17/10/2015
St. Joseph Vaz, the Apostle of Sri Lanka, came from Goa in 1687 when the Catholics in Sri Lanka were undergoing severe persecution under the Dutch, who had ousted the Portuguese in 1658 and occupied the territory held by them who had made many converts to the catholic faith.
During the 24 years of uninterrupted committed ministry, with the help of a small band of Oratorian Missionaries from Goa, he was able to revive the faith of the dying Church due to the absence of priests and many hardships imposed by the new rulers that he is called the 'Second founder of the Church in Sri Lanka.
It was therefore, a Goan priest, a missionary from a neighboring country who saved the Church at that time. Fr. Vaz not only saved the faith, but also built it on a new foundation. The Portuguese Church was western but Fr. Vaz made use of the customs and culture of the people in Catholic worship and he himself adopts very simple way of life like that of the simple Sri Lankan.
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