It’s almost 450 years since Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuit order, died in China in 1552. But he still attracts Christians from all over during the six-week decennial exposition.
55-year-old Goan Sylvia Alphonso, who has seen the body at least four times has childhood memories of her mother carrying her and walking to Se Cathedral, an hour and half from home, for a glimpse of the saint. She also remembers touching his feet another time.
“Earlier the body wasn’t encased in the casket, as it is now. And friends tell me they walked even longer distances and took shelter under trees for all nine days. Today the government provides many facilities.” There’s not only a special bus from Panaji to the church area, but also provision of water, toilets and bathing rooms. Pilgrims can rest on the green lawns and lease thatch-roofed Goan-style rooms too.
This year, despite reaching at 6 am on the first day, she waited 3.5 hours for her turn. “The body looks almost the same as it did the last time, it has shrunk and dried up and resembles a 90-year-old.”
Luckily for 42-year-old Mumbai-based Rupert D’Souza, who was attending the exposition for the first time, the crowd eased out by the third day and viewing was possible in about half an hour. “I was really excited. I’d heard stories of its deterioration and wasn’t sure of being able to see it next time.”
When it comes to miracles, spirits, and even God, skeptics are many, but like Rupert many still believe in the miracle because “it hasn’t happened earlier and due to the story preceding the exposition. St. Xavier’s body didn’t disintegrate even after being buried three times in three different countries.”
“But yes, now it looks like it may not survive. The parts of the body that can be seen despite the rich robe it is covered in–one palm, the feet and the face have turned yellow, like something’s been applied to it. There’s no hair, the skin has dried up (some skin near his skull has fallen off), cheeks have sunken in, but his facial features are visible and lip-line is noticeable,”he adds.
So how long will the miracle really last? “Only God knows. Miracles are God’s interventions,” says Fr. Savio Baretto, rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesu.
