Jacome Gonsalves


Rev. Fr. Jacome Gonsalves,CO was an Oratorian priest and missionary in Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon.
Fr. Jacome Gonsalves arrived in Ceylon during the Dutch occupation, when the Dutch were imposing Calvinism as the official religion after taking over from the Portuguese. He also helped St. Joseph Vaz in services. He did a massive service using his knowledge on Sinhala and Tamil Languages.
He is also known as the "Father of Catholic Literature in Sri Lanka" because of the massive service he had done. He had written many books, prayers, hymns and translated many hymns. Some of those hymns and prayers are in popular use among Sinhala and Tamil Catholics.

Life

Birth

Jacome Gonsalves was the eldest son of Thomas Gonsalves and Mariana de Abreu, living in the parish of Our Lady of Piety. He was born on 8 June 1676. He was a Konkani Brahmin by lineage. His family had been Christian for 2 or 3 generations, being among the first converts at the beginning of Portuguese rule in Goa.

Education

Gonsalves studied at the Jesuit College of Goa. He enrolled in the University of Goa , and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1696 he began theological studies at the Academy of St Thomas Aquinas in Goa, where he also held the post of organist. This seems to have led him to develop a taste for poetry, prose and music.

Ordination

He was ordained to the priesthood by Rt. Rev. Agostinho de Anunciação, Archbishop of Goa, in April 1700 at the Cathedral of St. Catherine. He decided to enter the Oratorian Congregation of Goa. He was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the University of St Paul's in Goa . He took up his post in January 1705, but relinquished it the same year to go to Sri Lanka.

At Sri Lanka

He left Goa on 9 May 1705 and reached Sri Lanka on 30 August 1705, arriving at Talaimannar. At the time, he knew Konkani, Portuguese, Latin and Spanish. During the long journey he studied Tamil. He mastered this language during his first assignment on the islands of Mannar, Arippu, Musali and other places in the Munnar district. He also learnt Dutch.
Fr Joseph Vaz sent him to Kandy to learn Sinhala. Fr Gonsalves studied with the Buddhist monks at the Malwatta chapter, known for their high and elegant Sinhala.
Then after, he conducted his services in areas around Negombo, Colombo, and Kalutara from February, 1709. In the same year, he converted more than 1300 to Catholic. First months of 1710, he stayed at Kandy. While he was servicing between Sitawaka and Colombo, he was tortured by Dutch, who were controlling the coastline of Sri Lanka. Because of the extreme illness of St. Fr. Joseph Vaz, he came back to Kandy. There he gave him extreme unction and did his funeral.
Due to the dislocating of his temporomandibular joint in 1711, he went to the royal doctors, then to Puttlam, Sitawaka, and Colombo. Thereafter he stayed at Kandy till 1713. He built a church near Palace of Hanguranketha. And then he went to service in Negombo and Colombo. He was appointed as the Sub Chief of Bishop of Cochin and as the chief of the all Oratorians in Sri Lanka. He serviced in the Northern areas till 1725. Thenafter he serviced in Colombo and nearby areas. He serviced as a peacemaker of King in 1726. He also took place in stopping a revolt that was going to be in 1729.
Though the chiefs of Congregation of Oratory asked him to return Goa, through Bishop of Cochin, Fr Jacome Gonsalvez rejected the appeal, thinking of his service at Sri Lanka. He wrote many of his works at Bolawatta, near Negombo. Since there was no printing press, he employed 12 Sinhala clerks to copy his works. Fr Jacome Gonsalves has been called: "the most successful missionary that this island ever had, the creator of Catholic literature in Ceylon, whose name is still held in benediction and whose literary works in Sinhalese and Tamil are still in daily use in the church of this island."

Works

Books

Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez is known as the "Father of Catholic Literature of Sri Lanka". That is because of the service he had done to the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka from his books. He has written 42 books including 22 in Sinhala, 14 in Tamil, 5 in Portuguese, and 1 in Dutch.

Deva Vedha Puranaya (දේව වේද පුරාණය)

දේව වේද පුරාණය is a compendium of the Bible in 2 parts, including 28 chapters under පුරාණ දේව වාක්‍ය and 2 chapters under අභිනව දේව වාක්‍ය . With a content of 400 printed pages, this was the largest book that was written in Kandyan Era. This has been influenced by Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana. This is the greatest book written by Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez. This has been written as the whole creation of world has been done in Sri Lanka, with usage of creative illusions and allusions. His description of the Garden of Eden includes local trees: jackfruit, sugar cane, king coconut, timbiri, sandalwood, blue lotus.

Deva Vedha Sankshapaya (දේව වේද සංක්ෂපය)

දේව වේද සංක්ෂපය is a summary of Deva Veda Puranaya written in 1713. This has been written as a questionnaire.
Suvishesha Visheshanaya
සුවිශේෂ විසර්ජනය is a book written in 1730. It consists of gospels read on Sundays, debt festivals and feasts of important saints, and sermons on those days.

Dukprapthi Prasangaya (දුක්ප්‍රාප්ති ප්‍රසංගය)

දුක්ප්‍රාප්ති ප්‍රසංගය is a book written in 1728, on torture of Jesus. It has 9 sermons which are divided among 7 weeks including 6 weeks of lent and holy week. This has done a great job to the liturgy in lent. Here ප්‍රසංගය has come from Tamil word பிரசங்கம் which means sermon. So it means Sermon of Torture. In early years, this was used as the script for Easter plays.

Dharmodyanaya (ධර්මෝද්‍යානය)

ධර්මෝද්‍යානය is a book written on biographies of Saints. This has been written in 1735.

Prathiharyawaliya (ප්‍රාතිහාර්යාවලිය)

ප්‍රාතිහාර්යාවලිය is a book written on some of the miracles done by Jesus which are mentioned in Holy Bible, in 1732.

Sukurtha Darpanaya (සුකෘත දර්පණය)

සුකෘත දර්පණය is a book written in between 1733 - 1740, to invite to a life of faith, and to show the value of a Christian life of faith.

Deva Neethi Visarjanaya (දේව නීති විසර්ජනය)

දේව නීති විසර්ජනය is a book written in between 1720 - 1730, on the last judgement of god.

Veda Kavya (වේද කාව්‍ය)

වේද කාව්‍ය Veda Kavyaya is a poetic composition, composed in 1725. It covers the history of the world from the creation to ascension of Christ into heaven.

Agnana Aushadhaya (අඥාන ඖෂධය)

අඥාන ඖෂධය is book written as a medicine for the expels. Many have converted into Roman Catholic after reading this. It has been written in dialogues.

Deshana Navaye Pasam Potha (දේශනා නවයේ පසම් පොත)

දේශනා නවයේ පසම් පොත is the Dukprapthi Prasangaya, written as poems. 9 sermons are written in 9 chapters, with about 20 - 30 poems per each. And the 7th sermon includes 76 poems and 8th sermon includes 85 poems. In total there are 357 poems. This has been written in between 1712 - 1743, to get rid of the uniformity in Dukprapthi Prasangaya.

Kristhiyani Palliya (ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලිය)

ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලිය is a book of prayers written for the day to day usage of Catholics. It contains prayers for healing of humans as well as animals, prayers to protect the agriculture from pests, and prayers for saints. It has been written in between 1715 - 1730.

Mathara Prathyakshaya (මාතර ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂය)

මාතර ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂය is a book written rejecting the teachings of Buddhism, and giving a correct idea, in 1733.

Mangala Geethaya (මංගල ගීතය)

මංගල ගීතය is a book containing hymns to Jesus, Mary and Saints in 1730. This was used for liturgical purposes.

Ananda Kalippuwa (ආනන්ද කලිප්පුව)

ආනන්ද කලිප්පුව is a song book written in 1728. It is the first song book ever written in Sri Lanka. It contained the songs which told about the frivolousness of the life. This is venerated as a great book containing songs. It contained some songs which denounced the corruptions in the king's palace and council farcically.

Budu Mula (බුදු මුල)

බුදු මුල is a book written in 1737, showing the weak points of Buddhism, and to show the right way to the people at palace.

Gnanangjanaya (ඥානාංජනය)

ඥානාංජනය is a book written in 1738. It contains 12 meditations to refresh, lighten the spiritual vision of Catholics. These meditations are written to be said on retreats. It shows the value and objective of humanity, what is sin, how to get rid of sin and the results of sin.

Dictionaries

Hymns

Fr. Jacome Gonsalves wrote and translated many hymns during his lifetime. Many of those are still in common use in the Roman Catholic church. Those did a massive service to the Catholic Literature in Sri Lanka.
He introduced a new variety of hymns, or lamentations called Pasan, which are still being sung in the lent times. And Sinhala Christmas Carols were introduced by him. Some of very popular hymns written by him are as follows:
Fr. Jacome Gonsalves has also done a number of paintings on the Stations of the Cross. These paintings are now found at the church of Our Lady of Assumption, Bolawatte.

Prayers

Many prayers have also been made and translated by him. Still these are one of most being used prayers till these days. Some of the prayers made or translated by him are as follows:
Fr. Jacome Gonsalves came to Bolawatta church in 1740. There he wrote and published many books. He chose there as the meeting place of the all missionaries who were in Sri Lanka. He passed away on 17 July 1742, at an age of 66. He was buried in the Church of Our Lady of Assumption, Bolawatte.

Reliquaries

His tomb was opened in 1852, by Fr. Florentine Gracia. Some of his bones were found there and a bone was kept in the altar of the new church. And then the tomb was sealed. When it was opened again, his cross and a tooth was taken out. The tooth has been kept in the church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Nainamadama. It is owned by Muthunamagonnage Niroshan Pranadu for generations.

Veneration

In July 2015, the parishioners of Piedade, Divar, Goa have taken a step forward for the cause of canonization of 18th century missionary Fr. Jacome Gonsalves, son of the island of Divar, in whose ancestral house now is established Our Lady of Divar High School, run by Goa Archdiocese, in Divar. Parish priest Fr. Jose Dias during the religious service mentioned "Fr. Gonsalves is very famous in Lanka for his work in reviving the Catholic faith, but here he is a forgotten or unknown hero," Fr. Dias welcomed Fr. Eremito who paid rich tributes to Father Gonsalves and summarized saying, "St Joseph Vaz planted the seed of Catholic faith in Sri Lanka and Fr Jacome Gonsalves watered and nourished it." Fr Eremito is the former vice postulator for the cause of St Joseph Vaz, and his missionary work in Sri Lanka.

Secondary bibliography