Fr Elvis Fernandes, SFX –
Goa: His Excellency Honourable Governor of Goa, Mr P S Sreedharan Pillai, visited Pilar Seminary and Pilar Museum on Monday. The visit was part of his tour to the villages of San Andre Constituency.
Rev. Fr. Nazareth Fernandes, the Superior General of the Society of Pilar, welcomed the governor at the entrance of the Pilar seminary. Later, Rev. Fr. Peter Fernandes, the Rector of the Seminary, led him to the Seminary Chapel and formally greeted the Governor in the presence of the Superior General, the local MLA, Mr Viresh Borkar and Mr Francis D’Souza, the Sarpanch of Goa Velha. He then briefly presented the history of the Pilar Hillock, the Society of Pilar and the Pilar Seminary. The Rector mentioned that Pilar is the place of “saints and sages”. He also mentioned to Governor about Venerable Agnelo, as a saintly member of the Society of Pilar. He applauded the Governor for his various initiatives in reaching out to the people of Goa.
Later, the Superior General presented the Governor with a shawl and a medallion of Venerable Agnelo.
The Governor was then led to the museum and Rev. Fr. Cosme Costa, the curator of the museum, explained to him about the artefacts in the museum. Referring to the arrival of St. Thomas in India, in 52 AD, the Governor said that “a concept continuing without interruption for a long time, is also part of history. Like that, AD 52, is believed by all churches in Kerala. So you will have to give status, some importance” to this event. He said that “Christianity reached India, even prior to reaching Europe”.
Appreciating the work done by the missionaries, he stated that “80 grammar books, in most of the Indian languages, were prepared and published by the missionaries”.
At the end of the visit, he called the Pilar Museum, a great museum, and expressed his desire to visit the museum again as he penned these words in the Visitors’ Book, “I have reserved my desire to visit this great museum to a later date. History is a flow of incidents and keeping it for the future generations would be a great service”.