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ST. FRANCIS XAVIER CHURCH

Location : Old Goa
Built In : 1884
Architectural Style : Dorian Style
When To Go : September - March

THE CHAPEL OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER - Roosting on Miraculous Faith

St. Francis Xavier Church
St. Francis Xavier Church


There are few places where you can see real belief in miracles. A well when looked profoundly, offers an incredible backdrop of a cross and two burning candles. Devotion to St. Francis Xavier is deep across the length of Goa, far beyond the taluka of Tiswadi where the saint practised his mission 450 years ago, and where his mortal remains are kept, in Old Goa. Behind the gate of St. Paul's college, there is a solitary road that takes you to the laterite plastered walls of the chapel of St. Francis Xavier. Although the wooden rafters house only one altar, the hallowed place affords much more than just visual beauty, it offers a sanctity, a belief that is surely going to descend straight into your heart. Come experience a divinity, you have never done before.

The Hallowed Chapel of Xavier

Adorned with tiled roof, the chapel is embellished with Dorian style of architecture. Scripts endorse that the Chapel of St. Xavier was originally dedicated to either St. Anthony or to St. Jerome. In 1542, St. Francis Xavier came to Goa at the behest of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. During the four rainy months he was in Goa, St. Francis preached to the uninitiated and to neo-converts. He returned after a short break to head the Santa Fe Theology College in Old Goa, later known as the College of St. Paul. With the irruption of the epidemic and the consequent abandoning of the college of St. Paul in 1570, the chapel fell into ruins and the present chapel was built in 1884. Since the Chapel was initially within the enclosure of the College of St. Paul, it was later dedicated to St. Francis Xavier or 'Goencho Saab' (Lord of Goa). Remember to see the miraculous well said to hold holy water.

How To Reach

The sacred chapel of St. Xavier nestles in Old Goa. This small patch of virgin land is situated on the banks of the serene Mandovi River in east Tiswadi Taluka in Central Goa. Drive comfortably on NH 4A, which begins as the Ribander Causeway, runs east along the Mandovi River, through the rustic and continues south-east to Ponda. For more tourist related information contact GTDC, Old Goa Tourist Hotel, behind Police Station, near Gandhi statue. The Basilica is open from 6 am till 6:30 pm, so you can have the pleasure to attend the evening mass, a nice thing to participate.

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