Media Release

Goa, Feb 6: Discalced Carmelites in India will celebrate the Eucharistic celebration at the ruins of their monastery (novitiate house)- Convento do Carmo at Old Goa on February 8 at 7.30 am.

The memorial mass of Blessed Dionysius and Redemptus will be presided over by the superior general of the order of Discalced Carmelites, Fr Dr Saverio Cannistra.

November 29, being the feast day of Blessed Dionysius and Redemptus, Carmelites friars and nuns along with secular Carmelites from Goa every year celebrate the feast mass at the ruins. The year 2019, is of great significance for the Carmelites as they celebrate 400 years of their existence in India. They will have a memorial mass of Blessed Dionysius and Redemptus at the ruins.

Carmelites laid the first foundation at Old Goa in the year 1619. Convent do Carmo (Carmelite Convent/Monastery) was a novitiate house where Blessed Dionysius and Redemptus lived. It is recalled that the first batch of Carmelites led by Fr Leander of the Annunciation, who had been sent on the Persian mission, came to Goa in 1619. The pages of history speak to us of the presence of the Carmelites in Goa (Old Goa) in 1619 with Fr Leander da Anunciacao as the founder of the Carmelite establishment. The Carmelites were able to make a start in Old Goa in 1620. It was a novitiate house. Theologate was started in 1630 which was discontinued from 1954.

It is worth recalling that Blessed Denis of the Nativity and Blessed Redemptus of the Cross, who were the members of the community at Old Goa, became the proto-martyrs of the Teresian reform (order of the Discalced Carmelites).

Blessed Denis of the Nativity, worked as a cartographer and naval captain for the kings of France and Portugal. Because of his valor and genius, he became first pilot of the kings of France and Portugal. In 1635, while in Goa, he took counsel with his spiritual director, Father Philip of the Most Trinity and consequently joined the Discalced Carmelites. He made his profession on December 25, 1636 and took the name Dionysius of the Nativity. He was ordained a priest on August 24, 1638. According to the testimony of the same Father Philip, he was an example of virtue to all the religious, both during the novitiate and after his profession.

Thomas Rodriguez de Cunha, born in Portugal on March 15, 1598 had made his own profession as a lay brother in 1615 in the same house, taking the name Redemptus of the Cross. His early career before becoming a Carmelite included military service in India at Goa. He became acquainted with the Carmelites in Tatta (Sind) and later evinced a desire to join them as a non-cleric.

In 1638, both proceeded to Sumatra (present day Indonesia) with a Portuguese delegation headed by Francis D’Souza, where they were detained and martyred in Sumatra. They were beatified in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII and are considered the proto-martyrs of the Discalced Carmelite order. This is an indication of the flourishing of the Indian mission in the 17th century.