Devotion To Mary

DEVOTION TO MARY

| Home | His Writings | Related Places |

-Fr Artur Rodriguese (ex-professor of Rachol Seminary - Goa)

Everyone has heard the French saying: "Cherchez la femme". The supposition is that behind every great man's achievements, even behind, the extraordinary evil or criminal deeds of a man, stands a woman.

Not many of the biographers of Bl. Joseph Vaz, the greatest missionary to come out so far from the Third World, have paid enough attention - some of them have paid none - to the woman behind or beside this charismatic priest, whose extraordinary personality could be noticed in the very first years of his sacerdotal activity.

Without denying what he must have received, as a child and young boy, from his mother and other family members, the woman standing behind Bl. Joseph Vaz's heroic life and achievements is undoubtedly the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus.

Fr. C. Spicq, the world-renowned French biblical scholar, in a lecture delivered at the aula magna of the University of Fribourg before a select audience comprising, besides University students, highly educated people and scholars, had this remark to make regarding Jesus' relationship to Mary: "Jesus received his human personality - he said - the human qualities which were so much appreciated by the people who approached Him, in particular his fine sensibility, from His Virgin Mother. Born virginally, he received his whole human nature from Mary alone." This point he developed later in a scholarly booklet entitled "Ce que Jesus doit a Marie" (What Jesus owes to Mary), making use of the modern research in genetic sciences.

It is my personal conviction that Bl. Joseph Vaz's harmonic personality, free from defects found in great saints like St. Francis Xavier, was moulded by Mary in whose hands he placed his whole self to be formed and reformed by her, and his whole work to be directed by her. That uncommon blend of simplicity and audacity, firmness and adaptability, the genius to find simple and ingenious solutions in humanly impossible situations and to govern the Church of Sri Lanka as its leader (Vicar General) by advising and suggesting rather than by imposing orders on his helpers in the vast island, observing always a superb moderation in his missionary activity without ever being at the mercy of persons, things or events, calls for a supernatural Masters or Mistress' constant intervention and guidance. And this mistress, I believe, was none else but Mary, the Mother of God and of Bl. Joseph Vaz himself, by divine determination and Bl. Joseph's choice.

Yes, that total detachment that capacitated him to exercise a sound mastery over persons and happenings, he must have received from the One whose slave he became and Who Herself had proclaimed loudly to be the handmaid of the Lord of the great moment of the Incarnation of the Son of God.

HIS DEVOTION TO MOTHER MARY:

The S.C. Pro Causis Sanctorum Positio Historica Super Virtutibus Servi Dei Josephi Vaz, published in 1985, besides reproducing in Italian the "Deed of Bondage" under the title "Carta della Consacrazione del Servo di Dio alla Santissima Vergine", gives the following information regarding Bl. Joseph Vaz's devotion to the Mother of God.''

From his early childhood, devotion to the Holy Rosary was his chosen devotion and he was seen reciting the Rosary on his way to the church as well as to the school.

In Kanara, where he started the official exercise of his priestly ministry as a dean, he built 3 churches in 3 different places (in Gangalim, in Bulfalor an in Kelianapor) dedicating all the three to the Blessed Virgin. Besides, he founded two confraternities under the invocations of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary and of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (this last devotion was not much spread in Goa in those days), having joined the last one as a member.

He used to pronounce the name of Mary with great unction, pausing after each "Hail Mary", even while reciting the Rosary with his companions.

When he started contacting the Catholics of Sri Lanka, he moved around, using the rosary as a necklace so as to be known as a Catholic by them.

The first church he erected in Sri Lanka (in Kandy) was dedicated to Our Lady of the Conversion of the infidels. The church built later on in the same spot, with better material, was given the same title.

Before starting any apostolic activity in the places he visited, he would unfailingly recite the Rosary with the people gathered around him.

Notwithstanding the heavy schedule of his missionary work, he found time to compose a booklet of prayers and songs in honour of Mary.

Unfailingly he would recite the rosary during his missionary journeys from one point to another of Sri Lanka along with his fellow companions.

His great devotion to Mother Mary led him to request the Superior of the Oratory of Goa to get for him from the Vicar General of the Dominican Order permission to establish confraternities of the Holy Rosary in Sri Lanka. Likewise, he was keen in obtaining from the Superior of the Carmelite Order scapularies blessed by the Carmelite Fathers.

In a lengthy letter to his nephew, a deacon, he recommends special devotion to the Mother of Jesus advising him to have recourse to her all-powerful intercession before her Son.

Fr. Sebastiao do Rego, a member of the Oratory of Goa and one of his first biographers, who was 12 years old when the Blessed expired, gives a few more details regarding this same devotion.

(a) Every Saturday, Fr. Joseph offered a Mass in honor of our Lady.

(b) Both in Kanara and in Sri Lanka he introduced the pious custom of singing a third of the Rosary (terço) every Sunday and Day of obligation in all the churches and chapels.

(d) He stopped ecstatically several times while reciting the Marian litanies.

This led those who noticed it to think that it was due to sleepiness, since he spent most of the night-time in prayer, But, taking note of the fact that he always resumed the litany at the point where he had stopped, they came to the conclusion that it was a mystical phenomenon.Deed Of BondageEnough publicity has been given by the Vice-Postulator and others to this DEED, written by the young Father Joseph Vaz in the very first year of his ordination, on August 5th, 1676. Reproducing it here, translated from the original Portuguese text, found in Fr. Sebastiao do Rego's biography, I shall pass some comments on it.

"Let it be known to all who see this Deed of Bondage - angels, men and other creatures - that I, Fr. Joseph Vaz, sell and offer myself to the Virgin Mother of God as a perpetual slave. Through a free, spontaneous and perfect act of donation, known in Law as an irrevocable act among the living, I give myself and all I possess, to her so that She, as my true Mistress, may dispose of me and of all my possessions with absolute freedom. And since I consider myself unworthy of such an honor, I beseech my Guardian Angel and the glorious patriarch St. Joseph, the most loving Spouse of this Sovereign Lady and the Saint whose name I bear, as well as the other citizens of Heaven to obtain from her the favor of being counted among her slaves, in truth whereof, I put down my signature, which I would have liked to do with my heart's blood. Given in the Church of Sancoale, at the foot of the altar of the same Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Health, the 5th day of August, Feast of Our Lady of Snows, in the Year Six Hundred and Seventy-Seven."

COMMENTS:

The Portuguese word "carta" means not only a "letter" or epistle (this is the more common meaning) but also an "official or solemn document", a "deed". That the above script of Bl. Joseph Vaz means a solemn document or deed rather than a simple letter or written message, as some may easily be led to think, is indicated clearly by the legal language used by the Blessed while drafting the document. He calls it "a free, spontaneous and perfect act of donation, known in Law as an irrevocable act among the living".
Even the last words "In truth whereof I put down my signature " are borrowed from the juridical language. That is why I prefer the words "deed" or "act" to the word "letter."

It is Deed of Slavery or Bondage with legal implications in the mind of the author. It is his solemn, total and perpetual consecration to Mary, done freely, implying the total surrender of his self-of what he is, has and does - once for all. Bl. Joseph gives voluntarily absolute right over himself to Mary because she is the Mother of God and not because she is a very holy, perfect creature.

The terminology used, namely "Act or Deed of Slavery or Bondage" is conditioned by the socio-political situation of the time. Human beings (mainly Africans) were picked up and sold by the colonizers or taken by force to work in their territories. It was a bondage imposed by constraint. The slave became the legal property of his lord. As such, he was bound to absolute obedience to this master who could kill him without any fear of being prosecuted and condemned while the slave could be prosecuted when he ran away.

In Goa itself, where Joseph was born and brought up, there were local agents of the slave trade, Goans whose services were requisitioned by the Portuguese and French in those days. So Bl. Joseph Vaz, knowing the meaning of slavery, must have used purposely the legal terminology found in his Deed to make the nature of his Act of Bondage to the Mother of God clear. Among his Dominican professors at the College of St. Thomas, he must have found those who, while condemning slavery, established distinctions between different types of dominion, stressing that God alone could claim certain types of dominion over creatures, mainly men (v.g. right to absolute obedience, right over man's life).

His is a "free, spontaneous" act. So no one should think that he believes that this type of dominion belongs to Mary by right. He is aware of the fact that such a right belongs to God alone. But the Blessed Virgin is the creature closest to God, being the very Mother of God. As such he chooses her freely as his Mistress. The purpose of this choice is to attain total spiritual freedom through the intercession of Mary. She is the One (the only one) who surrendered herself totally to God through her "fiat" so that God might use her and whatever she had for the fulfillment of His sovereign design towards mankind.

Bl. Joseph knew that Mary is the one who keeps nothing for herself but gives everything to God, leads everyone to Him. So surrender to the Mother of God would mean surrender to the Savior, to God. He could not find among men a better leader, teacher and guide in his priestly life and ministry, helping him to identify himself with the Good Shepherd and to minister unselfishly to His flock.

Bl. Joseph Vaz looks probably at his priestly ordination as a moment similar to the day of Annunciation in Mary's life. And it is possible that his missionary vocation was born at the moment of this Deed of Bondage. The goal of such a consecration in Bl. Joseph's mind is to liberate himself totally from all sort of selfishness, becoming a perfectly docile instrument in the promotion of God's Kingdom among men.

The, strong Christ centrism of his spirituality, centered on the Crucified Lord and in the Eucharist, as it became evident to those who lived with him, confirms what I said: his Deed of Bondage was deliberately oriented to God and to the propagation of His Kingdom on earth.

This Act of Consecration may well have been conditioned or influenced by the spiritual climate prevailing in the Church of Europe, mainly in France in the XVIIth century with Marian devotion and literature taking a specific new trend. This climate, which originated in the XVIth century, found its best representative in St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), Junior to Blessed Joseph Vaz (1651-1711), he became well-known after his death because of his book "The true Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary" and the Act of Consecration termed "Holy Slavery of Love", in which he advocates the surrender to Christ, through Mary, of the value of all good actions so that they may be used in the way God wishes.

Last but not the least, I must say that Blessed Joseph Vaz 's Deed of Bondage is theologically based on the principle of the Mediation of Mary, existing in the tradition of the Church and recalled in our days by the Second Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter VIII.

St. Thomas Aquinas whose "Summa Theologica" was used as a text-book of theology in the Academy or College of St. Thomas in Goa and who evolved a theological doctrine on Mary, free of exaggerations, must have been quoted by his Dominican professors while speaking about Mary, the Angelic Doctor had taught that the Blessed Virgin Mary received from God the fullness of grace fitting her as the closest creature to God, the Author of grace, since she bore the One Who is by nature full of grace, and that, by giving birth to Him, she, in a certain way, poured out grace over the whole mankind.

In short, the role of Mary is to lead directly to Jesus those who entrust themselves totally to her care. Young Fr. Joseph was well aware of this truth in the economy of salvation. He knew that an ideal priestly life and ministry could be only the fruit of God's grace; and, while consecrating himself totally to Mary, the Mother of the Incarnate Son of God, his only concern was to obtain from God, through Mary's mediation, the perfection that would make him an ideal apostle. And we can say, without exaggeration that he succeeded in this quest.

| Home | His Writings | Related Places |

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]