Churches and convents of Goa, India:
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| Basilica of Bom Jesus Goa velha upload.wikimedia.org/ |
Above image. Basilica of Bom Jesus is a venerated Catholic site and preserves the remains of Saint Francis Xavier (São Francisco Xavier) image credit.
Fancisco Xavier, was considered the Apostle of the East for his work in the evangelization of Asia. Sometime after the arrival, Jesuits created a religious education center, the College of St Paul or São Roque College, which had a huge library and press, but this complex was destroyed in 1830.The great Jesuit monument that survived is the Basilica of Bom Jesus, begun in 1594 and consecrated in 1605, for which worked the Goan engineer Julius Simon and the Jesuit Portuguese Domingos Fernandes. Following the model of Portuguese Jesuit churches like the Church of the Holy Spirit of Évora and the church of St Roque Lisbon, Bom Jesus is a single nave temple; this is covered by a curved wooden liner and has no side chapel except for two chapel in transept area. The façade of the church, the work of Domingos Fernandes, is of Mannerist style and has three portals and three floors compartmentalized for cornices; On the façade there is a large body theatrically decorated by pediment with a cartouche with the arms of the Society of Jesus and flanked by scrolls.
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| Interior Se Cathedral, Goa,shadowsgalore.com |
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| Se Cathedral, Goa,India shutterstock.com |
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| Se Cathedral, Goa,India upload.wikimedia.org |
Above image. The Se Catedral de Santa Catarina, Se Cathedral, the Latin Rite Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. The church was built between 1597 and 1602 by Augustinian friars who came to Goa in 1587. The UNESCO World Heritage Site, Churches and Convents of Goa. Old Goa, Velha Goa, South India .image credit. Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com/
The Se Cathedral in Goa was built to commemorate the 1510 victory of the Portuguese, led by Afonso de Albuquerque, over a Muslim army that resulted in the capture of the city. As the victory occurred on the feast of Saint Catherine, the cathedral was dedicated to her.
Commissioned for enlargement in 1552 by Governor George Cabral, the construction of the present church began in 1562 during the reign of King Dom Sebastião. The cathedral was completed in 1619 and subsequently consecrated in 1640. Originally featuring two towers, one collapsed in 1776 and was never rebuilt.
The architecture of the Se Cathedral is primarily Portuguese-Manueline, with a Tuscan exterior and a Corinthian interior. The church is a significant structure, measuring 250 feet in length, 181 feet in breadth, and its frontispiece stands 115 feet high.
Inside, the cathedral is home to several notable features, including the "Golden Bell," famed for its rich tone and considered the largest in Goa. The main altar is dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria and is adorned with a huge gilded reredos and old paintings. The cathedral also houses the Chapel of the Cross of Miracles, where a vision of Christ is said to have appeared in 1619. Furthermore, a baptismal font dating back to 1532 is preserved here, famously used by Saint Francis Xavier for baptizing Goan converts.
In 1953, the cathedral was honored with "The Golden Rose" by Pope Pius XII, a gold ornament traditionally conferred as a token of reverence, which is placed on the tomb of St. Francis Xavier. In a more recent historical note, a memorial stone for the first Lithuanian Jesuit missionary in China, Andrius Rudamina, who arrived in Goa in 1625, was erected in the courtyard in 2015.
https://www.shadowsgalore.com/2012/10/se-cathedral-old-goa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_and_convents_of_Goa
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The Church of St Cajetan, Goa, India
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| The Church of St Cajetan, Goa, India xplorebees.com |
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| Church of St Cajetan, Goa, tripadvisor.com |
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| The Church of St Cajetan, Goa, India upload.wikimedia.org |
Above image. The Church of St Cajetan (Church of divine providence)is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Churches and Convents in Goa, India. image credit. Jupitus Smart -
In 1639, religious of the Theatines landed in Goa to found a convent and built the St. Cajetan Church by 1665. Dedicated to St. Cajetan and to Our Lady of Providence ,it was designed by the Italian architects Carlo Ferrarini and Francesco Maria Milazzo with the plan in the form of a Greek cross. The façade mimics that of the front part designed by Carlo Maderno for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It's crowned with a huge hemispherical dome, similar to that of the Roman Basilica of St. Peter. Instead of two cupolas it exhibits two quadrangular towers. The church exhibits superb examples of Corinthian architecture.
Four basalt statues of St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John the Evangelist and St. Matthew are located in niches in the façade that also inscribes the words, "Domus mea, domus oration/s" meaning, "My House is a House of Prayer" (etched across the portal).
