Salvador Barboza: The first sacristan of St. Lawrence Parish, Belle

By Dr. Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

Moodubelle, 14 November 2010: As the Belle parishioners celebrate the centenary year of the foundation of their parish, it would be worthwhile to recall the service rendered by some of the eminent lay people in the church in particular and in Belle village in general. While there is no doubt that the parish priests provided the necessary leadership in the progress of the parish and the village, there were also lay people who contributed in their own way and left their unique mark  in different fields. This series starts with Salvador Barboza, the first sacristan of St. Lawrence parish, Belle.

 

He came to Belle from Shirva as a young boy of fifteen years along with Fr. Casmir Fernandes, the first parish priest and founder of St. Lawrence Parish-Belle in 1910, and became not only his sacristan but also a person who got himself involved in many activities of the church and the parish.  This is the story of Salvador Barboza, the first sacristan of Belle parish who also worked in different capacities for nearly half a century.  He was known for his melodious singing and overall supervision of the church activities under the first three parish priests-Fr. Casmir Fernandes, Fr. Alphonse Ligory D’Souza and Fr. Jerome Pinto.

 

Salvador Barboza

 

Salvador Barboza was born on 2 July 1895 at Shirva as the eldest son of Francis Xavier and Regina Barboza.  Francis Xavier Barboza had been serving as the sacristan in the Church dedicated to Our Lady of Health also known as the Lower Church. As the Catholics from Belle were finding it difficult to go all the way to Shirva to attend Masses every Sunday and fulfill their other religious obligations, the then parish priest of the Lower Church, Fr. Gregory Antony Menezes established a mission centre at Nerlatte, as the present church area was then known as,  and built a chapel later. At that time there were two churches in Shirva, the Lower Church dedicated to Our Lady of Health and the Upper Church dedicated to St. Francis Xavier.  Following the unification of these two churches in 1910, the parish priest of the Upper Church, Fr. Casmir Fernandes was appointed as the first parish priest of the newly established Belle parish dedicated to St. Lawrence.

 

When Fr. Casmir Fernandes took charge as the first parish priest of Belle, he brought along with him Salvador Barboza who was just 15 years old at that time to assist him in all activities related to the church and appointed him as the first sacristan of the Belle parish.

 

Realizing the need to build a new church at Belle, Fr. Casmir Fernandes made the necessary planning and the foundation stone for the new church building was blessed and laid by the then Bishop of Mangalore, Most  Rev. Paul Perini on 2 February 1915. During the construction of the church building, Salvador Barboza played a significant role.

 

While the work of the construction of the church began, Salvador Barboza was a young man of 20 years. He not only had the gift of good voice which he used to sing hymns in the church, but also possessed sharp mind and amiable nature. Because of his dedication and sincere work, Salvador Barboza came to be trusted by Fr. Casmir Fernandes and was asked to shoulder the responsibility of supervising the construction of the church building. Right from the time of the foundation till the completion of the work in 1918, Salvador worked along with the construction labourers giving them direction and encouraging them to work. Most of the workers were from Goa who had an experience in building churches. There were also local labourers. The engineers supervising the construction work used to come from Mangalore occasionally. They were amazed to see Salvador giving instructions to the workers and checking the stones meant for the construction of the church. The engineers appreciating the knowledge and experience of Salvador seem to have remarked that as Salvador had the necessary experience, they were not required to inspect the work.

 

 

The basic materials required for the construction of the church building such as wood, stones, sand and lime and other items came as donations from different quarters. As the use of cement was unknown during those days, lime mixed with jaggery that was seasoned for few days was used for plinth, pillars and walls. Salvador would test whether the workers had mixed lime and jaggery properly by dipping his hand in the mixture, squeezing the mixture into small balls and dipping them in the water. If the balls dissolved, it suggested that the mixture was not appropriate.

 

When the church building was under construction there were no vehicles. Hence, for the transport of the huge trees for the beams of the church, the Mutts had sent their elephants. Tiles were transported from Mangalore through bullock carts and the sand that was required was carried by the people from the Belle River. The parishioners of Belle as well as non-Christian brethren had contributed in their own way in building the church.

 

After three years of continuous and dedicated work during which Salvador Barboza worked with Fr. Casmir Fernandes in supervising the construction and due to various donors and people who contributed in terms of material and labour, the church building was ready. The new church building was blessed and inaugurated by Bishop Paul Perini on 31 December 1918 that gave a sense of fulfillment for the parishioners, Fr. Casmir Fernandes and Salvador Barboza. On this occasion, as gratitude for the service that was rendered by Salvador Barboza, Fr. Casmir Fernandes gifted him a book titled “The Christian Purana”.

 

As Salvador Barboza had grown up as a young man by then, Fr. Casmir Fernandes suggested that he should get married. He allotted him a piece of land behind the church and got a small hey-roof house constructed. When Salvador reached 25 years of age, Fr. Casmir Fernandes got him married to Piad Mary D’Souza from Mudarangadi. After his marriage Salvador got strong supporter for his work in the church from his wife Piad Mary.

 

Piad Mary D’Souza

 

With the passage of time the parish community began to increase with additional families settling in different regions. At that time the churches around Belle included that of Attur-Karkala towards the east, Udyavar and Udupi towards the west and Shirva towards the south. In the absence of an assistant parish priest, Salvador had to stay in the church premises right from 5 am to 8 pm. He had to make preparations for daily mass, catechism, baptism and last sacraments to the sick and dying. He had to accompany the priest during blessing of the houses in the Easter season, prepare children for the First Holy Communion and confirmation in all respects such as teaching them catechism, etc. He also had the responsibility to prepare the young men and women for the sacrament of marriage by teaching them catechism. Attending funerals was again an indispensable obligation. Besides these responsibilities, Salvador had to prepare candles to be lighted in the church during the Masses and other liturgical services. Moreover, sometimes he had to go all the way to Mangalore to bring those things such as wine, host and communion particles needed in the church.

 

It was during the tenure of Fr. Casmir Fernandes that the Church Higher Primary School started in 1913. Besides being a sacristan, Salvador Barboza served as the headmaster of the higher primary school from 1919 to 1922. The land on which the present high school stands was in the possession of Salvador Barboza which he donated to the noble cause of education on the request of the then parish priest, Fr. Abundius D’Souza.

 

Though he was busy in the church activities, Salvador used to train young boys in singing hymns and used to play violin to provide the background music. He used to train the choir much in advance of the feast masses especially the annual parish feast. On the Confraternity Sunday, Salvador Barboza would take the lead in decorating the path of the procession with banners and festoons. Many of the things required for the decorations had to be brought from either Udupi or Karkala which he himself used to get walking all the way to these towns.

 

Salvador Barboza had a gift for writing and used to pen a number of poems, satires and plays. He was not only a good writer but also a talented actor. The elders of Belle and Kanajar still fondly remember these activities of Salvador Barboza. He was also fond of hunting and his son, Boniface Barboza still remembers the verities of animals and birds that he used to bring home following his hunting expedition. Though he was of jovial nature, Salvador was known for his discipline. He would not tolerate anyone talking within the church during the services.

 

In 1931, Fr. William Lewis came to Belle as the first assistant parish priest. Both Fr. William and Salvador worked together under the guidance of Fr. Casmir Fernandes for the progress of the church. During those days parishioners from Bailoor, Kanajar, Palli and Ninjoor used to walk all the way to Belle on Saturday evening for confession and other    obligations. As they could not go back on the same day, they would stay in the house of Salvador and return the next day after attending the Mass on Sunday. Salvador’s wife, Piad Mary used to provide food and shelter to these people.

 

Realizing the difficulties faced by the people staying far away from Belle, Fr. Casmir Fernandes obtained permission from the Bishop of Mangalore to build a chapel at Kanajar. Both Fr. William Lewis and Salvador shouldered the responsibility of building the chapel at Kanajar dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes and later, Fr. William Lewis was appointed as the first parish priest of Kanajar when a separate parish was carved out from the Belle parish.

 

Boniface Barboza, son of Salvador remembers that during his father’s tenure as the sacristan, he was greatly helped by D’Sa brothers-Kajetan D’Sa (father of William D’Sa) in singing hymns during the mass, David D’Sa by lighting and extinguishing candles with the help of a long rod and also opening and closing of all the doors of the church and Joseph D’Sa who used to toll the church bell during masses as well as other services in the church. Other young men who used to help Salvador in church activities were-Marcel Alva (father of late Robert Alva), Immanuel D’Souza (Monnu Master), Lawrence D’Souza (Post Master),lazarus D’Souz and Mathias Lobo.

 

 

Salvador Barboza and Piad Mary built a lovely family. They had eleven children-Pauline, Angelin, Ambrose, Eugene, Boniface, Mark, William, Leena, Nelly, Rosy and James. Among the six daughters, five were married whereas Leena became a nun in the Apostolic Carmel Order. Among the sons-Ambrose worked in Mumbai, Boniface (Benny Master)- first worked as a teacher and later as Headmaster of Church Aided Higher Primary School, Belle, Mark had passed away when he was just 15 years of age, William served in the Indian Army for 21 years and James worked in the Syndicate Bank.

 

 

After a long stint of service as the first parish priest of Belle, Fr. Casmir Fernandes was transferred to Udyavar in May 1935. He was given a warm send off by the people of Belle. Salvador Barboza worked as sacristan under the succeeding parish priests-Fr. Alphonse Ligory D’Souza (1935-1945) and Fr. Jerome Pinto (1945-1957). When Fr. Abundius D’Souza came as the parish priest of Belle in 1957, Salvador Barboza who had been in service of the parish for 47 years as the sacristan retired. For some time, his son-Boniface Barboza continued his father’s work as the sacristan. Later, when he was appointed as the Headmaster of the Church Aided Higher Primary School, he had to give up the sacristan’s job due to additional responsibilities in the school.

 

 

After a long period of service and dedicated life that he spent serving the parish of Belle as the sacristan and living a devout life after retirement, Salvador Barboza passed away on 9 October 1978 at the ripe age of 84 years.

 

(I sincerely thank Boniface Barboza(Benny Master) and Eugene Teacher for the necessary information out of which this profile of late Salvador Barboza, the first sacristan of Belle has been compiled-Dr. Eugene D’Souza)