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Lanka’s churches to hail their first saint today
The Catholic Bishops Conference, Sri Lanka has requested catholic churches to say a special prayer of thanksgiving at the end of the Holy Masses and soon after to ring the bells of the churches today to mark the canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz, the first Saint of Sri Lanka.
Earlier this week, Pope Francis advanced the canonization process by waiving the requirement for a second miracle, foreign media reports said.
The canonisation of the 17th century cleric is expected to take place during the Holy Father’s visit to Sri Lanka in January.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference Sri Lanka and Bishop Vianney Fernando, the chairman of the national secretariat for the cause of canonisation of blessed Joseph Vaz, expressed their heartfelt thanks to the Pope, for his decision on the canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz.
Father Joseph Vaz, was ordained in 1676, and became a widely respected preacher and confessor.
After hearing of the sad state of the Catholics of Ceylon under Dutch rule, Father Joesph Vaz desired to come to their rescue. When he landed in Jaffna he found that Calvinism was being strongly propagated there while Catholicism was forbidden and Catholics persecuted. So Fr. Vaz disguised himself and did his revival work in secret.
Later he settled down in Sillale where there was a large congregation of Catholics who were strong in their faith. His mission was gaining momentum but this provoked a strong reaction by the Dutch and Fr. Vaz was forced to move to Puttalam. Later he made Kandy, the capital of uncolonised Ceylon, as the centre of his mission.
When he first went to Kandy Fr. Vaz was considered a Portuguese spy, and was put in prison. However many Catholics managed to gain access to him in prison thus enabling him to continue his good work. In the end he won the favour of Kandy’s King and regained his liberty.
The case for his beatification was first proposed to the Vatican in 1737 by the Rt. Rev. Dom Francisco de Vasconcellos, Cochin’s Jesuit Bishop, who had jurisdiction over Ceylon.
The process was started in Goa, and a number of miracles were recorded. But the non-fulfilment of essential formalities led to the cancellation of the process by the then Pope Benedict XIV. The Pope however ordered that the process could be reinstituted if the proper procedure was followed.
Thus it was that in January 1995, Fr. Joseph Vaz was beatified by Pope John Paul II, now a Saint, during a Holy Mass at the Galle Face Green.
Traditionally, those seeking to canonize a beatified person need to provide proof of at least two miracles that happened when they prayed for intercession by him or her. However the Pope has the authority to dispense with the requirement for a second miracle.