St Francis Xavier’s miracle
Endowed with the natural talent for playing the violin, I was recruited
in the Portuguese military in 1958. I went to Portugal in 1959 for my
Sergent Militian course, and returned to Goa in 1960. From 17 October
1961, I started working for Emmisora do Goa, which later became All
India Radio (AIR), where I served till my retirement in 1993.
As the 50th anniversary year of Liberation and the Feat of St Francis
Xavier are both coming soon, I wish to cite my personal experience of a
miracle that occurred before the Liberation of Goa on 19 December 1961,
because of which, I feel, Goa was saved from total destruction.
After the Indian army crossed the Goa border on 18 December 1961, I was
called up as a reservist to defend Goa. The Portuguese administration
realised that the Indian Army would be victorious, so 100 soldiers were
deputed to the Shrine of St Francis Xavier, to lift the casket
containing the holy relics and put it aboard the last airplane to leave
Goa, specially flown from in Portugal, piloted by Solome de Almeida.
In the presence of the Bishop, the Governor and the Secretary inside the
closed Basilica, the force of 100 soldiers was not sufficient to lift
the casket containing the immortal body of St Francis Xavier. Witnessing
this miracle, the Governor – who had been ordered by Salazar to destroy
Goa – was forced to change his mind, as carrying out of the orders would
also destroy the immortal relics of the Patron Saint of Goa and Defender
of the East. It was the powerful intervention of St Francis Xavier that
saved tiny Goa from turning into ashes.
Filomeno Diogo Jacinto da Silva
[As published in Herald - Letters to the Editor column]
Micky's Konkani Songs (Kantaram) now online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WPs9sfN488
Song in hour of St. Francis Xavier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFFZObO9Lwg
