Udyavar St Francis Xavier Church to celebrate sesquicentennial

Udyavar St Francis Xavier Church to celebrate sesquicentennial

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, April 18, 2013 : The St Francis Xavier Church at Udyavar  is all set to celebrate its post-centenary golden jubilee. The celebrations will be held on May 1 in the year of faith and with a mission to strengthen faith and good thoughts. As part of the jubilee  year  a three-day pilgrimage was also conducted to the land of St Francis Xavier in Goa . A four-day retreat has also been organised in the church.

 

 

This year began with the inauguration of the insignia and the theme “Let us strengthen our parish community joining together as one family with strong faith and love” for the sesquicentennial by parish priest Fr Cyprian Pinto during the holy mass on 01-01-2013, the New Year day.

The  Church as Fr Cyprian Pinto as its Parish Priest, Lawrence D’Sa as its Vice President and John D’Souza as Secretary.In the beginning the church was a part of Kalianpur Parish which is the Cathedral of the new Udupi Diocese. It was in the year 1863 that the then Archbishop of Goa Dr Amerin Passo granted permission to have a separate church as per the request of the parishioners of Udyavar led by Late Dominic Pereira and Late Louis Lobo. 

The church is devoted to St Francis Xavier and was  inaugurated on 10-01-1866 by Fr John Louis Marian D’Souza who offered the holy mass as a parish priest.

The initiative to have a new church building was  taken in the year 1903  during the tenure of Monsignor Raymond Mascarenhas as the parish priest. A 3 acre land was purchased with the help of generous donors  and within two years a new building came up and was blessed by the Bishop Kavadhini on 06-01-1909. This blessed priest was named as “Gods Servant” on 03-06-2008, and the people of Udyavar are the witnesses of his sanctity.

On the occasion of the Silver jubilee of the church, Eucharistic celebration was offered on 06-01-1935 by Msgr Raymond Mascarenhas.Among the parish priests who served the church include  Fr Avelin D’Silva, the first priest from the church, Fr Paul Crasta,  Fr John Fernandes, Fr Xavier Pinto, Fr Vincent Pereira, Fr Anthony Noronha, Fr Aloysius F Pinto, Fr Loius D’Souza, Fr James Andrade, Fr Thomas D’Souza, Fr Stanley Pereira, Fr Henry Fernandes, Fr Richard Coelho and Fr Charles Noronha served as the parish priests and contributed in the development of the church.  Now, there is a belfry,  parish community hall, chapel at Bolargudde, high school, English medium school, two convents and a presbytery. There are a total of 540 families in the Parish. Though it was planned to have a new building to commemorate the 150th anniversary the same was not possible due to  some reasons.