Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares
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Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares or Alvares Mar Julius | |||||||||||||
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Syrian Orthodox Church | |||||||||||||
Major shrine | St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian Church, Ribandar, Goa | ||||||||||||
Feast | 23 September | ||||||||||||
Patronage | Poor and Ill | ||||||||||||
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Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares (Alvares Mar Julius) (29 April 1836 – 23 September 1923) was initially a
Early life
Alvares was born to a
Priesthood
Alvares was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1862 or 1864 by Bishop Walter Steins SJ, Vicar Apostolic in Bombay. Alvares began his ministry in the Archdiocese of Goa under the
Successive Portuguese governments fought against this, terming this as unjustified aggression by later Popes against the irrevocable grant of Royal Patronage to the Portuguese Crown, an agitation that spread to the Goan patriots, subjects of the Portuguese Crown.
When, under
Uniting with Orthodox Church
Their agitation failed to reverse the changes. Angry with the Portuguese government, the group broke away from the Catholic Church and joined the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
Bishop
Alvares was
While he was a priest of the Catholic Church, he was in search of the true Biblically Christian One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He was against the false devotion and religious exhibitionism. He objected to the Concordat of the Pope and interference of the Government in the Church administration. He could not withstand the harassment meted out to him by the ecclesiastical and civil powers. He went to Western and Eastern Churches and finally came to
When
Alvares has a
In Portuguese Goa
Since Alvares was not allowed by the rulers to work freely in Goa.[3] he was mostly based in Canara region of Karnataka with the main base at Brahmavar. Along with Roque Zephrin Noronha, he worked among the people along the west coast of India from Mangalore to Bombay. About 5000 families joined the Orthodox Church.[3][need quotation to verify] He ordained Joseph Kanianthra, Lukose Kannamcote and David Kunnamkulam at Brahmawar on 15 October 1911.
Alvares and Pinto continued their efforts to draw many Goans from the Imperial Church and to Orthodoxy. The Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church (BOC) failed in this goal, for outside this group very few Goans moved to this sect.
In British Ceylon
Alvares was in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for more than five years. While there he consecrated Vilatte as bishop in the presence of Mar Gregorios of Parumala in 1892.
The denomination that consecrated Vilatte was a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church that had a Latin Rite patrimony. V. Nagam Aiya wrote, in Travancore State Manual, that Alvares "describe[d] his Church as the Latin branch of the Syriac Church of Antioch."[4]
The Holy See sought to consolidate two co-existing jurisdictions, the
Michael Roberts, in Sri Lanka Journal of Social Science, describes three groups within early nationalism in British Ceylon. The most prominent group, "ultra-moderate constitutionalists", with culture and
According to Peter-Ben Smit, in Old Catholic and Philippine Independent Ecclesiologies in History, the Union of Utrecht's (UU) International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference (IBC) discussed a ICMoC request for admission in 1902. Smit observed that past "experiences had made ... the IBC cautious, which in his opinion was a reason for the failure of contacts with groups in ... Ceylon ... and other countries to develop into relationships of full communion."[16]: 193, 196 La Croix, Catholic Messenger of Ceylon reported that the Alvares schism ended in 1902.[17] Bartas did not recount the significance of Alvares' ideology,[e] he only noted that the schism, around 1902, intended to convert corporately, to eastern orthodoxy. The cathedral in Colombo had one priest, Alvares, fairly advanced in age. He and his parishioners asked the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, in Athens, to accept them under its jurisdiction and to send them an officiating priest preaching in Latin and English. Bartas wrote:
A Greek Orthodox priest, delegated by the Holy Synod in Athens, to celebrate the Latin Mass and deliver the English sermons, in an independent Catholic Church of Ceylon in the cathedral of the priest who became Archbishop of Goa Indo-Ceylon by the grace of a Jacobite bishop of Malabar; that is the answer to a purely indigenous hierarchy, that ... Pinto and Alvarez demanded so loudly at the beginning of their schism![7]
But the Greek Holy Synod reflected on information provided by the
Educator
Alvares was a scholar, man of high principles and had a formidable personality. He opened a college where Goan priests were teaching Portuguese, Latin, French, and Philosophy. In 1912, Alvares opened an English School in Panaji. Both operated for a short time.
Social worker
At that time Goa was frequently affected by epidemic like malaria, typhoid, smallpox, cholera and plague. Alvares published a pamphlet on the treatment of cholera. He was concerned about the shortage of food in Goa and appealed to the people to produce cheaper food.[citation needed] He published a booklet about the cultivation of cassava.
Apostle of charity
In 1871, he started a charitable association in Panaji to render help to the poor, beginning with wandering beggars. After a few years he extended the association to other cities in Goa. During the last ten years of his life he concentrated his activities in Panaji. His home accommodated the poor and destitute as well as
Excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church
This designation was given to Alvares by Goan historians.[
Martyr
Alvares embraced the
Death
Alvares died of
Veneration
In 1927, his bones were collected by his friends and admirers[who?], placed in a lead box and reburied, under a marble slab with the inscription "Em Memoria De Padre Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares, Diue [sic] Foi Mui Humanitario Missionario E Um Grade [sic] Patriota" (In memory of priest Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares, who was very humanitarian missionary and a great patriot) and the largest cross in the cemetery.
In 1967, John Geevarghese, the first resident Vicar of St. Mary’s Orthodox Church, Goa, rediscovered the forgotten grave of Alvares, and brought Metropolitan Mathews Mar Athanasios of the Outside Kerala Diocese to Goa to conduct services befitting an Orthodox bishop at the burial site.[19] A small church was constructed in Ribandar and, in 1979, Alvares' remains were disinterred and placed in the church by Metropolitan Philipose Mar Theophilos of the Bombay diocese.
When the St. Mary's church was reconstructed in the same place, Alvares' remains were moved to the present
Alvares' remains are entombed at St. Mary's Orthodox church in Ribandar. Although the congregation was small, the Brahmavar Orthodox Community has survived almost a century after Alvares' death. His dukrono, a memorial feast, is celebrated at St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian church in Ribandar on 23 September every year.
Works or publications
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2013) |
- Universal Supremacy in the Church of Christ ... Abridged from the original in Portuguese. Colombo: Clifton Press. 1898. OCLC 771049027.
- Directions for the Treatment of Cholera ... (pamphlet) (2nd ed.). Ceylon: Victoria Press. 1896. OCLC 771049026.
Newspapers
Alvares started a number of periodicals; most of them were educative and supportive of the right of the public.[citation needed] He was a critic of the government.[clarification needed] Most of the periodicals were banned and forced to stop publications after few years.[citation needed]
- A Cruz (in Portuguese)
- A Verdade (in Portuguese)
- O Brado Indiano (in Portuguese)
- O Progresso de Goa (in Portuguese)
- Times of Goa (in Portuguese)
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ Sometimes his surname is mistakenly spelled "Alvarez" instead of the standard Portuguese form "Alvares".
- ^ Aiya and Richards use brahman;[4][8]: 64 a member of the first of the four castes of Hinduism, a sacerdotal class.[9] Pearson uses brahmin;[10]: 129 a broader term that also includes a scholar, teacher, priest, intellectual, researcher, scientist, knowledge-seeker, or knowledge worker.[11]
- ^ Marx and Blied noted that Fortescue believed Alvares was consecrated by the reformed group.[12]: 7 [13]
- ISBN 0-8223-0268-3.[15]: 199, 216
- OCLC 60632493. Archived from the originalon 20 December 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
References
- ISSN 1097-3702. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 August 2004. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ a b "His Grace Alvares Mar Julius Metropolitan". StAlvares.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 30 June 2007.
- ^ a b
Cheeran, Joseph (2009). The Indian Orthodox Church of St. Thomas, AD 52-2009. Translated by Annie David (2nd ed.). Kottayam: K.V. Mammen Kottackal Publishers. p. 306. OCLC 768294822.
- ^ OCLC 827203062. Retrieved 14 May 2013. Here, the surname Alvares is spelled Alvarez.
- from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Brucker, Joseph (1911). "Protectorate of Missions". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ LCCN sc82003358. Here, the surname Alvares is spelled Alvarez.
- from the original on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ The dictionary definition of brahman at Wiktionary
- ISBN 978-0-203-96198-8. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
- ^ The dictionary definition of brahmin at Wiktionary
- ^ ISSN 0740-6525.
- ^ from the original on 21 June 2006. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- (PDF) from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2015.
- ^ ISSN 1572-4107.
- ^
"La fin d'un schisme aux Indes". La Croix (in French). Paris. 12 July 1902. p. 3. ISSN 0242-6412. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ Daniel, David. St Thomas Christians. p. 245.[place missing][publisher missing][year missing]
- ^ "Former Vicars". St Mary's Orthodox Syrian Church.
Further reading
- Alexander, George; Philip, Ajesh (2018). Western rites of syriac-malankara orthodox churches (1st ed.). OCP Publications. ISBN 978-1387803163.
- Azevedo, Carmo (1988). Patriot & Saint: The life story of Father Alvares/Bishop Mar Julius I. OCLC 556945748. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- Kamat, Pratima P (29 April 2012). "Remembering H G Alvares: Mar Julius". OCLC 60632493. Archived from the originalon 20 December 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- Pinto, Rochelle (2007). Between empires: print and politics in Goa. SOAS studies on South Asia. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195690477.