TALK at General Congress of Oratorians in Rome, October 3, 2000

The General Congress of Oratorians in Rome is a beautiful occasion to recall Blessed Joseph Vaz, himself an Oratorian of the 17th century. I would like to talk about this great saint because of the very special missionary thrust for which his life and work offer inspiration. Blessed Joseph Vaz was born in Goa and became a Priest in Goa. He however volunteered to be a missionary in the island of Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon. The island was under severe religious persecution from the Dutch who at that time ruled the country. Catholic priests were forbidden to preach; it would mean imprisonment and even death if they were caught.

Blessed Joseph Vaz went to Ceylon disguised as a Labourer. He walked the rural paths through the tea-gardens, searching for Catholics, ministering to their needs, instructing them in the faith, regularizing their marriages, baptizing their children, and celebrating Holy Mass in their homes and villages. He was a veritable apostle for the Sri-Lankan Church and he revived the faith, which had been badly affected by the persecution. He also converted over 30,000 persons who embraced the faith and who still remember him.

It was in 1693 that Blessed Joseph Vaz worked a miracle of rain during a very severe drought and the King of Kandy offered him protection and freedom to preach the Gospel in the Kingdom of Kandy. He used the missionary method of inculturation. He composed a para-liturgy in Tamil and Sinhala. He educated his servant John to be a priest. John belonged to the Kumbi tribe, which at that time was not accepted for priesthood. During a small pox epidemic in Kandy, the King and other nobles fled; but Blessed Joseph Vaz remained ministering to the dying and abandoned victims for almost 2 years. Blessed Joseph Vaz finally died in 1711 after 23 years of arduous missionary work in Sri Lanka. In 1713 his cause for beatification was started.

If the glories of the altar were denied to this intrepid apostle of the Faith for over 2 centuries, this must be attributed to the colonial mentality of that period. There is little use to lament over the injustice done. Perhaps in God’s providence, this millennium is the appropriate time for Blessed Joseph Vaz to emerge as a model of missionary effort in the face of opposition and persecution. Blessed Joseph Vaz was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II in Sri Lanka when he paid a visit to that island.

There does seem to be a special role for Blessed Joseph Vaz to play at this moment of history. His life and ministry become very relevant. Persecution against Christians in several countries in Asia is being evidenced. During the past 2/3 years Christians in India have experienced atrocities from fundamentalist forces, which have become frequent enough to draw governmental attention. Several times the Christian leaders are told that this is provoked by the Christian Gospel and converting people. Yet freedom to practice, preach and propagate one’s faith is enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

Here then is a modern missionary challenge. The unambiguous missionary mandate of “Go, preach the Gospel” is being questioned. At this juncture it gives the Church and its missionaries renewed courage and zeal by looking at the life and work of that pioneer missionary of Sri Lanka, Blessed Joseph Vaz. He did not hesitate to face any persecution and even risked his life so that Christ might be preached. His total commitment to the people was evidenced by leaving his homeland and dying among his flock in Kandy, far away from his kith and kin. His adaptation of life-style, dressing himself even as a labourer, so that he could be with his flock and his effort for inculturation in those colonial days are outstanding examples for emulation and inspiration.

The involvement of the Oratorians in the cause of Blessed Joseph Vaz seems very important. Blessed Joseph Vaz founded the first fully native Oratorian Congregation in the 3rd world. Blessed Joseph Vaz had heard of the Portuguese Oratory led by Bartholomeu de Quintal and after correspondence with the Lisbon Oratory, he sought and obtained affiliation with the Oratory of St. Filippo Neri. The Papal Bull confirming the Goa Oratory was sent to India in 1709.

Blessed Joseph Vaz has the distinction of founding a missionary oratory of priests who could be available for frontier missionary work. And in so far as all these priests were natives, the venture is even more creditable for the 17th century, where missionary enterprise was linked with colonial expansion.

I have been here in Rome to meet the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints in the hope that he would forward the sainthood of Blessed Joseph Vaz as a victim of the colonial period. Under any other conditions Blessed Joseph Vaz would long since have received the glories of the altar. Neither his cause nor his devotion were fostered during the 2 centuries of colonial rule, where the devotion to saints from Europe were eagerly propagated. No blame to anyone. Perhaps God has his own plan; he has set the time and the occasion. At this moment of history in the face of anti-Christian events, the example and zeal of Blessed Joseph Vaz have emerged as inspiring models for emulation by modern missionaries in Asia. May this be so. At times the observation is heard about the flagging efforts for proclamation of Jesus and his message. Blessed Joseph Vaz as a native missionary using inculturation as an approach can serve as a role model, besides assisting the work of evangelization by his powerful intercession.

We are told that an attested miracle is required so that Blessed Joseph Vaz maybe canonized. It will be our task to foster a more popular devotion to Blessed Joseph Vaz in all the areas where evangelization is in progress. This is surely the call that is made to us who have been inspired by his life and example. May the Oratorians join in whole-heartedly is our prayer and appeal.

The process of proving miracles in not an easy one and made more difficult for the Sri Lankan Church which is under great national stress and with the small funds available in our mission situations. A petition to canonize Blessed Joseph Vaz even without a miracle has been made. Maybe the petition will help the Holy Father to dispense with the requirement of a miracle. This too could be a miracle and it is our prayer and hope.

October 3, 2000