The Church on Monte de Boa Vista hill on the eastern side of the city of Old Goa, is dedicated to the Cross of Miracles. The feast is celebrated here on February 23 every year, the day of the miraculous happening.
THE ORIGIN
There are a couple of stories related to the origin of the Cross on this hill. One story says that the shepherds, who would graze their cattle on it, made a Piddeancho Khuris, 3½ yards in length in 1619 and planted it on a rock. Another story says that Fr Manuel Rodrigues, a priest of the Cathedral placed a wooden cross on the hill in 1619. It is said that on the night of February 23, 1619, something spectacular happened here which was seen by the people of Divar. They saw red flags flying above hill, rays of bright light emanating from the sky and falling on the cross.
On the following morning, some people saw a human figure nailed on it; his head uplifted and facing the city of Old Goa, hands and feet fastened together, a white towel around his waist, the body covered with wounds and stained with blood, a crown of thorns around the head and a halo around him.
Seeing these spectacular phenomena, people rushed to the hill. They discovered that the Cross planted by the shepherds had grown from 3½ yards to about 5 yards, but they did not see the human figure on it. The news about this event spread across the State. People rushed here with their sick and many were healed.
On March 15, 1619, another miraculous event connected to cross took place: water rushed from the base of the rock on which the cross stood and many people who touched the flowing water were healed.
THE ENQUIRY
This news reached the doorsteps of the Archbishop of Goa, Dom Cristovão de Sa e Lisboa (1613 “ 1622), who immediately appointed a Committee, that included canons and the chief public functionaries (medical men and lawyers) to study these phenomena.
He also ordered the cross to be conveyed in a solemn procession on the shoulders of canons and the chief public functionaries to the neighbouring Church of Our Lady Of Light, which was at the foot of the hill.
The Committee reported that the phenomena that had taken place on the hill were true and the miracles too were supernatural. Then, the devotion to the Cross of Miracles began and a solemn feast was celebrated at the Cathedral.
THE NEW CHURCH
A new church was constructed on the site and the Cross of Miracles was placed in it. Since the material used for its construction was of inferior quality, it collapsed on August 8, 1659. The Cross was then taken back to the Church of Our Lady of Light. It was after the Augustinians constructed a new church here in 1671 that the Cross was reinstated into it.
THE ORATORIANS
The Congregations of The Oratorians of St Philip Neri was established here in 1684; they constructed their Convent, Convento de Cruz dos Milagres next to the Church. After the suppression of all the religious orders in the Portuguese territory in 1835, the Oratorians left the place and the church was abandoned. Then the Cross of Miracles was transferred in a solemn procession to the Cathedral on May 3, 1845 by orders of the Governor, Jose Ferreira Pestana (1844-1851).
REVIVAL OF THE CHURCH AND CONVENT
Fr Pedro Soares was put in charge of the church on the hill on the occasion of the 250th death anniversary of Venerable Fr. Joseph Vaz (1961). He restored the church and the adjacent convent. He restarted the devotion to the Cross of Miracles, with the celebration of the Eucharist on 23rd of every month and khanji was served to all the pilgrims after the Mass.
In the course of time the feast would be celebrated on February 23 preceded by a 9-day Novena. In 2014, the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman constructed the St Joseph Vaz Spiritual Renewal Centre next to it.
The church’s façade and its interior are simple; behind the eucharistic altar is a wooden Cross.
[The writer is Superior at Casa Professa, Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa]
