News
‘Saint Joseph Vaz saved my life and my mother’s life’: Fr. Costa
View(s):The canonization of Sri Lanka’s first saint was truly a special event for one Goan priest whose miraculous birth led to the Vatican approving sainthood for Blessed Joseph Vaz.
Rev. Father Cosme Joseph Vaz Costa
Rev. Father Cosme Joseph Vaz Costa attended the canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz this week and spoke exclusively to the Sunday Times.
The first baby of his mother, Quiteria de Noronha e Costa, was premature and died six hours after birth. She conceived again, this time delivering a baby girl who was haemorrhaging.
“The doctor said she and my mother would die but both survived,” Fr. Costa related. “My mother conceived thrice more but miscarried. Eight years passed. My mother was sad because she wanted a baby boy. My aunt gave birth to a son who was later ordained a priest.”
This cousin was posted in Sancoale, the birthplace of Joseph Vaz. “My cousin saw many who received favours through intercessory prayers to Joseph Vaz,” he said. This was duly conveyed to Fr. Costa’s mother.
His mother prayed to Joseph Vaz for the gift of a boy. She conceived within a month. “In the fourth month, she was haemorrhaging,” he said. She was hospitalised and the doctors said there would be a miscarriage. “They told her you have lost three children and soon you will lose this one,” he added.
But Quiteria prayed to Joseph Vaz. She was sent home with strict medical advice to rest. “Our family doctor saw my mother,” Fr. Costa continued. “He was a simple fellow and told her to walk around the house. She did so and got a second haemorrhage. Another doctor was called.”
This time, the doctor told her to take complete bed rest. Quiteria did this for a month but bled again for a third time. She was rushed to hospital and shown to a doctor named Aires de Sa. He declared that both mother and baby will die.
“On the eve of my birth my mother was unconscious,” Fr. Costa said. “The doctor offered my family an abortion and they refused.” They prayed to Joseph Vaz throughout the night. When Quiteria woke up the next morning, the bleeding had stopped.
“Three times, our lives were threatened but we lived in the end,” he said. “After everything was over, the doctor said Fr. Joseph Vaz had interceded on your behalf.”
Fr. Costa has been a priest for 48 years. “I could have been born deaf, dumb or blind but there were no difficulties,” he said. The miracle was taken up by the Vatican Canonization Commission in 1990. Five doctors from Rome and England examined the reports for more than year before the case was approved by Pope John Paul II (who is now Saint John).
The Vatican Canonization Commission’s report said: “Sudden stoppage of haemorrhage which resulted in the birth of an abnormal child that survived. This birth cannot be explained in the medical sense.”
Fr. Costa’s mother, who was told at 33 that she would die, lived to be 94-years-old. “Saint Joseph Vaz saved my life and my mother’s life,” he said, breaking down. “When Pope Francis decided to canonize him, my heart was filled with joy.”