Chronicles of Churches, Chapels: Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel in Zuvem

The chapel in Tolto vaddo in Zuvem is dedicated to Our Lady of Good Voyage or Nossa Senhora de Boas Venturas in Portuguese. At one time, it was the main Church of the village, but now it is a chapel as the main Church is quite a distance from this vaddo.

Zuvem was a group of small islands, connected by a tar or a manos. Tolto was one such small island. The Portuguese fidalgos resided here.
According to Pedro Barreto de Rezende, Conde de Linhares, Secretary to the Portuguese Governor, there was a thick coconut plantation and variety of mango trees here and so too scattered houses. Men would work in the plantations during the day while at night they would guard the houses from robberies that would take place here.

ORIGIN
The Portuguese conquered Zuvem on December 26, 1510, and renamed the island Santo Estevao, since it was the feast day of the Proto-martyr St Stephen. Soon the Jesuit missionaries began their activities here.
Dauji vaddo was Christianised in 1560, then Tolto vaddo by 1563 and subsequently from Tolto, the faith reached entire Zuvem. The Jesuits constructed a chapel here in 1575, which then was the main church of Zuvem. Mons Leonardo Paes and Fr Luis Frois, a Jesuit, state this fact. But according to Professor V B Monteiro, the chapel was constructed by the ancestors.
According to Mons Leonardo Paes and Fr Luis Frois SJ, the original church remained so for almost one-and-half century. Then due to various circumstances such as the epidemic in Old Goa and in Tolto, which led to decrease in population, it was derogated to a chapel. Besides the church suffered damages; it was burnt first on November 25, 1683, by Sambaji Raja forces during the Maratha campaign in Goa. A new church was built here, but there are no details as to when it was built and it remained as the Parish Church of Zuvem till 1739. On March 24, 1890, the Church was desecrated.

THE ALTAR
The chapel has only one altar, which is in the back wall, on which is the image of Our Lady of Boa Ventura. Besides this image are also the images of St Joseph and St Rita of Kissai. The chapel has a pulpit made of stone, which is rare in Goa, a wooden choir loft, a big sacristy.

THE FEAST
The feast of the chapel is celebrated on the second Sunday of November, this year it falls on November 13, preceded by the Maddi and the nine-day Novena. On the following day was the feast of St Joseph, followed by the feast of St Rita of Kissai. Now, the latter two feasts are not celebrated. Besides these feasts, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was celebrated on February 11 and on Good Friday, the parishioners would carry the cross from here to the church.

(The writer is Superior at Casa Professa, Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa)