St Francis Xavier’s feast on December 3

NT NETWORK

OLD GOA

The feast of St Francis Xavier will be celebrated on Monday (December 3), said Fr Patricio, Rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesus, on Friday.

Thousands attended the mass on Friday evening. The mass was held especially for the parishioners.

After nine days of prayers called the Novenas prior to the feast, a variety of ceremonies are performed to honour the saint’s death. A Pontifical Mass is celebrated on the feast day. This year Bishop Bartol Barretto from

Mumbai will be the main celebrant along with Archbishops of Goa and Sindhudurg.

Fr Patricio said on an average, a minimum of 25,000 pilgrims attend the mass on the feast day, and “everyday over 3,000 devotees from all over the state as well as the nation visit the Basilica.”

“This time we have created an environment of presence and devotion by initially starting a spiritual rosary,” he said adding that external preparations have also been done well this time due to cooperation from the government as regards police presence, water arrangement, and security aspect.

The daily masses are held in different Indian languages including Konkani, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and also foreign languages like English, Spanish, French and Italian. Mass is also held for the hearing impaired.