ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY Saints celebrated on the 16th of January WELCOME! SAINT JOSEPH VAZ, PRIEST Saint Joseph Vaz was a Goanese priest, Apostle of Ceylon [Sri Lanka], born at Goa, April 21, 1651; died at Kandy, January 16, 1711. His parents were Christians of the Konkani Brahmin caste. HE BECAME A FAVOURITE PREACHER AND CONFESSOR He learned Portuguese in Sancoale, his father’s village, and Latin in Baulim, his mother’s village, studied rhetoric at the Jesuit college and philosophy and theology at the College of St Thomas Aquinas, Goa, was ordained in 1676, and became a favourite preacher and confessor. Hearing of the oppressed state of the Catholics of Ceylon under the Dutch, Father Vaz desired to go to their rescue, but was for the time being appointed Superior of the Kanara Mission, a post which he occupied for three years. HE JOINED THE ORATORIANS On his return to Goa in 1684 he spent his time preaching in the villages, and joined the Oratorians th...