September 26 is a red-letter day for the Society of the Missionaries of St Francis Xavier popularly known as Society of Pilar. It was on this day in the year 1887 the Society was founded by Fr Bento Martins from Orlim, a priest of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. The day is fondly remembered by the confreres of the Society of Pilar and the vision and dedication of Society’s founder is acknowledged with profound reverence.
Fr Bento was born on January 5, 1848 at Orlim, a tiny village on the coast of Arabian Sea. Responding to God’s call to priesthood, he entered Rachol Seminary. After completing his philosophical and theological studies, he was ordained a priest in Rachol Seminary on February 9, 1879 and celebrated his First Mass in the Church of Our Lady, Mother of the Poor, Tilamola. A missionary call of God was being nurtured in him and he had an eagerness to evangelize the abandoned people of the New Conquests.
Fr Custodio do Rosario Caetano Barreto who formed an Association of Missionaries in 1873 invited Fr Bento to join him before he was ordained a priest. Realizing this as a golden opportunity to fulfill his dream of working in the missions, he joined the Association of Missionaries at Uguem in Sanguem in 1877 as a deacon. To cater to the children, he opened a school at Tilamola for teaching Latin and Portuguese.
Fr Bento visited different villages of the New Conquests and witnessed the plight of the people. The missionary activities there were totally dependent on the sanctions and goodwill of the Portuguese government. His heart was inclined towards the poor and marginalized people of this area and heeding the inner call of God, he left the Association of Missionaries in 1881. He went to Valpoi in Sattari taluka to serve the people and to evangelize the non-Christians. On May 12, 1889 he blessed the church at Valpoi built by him. While he was at Valpoi, an additional charge of Usgao was given to him.
Archbishop-Patriarch of Goa, Dom Antonio Sebastião Valente transferred him from Valpoi to Agonda, where there was a Chapel and a large field for evangelizing activities. Moved by the plight of the abandoned Christians in the New Conquests, who had no priests to minister to them, Fr Bento expressed his desire to the Archbishop to start a new missionary Society. The Archbishop convinced of the need of evangelization of the entire Archdiocese, especially the New Conquests encouraged this intrepid missionary.
The political environment in those days was not conducive for missionary works. The Portuguese government, who was the ruler of the day, captured more territories called as ‘New Conquests.’ The authorities were not in favour of catechizing the local people of the New Conquests. By 1835, the Portuguese government had suppressed all the Religious Orders in Goa, persecuted the clergy and banished them. This ban had a huge impact on the Church of Goa and the faith of the people. In this difficult circumstances, God called Fr Bento to keep the fire of faith burning by establishing a new indigenous missionary Society. He and his companions were very active in evangelizing the people of the New Conquests especially in Sattari, Bicholim, Ponda and Canacona Talukas. They were engaged in different forms of apostolate and brought the faith to many non-Christians.
Providence works in coincidence. On September 26, 1887, at a time the last Carmelite died in Pilar, a new Society was born about 60 kilometers away from Pilar, in Agonda in Canacona Taluka. After the initial struggles and formalities, Fr Bento founded this Society while he was residing in Agonda to cater to the predominantly non-Christians areas of interior Goa (New Conquests of 1791).
In 1890, the Patriarch gifted to the fledging Society the abandoned monastery at Pilar perched on a tiny hillock, ringed by the foothills of the Western Ghats and overseeing the Arabian Sea which eventually became the mother house of the Society of Pilar and a home to the sacred relics of Venerable Fr Agnelo de Souza and a pilgrim centre. The monastery had as its patroness Our Lady of Pilar, a devotion prevailing in Saragosa, Spain that was brought to Goa by the Franciscan friars. After shifting the headquarters of the Society from Agonda to Pilar, the Society adopted Our Lady of Pilar as its patroness. Hence, it is called the Society of Pilar and the confreres of the Society as Pilar Fathers.
The political environment being anti-religious, Fr Bento and his companions had to face inquiries from the government officials. The officials used to come to Pilar and disturb the missionaries with sardonic remarks. It was due to this situation that new recruits for the Society diminished which later on led almost to its extinction. Despite all these incriminations, Fr Bento never gave up. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he navigated through life’s ups and downs. He was a man of vision and a mission. He labored with temerity and audacity in the missions. In those days, there were no vehicles. He had to walk to cover up long distances to visit Valpoi, Shiroda, Agonda and other villages and it was an arduous journey. It took toll on his life.
After administering the Society of Pilar for nine years, the founder left the world on August 16, 1896 at Pilar at the young age of 48 years leaving behind a legacy to the confreres to continue the missionary work for the poor and marginalized which he had started in the New Conquests.
When the founder passed away, the Portuguese journal ‘Mensageiro do Sagrado Coração de Jesus’ in its 1897 issue published his obituary in the following words: “Fr Bento was a priest of great holiness and zeal, which is the reason he became the foundation stone of a Religious Society. In simple ways, he began the work of the proclamation of Good News and rendered excellent service in the Archdiocese of Goa. His name will remain forever blessed in our memory.” Fr Bento initiated the great missionary work and laid the tiny seed where there was nothing and today it has bloomed into a big tree. His only aim was “To give Jesus to others.” That is the reason he went along doing good to others. The words ‘Bene omnia fecit’ (He did everything well) are engraved on the tomb of his relics in the Cenotaph at Pilar Monastery to pay homage to him, a missionary par excellence.
During the struggle which led to the abolition of the Monarchy and the establishment of the Portuguese Republic, the ban on the Religious was enforced with great severity. The ‘Congrua’ (pastor’s support) of the Churches was not being paid. Therefore, there was a decline in the membership. By 1938, the Society came to the verge of extinction with the lone surviving member of the Society, Fr Remedios do Rosario Gomes, who was also made the parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca.
Fr Agnelo de Souza, the saintly member of the Society a year before he died, had predicted: “The Society will not die, the finger of God is here.” However six assiduous, zealous and spirit-filled priests and two lay brothers: Fr Conceicao Rodrigues from Betalbatim, Fr Francisco Sequeira from Saligao, Fr Remedios do Rosario Gomes from Chandor, Fr Manuel Jose Barreto from Cansaulim, Fr Joseph Albuquerque from Bastora, Fr Teodolindo Cabral from Verna, Bro Peter Mascarenhas from Siolim and Bro Paixao Lacerda from Chinchinim came forward to re-organize the dying Society of Pilar on July 2, 1939, on the feast of the Visitation of Our Lady and transformed this dying Society into a new Missionary Society. The lone surviving member Fr Remedios do Rosario Gomes joined the re-organizing team. Incidentally in the same year, the mortal remains of Ven Agnelo were transferred to Pilar monastery from Rachol cemetery on January 10, 1939.
The re-organized Society got a new facelift. The eight re-organizers subsequently came to be called as the Second Founders of the Society of Pilar. They gave a new thrust to the missionary activity making it the principal aim of the Society and widened its mission to embrace the whole India. As the years rolled by and much water has been passed under the Zuari bridge, the Society of Pilar has grown by bounds and leaps. It was raised to the status of Pontifical Right in 2010. With 387 priests and 7 lay brothers, it serves in various dioceses of India and in eight foreign countries namely Germany, Austria, UK, Italy, USA, Nepal, Mauritania and Senegal in pastoral, educational, social, medical and communication field. The vision of the founder has been realized through the pioneering evangelization, which is the hallmark of the Society of Pilar. The confreres of the Society are in the forefront serving the people of different communities especially the Hindus in India and Nepal and the Muslims in Mauritania and Senegal.