Marcos Gomes-Catao cata...@yahoo.com Long-time Goanetter Marcos Gomes-Catao passed in the past week, and as a tribute to him, we carry one of his charming articles he had shared earlier. MG-C's prominent family home, now replaced by a building that houses many medical and other facilities in Mapusa, still carries the family name. He is the brother of the prominent Jesuit educationist in Poona and Goa, late Vincent Gomes-Catao SJ.
In the social life of the Catholic community in Goa of pre-Conciliar days, the village son's first Mass at the Parish church, after ordination, occupied a place of unique relevance, an occasion of unalloyed joy. It was celebrated with an éclat rivalling that of household son or daughter's wedding. In those days, a priest in the house was motive for considerable happiness and a source of pride. Unlike to-day, then the triad of teacher, priest and lawyer (the vernacular 'Dotor') was held in high esteem, looked upon with great respect, if not reverence. Now, of course, with the degradation of ethical and moral values and the accentuation of material ones for one reason or another, the aura of those callings has somewhat dimmed, more particularly that of priesthood. It may not be out of context to mention here an article that appeared not too long back in 'The New York Times' discussing a poll carried out among American Catholic mothers regarding sacerdotal vocations. Almost unanimously, there was dismay at the thought their sons might become priests, among the motives cited being that they would not make money, they would not give them any grandchildren, etc. One went to the point of saying she would be very disappointed if it were to happen but she would not disinherit her son! In the decades before the Council i.e. in the 1920s to the 1950s, Catholic religious life in Goa bubbled with intense and varied activities and practices, most of them now extinct, such as Apostleship of Prayer, Legion of Mary, groups of boy and girl Crusaders, etc. This effervescence was in no small measure fomented by a strong contingent of clerics emanating from the Rachol Seminary in such numbers that most churches had two Curates besides the Vicar, and most large chapels had a resident Chaplain. >From the very inception of Catholicism in Goa there appears to have been a natural inclination towards the priesthood among the native population so that the first Goan priest could already be ordained by 1558, barely fifty years after Albuquerque consolidated the Portuguese hold on the State. The oldest Seminary built in Goa was called Seminário da Santa Fé (Seminary of the Holy Faith), in Chorão. But, the pestilence affecting the Island of Chorão (after it had already emptied the City of Old Goa) necessitated the transfer of the Seminary in 1859 to Rachol, a picturesque village by the river, a few miles from Margão. The Seminary was entrusted to different Orders, at different times, but, on the expulsion of all religious Orders by the Portuguese Prime Minister, Marques de Pombal, it was finally confided to the secular clergy. When the Seminary was transferred to Rachol, somewhat distant for the people of Ilhas and Bardez, as a sop, in 1859, was set up the Aulas Eclesiásticas de Mapuçá which in 1862 came to be known as Aulas Filiais do Seminário de Rachol, where the first two years of the Preparatory course were taught. This establishment was provisionally closed in 1945, with the creation of the Our Lady Seminary at the Saligão-Pilerne plateau. The preparatory course in Rachol was then transferred to the new Seminary. Initially the curriculum comprised only natural and moral philosophy, dogmatic and moral theology, Gregorian chant and Liturgy. Archbishop S. Galdino added Portuguese Grammar and elements of rhetoric, geometry and physics. Later, Archbishop Silva Telles complemented it with the study of general history, geography, church history, Canon law and Sacred Hermeneutics. Thus, the Seminary began offering a “compleat” education equivalent to the secondary level, not easily available elsewhere, except at the Pangim Lyceum or the English Matriculation stream schools such as Mater Dei in Saligão, St. Joseph's, Arpora, the Parra High School, etc (Loyola, Popular, Fatima, Nuvem, etc came much later.) This led to a marked inflation in the overall enrollment, specially among the people of Salcete, irrespective of whether the boy did or did not manifest any inclination towards priesthood. It came to the point that by the late 30s, the total figure was nearing a thousand so that when the new Patriarch of GOA, D. Jose da Costa Nunes first visited the Seminary and was apprised of the number, he was reported to have been mightily astonished and to have remarked, "This is not the work of God but of the devil." The Rachol Seminary is an impressive complex overawing one with its grandeur and splendour reeking of an air of spirituality. The seminary church is small but, sited on a slight elevation, it is visible from miles around, specially from the Borim bridge whence students arriving from the Mapuçá branch, for the final exams, get their first glimpse. Its mighty bell can be heard from all the adjacent villages. The church had many beautiful paintings and statues as also an altar with the coffin of St. Cajetan. The lobby of the Seminary has an exquisite painting of Portuguese D. Sebastião executed by the famous Goan architect from Raia, Andre Constancio Augusto. There is also a magnificent gallery of paintings of former Patriarchs. The fact that the enrollment ballooned so much perforce led to a break-up in the overall course. The preparatory course comprised six-to-seven years: in the first four years the students had a strong concentration on Latin but also studied French, Portuguese and Literature. The following two-to-three years were devoted to Maths, Science, History & Geography, English and Rhetoric. By the end of this period, generally those who had come merely to take advantage of the good education dropped out. During this period the students lived outside the Seminary in rented houses known as Comensalidades (chummeries), 12-20 to a house, depending on its size, under the supervision of a Prefect, generally a newly ordained priest. The Prefect was responsible for the temporal and spiritual well-being of his wards: he looked after the food (with the help of a mesta, of course) recreation, studies and accounts. At the end of the month, total expenses were divided among the number of students living in that house. It was a generally economical education, around Rs. 10-12 per month. Students wore standard uniforms: long trousers and coats buttoned up to the collar with brass buttons (shone every Saturday), khaki for daily wear and dark blue for occasions. Early morning all went to the church for Mass, came back for breakfast and then went back again for classes at the Seminary building itself. Exams were held at the end of the year and were mostly viva voce (i.e. Oral). One faced a panel of three Professors, one of whom was the Home Professor i.e the one that had taken you up through the year. This, at times, could lead to unexpectedly invidious situation to some students in case two of the Professors were not overly friendly! At the end of the Preparatory course, the students moved 'in' into the Seminary itself. At this time they started donning the cassock (soutane) as well as the biretta (a square black cap specific to Catholic and Anglican clergy, which has fallen into desuetude after Vatican Council II). I was enormously surprised and gratified to see a youngish priest wearing the biretta, about five years back, on a trip to Bavaria since this was most certainly a post-Conciliar priest and, so, wearing a biretta could only have been a matter of strong conviction rather than mere tradition. After two years of Philosophy, the candidates moved on to four years of Theology during which time they also studied Gregorian chant and Liturgy. During the last two years, procedures for full initiation into priesthood started taking shape. The candidates began practicing delivering sermons from the pulpit to the congregation of assembled students. Though some were visibly embarrassed, and at times tongue-tied, and even committed gaffes, they always had the benefit of a sympathetic and comprehending audience, never prone to snickering or otherwise shaking the orator's confidence.. That was a time too, when the Minor Orders started being administered, the first being Tonsure (a round clean shave at the top back of the head, the size of a silver dollar or rupee,) a distinctive sign of a priest in those days. There followed the Orders of Acolyte, Sub-deacon and Deacon Finally dawned the much awaited and eagerly looked forward to day of the Ordination, carried out at the Seminary or at the Old Goa Cathedral or, more rarely, at the Patriarchal Palace in Pangim. The newly ordained priest then returned to his village/town for his first Mass at his parish, followed by a resounding reception at home. Relatives, friends and known village folks poured in to participate in the family's joy and share the magnificent banquet prepared by well-known chefs. My uncle was for decades a Professor at the Seminary and, so, we were always inundated with invitations for First Mass celebrations from his ex-students and I was the lucky one to be present for many of them. When we moved from Mapuçá to Belgaum, such occasions came to an end. Out of the many receptions I attended, one has stuck vividly in my mind. It was the First Mass of a very close relative from a village quite close to our home. The house was flooded with cousins and friends from all over the State, Ilhas, Salcete and, of course, Bardez coming in all kinds of transport: rented horse-carriages, taxis, private cars, scheduled bus services. For a change there was even a small band! While the adults gossiped, we children had great fun because the house had a very large orchard with dozens of guava trees laden with delicious fruit. And so, between intervals of gorging ourselves with the fruit, we would rush into the house to gulp glasses of orchata, that supreme almond drink, nectar of the gods, now unfortunately unavailable (even in Italy, its birth-place it is difficult today to find a good bottle of orchata). Time sped by and it was time for lunch: the inevitable bird carved from ice adorned the centre of the large table laden with the most exquisite food imaginable: salmon, chicken gallantine, Apa de camarão (prawn pie), sorpotel, vindaloo, roast beef and naturally, the never missing roast pigling with an apple in its mouth. Soon it was time for the toast. The toastmaster was a venerable Professor known for his wit and repartee. He had been fortifying himself generously at Bacchus' fountain, and was thus in high spirits, literal and metaphorical. "Ladies & Gentlemen," he started, and went on working himself up delineating the family genealogy, extolling the great virtues and scholarship of a grand-uncle priest, passing on then to the outstanding intellectual and spiritual gifts of the new celebrant, until he came to the climatic "Viva Pe. Alvaro". But, having worked himself up to a state of high animation, instead of gently raising his glass, he plunged it forward 'con molto animo' (to borrow a musical expression), splashing the champagne on the celebrant standing by his side to his utter discomfiture, his own acute embarrassment, the repressed mirth of the other bystanders and loud guffaws and finger-pointing from us children despite sibilant psssss from our parents! Thus ended that memorable celebration with an Unexpected, Unique and Unconventional Second Baptism of the new priest! After that I did not have too many experiences of such receptions. But, in early 1980s, on a holiday from Brazil, We arrived in time for the First Mass of the son of a very close neighbour, family friend for decades. We decided not to go for the reception but merely drop in later in the day to congratulate the mother whom I had known since the age of ten. But for some reason or another, may be the unusual epicurean abilities of the chef or the extraordinarily voracious appetite of the guests, the table had been literally wiped clean, especially all the desserts. So, when we arrived the poor old lady* felt acute embarrassment at being unable to offer us anything, despite protestations from us that we had come to partake her joy, not necessarily of the victuals. But, she would not conform herself and even when we departed, as we went down the long flight of steps of the balcony to the road, we could see her nodding her head sideways deprecating the fact that we were leaving without the flavour of anything in our palates, specially her justly famous bibinca. Epilogue * The lady had a nephew who studied at the Lingaraj College in Belgaum upto I.Sc.(Inter Science) and then disappeared. I knew him very well because he boarded at my aunt's. Somehow he surfaced in Lisbon continuing Portuguese studies and simultaneously slowly drifting to the Left. So he got engaged in Frelimo (the front for the liberation of Mozambique). In the Salazar atmosphere this was a perilous engagement and he fled to Morocco. On Mozambique achieving independence, he became one of the chief advisors of President Samora Machel. Unfortunately he perished early on a trip for a conference in South Africa together with the President and his coterie. (There was speculation at the time about the mysterious crash implying the possibility of it having been sabotaged.) Samora Machel's widow Grace married Nelson Mandela (President of South Africa). Allegedly the marriage did not go too well and eventually led to a separation with Grace trying to carve a political life of her own, not very successfully. It is surprising that Aquino Branganca, the hero concerned, finds rare mention in the Pantheon of Goan heroes. ### Goanet Reader is compiled and edited by Frederick Noronha. Send feedback to goa...@goanet.org and condolences to the email address above, to Jean, his wife of 61 years.