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Goa News Clips
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Agnelo:
An Indigenous Goan Saint
Printed from
www.mangalorean.com
By- Fr Desmond de Sousa. CSSR, SAR
NEWS
 PANAJI, Nov 15-- Venerable
Father Agnelo D'Souza spent his entire fifty-eight years of
life in the Goa region. His 79th death anniversary celebration
November 20 is an occasion to reflect on secret of his
sanctity. He lived his ordinary everyday life in an
extraordinary way.
Agnelo was born to a very pious Catholic couple, Minguel
Mariano D'Souza and Maria Perpetua, January 24, 1869, in the
village of Anjuna, north Goa. The ancestral house still
stands, with his relatives living in it.
Anjuna parish is cared for by priests of the Missionary
Society of St Francis Xavier (SFX), an indigenous Goan
religious society based at the village of Pilar in central
Goa, of which Father Agnelo was a member.
Even as a child he displayed extraordinary love for his
neighbour. His sister relates how Agnelo, unlike his other
siblings, was always at the disposal of his saintly mother. He
gladly did whatever domestic work she required. He was
extremely helpful to his neighbours, so parents in the village
pointed out Agnelo's example to their children for imitation.
As a young adult, his piety was so transparent that his parish
priest appointed him to teach catechism to the other village
boys. Agnelo performed this service with great joy and care.
He joined the SFX at Pilar July 17,1897, at the age of 28. He
was ordained a priest a year later on September 24 and
appointed pastor of Shiroda and then Sanvordem in Goa and
later of Kumta in the present diocese of Karwar. He was a
model of humility and kindness as priest, administrator,
preacher and confessor. There is a story that during his
tenure in Kumta some drunkards demanded money from the parish
funds. Though very meticulous about parish accounts, Father
Agnelo obliged them and won them over, so that they gave up
their habit of drinking!
Father Agnelo was in great demand as a preacher and confessor.
Many parish priests used to request his superior at Pilar to
send him to preach missions in their parishes. He was promptly
obedient to the directives of his superior, even when, on more
than one occasion, he was ill and feeling feverish.
Many moving stories circulate of his extraordinary ability to
touch and transform the lives of people. One Dr. Leon Pinto of
Calangute village testified that he was suffering from a
nagging problem that deeply disturbed him. Father Agnelo
happened to come by, looked at him tenderly and blessed him.
The man instantly felt comforted and peace returned to him.
Valente Fernandes narrated how after pouring out his heart to
Father Agnelo in the confessional, like so many others, he
experienced immense peace and a firm will to avoid sin in the
future. Many others recounted the extraordinary healing powers
of Father Agnelo.
One interesting story is related by Francis Fernandes, a
tailor from the Goa Velha, a village adjoining Pilar. He once
planted chillies in his kitchen garden, toiled hard watering
and manuring them, but they refused to grow. Innocently, he
uprooted one of these plants and took it to Father Agnelo. The
priest pulled out a branch and returned the sampling with the
advice, "Go and plant it again. It will certainly produce
chillies." Within three weeks he got such an abundant crop of
chillies that it amazed even the people in the village.
The news of his sanctity reached the then Patriarch of Goa Dom
Matheus de Olivera Xavier, who appointed Agnelo spiritual
director of the Patriarchal Seminary of Rachol in south Goa
May 20,1918. He remained there till his death on November 20,
1927.
At Rachol seminary, both professors and seminarians referred
to him as a model priest: humble, ascetic, saintly. He was
lovingly called ‘our saint'.
Father Aloysius Rego, in his book Secrets to Share, mentions
that Agnelo used to sleep without a mattress on his bed, would
put ashes in his food and meticulously prayed his breviary
every day. Sometimes, if he was inattentive at prayer, he
would repeat that particular ‘hour'.
Venerable Agnelo D'Souza was truly a man of God and
compassionate towards human beings. His intelligence, his
ability to preach and to give guidance to others was
outstanding and greatly appreciated by people. The special
novena on the theme "Fr Agnelo: A Model of Christian Witness"
is being celebrated from November 11 to 20, at the Church of
the SFX in Pilar, where his mortal remains are venerated. |
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37th
International Film Festival of India 2006
All roads lead to Campal
 
PANJIM: It's today, the 37th International Film
Festival of India 2006, which will be inaugurated by
veteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor at Campal
football grounds at 5.30 pm. The opening ceremony is
likely to be studded with a galaxy of stars and will
feature a glittering cultural segment. Actors Anil
Kapoor, Prasenjit and Venkatesh will be the guests of
honour while,Vidya Balan will assist in lighting the
inaugural lamp. The opening film will be 'Volver' by
Pedro Almodovar from Spain, which will be screened at
the Kala Academy auditorium at 8 pm while, the closing
film will be 'Babel' by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of
USA. It will be preceded by a cultural extravaganza at
the Campal football grounds from 6 pm to 7.30 pm. This
year the Cinema of the World section would feature 52
films from 48 countries. Highly acclaimed films
like Marie Antoinette, Borat, All the King's Men, En
Soap, Beerfest, Selon Charlie, Man from the Embassy,
CRAZY, Three Mothers, When do the Girls show up? will
feature in the section. A competition section
exclusively for Asian/African/Latin American feature
films will have 11 films from 10 countries. A
five-member Jury chaired by Rolf de Heer-Film Director
from Australia will include Oliver Assayas, Director
from France, Jahnu Barna, Director from India, Grazyna
Szapolowska, actress from Poland, and Leticia Bredice,
actress/Director from Argentina. This year the Country
Focus is
Argentina. [GT]
See Pics of Floats at
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=304325579&size=l |
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The Memsahib makes its
Indian premiere at IFFI, Goa
By IndiaFM News Bureau, November 22,
2006 - 09:14 IST
http://www.indiafm.com/news/2006/11/22/8264/
 After winning laurels and great reviews from international
audiences in film festivals like Pittsburgh 3 Rivers Film
Festival, Stony brook Festival in New York, Salento Film
Festival in Italy and Dances with Films, Los Angeles , Award
winning NRI Director Kruti Majmudar is all set to her debut
feature, The Memsahib make its Indian cinema debut in the
prestigious IFFI, Goa! The film will premiere on Sunday, 26th
of November at INOX, Goa.
Written, Directed and Produced by Kruti herself, the film
stars Emily Hamilton, Parveen Dabbas, Swetta Keswani, Murli
Sharma, Glenn Fitzgerald (The Sixth Sense, Finding Forrester),
Denzil Smith and many others. The executive producer is Larry
Meistrich, producer of Academy Award nominated "Sling Blade",
with Billy Bob Thornton.
The Memsahib is not another crossover film but a truly
American Independent film. Uday Mazumdar has composed the
score, art direction is by Nitin Desai and cinematography by
Rajen Kothari.
"The Memsahib" is a fresh new look at the timeless nature of
love and is the story of a strong- willed woman's search for
her connection to one love, two cultures through many
lifetimes.
Grace Roberts (Emily Hamilton) is a young Memsahib who
discovers and comes to terms with her new life, as a wife and
a princess in a foreign land – India 1850's. But their world
is drifting towards revolution, and when differences of
resolve ignite between the prince (Parveen Dabbas) and his
fellow Noblemen Kishore Thakkar (Murli Sharma), betrayal is
close at hand. Swetta Keswani plays Emily's sister-in-law cum
confidante who helps her to adjust to the ways of the royal
life. |
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Cardinal Poupard lauds
harmony in Goa
HERALD NEWS BUREAU
http://oheraldo.in/node/20628
PANJIM, NOV 21 - President
of the Pontifical Council for Culture Cardinal Paul Poupard on
Tuesday lauded the harmonious co-existence of different faiths
and cultural backgrounds in the State.
Cardinal Paul Poupard was addressing delegates after
inaugurating the Meeting of Cultural Centres of India in the
Pilar Theological College. Others present at the function
included Apostolic Nuncio Pedro Lopez Quintana,
Archbishop-Patriarch of Goa and Daman Filipe Neri Ferrao and
the Superior General of the Society of Pilar Fr Tony Lopes.
The senior Vatican official had a word of praise for the
progress India is making and a very special word for Goa.
“This land of great variety, with its many Christian places of
worship as well as temples and tulsis, has a deep religious
ambience. Though the people of Goa are of different faiths and
from different cultural backgrounds, this tiny land is marked
by a peaceful harmony and respect for each other,” Cardinal
Poupard said.
Exhorting all to live and witness the Christian faith in
charity and forgiveness, Cardinal Poupard quoted Gandhi who
said that the greatest hindrance to Christianity were
Christians themselves.
“We have to lead by example of our lives. The role of the
Church in India would be to continue to be Christ’s
compassionate face to the poor, the youth, the indigenous
peoples, the suffering, as it has been so wonderfully doing
down through the centuries,” said the 76-year-old cardinal.
Fr Bernard Ardura, secretary to the Council, stressed the need
of establishing Catholic cultural centres to dialogue with
various ideas and trends, specially in the era of
globalisation.
Touching a personal note, the official of the Council, Fr
Theodore Mascarenhas explained how the faith had indeed found
roots in Indian culture.
“It is not mere superficial touches that are needed, but a
deep rooted value system that forms the ethos of our country
that should be preserved,” he said.
The conference will continue with presentations from each of
the 40 delegates present with themes varying from social
commitment towards cultural values or education and its
values.
On the first day Fr Paul Palipadan, director of Mass Media and
Communications, Sagar, Fr M T Joseph of the renowned Indian
Institute of Culture, Mumbai, Fr Victor Ferrao, Professor of
Rachol Seminary, Dr Mathew Chandrankunnel of Dharmaram
University, Bangalore, Reginald Mascarenhas of Palloti
Institute of Theology and Sr Theresa of Mater Dei presented
their papers and the work their respective centres were doing
for culture.
On November 22, the cardinal will preside over a cultural
programme with Governor S C Jamir as the chief guest. |
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