NT NETWORK
VASCO
The traditional feast of Epiphany, popularly known as Three Kings’ or Magi feast was celebrated with gaiety and religious fervor at Our Lady of Remedios Chapel, which is also known as Chapel of Nossa Senhora dos Remedios, atop Cuelim Hill on Saturday.
Thousands of faithful participated in the celebration.
The professor at Rachol Seminary Dr Fr Agnelo Pinheiro was the main celebrant for the high mass which was held at 10.30 am.
The parish priest of St Thomas Church, Cansaulim Fr Jean Da Cruz Fernandes, Fr Francis Pereira, Fr Marian Silveira, Fr Tony Fernandes, Fr Serterio Rodrigues, Fr Jesuinho Almeida besides other priests was present on the occasion.
In his preaching, Fr Pinheiro said that Christian life is a journey of love, which is through Jesus, with Jesus and to Jesus.
Citing journey of serving the needy, he urged the faithful to follow in the footsteps of Mother Mary who always was ready to help the downtrodden.
In his sermon, he urged the parents to inculcate the habit of helping the poor and the needy among their children. He also urged the youth to live healthy life, and not to get addicted to vices.
Three young boys from Cansaulim, Arossim and Cuelim Joathan De Souza, Cari Suaries and Kelton Antao enacted the roles of the three Kings.
The three boys arrived on horseback, traversing different paths, and converged at some distance away from the Chapel of Nossa Senhora dos Remedios (Our Lady of Remedios) atop the hill at Cuelim. They, carrying the gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh, then proceeded to the chapel together to partake in the feast mass.
The feast of the Three Kings commemorates a journey undertaken by three wise men nearly 2000 years ago to the town of Bethlehem to pay homage to infant Jesus.
The chapel, which is known for the feast of the Three Kings, was founded by Fr Gonsalo Carvalho in 1599 and is affiliated to the St Thomas Church, Cansaulim. The privilege to organise the feast is given to the ‘vangodds’ of the gauncars (the indigenous Goans) of the Communidade of Cansaulim Arossim and Cuelim, for the help they had rendered to the early Church in Goa. As the members of the Christian community celebrate the feast every year, devotees in thousands from all over the state relive this journey and attend the feast.
After the mass, the three Kings leave the chapel in a procession, stopping at different places for blessing and rest, before assembling at the St Thomas Church at Cansaulim for a ceremony, before departing to their homes by different routes.
Biblical accounts have it that the Kings were told by an angel to take a different route to their homelands and avoid meeting King Herod who wanted to kill young Jesus.
The feast of Three Kings marks the end of the Christmas season.