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Wish You All a Merry Christmas!
. .By T.V. Antony Raj . These cute Tiny Tot Santas are Standard I students of Vidya Matric. Hr. Sec. School, Jalladianppet, Chennai, India where my elder daughter Sujata now teaches. These little...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 1 – The Early Years
. . By T.V. Antony Raj . St. Thomas, the Apostle of Christ brought Christianity to India. For centuries, Christianity remained almost dormant until the arrival of the missionaries who tagged along...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 2 – the Conflict Between Padroado Real and...
. By T.V. Antony Raj . The Goa Inquisition The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Portuguese Inquisition acting in Portuguese India, and in the rest of the Portuguese Empire in Asia. It was...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 3 – The Apostle of Kanara
. . By T.V. Antony Raj . “Joseph Vaz showed both in his lifestyle and missionary methods that he belonged to the centuries-old Indian yogi tradition. Though nearly 300 years before their time, he...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 4 – Persecution of Catholics in Ceylon by the Dutch
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Early handcoloured woodcut 1513 map of Ceylon from M. Waldseemuller (Source: vintage-maps.com) Portuguese Ceylon Early in November 1505, Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 5 – Travel to Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Map – Goa to Jaffna . In March 1686, Joseph Vaz left Goa secretly and set out on foot to go to Ceylon without informing anyone. However, he obtained the blessings of his...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 6 – The Apostle of Sri Lanka in Jaffnapattinam
. By T.V. Antony Raj . “Blessed Joseph Vaz was our beloved Apostle. In many ways, he was a pioneer in the history of our country and the Christian faith. In fact, after Dutch persecution, which...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 7 – The Apostle of Sri Lanka in Puttalam
. By T.V. Antony Raj . “Leaving behind his home, his family, the comfort of his familiar surroundings, he responded to the call to go forth, to speak of Christ wherever he was led. Saint Joseph knew...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 8 – The Apostle of Sri Lanka Arrested at Weuda on...
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Image source: blejosephvaz.wix.com . The Kingdom of Kandy Located in the central and eastern part of the island, the Kingdom of Kandy known in Sinhalese as Mahanuwara...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 9 – The Apostle of Sri Lanka in Prison in Kandy
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Image source: blejosephvaz.wix.com . Imprisonment in the Kingdom of Kandy Espionage was loathed in Kandy and foreigners were not allowed to Espionage was loathed in Kandy and...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 10 – Beginning of the Apostolate in Kandy
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Image source: blejosephvaz.wix.com . THE FIRST CHURCH To keep John occupied, Joseph Vaz taught him enough Latin to recite the divine office intelligently with devotion. He also...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 11 – The Miracle of Rain in Kandy
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Image source: roystonellis.com Joseph Vaz began his apostolate in Kandy amidst great difficulties. He devoted himself to the spiritual needs of the Catholics of Kandy. He...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 12 – The Apostle Visits Dutch Colombo
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Bird’s eye view of Colombo. Mid-17th Century water colour painting. The Vingboons-Atlas, ARA, The Hague. Colombo Today, Colombo is the largest city and the commercial capital...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 13 – Missionaries Arrive from Goa
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Frescoe of Joseph Vaz (Source: communio.stblogs.org) . The Dutch Governor came to know about the happenings in Colombo among the Catholics. He ordered a Dutch Dissawe to...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 14 – Smallpox Epidemic in Kandy
. By T.V. Antony Raj . A bit of History of the Kingdom of Kotte The identity of the ruler in power in Kotte at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese has been a matter of dispute for some time....
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 15 – Six More Missionaries Come from India
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Saint Joseph Vaz, Cong. Orat., Priest and missionary. The Apostle of Sri Lanka. . In 1668, after the smallpox epidemic ceased entirely, life turned back to normal in the...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 16 – The Return of the Apostate Sparks Accusation of...
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Source: joegoauk.blogspot.in Joseph Vaz carried his mission to the main centres of the island with his group of Goan Bammon (the Roman Catholic Brahmin) priests. As their...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 17 – The Apostle of Ceylon and the New King of Kandy
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Saint Joseph Vaz, the first saint of of Sri Lanka (Source: birminghamoratory.org.uk) . During the Portuguese rule in Ceylon, the attitude of the rulers towards non-Christians...
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Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 18 – The Last Days and the Death of the Apostle
. By T.V. Antony Raj . Image source: blejosephvaz.wix.com. . During the last months of 1709, Joseph Vaz suffered from a peculiar kind of fever, which subsided for a short time and then recurred with...
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Jugaad Innovations
By T.V. Antony Raj . . Jugaad is a colloquial Hindi-Urdu word that can mean an innovative fix or a simple workaround, used for solutions that bend rules, or a resource that can be used as such. Jugaad...
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