Apostolate in Jaffna

APOSTOLATE IN JAFFNA

SERIOUSLY SICK AT ARRIVAL:

Blessed Joseph Vaz and John arrived in Jaffna half dead with all their trials and sufferings. They needed rest and food. After knocking at some doors, finally a lady allowed them to pass the night in a hut that was outside her house. Blessed Joseph Vaz was immediately attacked with an acute form of dysentery as a result of his fatigues, hunger and thirst. Dysentery was much dreaded by the inhabitants, as it often resulted in epidemics and deaths. In spite of the good will of the lady who had given them shelter, they could not stay here for long.

The neighbors finding that this unknown stranger could not walk any more, put him on a litter and abandoned him in the forest without hope of any human help, without any hope of life, exposed to the in clemencies of nature. John who tried to beg, cook and feed his master himself also contracted the malady and there was no alternative left for them but to await death' s hour to come. Fr. Joseph Vaz might have had a vague idea of what was happening. He however turned to God with unflinching faith. This faith was rewarded as help came to them from an unexpected quarter:- a lady who discovered them when she had gone to gather some firewood in the forest. Out of pity she supplied them daily a bowl of kanji. After some days thanks to the the charity of this lady and the forced rest and sleep, God freed them, allowed them to enter into convalescence, restored them to perfect health and prepared Blessed Joseph Vaz for greater trials ahead.

WITHOUT ANY SUPPORT:

Bl. Joseph Vaz started his life in Sri Lanka without any logistic support from Church or Colonial authority. He had to literally beg from door to door for his survival, under constant menace and with a death sentence hanging over his head in case he was detected by the Dutch. He was now about to realize the object of the last 15 years of his dreams.

Once cured, though Bl. Joseph Vaz, ardently desired to come into contact with Catholics, he prudently awaited a chance to find them out; for some days he observed the actions of the inhabitants then with a rosary on his neck he began begging his food and roaming on the public streets, even though he knew well that by doing this he was exposing himself to ill-treatment and affronts by the Calvinists. He observed that in one family he was well received. One day he asked the head of that family whether he would like to see a priest and receive the sacraments. The man was dumbfounded. The next time when Bl. Joseph Vaz went to beg, the man took him to another friend of his who was a devout Catholic but externally was behaving as if he were not, and was in good terms with the Dutch.

Bl. Joseph Vaz slowly revealed his identity to them. After preliminary introduction, he showed his credentials as Vicar Forane of Kanara, "which he had prudently taken with him", and that night the first Mass was celebrated in that house after over 30 years. Listening to the advice that it was dangerous for him to remain in Jaffna, the headquarters of the Dutch command in the north of Sri Lanka, he prudently undertook to go secretly to Sillalai and stay in a walled house under the care of a local catechist ten miles away from Jaffna. For not knowing properly the situation, he entirely submitted himself to his protector in whose house he was lodged deep in the jungle. As a precaution he performed his apostolate at night to small groups of Catholics in order to avoid suspicion. He did this not only in Sillalai but also every time he was in Dutch territory. He would walk from Sillalai to Jaffna at night by the longer path, covering the distance of the last one mile by a route three or four times longer, to avoid being discovered by the Dutch.

While he was in Sillalai, if anyone insisted on his accepting any gift or money, he would send him to the Catechist "Moppu", his host or to any other person who happened to be in his company so that the entire sum could be distributed to the poor.

Bl. Joseph Vaz always preferred to eat sitting on the ground rather than on a table. He ate his rice on a leaf as the poor people were used to and are doing even today. He slept on a grass or bamboo mat like the poor, not on a bed. His life of poverty can be summarized in his own words to his nephew "Be content with that you are provided in the Community; be it in the refectory, or in the infirmary or in the wardrobe or in the cubicle, do not desire anything more by any other means to take the things assigned to you as the best in these places".

ORAL TRADITIONS OF SILLALAI:

There are a few oral traditions among the Catholics of Sillalai: One of them says that a lady saw a child playing in the hands of Bl. Joseph Vaz when she went to draw water from the neighboring well. She scolded her daughter thinking that her son was disturbing the priest. When she saw her son at home, she knew that the child was Jesus, Bl. Vaz forbid her from divulging this fact.

The other says that Bl. Vaz scolded a Catholic for not fulfilling the Paschal obligation saying that his riches would diminish. When this happened the Catholic asked pardon from the priest. Bl. Vaz gave him a Cross and consoled him promising that he and his family for generations would be happy. The member of the family having possession of the Cross at the time of the Ordinary Process of Virtues of Bl. Joseph Vaz, himself witnessed to this family tradition.

Slowly under the supervision and guidance of the catechist, Fr. Vaz penetrated the whole island of Jaffna. He found that the work was too much for one priest and asked the prefect of the Oratory for a helper in his first letter written from Sri Lanka dated 14th December 1688. In this letter after lamenting the he is now for more than 2 years separated from the confreres and cannot participate in the joys and sorrows for the Oratory of Goa, Bl. Joseph Vaz adds "however I counsel myself thinking that this is also the will of God and I pray to him to turn His divine eyes towards us, treating us according to His divine goodness and infinite mercy and not according to the number and iniquity of my sins and I Beg Him to hear our prayers wiping my sins with His divine mercy and do in us what is to His profit". He expresses his inability to be recollected because of the abandoned souls of the island, he says that God is continually protecting him and his faithful from falling in the hands of their enemies because of the prayers of the Prefect and confreres. He asks the Prefect to pray for him that while helping others he may not forget his own soul.

ESCAPE FROM DUTCH PRIEST- HUNT:

Adrian Van Rheede, was the Dutch commander of Jaffna. He wanted to force everyone to follow his Calvinistic heresy. He noticed the revival of Catholic life on the island and was much disturbed by the suspicion that a priest might be around. The behavior of a certain D. Pedro, who had been a Catholic and had formerly behaved as an apostate to enjoy the favor of the Dutch, but who was now no longer frequenting the Calvinist "Kirk", attracted his attention. He fixed a price on the head of those responsible for this situation and promised a reward to those who would bring about their arrest or to those who denounced such persons. Fr Francisco Vaz, the first biographer of the Blessed says that various attempts were made to arrest him. Many Catholics were put in prison and ill-treated but to no avail.

Van Rheede waited for another occasion. Two years after this clandestine apostolate, the presence of the priest was detected on Christmas night 1689. Armed soldiers surrounded the house where the congregation was celebrating the midnight liturgy and Blessed Joseph Vaz was administering the sacraments. They did not spare anything. They smashed the sacred images and even the women were despoiled of their clothes. 300 Christians were imprisoned and taken to the fort with great insult and injury. The soldiers were sure that the priest was in their net. But when they went to search for him, he was not among the prisoners. No one knows how he escaped. The Jesuit Provincial of Cochin, Fr. Andre Freyre who gave an account of this incident in a letter to the Portuguese Governor of Goa only says that when the heretics surrounded him, they could not imprison him because he was disguising himself in a thousand ways "like Proteus in various disguises".

Bl. Joseph Vaz fled from Jaffna deep into the jungle to avoid the destruction of his mission in Sri Lanka. He did not take anyone with him besides John in order to put the lives of others in danger. Due to the severity of the persecution in Jaffna (where the above staunchest Catholic Dom Pedro, was brutally executed and seven others suffered prolonged martyrdom) he decided to seek safety elsewhere. He crossed to Vanny but because it was held by a prince (ruler) subject to the Dutch, after a little delaying order to ascertain himself of the course of the persecution in Jaffna, Bl. Vaz with the help of some Catholics, fled to Puttalam, since this was part of the Kandy Kingdom.

The Kandy Kingdom was ruled by Vimaladharma Surya II, who had ascended the throne in 1687, the same year the Blessed Joseph Vaz had entered Sri Lanka. He was the son of Rajasimha II (1635 - 1687) who had invited the Dutch to drive the Portuguese out of Sri Lanka. The Dutch captured the Portuguese forts at Batticaloa on 18-05-1638, at Negombo in1640; at Colombo on 12-05-1656 and at Jaffna on 21-06-1658.

Contact: Rector (Vice Postulator - Goa)

Sanctuary of Blessed Joseph Vaz, 413 Blessed Joseph Vaz Road, P. O. Cortalim, SANCOALE - Goa - 403710-INDIA

Contact Office Tel: 00 91 832 2550263 / 2550517 e-mail: sanjovaz@blessedjosephvaz.org [www.blessedjosephvaz.org]