A file photo of hundreds of devotees participating in a penitential Way of the Cross to the Our Lady of Rosary Church, Old Goa, as part of the Novena of Grace.
The Novena of Grace to St Francis Xavier began at the Shrine of Bom Jesus Basilica, Old Goa on Saturday and will end on March 12, the day of his canonisation. Though the Novena were held here in 1922, the real impetus to it was given here in 1967 by Fr George D’Sa, S,J, the then Rector of the Basilica.
HISTORY
The Novena of Grace is attributed to the saint himself. In 1633, Fr Marcello Mastrilli, a young priest in a Jesuit College in Naples, took a vow to go to Japan to work as a missionary, during the time of the Buddhist persecution.
While waiting for his passage, he organised the feast of the Immaculate Conception on a grand scale in the college of Naples, putting there an elaborate structure. The whole town and its churches were decorated for the occasion.
On December 11, he was directing a worker on a ladder for the removal of the temporary structure, when through mishap or negligence, a hammer fell from the hand or a belt of the workman and hit the head of Fr Mastrilli, thirty cubits down.
At first, the gravity of the injury was not apparent, but in spite of the best medical treatment, the patient’s condition grew worse. On the night of January 3, 1634, he was obviously dying, with only a quarter of an hour of life left. When his condition began to worsen, they started a Novena to St Francis Xavier, the patient promising the Saint to go to the missions, if he was cured. So, that night, when everybody was expecting him to die at any moment, St Francis Xavier appeared to him in the garb of a pilgrim, and cured him completely, telling him at the same time to keep his vow to go to Japan; the saint said: "All those who implore my help daily for nine consecutive days, from the fourth to the twelfth of March inclusive and worthily receive the sacrament of penance and Holy Communion on one of the nine days will experience my protection and may hope with entire assurance to obtain from God any Grace they ask that is for the good of their souls and the glory of God.”
That very night Fr Mastrilli wrote an account of his cure. The fame of this miracle spread all over Italy and beyond. With great confidence in the powerful intercession and goodness of St Francis Xavier, people began to have recourse to him through the Novena. Hence, the Novena to him became known as Novena of Grace.
The theme for the liturgical celebration of the Novena of Grace, this year is ‘Discerning God’s Call and committing oneself like St Francis Xavier to Apostolic Preferences in Synodality.”
‘Novena of Grace’ at the Basilica
The ‘Novena of Grace’ (Kurpechim Novenam) will take place from March 4 to March 12 on the theme ‘Discerning God's Call & Committing Oneself like St Francis Xavier to Apostolic Preferences in Synodality.’
Daily Masses will be celebrated in Konkani at 6 am, 7 am, 8 am, 4 pm and in English at 12 pm and 6 pm.
Sunday Masses on March 5 will be celebrated in Konkani at 6 am, 7 am, 8 am, 4 pm and in English at 9.15 am, 12 pm and 6 pm.
On March 12, the Sunday Masses will be celebrated in Konkani at 6 am, 7 am, 8 am, 4 pm and in English at 6 pm. The Konkani High Mass will be celebrated at 9 am, followed by the Penitential Way of the Cross to the Rosary Church, near Santa Monica Convent.
The Mass at 12 pm will be celebrated at the Rosary Church in Konkani. After the blessing and Mass, all devotees will partake of the Kanji emulating the example of St Francis Xavier who identified with the poor and simple folk.
There will be a Mass at the well of St Francis Xavier Chapel, Old Goa, on March 6 at 10 am (Konkani).
There will be other devotional programmes at the Basilica.
Daily Meditation and Adoration will take place at 5 am, while the Way of the Cross in English will be after the 8 am Mass and in Konkani after the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 pm. The Divine Mercy Chaplet will be at 2.45 pm in Konkani.
There will be a talk on ‘Call, Discernment & Commitment’ in English on the lives of illustrious Jesuit Saints at 5 pm, while the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet in English will be after the 6 pm Mass.
(The writer is Superior at Casa Professa, Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa)
