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| A devotee kisses the statue of St. Anthony. (Photo: Piyas Biswas/UCA News) |
Gomes, 30, is a
Catholic from Parowan, one of 16 villages including Panjora that make up St.
Nicholas of Tolentino Church (1695) of Nagari, one of the oldest Catholic
churches in the country.
For the fourth
consecutive year, Gomes coordinated distribution of free lunches to hundreds of
devotees of the Portuguese saint during the annual feast day, celebrated on
Feb. 7.
“We offered free meals
to 500 devotees, but our target was more than 1,000. Due to restrictions
on vehicle movements around the shrine, many devotees missed out,” the
father of one told UCA News.
Christian and Hindu
villagers from Parowan and neighboring Bhasania, under St. Augustine of Hippo
Catholic Church, have been supporting the initiative. Between 800 and 1,200
people have received free food from Gomes’ group in the past three years.
“It is a matter of
pride that we have St. Anthony shrine in our area. People believe they can
receive special blessings from the great saint by serving his devotees,” Gomes
added.
Panjora village houses
a chapel with a small but extremely popular centuries-old statue of St. Anthony
that is believed to have miraculous power to fulfil any wish of devotees.
The shrine, under
Dhaka Archdiocese, is the most popular among about the dozen Catholic shrines
in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Other shrines are mostly dedicated to Mother
Mary, barely attracting 5,000 to 7,000 devotees during annual pilgrimages.
This year two Masses
at St. Anthony shrine drew more than 70,000 devotees including Hindus and
Muslims. About 6,000 devotees attended every day during the nine-day novena
preceding the feast day, church officials said.
