SOCIETY OF PILAR

Providence works in coincidences! In 1887, at the time the last Carmelite died in Pilar, a new Society was born 70 kilometers away in Agonda in Canacona Taluka. Fr. Jose Mariano C. Bento Martins from Orlim, Goa founded the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier to cater to the predominantly non Christian areas of interior Goa (New Conquests of 1791). Patriarch D. A. Sebastiao Valente received the commitment of Bento Martins and his three companions on September 26, 1887. In 1980, The Archbishop Patriarch of Goa D. Valente made the decrepit Monastery of Pilar the headquarters of this Society and hence it received its new and more popular alias “Society of Pilar”. This missionary society had churches and chaplaincies in Valpoi, Agonda, Shiroda, Sanvordem, Panchwaddi, Dabal, Colem, Molem in Goa and Monki, Kumta, Honnavar in Karnataka. Pilar soon became a catechumenate and a centre for retreats for priests and laymen. Later laywomen were also invited for retreats. However the Society had very few members – 21 in all of whom 11 did their perpetual commitment. Besides the Portuguese government had a ban on religious orders till 1928. It could not survive for long and by 1938 only one member remained, Fr. Remedios Gomes who was also made the Parish Priest of Curca. Pilar was once again on the brink of oblivion! REORGANISED SOCIETY From 1931 to 34 they discerned this idea, inspired by the example of St. Francis Xavier. They called themselves the Xavierian League. They met with the Archbishop Patriarch Teotonio Vieira e Castro who advised them not to go for an entirely new society but rather to save the old and crumbling Society of Pilar.The Leaguers started meeting in Pilar from 1936. Eventually only Conceicao Rodrigues and Francisco Sequeira remained as an inspiration to the Reorganised Society. The one survivor of the society Fr. Remedios do Rosario Gomes, accepted them enthusiastically.Fr. Manuel Jose Barretto, a Rachol Seminary Professor, was requested to be novice master and he too joined this group. Later Fr. Joseph Albuquerque, Fr. Teodolindo cabral and two lay persons Peter Mascarenhas and Paixao Lacerda joined them. On July 02, 1939, they assembled around the Blessed Sacrament in the Pilar Monastery Church and the Society of Pilar had its reorganization. Fr. Gomes was elected the Superior General of the Reorganized Society of Pilar on September 26, 1940. The modern Era of Pilar has begun! The Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier is commonly also known as the Society of Pilar. It was founded in 1887 by Fr. Bento Martins in Agonda, Goa, then a Portuguese territory of India. Its headquarters were transfered to Pilar, Goa in 1891. It was reorganized in 1939 at Pilar. The society has 2 Bishops,354 Priests , 10 Lay brothers and 76 Professed members for the priesthood. OUR PATRIMONY The Society intends principally to make Jesus Christ present among those who do not yet know Him and among Christians who have become indifferent to Him. Its members are pioneer missionaries, who live and work as the Messengers of the Good News, as His Prophets and as His Teachers. Opportunely, the Society may permit its members to accept Ecclesiastical Ministries conferred on them by the competent Ecclesiastical Superiors. 1. The Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier is a Society of Apostolic life which pursues the evangelisation proper to it. Desiring to follow Jesus even more closely, members live a Community life and assume the evangelical counsels through the bond of private vows prescribed in the Constitution. 2. The mission to evangelise, the fraternal life in common, and the assumption of evangelical counsels are integral elements of the missionary vocation of the Society. 3. The Society is missionary in character and was established in response to the clarion call for evangelization given by Pope Leo XIII, “Your own sons, India, will bring to you the message of salvation”. Hence the Society is called to evangelise primarily India. Its members in their work of proclaiming the Gospel are to cherish the social, cultural and religious heritage of the people they are sent to. 4. The sound traditions of the Society handed over by the founding fathers and exemplified in the life of Venerable Agnelo D’Souza, like, warm Community spirit, genuine hospitality, simplicity of life, a certain asceticism and a capacity to adapt oneself to different people and their environment, are to be kept alive by the Society and its members. 5. This Society is a Clerical Societyof Pontifical Right having also Brothers. The members of the Society are all those incorporated into it by their temporary or perpetual commitment who assume through private vows, the three evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. Members have equal rights and duties, except those deriving from Sacred Orders or otherwise specified in our Proper Law. 6. In order to enkindle and sustain their missionary zeal, the members of the Society entrust themselves to the heavenly Mother who is invoked as Our Lady of Pilar and venerated in the Church of the erstwhile Franciscan (Capuchos) Monastery at Pilra, Goa, the Mother House of the Society. Francis Xavier, after whom the Society is named, is for the members a perennial source of inspiration in their missionary endeavour. 7. The common designation given to the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier, as the ‘Society of Pilar’ and to its members as “Pilar Fathers” is a singular privilege of ours in the fact that we consider ourselves as the sons of Our Lady of Pilar, whose maternal love we experience in our missionary endeavours. Mission Statement We are committed for reconciliation with God, with human beings and with the nature around us. Activities 1. Pastoral: As members of the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier (Society of Pilar) and members assigned to Kolkata Province we render our services to 12 Dioceses in Proclaiming the word of God and making disciples in His name. 2. Social:The province also takes up social development responsibility in various fields and places all over our Province. We do it especially, by empowering the underprivileged children, youth, the outcast and marginalized section of the Society. We undertake various projects like: a. Leprosy rehabilitation b. Rehabilitating the bonded laborer c. Clinics and Medical assistance d. Hostels for the underprivileged e. Feeding the poor on the streets 3. Education: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" - Nelson Mandela. Providing educational facilities by the province is done by imparting quality Education which has the power to build holistic life there by bringing change which is good and beneficial to all. Hence we have education ministry spread throughout the province and it is given to all section of people in special way providing free school education to the deprived children who are poor, the tribal's, children from the slums and villages. By providing quality educational facilities the Province builds holistic Life and Nation.