Goa prepares for canonisation of Fr. Agnelo de Souza

| JANUARY 02, 2016, 12:00 AM IST

PTI

Panaji

The Catholic Church is preparing for the canonisation of Father Agnelo de Souza, even as the seminary authorities are working on converting the room in which the late priest used to live into a museum, church officials in Goa said.

Fr. de Souza was teaching at the Rachol seminary near Margao city, which is said to be the oldest seminary in Asia.

“As a mark of respect to Father Agnelo de Souza, the process of whose canonisation has begun, the room in which he lived would be converted into a museum,” Fr. Simiao Fernandes, a priest in the Rachol seminary, said.

Fr. Agnelo Gustavo Adolfo de Souza was born in Anjuna village of Goa, and the Church has already declared him 'Venerable' in November, 1986.

He was a member of the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier.

“The room on the first floor of the seminary located at Rachol village, located about 8 km from Margao, was the last address of Fr. de Souza,” he said.

“In this room, lived de Souza as a spiritual father from 1918 till his death on November 20, 1927,” reads a board put up outside the room.

The priest breathed his last in the room while delivering the sermon, Fernandes said, adding it was occupied by other leading priests of the seminary till the late 1990s.

Goa, with 27 per cent Catholic population, last year saw Blessed Joseph Vaz being canonised. The canonisation took place in Sri Lanka, where his remains were buried.

“The Pope went to Sri Lanka when Blessed Joseph Vaz was canonised. Many pilgrims from Goa also flew to the neighbouring country to witness the process,” Franky Gomes, Attorney, Fabrica of the Rachol Church, said.

“When Fr. de Souza would be canonised, the Pope would be coming to Goa,” he claimed.

The testimonies about the miracles witnessed by the faithfuls are already being submitted.

A weekly tabloid, 'Vavreadamcho Ixtt' (Workers' Friend), released from the Pilar seminary located near here, regularly publishes these testimonies.

The Church law demands that two miracles are needed for a person to be canonised.

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