By Glenn Costa | NT NETWORK
In its 400-year history, the edifice and institution known today as the Rachol Seminary has come a long way.
Originally a Muslim fort, it went on to become the mother house of Jesuit missionaries – hub of missionary activities in Salcette - then a college and finally an Archdiocesan Seminary for the formation of the diocesan clergy.
The Rachol Seminary, originally a Muslim fortress, was converted into a church by the Portuguese and then a prison. The foundation stone for the permanent College of Rachol was laid on the feast of All Saints in 1606, and four years from then the college was inaugurated and dedicated to All Saints.
The college functioned as the mother house of the Jesuit missionaries and became the hub of missionary activities in Salcette. One of its rectors, the Blessed Fr Rudolfo Aquaviva along with his companion even joined the ranks of martyrs in Goa.
But with the suppression of the Society of Jesus the Jesuits were expelled from Goa and consequently from the college in 1759.
During the time it was handled by the Jesuits the college took on multiple roles and they even opened a Konkani school, a Portuguese school, a Moral theology school, the school for the catechumens, a hospital and a printing press.
With the canonisation of the Ignatius of Loyola in 1622, it came to be called Loyola College.
The college of all saints soon became a temple of learning and made pioneering contributions to the systematic study of Konkani and published some of the first books in the local vernacular. The most illustrious among the exponents of Konkani was Fr Thomas Stephen S J, who studied both Konkani and Marathi and published the first Konkani book Dourina Krista and a grammar of Konkani, Arte de Lingoa Canarim.
The college sowed the seeds of a Konkani dictionary through the formulation of Konkani-Portuguese vocabularies. The printing press of the college can boast of the publication of at least sixteen books in the vernacular.
Three years after the Jesuits were unceremoniously seated, the Archbishop-Primate, Antonio Taveira da Neiva Brum e Silveira made it into the Archdiocesan Seminary for the formation of the diocesan clergy through his decree of January 4, 1762. It was the first diocesan seminary erected in Goa after the council of Trent.
The college of Ignatius Loyola then become the seminary of Good Shepherd and was put under the direction of the Goan Congregation of the Oratory. The Oratorians led the seminary for twelve years from 1762-1774 and closed it due to financial constraint.
In 1781 it was re-opened and handed to the Vincentians, who continued at the helm till 1790. Come 1793, the seminary once again came in the hands of the Oratorians who took control of the affairs till 1835. With the withdrawal all Religious Institutes in Portugal and all its procession, the seminary came under the administration of the diocesan clergy. From that time till today - for a period of 175 years - it has been run by the diocesan clergy.
The college as an Archdiocesan Seminary continued its academic legacy and at one time even conferred ecclesiastical degrees in theology. Today the seminary offers a three-year philosophy course with graduation from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and a four-year theology course.
The priests trained at the Rachol Seminary took the torch of Gospel to places like Karachi, Mozambique, Venezuela, Cabe Verde and Timor outside the country and Belgaum, Milapur, Darwad, Kochi, Vassai, Mumbai, Canara, Manglore and Karwar within the country.
As part of the celebrations - spiritual, cultural as well as intellectual – one will see a retreat in July. Celebrations will reach a climax on November 1, the day of the foundation of the seminary, with an offering of a solemn Eucharist by Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao and will end with an evening prayer in April 2011.
The cultural celebrations involve the staging of the seminary day in January 2011 as well as a Konkani samelan in February 2011. The cultural celebrations will end with a musical concert in April 2011.
