PANJIM: The Exposition of the body of St Francis Xavier was not supposed to be a decennial event. The first Exposition after the incorrupt body of St Francis Xavier was brought to Goa from Malacca, happened almost by accident. The First Exposition lasted only three days and was held between February 10th and 12th in the year 1782, almost 230 years after his death. The exposition of the body of St Francis Xavier was held to negate rumours that the Jesuits who were expelled in 1759 by the Portuguese had taken away the body of Xavier and left behind an empty casket. It was only after Liberation of Goa that the Exposition began to be held regularly after 10 years.
The Second Exposition took place 77 years after the first exposition between the feast day of St Francis -December 3, 1859 to January 8, 1860, for a period of 36 days. While 40,000 pilgrims attended the first exposition, the number swelled to 2 lakh pilgrims in 1859-60.
.
The third exposition of the sacred relics of St Francis Xavier was held after 19 years of the second exposition. The dates were from December 3, 1878 to January 6, 1879, for a period of 34 days.
The fourth Exposition of the holy relics of Xavier was held after a period of 12 years, between December 3, 1890 to January 1, 1891, where 1.5 lakh devotees paid homage to the great saint.
Thereafter the Fifth Exposition was held after 10 years ( December 7 to 10, 1900). The first exposition to be held after 10 years was the Sixth Exposition which was held between November 26 and December 28, 1910, with 2 lakh devotees.
The Seventh Exposition commemorating the 300 years of St Francis Xavier’s Sainthood, occurred after 12 years of the 6th Exposition between December 22, 1922 and January 2, 1923.
The Eight Exposition was held after 9years, the Ninth Exposition was held in the month of May after 11 years. The Tenth Exposition was held after 10 years.
Surprisingly, the eleventh exposition took place during the Liberation of Goa between December 11 and 31, 1961, after 9 years. The Twelfth Exposition took place after just 3 years after Liberation on November 25, 1964 to January 5, 1965
It is only after Liberation of Goa that the Expositions began to be held after 10 years between December and January. The thirteenth exposition was held in 1974, the Fourteenth Exposition was held in 1984, the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth expositions were held in 1994, 2004 and 2014 respectively.
The decision to hold the exposition after 10 years was probably an administrative decision, since Church Authorities are not so sure why the Exposition is held every 10 years