The name of Fr. Agnelo de Souza, a son of Goa and a member of the Missionary Society of St. Francis Xavier, Pilar, is dear and familiar to all Goans as evidenced by the very great devotion he inspires. Declared” Venerable” by the Pope some years ago, there is a strong movement today for his beatification. We bring you a brief sketch of Fr. Agnelo the man, but more important – the devoted servant of God.
There was nothing earth-shaking or spectacular about the life of Fr. Agnelo de Souza. He lived like all of us in a Society with its share of pitfalls and temptations. What he possessed in abundance, however, was an innate light that succeeded in transforming the ordinary and mundane into something beautiful and inspiring.
Throughout his priestly life, Fr. Agnelo lived out his beliefs in simplicity, wisdom and practicality, making it abundantly clear that saintly living was well within the reach of the ordinary man – by capturing and translating into our daily lives the rich Christian values and spiritual ideals treasured by him.
With God very much the focus of his own life, Fr. Agnelo, by his example and wise guidance’ succeeded in transforming mediocre souls into “flaming apostles of Christ”. Many were the conversions affected through his preachings and discourses.
“What fruit can a sermon yield if it lacks unction” said Father Agnelo time and time again. And indeed through much of his life, the good priest made his mark as a saintly preacher.
Very much in demand for sermons, retreats and missions, Fr. Agnelo spent twenty long years conducting a very successful ministry of preaching. During this time, he covered almost every village and parish in Goa and succeeded above all in changing people’s lives and gently turning their footsteps towards God.
Father Agnelo strongly believed that ‘As the Seminarians, so will the Priests be.’ He therefore devoted much of his time to their training, very ably filling in the roles of father, teacher, friend and guide to the seminarians.
His deep love of God and devotion to duty kept him working and preaching to the very end. In fact, it was in the pulpit of the seminary of Rachol that his worn-out body finally gave way and collapsed in November 1927, after preaching a sermon during the Novena to the Sacred Heart. This illness led shortly thereafter to his demise.
The spontaneous pilgrimages that were undertaken by crowds of people to his grave at Rachol were proof enough of the veneration and respect he was held. On January 10th 1939, his bones and remains were shifted to Pilar where he had spent 10 years of his life. Pilar has now become a major prayer and pilgrimage centre drawing people of all religions from Goa, India and abroad. The number of favours reportedly obtained through his intercession has been put at 100,000.
Never seeking glory or recognition during his lifetime, this humble servant of God came to be venerated in all five continents as a powerful intercessor before God within a scarce half century.
It was on November 10th 1986, after a close scrutiny of his life, that Pope John Paul II bestowed upon Fr. Agnelo the honour of being called Venerable.
As Fr. Aloysius Rego so aptly writes in his Secrets to Share, ‘May ours soon be the joy and privilege of hailing Fr. Agnelo as Blessed – and why not? – as Saint Agnelo – A desire devoutly to be wished for and earnestly to be prayed for.”