St. Joseph Vaz (1651-1711) and Ven. Fr. Agnelo de Souza, SFX (1869-1927)
1. Since 1978, the Joseph Naik Vaz Institute has offered our yearly St. Joseph Vaz, Feast Mass for the Beatification of both St. Joseph Vaz, the Goan “Apostle of Kanara and Sri Lanka” and of Ven. Fr. Agnelo de Souza, the saintly Goan priest from Pilar whose Cause has been progressing in Rome for some time.
This year, the Joseph Naik Vaz Institute is offering our January 29, 2017 annual St. Joseph Vaz Feast Mass (see announcement below) for a favorable decision by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of the Saints and H.H. Pope Francis to approve a recent miracle through the intercession of Ven. Fr Agnelo for his Beatification. We will follow this with Masses for this intention throughout the year until we find out whether or not our Mass campaign has succeeded.
We invite Goans and Goan organizations worldwide to join us in this Mass campaign which will be significant proof to the Sacred Congregation for the Saints that there is widespread devotion and support for his Beatification. We urge you to offer a Mass for the Beatification of Ven. Fr. Agnelo and to honor our Goan saints on the last Sunday of January together with us, or on any other day. Please write and inform us of the details by emailing us at [email protected] so that we and other Goans can join you in spirit and show our worldwide support for the Beatification of Ven. Fr. Agnelo.
2. Invitation to our Jan. 29 feast day Mass this year …..
We again cordially invite San Francisco Bay area devotees of St. Joseph Vaz and of Ven. Fr. Agnelo de Souza to join us on Sunday January 29, 2017 for our annual feast day Mass for our two Goan saints. Special prayers will be said for the Beatification of Ven. Fr. Agnelo. This Mass will be held at St. John the Baptist Church at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday January 29, 2017. The address is 11152 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito CA 94530. It is at the corner of San Pablo Avenue and Potrero Avenue, and a block away from the Del Norte Bart station.
We have arranged for a special Mass in honor of Ven. Fr. Agnelo by Rev. Fr. Roy Pereira S.J. to celebrate the Jan. 16 Feast Day of St. Joseph Vaz and for our special intention this year for the Beatification of Ven. Fr. Agnelo.
Fr. Roy is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara, CA. He is presenting his post doctoral research study in the field of neuroscience at Harvard and several other universities in the U.S.
Joseph Naik Vaz Institute
www.josephnaikvaz.org
