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Communidade de Saligao---VII The Provinces of Bardez and Salcete were ceded to the Portuguese in 1543 by Ibrahim Adi Khan, though the treaty of peace was signed only in 1571. These two territories added to Ilhas, the territory they already had occupied, were known as Velhas Conquistas( Old Conquests). This cession was confirmed in the year 1548-9, when Garcia de Sa was Governor. During the incumbency of Dom Pedro Mascarenhas as Viceroy, 1554-5, the whole enclave, except for the City of Goa and its immediate surroundings, was divided among the Religious Orders. The Dominicans were given fifteen villages in Ilhas, the Jesuits rest of Ilhas and the Province of Salcete. Bardez was entrusted to the Franciscans( Observants). It is generally assumed that this division took place in 1555. In his letter, dated Goa, 6 December1555, Antonio de Quadros S.J., refers to this division and explicitly states that it was made by Dom Pedro Mascarenhas. There are, however, authors who say that the Franciscans already in the years 1550-52 constructed a Church at Verem and dedicated it to the Holy Magi( Reis Magos). There is no doubt that the division of the territory and the official assignment of Bardez to the Franciscans occurred in 1555, but it is possible that before that year the Franciscans were already engaged in this Province. Verem was the first Church built by the Franciscans( 1555) The 450 years celebrations will be held at Reis Magos in 2005 it is known through authoritative sources. Next came Candolim Church in 1560 and also the Church of Nagoa in that same year(1560). The territory under the jurisdiction of Holy Trinity Church of Nagoa was Siolim, Oxel, Anjuna-Assagao, Parra, Nagoa, Arpora and part of Baga and “Saligao” which Frei Paulo de Trindade, O.F.M. says ‘was one of the principal villages and very large, entirely inhabited by Brahmins, who have all been converted, so that very few or hardly any pagans? are left”( Vide, Meersman, Fr. Achilles, O.F.M., ‘ The Ancient Franciscan Provinces In India’, Bangalore, 1971, p.107).When Frei Paulo de Trindade O.F.M wrote the chronicles of Nagoa, Saligao was christianized and those who did not want to change their religion fled with deities to the territory of Advalpale, in Bicholim taluka then under the Sultan of Sawantwadi in the XVI century. The meticulous Church historian late Msgr Canon F.X. Gomes Catao says “ That the entire village of Saligao was christianized by the year 1636 and the Communidade de Saligao contributed its mite for the cult at Nagoa Church”( Vide Souvenir of Mae de Deus Church, 1873-1973). From 1560 till 1873 Saligao people were taken care of spiritually first by Franciscan Observants and later on from 1767 by the Diocesan priests which continues up to the present day.. The Communidade de Saligao made considerable expenses to the Church of Nagoa from 1813 to 1841 to the tune of 9084:3:15( Vide, Xavier, Filipe Neri, ‘ Bosquejo Historico das Communidades, Vol II, p.467.) and till 1961 to Saligao Church. Few years later a fund was created called Church Maintenance Fund(CMF) which support the church and recently the CMF is merged into Fabrica da Igreja de Saligao This back-drop closes with this posting. In subsequent articles we will be speaking specifically of the “ Communidade de Saligao”…to be continued. Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas
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