Catholic groups have asked the Archbishop of Goa to include religious services in Marathi duringthe exposition of relic of St Francis Xavier which will begin in December.
The annual feast day of St Francis Xavier, the patron saint of Goa, is one of the most important religious festivals in Goa, and celebrated on December 3. This year will feature the decennial exposition when the casket containing his remains is brought down from a raised reliquary. The Archdiocese of Goa has announced that the XVIII exposition of the saint will be held between November 21 and January 5, 2025. Masses are scheduled to be celebrated in several Indian languages, including Konkani, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, and Kannada, as well as French and Portuguese. However, there are no services in Marathi which is an official language of Goa, along with Konkani.
Mumbai-based Watchdog Foundation said that many Catholics from Mumbai and Vasai attend the festival. “It is strange that services are held in foreign languages but not in Marathi which is spoken in Goa and in neighbouring Maharashtra,” said advocate Godfrey Pimenta of Watchdog Foundation.
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In a letter to the Archdiocese of Goa, the group said, “We regret to observe that the program schedule for the Novena and Feast does noat include a Mass in Marathi, despite it being an approved liturgical language by his holiness (the Pope).”
The letter said that other prominent Catholic shrines, such as the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni, Tamil Nadu, and StJude’s shrine in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, regularly offer daily masses in Marathi during their Novena, the nine-day prayers that precede a feast or the birthday of a saint.
The four-century-old relics of the saint, known as the ‘Apostle of the East’ is displayed at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa. The Catholic Church believes that his body is incorruptible.
