Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Navelim, Goa
20-Nov-2019
Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca, Goa
The Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca, Goa is called ‘Nossa Senhora do Rosario Igreja em Curca’ in Portuguese. The Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca, Goa is popularly called ‘The Curca Church’ locally in Goa. The Parish church of Curca, situated on a hill, was inaugurated on June 29, 1650. As it was rather isolated from the local population, the new church building dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca was constructed in 1984 in a more accessible locality. The new Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, is used during weekdays, while Sunday Masses, Funerals, important feasts and Holy week liturgies are held in the parish church.
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary Curca, Goa is also known as ‘Rozachem Fest’ as the devotees offer garlands of marigolds, which are called rozam in Konkani.
The importance of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Curca can be gauged by the crowd attending the three masses celebrated on the feast day. Though the church is not very big in size it gets filled with devotees. The Curca village was an important village in olden times with its inhabitants including a number of fidalgos. There were also gaunkars from the Comunidade of the village tfrom the families of : Santos, Cruz, Gonçalves, Cortez, Pereira, Neves e Fernandes, Pires, Mattos, Costa, Almeida e Mellos. Very few of the original gaunkars still live in the village or attend the feast of the Curca church.
The foundation stone of the Curca Church was laid by Archbishop D Fr Francisco dos Martires in February 1646 and the first mass was said on June 29, 1650, during the governance of Vice-Roy D Filipe Mascarenhas. It was built by Dom Manoel Lobo da Silveira, a Portuguese fidalgo. It has four altars; the main one is dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary. To the left of the transept is that of Our Lady of Remedios, which is also the privileged one. To the right that of S João Batista. As one enters the church, to the left is that of S Coração de Jesus. In the Anuário da Arquidiocese the Goa, authored by Mons. Gomes Catão, it is mentioned that there are two chapels in the parish, dedicated to Santa Cruz, where mass is said “per modum actus”.
The feast is preceded by nine days novenas and salves. On the feast day, since morning, people of the village, which has a majority of Hindus, go trudging up the hillock to pay obeisance to Our Lady of the Rosary, the patron saint of the Curca church. There are long queues of people, with garlands of marigold and candles in hand, waiting to pay respect to the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary which is kept near one of the side entrance of the church, so that the non-catholic faithful can pay their obeisance to mother Mary without interrupting regular service.
The statue of Our Lady of Rosary with Infant Jesus which is for public adoration is kept in a glass-framed case, which has the Portuguese term Nossa Senhora do Rosario inscribed on it and is placed on the left side of the main entrance. It is taken out and kept during the novenas in the charol for adoration, where it remains till last Sunday of October, when a mass is held and she is ceremoniously taken in procession and placed back in the case.
The Number of Catholics based in the Parish of Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca, Goa is 400.
The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca, Goa is celebrated on the Sunday on or after 7th November every year.
The Address of the Curca Church is Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Curca, Goa Velha, Goa 403 108.