often hit the newspaper headlines for his music accomplishments. In that country he conducted the Adrian Daniel School of Violin, which became a nursery for budding violinists and produced top-rankers at the London Trinity College music examinations. The founder of the Calcutta School of Music, Dr Philip Sandre of France, under whose direction Adrian perfected his talent, spoke in laudatory terms of this great Saligaokar, for whom, as Shakespeare said, “Music is the food of love”.

Frank Moraes, that doyen among Indian journalists, who was for some time Editor of The Times of Ceylon, presiding at one of the well-attended public recitals, referred to the Adrian Daniel School of Violin in glowing terms and said that Adrian’s musicianship was of a high order when compared with the best he had heard in the various part of the world. Indeed, the violinist Adrian belonged to that fine brand of Goan musicians and composers for which Saligao has always been known and admired.

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As young lads growing up in the village of Saligao in Goa back in the 1950s, my friends and I were always on our best behaviour whenever we attended a religious service in the Saligao Church or any of the several chapels in the village.

Talking in church was considered bad . . . → Read More: The fiery priest]]> by Mel D’Souza

As young lads growing up in the village of Saligao in Goa back in the 1950s, my friends and I were always on our best behaviour whenever we attended a religious service in the Saligao Church or any of the several chapels in the village.

Talking in church was considered bad manners, and the congregation respected that rule except for a few young adults and crusty old-timers who attended Mass from the choir loft in the back of the nave, away from the disapproving womenfolk downstairs. The women conversed discreetly with their eyes, their pouted lips twitching in silent prayer, as they’d flick an eyebrow to draw the attention of a fellow-worshiper to another female member of the congregation in the Saligao Church who, for example, would have been revealing a lot more than the gold crucifix hanging from the chain around her neck.

My young friends and I would follow the service in the Saligao Church of Mae de Deus from the transept, a step down from the chancel. If we ever whispered to each other or, heaven forbid, chuckled for any reason, we’d be admonished with a sharp cut’to (‘koot-taw’), knuckle of the middle finger, on the back of our head by an elder.

But there was one incident that had all the kids chuckling, and it was not followed by the cut’to. It all happened during the vespers of the Feast of St. Anne, at the chapel in the ward of Mudd’davaddi.

The vespers was a solemn service held on Saturday evening on the eve of the feast day, and it concluded the preceding week of salves. The salve was a service held inside St Anne’s Chapel followed by a display of fireworks outside, and a live band to entertain the congregation against a backdrop of the chapel’s facade illuminated with coloured paper lanterns.

Priests would be invited from adjoining villages to add pomp to the service. They’d stand in two rows along the sides of the chancel, facing each other, each with a breviary and lit candle in their hands, and they’d chant psalms in Latin. The psalms were lengthy, and the priests would often raise their heads to ease the strain on their necks caused by looking down at the breviary.

On this occasion, one of the invited priests had a grey beard that came down to just above his belly. It wasn’t a very thick beard, but it was stiff, making it appear as if it had been starched. Whenever he moved his head, the beard maintained its alignment with the profile of his face.

Now, during the chanting of the psalms, this priest did what every other priest would do. He raised his head to ease the stiffness in his neck, except that the movement swung his stiff beard forward to make its tip come into contact with the flame of the candle. A whiff of burning hair made the priest look down, only to see a small sizzling flame at the tip of his beard. Instinctively, he slapped his beard against his chest with the flat of his hand, smothered the flame instantly, and continued nonchalantly with the psalm. But not before my buddies and I had seen what had happened.

We couldn’t help chuckling, but when we looked over our shoulder in expectation of the customary cut’to, there were none coming; the adults had also witnessed the episode and were having an uncontrollable chuckle, too.

As for the priest, I think the first thing he would have done on returning home was to shorten his beard to prevent himself from being fired up again with religious zeal!

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On this third anniversary, Saligao Serenade sports a new avatar, with layout and design revamped for better visual appeal and readability.

Fr Nascimento Mascarenhas has . . . → Read More: Third Anniversary of Saligao Serenade]]> Saligao Serenade — the website focusing on the history, traditions, heritage, culture, folklore and people of Saligao, the colourful Goan village in Bardez, Goa – is three years old today.

On this third anniversary, Saligao Serenade sports a new avatar, with layout and design revamped for better visual appeal and readability.

Fr Nascimento Mascarenhas has written so much on Saligao and Goa over the last three years, and his essays are timeless treasures that can be read again and again without losing any of their sheen. The new design of the website endeavours to regularly pull out these gems from the archives and periodically highlight the best essays featured over the years.

All content is being further enhanced with pictures and graphics, and will also be embellished with video clips whenever appropriate and possible.

To partially defray the expenses incurred in hosting and maintenance, Saligao Serenade now features syndicated advertisements and affiliate marketing promotions. Please do support us by checking out the offerings of sponsors.

As Saligao Serenade continues to evolve we will be broadening the scope and range of content to include articles on Goa of interest to Goans, Goa buffs, visitors and others. Do write in with your comments and suggestions on what you’d like to see more of on Saligao Serenade.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year and much warmth, love and laughter throughout 2012!

- Val Souza, Editor

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Fr. Nascimento received a plaque and citation and was adorned with a shawl at the hands of Eduardo Faleiro, the Commissioner for NRI affairs . . . → Read More: True Values Foundation felicitates Fr. Nascimento]]> Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas was recently felicitated along with three other eminent Goans  at the first anniversary celebrations of  Margao-based True Values Foundation, an NGO dedicated to the welfare of senior citizens.

Fr. Nascimento received a plaque and citation and was adorned with a shawl at the hands of Eduardo Faleiro, the Commissioner for NRI affairs for the Government of Goa. Chief Minister of Goa, Digambar Kamat, was also present as Chief Guest for the function.

Along with Fr Nascimento Mascarenhas, also felicitated were Fr. Sergio Mascarenhas, Fr. Cosme J Costa and Percival Noronha, for their contributions to society in preserving human values.

A souvenir brought out by True Values Foundation was also released on the occasion.

True Values Foundation felicitates eminent Goans. Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas is at extreme right.

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“I have always placed my life in the hands of God and acknowledged His loving hands in shaping the events of my life.”  This sums up the absolute trust in Divine Providence of the 67-year-old Goan Bishop of Bassein in Burma (now Myanmar) whose life I am briefly describing here.

His . . . → Read More: The Bishop of Bassein in Burma]]> by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

“I have always placed my life in the hands of God and acknowledged His loving hands in shaping the events of my life.”  This sums up the absolute trust in Divine Providence of the 67-year-old Goan Bishop of Bassein in Burma (now Myanmar) whose life I am briefly describing here.

His Lordship Most Rev. Joseph Valerius Sequeira was from Sequeira-vaddo of Arrarim de Saligao, Goa. He was born in Zanzibar on 22^nd February 1917.  His parents were Joaquim Valerian Sequeira and Ismania Francisca Sequeira originally from Saligao.  His parents migrated to Burma from Zanzibar in 1920 taking the infant Valerius along with them to Rangoon. Valerius was the youngest of five children of his parents, four of whom resided in Bombay. He was the brother-in-law of the late Richard Durante, one of the founders and a past president of the Saligao Union, Bombay who rendered yeoman’s service to the Union which has since been renamed as Saligao Association, Mumbai.

The young Valerius had a brilliant academic career.  He completed the two-year Latin course in just six months. Fluent in Burmese, English and French, he translated the Liturgy into Burmese.

He was ordained priest on 21^st December 1939 at the age of 22 years and 8 months and on 20^th October 1984, Joseph Valerius Sequeira was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Bassein, Myanmar, and Titular Bishop of Fissiana at the age of 67 years and 7 months.

He was ordained Bishop on 17^th January, 1985 aged 67 years and 9 months as Titular Bishop of Fissiana, the Principal Consecrator being Bishop Sebastian U. Shwe Yank and Principal Co-Consecrators being Bishop Abraham Than and Archbishop Mathias U. Shwe at St. Peter’s Cathedral, Bassein.  He was appointed Bishop of Bassein, Myanmar, on 24^th January 1986 aged 68 years and 9 months.  He retired as Bishop of Pathein, Myanmar (Burma) on 22^nd February 1992 aged 75 and died at the age of 80 years and seven months on 24^th October 1997 as Bishop Emeritus of Pathein, Myanmar.  He was Bishop for 12 years and 8 months.

The Latin name of the Diocese was: Basseinensis (Bassein) and it was erected on 1^st January 1955, Metropolitan being Archdiocese of Rangoon. The name of the Diocese of Bassein was changed into Diocese of Pathein (Diocese of Patheinensis) on 8^th October 1991, Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Yangon and Country is known as Myanmar.  The Catholics of Pathein Diocese belong to the Latin (Roman) Rite.

During the governance of Most Rev. Joseph Valerius Sequeira the total population of Bassein was 3,574,401.  The Catholics numbered 57,752.

While away in Burma Bishop Sequeira evinced keen interest in Saligao.  As a young priest during the Second World War when Rangoon was bombed and the Goans in Burma suffered there, his famous saying was, “Every person is a member of struggling humanity and so merits understanding and compassion.”  It is a pity that Bishop Sequeira never reached Saligao.  He attempted to come in July 1985 to Bombay and Saligao but it was not to be.  He is the fifth Goan priest from Saligao to be raised to the Episcopate.

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During my childhood in Goa, the village of Saligao was at the hub of three main roads that linked us with the town of Mapuça to the north, Calangute Beach to the west, and the ferry at Betim to the south.

The road going north was a straight 2-mile-long, coconut tree-lined . . . → Read More: Cycling in Goa down the Saligao hill]]> by Mel D’Souza

During my childhood in Goa, the village of Saligao was at the hub of three main roads that linked us with the town of Mapuça to the north, Calangute Beach to the west, and the ferry at Betim to the south.

The road going north was a straight 2-mile-long, coconut tree-lined avenue through a patchwork of paddy fields until it came to the village of Parra where it turned in a north-easterly direction towards the bus terminal in Mapuça.

The road to Calangute Beach led into open country dotted with fragrant cashew trees for about a mile before running over a straight causeway through lush paddy fields towards the imposing Church of St. Alex on the outskirts of Calangute village. After meandering through the village for a mile or so, the road ended at Calangute Beach.

The road to Betim wound its way up a hill to the Saligao Seminary, and down to the village of Pilerne before heading towards Betim through yet more paddy fields. Betim faced Panjim, the capital city of Goa, across the Mandovi River.

The junction where these three roads met was popularly known as “Peggy’s Corner” – named after Peggy Mascarenhas who lived at that spot in a home with a balcão (balcony) which commuters would use as a sheltered bus stop.

Of these three roads, the road to Betim had a bit of notoriety. On the ridge of the hill, near the Saligao Seminary, it ran past a banyan tree that marked the spot where Christalina drowned herself in a nearby well way back in the 1800s (or, as another version of the story goes — was murdered by her husband and dumped in the well).  It was said that this desolate spot was haunted by Christalina’s ghost, and I often wondered if this Goan ghost was not behind some of the brake failures that befell a few Goan cyclists as they coasted down the steep hill, something I experienced unknowingly when I was about ten years old cycling in Goa.

It all happened one evening when my 26-year-old cousin, Santan Vaz, was giving me a cycle ride along the Goan village roads from Betim to Saligao. Santan had me on the crossbar of his bicycle as we were coming down the hill when… you guessed it… the brakes failed!

Santan was a very helpful individual who punctuated his speech with a head movement that made him come across as being a nervous fellow. But he was deliberate in his actions and he didn’t take risks. And he was a man of few words. However, when he realized that his brakes had failed while cycling down the Saligao hill, fear made him lose his voice completely. Meanwhile, as the cycle kept gaining momentum, I thought he was giving me a joy ride, and I kept looking over my shoulder and urging him to go faster.

The road had about six bends in it with a few long straight stretches between them that just made the cycle gain more speed. However, because the surface was not paved, it was marked with scattered sandy spots that Santan would head for in an effort to slow down the cycle while I kept pushing on the handlebar to keep us on the harder surface for a faster ride.

Anyway, after having skillfully negotiated the last and sharpest bend, Santan decided to apply the Goan cycling version of the emergency brake. He slid forward off the saddle, squeezing me against the handlebars of the cycle, and dug his heels into the dirt road to bring the bike to a grinding and dusty halt just before reaching Peggy’s Corner.

I turned around to thank Santan for the best cycling in Goa adventure  I had ever had when I noticed that he had a petrified look on his face and had broken out into a cold sweat. It was only after he had regained his speech that I realized what a close shave we had. But it was a fun ride – I wonder if other people cycling in Goa have had such thrilling experiences!

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“Recently I heard an appealing analogy for the faith experience. It seems that a small boy was flying a kite high up in the sky. Soon a low-drifting cloud encircled the kite and hid it from view. A man passing by asked the little boy what he was doing with that string in his . . . → Read More: Experiencing faith and who God is]]> 1.

“Recently I heard an appealing analogy for the faith experience. It seems that a small boy was flying a kite high up in the sky. Soon a low-drifting cloud encircled the kite and hid it from view. A man passing by asked the little boy what he was doing with that string in his hand. “Flying the kite,” the child responded. The man looked up at the sky and saw only the cloud in an otherwise clear sky. “I don’t see a kite up there. How can you be sure that there is a kite up there?” The child replied, “I don’t see it either, but I know my kite is up there because every once in a while there is little tug on the string.”

“In the same sense I know that there is a guiding hand in mine as I proceed along the path of my life. I know there is a light, not mine, that shows me the way I am to go, one step at a time. I know that the Lord walks with me. And there is a deep and warm sense of gratitude in my heart to walk this way with everyone as my companions. With the Lord’s guidance and in their company, every once in a while there is a little tug on the string. Thanks for letting me tell you about it.”

[Excerpted from The Christian Vision].

2.

“Once upon a time I used to think: “If I improve, become more charitable, eliminate my frequent faults of commission and omission, if I pray more, and so forth, God will love me more.” I am now convinced that this kind of thinking involves a serious misconception of our loving God. It is simply incompatible with a true vision of God. Again, it is making God to our human image and likeness. It ascribes to God that kind of you have to earn it type of conditional love with which we humans often pretend to love one another.

 

“Almost all of our human experience has been with conditional love – if you change… if you do this or don’t do that… I will love you. So we have to sit with this thought of God’s conditional, freely given love, and think about it for a long time. We have to soak in the realisation of God’s love in prayerful meditation. The truth of covenant, the truth that God could have made a world without you or me, but that such a world would have been incomplete for him—these are truths that are taken in slowly and realised only with the help of grace. God wanted you and me just the way we are, because… simply because this is the you and this is the me he has always loved. God is love. This is all God ever does.”

[Excerpted from The Christian Vision].

I knew two twin-brother priests known as “Zonvle Pat’tiu”, namely Fr. Cosme José Feliciano Cordeiro and Fr. Tomé Damião Nicolau Cordeiro from Saligao, who practised  this type of love and in silence spread the fragrance of God’s love as they daily walked from home to Saligao Church or St. Anne’s Chapel to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or visit the Blessed Sacrament. They were examples and guiding lights to us youngsters and in every parish that they worked they spread God’s unconditional love by their lives, a fact that was experienced and is remembered even today by their parishioners.

-  Compiled by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

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