THE FEAST OF PENTECOST

*Fr.Dr.Ivo da C.Souza

After the feast of Easter, we are celebrating the feast of the Pentecost. It is the commemoration of the pouring down of the Spirit of the Risen Lord. Pentecost  is the turning-point in  the  salvation history. Luke describes the  mission  of  the church  and its inauguration (Lk 2:1-41). It is the era of the Spirit. Pentecost  inaugurates the era of the Church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Originally, Pentecost was an agrarian feast of harvest (Nb 28:16; Ex  23:28).  It  was called the feast of  the  first-fruits  (HAG HASHABBUOTH) and was celebrated on the fiftieth day, seven  weeks after  the Passover. It was one of the three  pilgrimage  feasts, but  already in the Old Testament it became the feast of the  Law-giving  (or renewal) of the Covenant. Even at Qumran, it was the feast of the law and covenant of Essenes. It was called the feast of the oaths (HAG  HASHEBBUOTH). The  feast of the first-fruits became “feast of oaths“. Also, in orthodox Judaism, it became the feast of Law-giving or Covenant.

The main elements are sound  (v.2) and tongues of fire. The onlookers began to “speak in tongues” (v.4). Is  it xenolalia  (gift of foreign tongues) or glossolalia (“they  began to speak in other tongues“, v.4)? It is speaking in tongues, it is not to communicate, but to praise God.

The  feast of  Pentecost  commemorated  the Sinaitic Covenant, fifty days after leaving Egypt. An interesting rabbinical text from Exodus Rabbah shows how the Jews understood it:

“It  is said: ‘God thunders wondrously with His  voice’  (Jb 37:5).  What  does ‘God thundered’ mean? When God gave  Torah  on Mt.Sinai,  he  did for Israel great things with his  voice.  What happened? God spoke and his Voice resounded throughout the world, Israel  heard the Voice coming to them from the South:  they  ran South  to meet…”

According to a rabbinic  tradition  at the  promulgation of the Law, the Voice of God was heard  by  all nations, as we have already seen. It was divided into 70 languages, corresponding to the 70 peoples of the world. This  tradition is  recalled by the miracle of the “gift of tongues“.  Fire-like tongues rested on each of the disciples. This may be related to a Jewish  legend,  based on Ex 20:18: “All the people  ‘saw’  (perceived) the Voice, which came as a flame and was articulated into ordinary  speech“. The  association  “fire/word (or law)” is found  also  in  a Jewish  legend, according to which fire appeared on the  head  of famous Rabbis, engaged in the study and interpretation of the Law (eg.Rabbi  Johannan  said  that  Voice  of  God  split  into   70 tongues/voices,  so that the nations might understand. God  spoke on Sinai-(Horeb) like a thunder and his Voice resounded  throughout the world).

Today we are witnessing a revival of the charismatic movements. They help us to imbibe our Christian Faith for which we are grateful. The Church of the Holy Spirit brings today to our mind the work done by the missionaries. The Church of Margão was founded by the Jesuits in 1564. The church was destroyed by fire during the invasion by the Muslims in 1571. The present church building is the fifth one and was built in 1675.

The fair is useful for the provision (purument) during the rainy season. We need also provision for our values and courage during the difficult times that we are facing in India and in Goa: rampant corruption, criminality, thefts, murders, rapes, political gimmicks… May we witness to the human and Gospel values in the chaotic situation in which we are in Goa and India!

Dr.Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi:

FR.JOSEPH VAZ, A MAN AND A SAINT:

Fr.Ivo da Conceição Souza

My acquaintance with the life of Fr.Joseph Vaz began in the Minor Seminary of Our Lady, Saligão-Pilerne, where “Academies of Fr.Joseph Vaz” were being organized, once a month: a speech, a kit, a song, a poem. Every Wednesday a hymn would be sung at the end of the Eucharistic service, reminding God of this great man and saint. It runs thus: “Ogonnit kakulltichea Deva, kiteak ravtai ozun pore¬ant, diinastona Bhogtak altaracho man, bhagoinastona hi amchi vhodd axa…?” This hymn would bring to our mind that Father Joseph Vaz is yet to be beatified/canonized. Now that Fr.Vaz has been already beatified by John Paul II, we should remind the Church authorities–as a matter of fact, John Paul II showed a lot of interest for the Cause–again and again that Fr.Vaz is to be canonized as soon as possible. Fifty years ago, the great Belgian missiologist, Fr.Pierre CHARLES, wrote of Joseph Vaz: He was “more than a hero”, “a symbol and a lesson”, “the perfect model of an apostle”. Born on April 21, 1651, Joseph Vaas (as he would artistically sign) was the third child of Christopher Vaz and Maria de Miranda. His father’s house was at Sancoale. His mother’s house was at Benaulim. He was born in Benaulim, where he was baptized on the eight day at the Parish Church of St.John the Baptist by its Jesuit Parish-priest, Fr.Jacinto Pereira. He was first enrolled in the elementary school at Sancoale, his paternal village. He was a model student: bright, attentive, diligent, obedient and loved by his classmates. When he grew up, his father sent him to the High School at Benaulim, where he could learn Latin in preparation for his priestly studies. Of all the children of the family (six in number), Joseph was the most lovable and the brightest. He was intelligent and practical, gentle and kind-hearted, patient, trustworthy, care¬ful, tolerant. He is the builder, the producer, an artist. His inner urge was to “produce”, and that too “on a larger scale”. Artistic bent of mind. Friendly and helpful. A remarkable memory. Man of principles, he would stick always to them, but he was also flexible. Whenever he would discover God’s Will for the good of the people, he would go forward, in spite of risks and sacrific¬es. Man of energy, more even full of inner strength, capable of hard physical labour. Quiet by nature and keen observer. Cau¬tious and conservative, but also adaptable and with bright ideas–inculturation. Very good in reconciling the people. He gave his time, energy and advice to the people. Emotionally mature, deep and lasting friendship. Faith in God, in his power. Prayerful. Liberal in giving alms to the needy; stable nervous system; cool and calm nature; illness was rare, though he was of frail health. Indefatigable and hard-working. Passion, ardour and tremendous will-power. Courageous and calm. With this type of make-up, he would be successful in life. He chose as a vocation to serve God as a priest, once he discovered that this was God’s call. Pious, endowed with a singu¬lar love for the poor. Desire to be unseen and unobserved in his piety and alms-giving. He had inherited the gravity of manners and earnestness from his father. His discernment was superior to his age. His love for study and inclination to virtue were re¬markable. Love for prayer. In his family, there was prayer and fixed time for spiritual reading. His greatest longing was to pray and work for the “conver¬sion of sinners”. Tender loving devotion to Mary to whom he of¬fered himself perpetually as a slave with his “Deed of Bondage”, written in 1677 (cf.Sebastião do Rego, Life of Ven.Fr.Joseph Vaz, book 2, ch.4, 3rd.ed., 1962, p.172). He would read spiritual books and lives of Saints. He manifested love for all, but in a particular way for the sick, the poor and the enemies. At a very young age he used to teach other children whatever he had learnt in the school. He would give a portion of his food to a poor beggar asking alms at his house. He was mortified and austere in his food habits. Seeing his rapid progress in studies, his father decided to send him to the city of Goa (Old Goa), to follow a course of Rhetoric and Humanities in the Jesuit College of St.Paul. He showed his singleness of purpose in becoming a priest. His source of strength was the Eucharist. He set his goal quite high, and never swerved from the path that leads to the attain¬ment of this goal. He was a man of good nature, of good charac¬ter, strongly cemented by God’s Grace through existential faith and prayer. In his life, we can see how Grace subsumes and radically transforms the human make-up through human and spiritual forma¬tion. His dreams were fulfilled through his tremendous faith in God’s Providence. “Digitus Dei est hic!” (‘God’s finger/power is here!’) could well be said at every step of his existence. After completing his humanistic studies at the College of St.Paul, Joseph joined the Academy of St.Thomas Aquinas, direct¬ed by the Dominicans, for his philosophical and theological studies. During this time, he stayed in the collegiate Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. After six years of studies, Joseph was ordained in 1676, at the age of 25, by the then newly appointed Archbishop of Goa, Dom António Brandão. After his ordination, he went to his home at Sancoale where he gave himself to prayer, preaching and assisting the parochial clergy. As a preacher, spiritual counselor and confessor he was often summoned to the capital city of Goa. He also opened a Latin school at Sancoale to help the aspirants for the priesthood, as well as to give good education to the youth. It was at this stage that the young priest discovered God’s call to work in the island of Ceylon through a Canon of the Cathedral of Old Goa (perhaps F. de Sardinha by name), who told him of the utter misery of the Catholics of Ceylon. Father Joseph dreamed of Ceylon and its transformation. With his servant John, he went to Jaffna, where he arrived half-dead with all the vagaries of time and place. In need of food and rest, they knocked at the doors of some people. At last, a lady allowed them to spend the night in a outside hut, near her house. Father Joseph was attacked with acute dysentery as a result of tiredness. People would shun this type of sick, so the neighbours took him in a litter and abandoned him in the forest without hope. John would beg, cook and feed his master. But he was also afflicted with dysentery. Father Vaz had deep, existential faith in God. God rewarded his trust: a lady, who had gone to collect wood for fire in the forest, gave them daily a bowl of canjee out of pity. After a few days, they were restored to health. Father Vaz was begging for food from door to door. With his Rosary on the neck, he came into contact with Catholics. Having been received well into one Catholic family, he asked them wheth¬er they would like to receive sacraments from a priest. Thus, he revealed gradually his priestly identity to them. An organizer, he founded the Congregation of St.Philip Neri in Goa. A conciliator, he was very prudent in his attitude to the conflict of jurisdiction between Propaganda and Padroado. An artist and actor, he disguised himself as a coolie-beggar. As a builder, he built 15 churches and 400 chapels, with schools and dispensaries or hospitals. As a Christian Yogi, he adapted him¬self to the people whom he served with remarkable detachment and humility. He was self-taught in Tamail and Singalese languages. As a man of God, he overcame politics with enlightened zeal. He refused bishopric, offered by Cardinal Tournon. A man for others, he served the sick people during epidemics. He lived heroically his option for the poor (soon after his priestly ordination, he has started going barefoot). Joseph Vaz was truly a man for others, a saint, a heroic missionary. May he be canonized as soon as possible!

BOCAGE, MEU AMIGO!…

Para quem gosta da língua portuguesa … Conta-se que Bocage, ao chegar a casa um certo dia, ouviu um barulho estranho vindo do quintal. Chegando lá, constatou que um ladrão tentava levar os seus patos de criação. Aproximou-se vagarosamente do indivíduo e, surpreendendo-o ao tentar pular o muro com os seus amados patos, disse-lhe: – Oh, bucéfalo anácrono! Não te interpelo pelo valor intrínseco dos bípedes palmípedes, mas sim pelo acto vil e sorrateiro de profanares o recôndito da minha habitação, levando meus ovíparos à sorrelfa e à socapa. Se fazes isso por necessidade, transijo … mas se é para zombares da minha elevada prosopopeia de cidadão digno e honrado, dar-te-ei com a minha bengala fosfórica bem no alto da tua sinagoga, e o farei com tal ímpeto que te reduzirei à quinquagésima potência que o vulgo denomina nada. E o ladrão, confuso, diz: – Doutor, afinal levo ou deixo os patos? N. B. Fez-me lembrar do Portugues do meu primo Carmo de Noronha. Por coincidencia, a Zaira Miranda e’ sobrinha dele! JLP.

Casta Meretrix:

Von Balthasar sets the stage with his introductory sentences. When Luther dares to equate the Roman Church with the whore of Babylon, it strikes us as the height of blasphemy. But he was not the first to coin the phrase. Similar things can be found in Wycliffe and Hus, and their language was not a complete innovation but the violent simplification and coarsening of a very old theologoumenon. This in turn has its origins in the Old Testament, in the words of judgment spoken by God, the betrayed Husband, against the archwhore Jerusalem, and in the New Testament’s application of these texts, which are so fundamental to the old (p. 193). In the Old Testament, we’re probably most familiar with the image of God’s people as a whore in the book of Hosea; the foundations for this lie in Exodus 34:14-16, where “playing the harlot” is used in reference to following after the idols of the Canaanites. Hosea is not alone in expanding the theme, as it also appears in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. In the New Testament, unfaithful women feature prominently in the Gospels, not only in stories of forgiven women who became faithful disciples, but also in the women included in the genealogies of Jesus. One of those, Rahab, was the subject of much reflection in the early Church. She was an ancestor of Jesus, and was used as both an example of justification by faith (Hebrews) and justification by works (James). In contemporaneous Jewish writings, she represents the Gentiles who would be joined to the people of God; she is regarded as a prophet, and one who shows that good works can save. Among the fathers, Clement sees the cord she let down as a symbol of the blood of the Paschal lamb and of the blood of Jesus. Justin Martyr regards her house, like the ark and the Paschal lamb, as a symbol of salvation. Hippolytus goes further, making her house a symbol of the Church. Origen builds upon all of these allusions and sees “the transformation of Rahab from whore to holy Church as the engrafting of the Gentile Church into the Jewish Church” (p. 216). He also coins the phrase, “outside Rahab’s house, the Church, no salvation” (p. 217). This was the basis for Cyprian’s maxim, extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Jerome: “Rahab, the justified whore, contains us” (p. 217). The use of the figure of Mary Magdalene by the fathers parallels their use of Rahab. Most of the texts referring to Rahab and Mary Magdalen stress the transition in time: once she was a whore; now she is a saint. Secondly, they place special emphasis on the Gentile Church: once she played the harlot with idols; now she is chaste and faithful to Christ (p. 225). Origen and Augustine see the figure as having continuing relevance. Said Augustine, referring to the story of the two women arguing over the dead child before Solomon, The two women are the synagogue and the Church. … Both were harlots, for the Apostle says that Jews and Greeks are all equally in a state of sin, for any soul that turns away from eternal truth to indulge in earthly filth goes whoring away from God. … But one mother woke up and realized, not by her own merits, for she was a harlot, but by God’s grace, that a son had been given her–the work of evangelical faith. … Yet both were harlots, because all had been converted from worldly lust to the grace of God (pp. 225-226). Rabanus Maurus says, similarly, There can be no doubt that the Scriptures call both the synagogue and the Church adulteresses and prostitutes. At first sight, this seems blasphemous, but then we turn to the prophets. … The attentive listener will ask how a prostitute can represent the Church, who has neither spot nor wrinkle. But we are not saying that the Church remained a prostitute, but simply that she used to be (p. 226). But not all the fathers confine the image to the past. “For St. Augustine and the exegetes who follow him, … the really pure Church is an eschatological concept” (p. 227). For St. Dionysius the Carthusian, She is always both “spotless Church” and “disfigured Church”, always both “virgin” and “harlot”, for “the whole, through the diversity of its parts, can get conflicting names”. “Thus the Church is called disfigured, estranged, bloodless, or whorish with regard to believers without charity or good works, yes, those who have been befouled by vice, whose souls are not brides of Christ but adulteresses of the devil” (p. 227). So it is possible to speak of the Church as harlot also in the sense of the unfaithfulness of its members, including through heresy (pp. 238ff) and through sin (pp. 244 ff)–in particular, the sins of teachers and leaders of the Church. And, says Origen, sometimes the heretics can be holier in life than the leaders of the Church. The prudent person is not tricked by the heretics’ meekness into accepting their teaching, and my sins do not cause him to stumble. He considers the dogma, concerns himself with the faith of the Church. He recoils from me in horror, but he accepts the teaching … (p. 252). In the story of Tamar, there is no prostitution, but Tamar appears in the form of a harlot (pp. 264ff). There is something about the essential form of the Church … that is reminiscent of sin, conditioned by sin, something that in the present context always means infidelity and fornication. And yet it is not guilt but assimilation to the form of the sinner assumed by her head. … She is closest to Christ when she assumes the same kenotic form. … … [W]e must say that the forma meretricis adheres so closely to the Church that, having been, so to speak, in its final aspect transfigured and rendered harmless, it becomes one of the marks of the Church of the New Covenant in all the beauty of her salvific mystery (pp. 271-272). Now in the middle ages, as we saw at the beginning, various individuals and groups who were critical of the papacy and Catholic teaching identified the Catholic Church with the whore of Babylon in Revelation. But so did orthodox Catholic thinkers like Dante and William of Auvergne (pp. 193-198). In Purgatory, Dante sees the Church as a carriage, in which Beatrice sits. Its form changes over the centuries; it is attacked by an eagle (Roman persecutions), a fox leaps out of it (early heresies), the eagle covers the carriage (Constantine’s patronage). Finally, emerging from the carriage, come the seven heads and ten horns of the Beast of the Apocalypse: the Church appears as a monster. In fact, the whore of Babylon herself replaces Beatrice in the carriage and flirts with a giant (the King of France), who out of jealousy abuses her and finally abducts her: Avignon becomes the Babylonian captivity of the Church (p. 194). So, how can the orthodox see the Church as the Babylonian harlot? Von Balthasar finds the solution to this puzzle in Augustine’s understanding of the Church as a community of wheat and tares (pp. 275-276). For Gerhoh of Reichersberg, the spirit of the city of God coexists in the Church with the spirit of Babylon, and the latter can erupt at any moment. The Church can become a victim of a Babylonian captivity by heresies within, by corrupt clergy, and by Christian rulers who tempt her to simony (p. 277). The Church’s hope and salvation is in conformity to her head, in clinging to Christ, in always adopting the posture of a penitent (p. 279). For all the realists among the fathers and the medieval theologians, the persistence of sin and sinners means that the purity of the Church must be an eschatological reality. The Church prays, “forgive us our trespasses,” and will until the consummation. Until then, said St. Isidore of Seville, “the one and only house of Rahab, the one and only Church, … remains as a whore in Jericho” (p. 285). Von Balthasar sets the stage with his introductory sentences. When Luther dares to equate the Roman Church with the whore of Babylon, it strikes us as the height of blasphemy. But he was not the first to coin the phrase. Similar things can be found in Wycliffe and Hus, and their language was not a complete innovation but the violent simplification and coarsening of a very old theologoumenon. This in turn has its origins in the Old Testament, in the words of judgment spoken by God, the betrayed Husband, against the archwhore Jerusalem, and in the New Testament’s application of these texts, which are so fundamental to the old (p. 193). In the Old Testament, we’re probably most familiar with the image of God’s people as a whore in the book of Hosea; the foundations for this lie in Exodus 34:14-16, where “playing the harlot” is used in reference to following after the idols of the Canaanites. Hosea is not alone in expanding the theme, as it also appears in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. In the New Testament, unfaithful women feature prominently in the Gospels, not only in stories of forgiven women who became faithful disciples, but also in the women included in the genealogies of Jesus. One of those, Rahab, was the subject of much reflection in the early Church. She was an ancestor of Jesus, and was used as both an example of justification by faith (Hebrews) and justification by works (James). In contemporaneous Jewish writings, she represents the Gentiles who would be joined to the people of God; she is regarded as a prophet, and one who shows that good works can save. Among the fathers, Clement sees the cord she let down as a symbol of the blood of the Paschal lamb and of the blood of Jesus. Justin Martyr regards her house, like the ark and the Paschal lamb, as a symbol of salvation. Hippolytus goes further, making her house a symbol of the Church. Origen builds upon all of these allusions and sees “the transformation of Rahab from whore to holy Church as the engrafting of the Gentile Church into the Jewish Church” (p. 216). He also coins the phrase, “outside Rahab’s house, the Church, no salvation” (p. 217). This was the basis for Cyprian’s maxim, extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Jerome: “Rahab, the justified whore, contains us” (p. 217). The use of the figure of Mary Magdalene by the fathers parallels their use of Rahab. Most of the texts referring to Rahab and Mary Magdalen stress the transition in time: once she was a whore; now she is a saint. Secondly, they place special emphasis on the Gentile Church: once she played the harlot with idols; now she is chaste and faithful to Christ (p. 225). Origen and Augustine see the figure as having continuing relevance. Said Augustine, referring to the story of the two women arguing over the dead child before Solomon, The two women are the synagogue and the Church. … Both were harlots, for the Apostle says that Jews and Greeks are all equally in a state of sin, for any soul that turns away from eternal truth to indulge in earthly filth goes whoring away from God. … But one mother woke up and realized, not by her own merits, for she was a harlot, but by God’s grace, that a son had been given her–the work of evangelical faith. … Yet both were harlots, because all had been converted from worldly lust to the grace of God (pp. 225-226). Rabanus Maurus says, similarly, There can be no doubt that the Scriptures call both the synagogue and the Church adulteresses and prostitutes. At first sight, this seems blasphemous, but then we turn to the prophets. … The attentive listener will ask how a prostitute can represent the Church, who has neither spot nor wrinkle. But we are not saying that the Church remained a prostitute, but simply that she used to be (p. 226). But not all the fathers confine the image to the past. “For St. Augustine and the exegetes who follow him, … the really pure Church is an eschatological concept” (p. 227). For St. Dionysius the Carthusian, She is always both “spotless Church” and “disfigured Church”, always both “virgin” and “harlot”, for “the whole, through the diversity of its parts, can get conflicting names”. “Thus the Church is called disfigured, estranged, bloodless, or whorish with regard to believers without charity or good works, yes, those who have been befouled by vice, whose souls are not brides of Christ but adulteresses of the devil” (p. 227). So it is possible to speak of the Church as harlot also in the sense of the unfaithfulness of its members, including through heresy (pp. 238ff) and through sin (pp. 244 ff)–in particular, the sins of teachers and leaders of the Church. And, says Origen, sometimes the heretics can be holier in life than the leaders of the Church. The prudent person is not tricked by the heretics’ meekness into accepting their teaching, and my sins do not cause him to stumble. He considers the dogma, concerns himself with the faith of the Church. He recoils from me in horror, but he accepts the teaching … (p. 252). In the story of Tamar, there is no prostitution, but Tamar appears in the form of a harlot (pp. 264ff). There is something about the essential form of the Church … that is reminiscent of sin, conditioned by sin, something that in the present context always means infidelity and fornication. And yet it is not guilt but assimilation to the form of the sinner assumed by her head. … She is closest to Christ when she assumes the same kenotic form. … … [W]e must say that the forma meretricis adheres so closely to the Church that, having been, so to speak, in its final aspect transfigured and rendered harmless, it becomes one of the marks of the Church of the New Covenant in all the beauty of her salvific mystery (pp. 271-272). Now in the middle ages, as we saw at the beginning, various individuals and groups who were critical of the papacy and Catholic teaching identified the Catholic Church with the whore of Babylon in Revelation. But so did orthodox Catholic thinkers like Dante and William of Auvergne (pp. 193-198). In Purgatory, Dante sees the Church as a carriage, in which Beatrice sits. Its form changes over the centuries; it is attacked by an eagle (Roman persecutions), a fox leaps out of it (early heresies), the eagle covers the carriage (Constantine’s patronage). Finally, emerging from the carriage, come the seven heads and ten horns of the Beast of the Apocalypse: the Church appears as a monster. In fact, the whore of Babylon herself replaces Beatrice in the carriage and flirts with a giant (the King of France), who out of jealousy abuses her and finally abducts her: Avignon becomes the Babylonian captivity of the Church (p. 194). So, how can the orthodox see the Church as the Babylonian harlot? Von Balthasar finds the solution to this puzzle in Augustine’s understanding of the Church as a community of wheat and tares (pp. 275-276). For Gerhoh of Reichersberg, the spirit of the city of God coexists in the Church with the spirit of Babylon, and the latter can erupt at any moment. The Church can become a victim of a Babylonian captivity by heresies within, by corrupt clergy, and by Christian rulers who tempt her to simony (p. 277). The Church’s hope and salvation is in conformity to her head, in clinging to Christ, in always adopting the posture of a penitent (p. 279). For all the realists among the fathers and the medieval theologians, the persistence of sin and sinners means that the purity of the Church must be an eschatological reality. The Church prays, “forgive us our trespasses,” and will until the consummation. Until then, said St. Isidore of Seville, “the one and only house of Rahab, the one and only Church, … remains as a whore in Jericho” (p. 285). To sum it up, we can consider this discussion in light of Lumen Gentium 8: “the Church, embracing in its bosom sinners, at the same time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of penance and renewal.” To sum it up, we can consider this discussion in light of Lumen Gentium 8: “the Church, embracing in its bosom sinners, at the same time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of penance and renewal.”

Francisco Luís Gomes

Nasceu em Navelim, Salsete, Goa, em 31 de Maio de 1829. Formou-se pela Escola Médica de Goa. Foi poliglota, conhecendo francês, italiano, inglês, marata, além de português e concanim. Escrevia para o Boletim Oficial, bem como para os jornais Ultramar e Defensor da Verdade.

Quando em virtude da Carta Constitucional de 1826, o Estado da Índia ganhou o direito de representação nas Vortes, Francisco Luís Gomes candidatou-se pelo círculo eleitoral de Margão e foi eleito ao parlamento protuguês em 1860. Ele foi eleito doutor honoris causa em ciêncuias políticas e socais, pela Universidade de Lovaina. Faleceu em 1869.

Lutou pelos direitos humanos dos humildes, dos escravos, dos pretos da África. Escreveu no seu Essai sur la Théorie de l’Économie Politique : « Dans son activité extérieure, l’homme accomplit des actes qyui ont pour but la conservation et l’amélioration de sa vie, er pour mobile, l’intérêt personnel. Il résulte de ce que nous avons dit, que les lois qui regisssent ces actes ne peuvent pas être contraires à celles de la morale et du droit ».

Escreveu o romance Os Brahâmanes. O objectivo primário foi proclamar a liberdade, igualdade e fraternidade sob a iluminação da religião cristã. Veremos o enredo do romance…

A Educação em Goa:

À entrada do século XIX, o ensino primário voltara a limitar-se às escolas paroquiais e o secundário aos dois seminaries e estabelecimentos congregacionais. Após a proclamação do regime constitucional em 1822, a educação e o ensino tiveram grandes melhorias. O programa das mat”erias ao nível primário e secundário foi reestruturado. Fundaram-se escolas de comarca—três para cada uma das comarcas das Ilhas, Salsete e Bardez. A Academia Militar de Goa, fundada em 1817 foi convertida em Escola Matemática e Militar.

Em 1842 foi criada a Escola Médico-Cirúrgica. Em 1854 foi fundada a Escola Normal bem como o Liceu Nacional de Nova Goa.

O advento da República em 1910 marcou uma nova fase de desenvolvimento do ensino em Goa. Criaram-se vinte escolas de português nas Novas Conquistas, uma escola de marata em Sanquelim, uma de guezerate em Nagar-Aveli, mais escolas nas Velhas Conquistas.

 

A Imprensa periódica e a Evolução do Jornalismo

Foi no ano 1556 que se estableceu em Goa a primeira tipografia, segundo a técnica inventada por Johann Gutenberg. Esse foi o primeiro prelo em toda a Índia. Os pioneiros neste campo, os missionarios jesuítas, tinham em mira propagar pela palavra escrita os ensinamentos da fe cristã. Os Solilóquios Divinos que datam de 1640 e a terceira edição do Purana de 1654 foram as últimas publicações dessas tipografias no século XVII.

Os historiadores notam um hiato em matéria de quaisquer publicações eventualmente saídas dos prelos de Goa, entre os anos de 1654 e 1657, ano em que uma ordem enviada em nome de el-rei pelo Secretário de Estado, Diogo de Mendonca Corte Real, proibiu estabelecer qualquer imprensa « não só particular mas ainda nos conventos, colégios our qualquer outra comunidade por mais privilegiada que seja » (Cunha Rivara, O Cronista de Tissuari, vol2, p.95). Em 1821 a Junta Provisional mandou vir de Bombaim uma tipografia e foi desta que saiu o primeiro jornal oficial Gazeta de Goa que, « além de documentos oficiais, inseria algumas informações da metrópole e do estrangeiro que de qualquer maneira chegassem à Índia ». A partir do ano 1838—ano em que saiu A Biblioteca de Goa, o primeiro jornal literário—começaram a vir a lume várias publicações dedicadas às belas-letras. Seguiram o Enciclopédico, o Compilador, o Mosaico, a Revista Ilustrativa, o Vergel, o Tirocínio Literário; de 1846 a 1848 O Gabinete Literário das Fontaínhas, A Harmonia, O Recreio das Damas, A Harpa do Mandovi, Goa Sociável e a Ilustração Goana. Com a fundação do Instituto Vasco da Gama por Tomás Ribeiro, em 22 de Novembro de 1871, expandiu-se a vida cultural de Goa. Publicaram-se várias revistas literárias, tais como Álbum Literário em 1875, sob a direcção do Padre Narciso Arcanjo Fialho e António Felix Pereira, a Estreia Literária, O Divan Literário. O Ultramar foi o primeiro semnário que veio em 6 de Abril de 1859, sob a direcção de Bernardo Francisco da Costa. Dois anos mais tarde, em 1861, um outro semanário A Índia Portuguesa começou a ser publicado sob a responsabilidade redactorial de Manuel Lourenço de Miranda Franco. O primeiro jornal diário, O Heraldo, foi publicado em 1900, fundado por Aleixo Clemente Messias Gomes. Em 21 de Maio de 1908 António Maria da Cunha que tinha sido director de O Heraldo de 1902 a 1908, lançava um outro diário Heraldo cujo redactor efectivo era o general-médico José Maria da Costa Àlvares. Este diário deixou de ser publicado em 1962.

Em 1 de Dezembro de 1919 apareceu o Diário da Noite, fundado por Luís de Menezes que o dirigiu até 1950, ano em que, por motivo de doença, a sua direcção passou para António de Menezes. Este periódico, o primeiro e o único jornal da tarde, viveu até 1967. O diário A Vida, fundado em 1938 por Sales da Veiga Coutinho, Pedro Correia Afonso, Francisco Correia Afonso, António Colaço, A.F.Peregrino da Costa, marcou no meio social e intellectual de Goa até 1967. Este escol de homens de letras começara, em 1925, a publicar o Suplemento mensal do Heraldo que, em 1931, se transformou no Heraldo dos Domingos.

Luís Menezes de Bragança (1878-1938) batia-se pelas ideias do progresso e da República no Nacionalista e nos semanários O Debate e Pracasha.

 

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist. He is best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc². Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.”

Einstein’s many contributions to physics include his special theory of relativity, which reconciled mechanics with electromagnetism, and his general theory of relativity, which was intended to extend the principle of relativity to non-uniform motion and to provide a new theory of gravitation. His other contributions include advances in the fields of relativistic cosmology, capillary action, critical opalescence, classical problems of statistical mechanics and their application to quantum theory, an explanation of the Brownian movement of molecules, atomic transition probabilities, the quantum theory of a monatomic gas, thermal properties of light with low radiation density (which laid the foundation for the photon theory), a theory of radiation including stimulated emission, the conception of a unified field theory, and the geometrization of physics.

Einstein published over 300 scientific works and over 150 non-scientific works. In 1999 Time magazine named him the “Person of the Century“. In wider culture the name “Einstein” has become synonymous with genius.

Catholic-Anglican Dialogue

Archbishop Rowan Williams gave the sermon during the service of the Week for the Christian Unity, saying: “We are gathered here today to listen to each other and to the voice of God. Unity comes when we all listen to the voice of Christ together. We are also gathered here today to give thanks for the wonderful ministry of Cardinal Cormac. Because he listens to the voice of Christ he has been able to echo that in his ministry. He has been so great, largely because of his listening and has made ecumenical dialogue more than just noise.”

The service took place during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Speaking at the end of the Service, the Cardinal said, “I have been delighted to be a President of Churches Together in England over the last nine years and am proud of the work we have done to bring Christians of all denominations together.”

Reflecting on a past sermon in which he said that the three enemies of ecumenism were  suspicion, inertia and impatience, he said: “If you were to say to me what was one of the gifts that has happened to all Christians here in England over these past 30-40 years, I think I would say that it has been the overcoming between Christians of suspicion, inertia and impatience.”

The Cardinal has been a President of CTE since he became Archbishop of Westminster in March 2000. His previous ecumenical work included serving as Joint Chairman of ARCIC II (Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, Second Phase) from 1983-2000.

Benedict XVI at Lambeth Palace:

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This is the first time ever that a Pope has visited Lambeth Palace, Pope John Paul II having visited Archbishop Robert Runcie in Canterbury in 1982.

The Pope’s motorcade arrived at the palace via Vauxhall Cross and Albert Embankment.

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales and their Anglican counterparts were on hand to greet the Pontiff.

Dr Rowan Williams told the gathering at Lambeth Palace:  “Our presence together as British bishops here today is a sign of the way in which, in this country, we see our task as one and indivisible. Our fervent prayer is that this visit will give us fresh energy and vision for working together.”

The Anglican Diocese of Southwark was represented by the Bishop of Kingston, Rt Revd Richard Cheetham, who told reporters outside the palace: “I think it’s important to keep communication between churches.  It’s important to listen to the Pope’s reflections.”

In his address the Pope said:

“In the figure of John Henry Newman, who is to be beatified on Sunday, we celebrate a churchman whose ecclesial vision was nurtured by his Anglican background and matured during his many years of ordained ministry in the Church of England.

“He can teach us the virtues that ecumenism demands: on the one hand, he was moved to follow his conscience, even at great personal cost; and on the other hand, the warmth of his continued friendship with his former colleagues, led him to explore with them, in a truly eirenical spirit, the questions on which they differed, driven by a deep longing for unity in faith.”

Crowds gathered outside the palace and around Lambeth Bridge to see the Pope.

Well-known local residents in the crowd included human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and comedian Frank Skinner.

Fr John Diver and Fr Chukwuemeka Nnaji from St George’s Cathedral were at the southern end of Lambeth Bridge hoping to catch a glimpse of the Holy Father.

Campaigners for the ordination of women marched from St George’s Cathedral to Lambeth Palace and staged a noisy protest as the Pope passed by.

The Archbishop gave the Pope a leather-bound diptych (two pictures hinged together) of facsimile full-page illuminations from the Lambeth Bible – a mid-12th-century volume of the Bible in Romanesque style widely thought to have been written and illustrated at Canterbury, which featured in the palace library’s 400th anniversary exhibition this summer.

The Pope left Lambeth Palace by Popemobile to make the short journey across Lambeth Bridge to Westminster Hall.

On Saturday morning the Anglican Bishop of Woolwich, Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, and the Archdeacon of Southwark, the Venerable Michael Ipgrave, will be among the ecumenical representatives at a Mass at Westminster Cathedral celebrated by the Pope.

On Saturday afternoon the Pope will return to Lambeth to visit St Peter’s Residence in Vauxhall.

During his visit to the care home, the vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Southwark, Mgr Matthew Dickens, will present the Pope with an embroidered gift on behalf of the people of the diocese. The work by textile artist Anne Kelly includes representations of St George’s Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral.

At Saturday evening’s prayer vigil in Hyde Park the Pope will be welcomed by the new Archbishop of Southwark, Most Revd Peter Smith.

In his address at the palace of Holyroodhouse on Thursday the Pope spoke about Florence Nightingale who founded a school of nursing at St Thomas’ Hospital.  He said:  “Inspired by faith, women like Florence Nightingale served the poor and the sick and set new standards in health care that were subsequently copied everywhere.”

Paul Tillich

Key to an understanding of Tillich’s theology is his “method of correlation”: an approach of correlating insights from Christian revelation with the issues raised by existential philosophical analysis.

Though the method is at work throughout the Systematic Theology, it finds its most explicit formulation in the introduction to that work:

Theology formulates the questions implied in human existence, and theology formulates the answers implied in divine self-manifestation under the guidance of the questions implied in human existence. This is a circle which drives man to a point where question and answer are not separated. This point, however, is not a moment in time.