Mangalore Diocese News

Birth of the parish

The territory now forming Bejai was originally under the Cathedral parish for well over 200 years. The long distanced parish church was a great inconvenience experienced by the Catholics of these parts and so they obtained from the British government a plot of land measuring 5.37 acres at Bejai in 1869 and also purchased with aid from the cathedral 1.78 acre adjacent land. A chapel was built on it. On Sundays, mass was celebrated / offered here by a priest from the cathedral.

Growth of the parish

On 22nd March 1912, Bishop Paul Perini S J gave it a resident chaplain in the person of Fr. Sebastian Noronha. He opened the parish school. His successor Fr. Joseph Peter Fernandes built a portion of the presbytery. In 1920 Fr. A E C Colaco who succeeded him built the present church in 1928, completed the presbytery, constructed the school building and planned the belfry which was completed by Fr Leo Saldana in 1937.

St. Francis Xavier Kannada Medium Higher Primary School :

While the parish church was started in 1912 ,the St Francis Xavier School for boys and Lourdes girls school was started in 1915. As years passed by, Catholics began preferring English Medium Schools. Thus the strength of the schools came down drastically and both the schools were merged in the year 1998. Now only St. Francis Xavier Higher primary school is run by the church.

In 1963, due to the efforts of Msgr F. J. M. Pinto, a girls high school was opened here by the Ursuline Franciscan Sisters. It was catering to education of girls up to X class irrespective of caste and creed. Slowly the financial conditions of the Catholics improved and many opted for English medium. As a result numbers in Lourdes Girls High School came down and the Ursuline sisters started taking boys also to the high school in 1996 and now it is a Co-Education school. The Ursuline sisters have also been running the nursery school from 1960 for small children of the age of 3 and 4 years.

Since 1963 Bejai Church had not seen much progress except flooring and furnishing of the church and maintaining the church. It was with Fr. Bernard L. D’Souza and his dynamic leadership that Bejai Church saw much progress. He came to this church as a parish priest in 1995. His first adventure was the Bejai Parish hall. The extreme Western portion of the cemetery was leveled, permanent graves were shifted to the upper place, the ground was leveled and a magnificent community hall in an area of 35 cents was raised with 52 cents parking space. The hall was well built , artistic and it was built within a period of one year and was inaugurated in December 1997. It has a capacity of 1000 seats, a gallery of 100 seats and in the basement has a mini hall with a sound system and seating capacity of 200 seats. It had then cost 75 lakhs of rupees.

Fr Joseph Peter Tauro who came here as Parish Priest, made some improvements and the hall was renovated in 2008. The hall is used for community purposes, school programs, philanthropic purposes as well for rentals on marriages and a variety of purposes. It is an asset to the parish.

The next venture of Fr. Bernard D’Souza was the commercial complex. It was planned in the furthest end of the compound near the main roadside next to the Ursuline convent where there was a 30 cents piece of land. The construction was started for a basement, ground floor and first floor. In all 60 shops were built. The building was completed in 1998. Because of the Commercial Complex where all sorts of services and sales are available at a low rate of rent, Bejai has become a hub of economic activities. When Fr Joseph Peter Tauro came in 2003, the building was in bad shape, and the terrace was terribly leaking. Hence a second concrete slab was put and leak proofing was done with reflective painting on the terrace at a total cost of 8.5 lakhs. The church commercial complex is good for many small and medium businessmen.

Lourdes Central School :

Fr. Bernard D’Souza ventured into a gigantic project of giving students education in CBSE syllabus to prepare them for competitive exams and also opportunity to children who came from abroad who require CBSE education. He started English Medium classes in Kindergarten and 1st class in 1999 at the building of commercial complex. At the extreme end a massive building was put up . The permission for the school was up to IV class only for Kannada medium. After Fr. Bernard D’Souza was transferred in May 2003, Fr Joseph Peter Tauro came as parish priest of Bejai and also as local manager of Lourdes Central School. The school had reached 6th class and he got permission for 5th class that too Kannada medium as per government policy. Thereafter application was made for English medium from 6th class onwards. Permission was granted by the education department, no 134-2003-04 on 28. 11. 2003 . Thereafter they received NOC to run the school under CBSE syllabus from the government through much effort dated 29. 11. 2003. They applied for Affiliation to CBSE, New Delhi. The commission came for inspection on 27.10 .2004. They received Affiliation no. 830120/2005-06 dated 10. 01. 2005 for three years.

In the meantime steps were taken to provide facilities, two floors above the auditorium were raised and on the second floor laboratories, physics, chemistry, biology, Mathematics were made, one more room for the computers was made, a large library was made and all these were furnished plus class rooms in second floor and third floor were made and furnished. On the third floor a large A.V room was made. Adjoining the school, an Administrative block was built. all the facilities were blessed by Most Rev Dr. Aloysius Paul D’souza, Bishop of Mangalore and inaugurated by Mr. Oscar Fernandes, M.P on 13. 03. 2005. All these infrastructural facilities had cost them 1.5 crore rupees.

After completing the main project we decided to have a separate building for kindergarten and first and second class. The new block was planned at the western end of the ground with basement, ground floor and first floor. The entire block was inaugurated by Fr Wilson Witus D’Souza, secretary CBE and blessed by Msgr Denis Moras Prabhu, Vicar general of the diocese on 03.06.2008. The cost of the building, furnishing had cost them Rs one crore. There has been power interruption every now and then. To counter this problem they have installed a 20KVA diesel, acoustically concealed generator with wiring and self starting costing Rs. 5 lakhs.

Their attention then went to the play field. The entire ground was leveled. The ground was provided with a basket ball court at the cost of Rs. 7.5 lakhs. In the meantime they had applied for senior secondary school for science stream. They got permission for senior secondary under the affiliation no. 830 120 dated 14.01.2008. They have started the classes in Science stream - PCM computer and PCM biology. The classes commenced on 16.06.2008.

New Presbytery :

A new presbytery was planned. The foundation stone was laid on 07.08.2005 after Sunday morning mass by Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza, who was on a pastoral visit. They have spacious house with meeting room facilities and this is used for many useful purposes by the parishioners. It was inaugurated on 3rd December, 2006 on the feast of St Francis Xavier by Bishop of Mangalore Most Rev Aloysius Paul D’Souza.

Centenary Celebrations of the church

St Francis Xavier's Church, Bejai celebrated its centenary on October 14, 2012 during the tenure of parish priest Rev Fr Victor Machado.

The celebrations began with the centenary thanksgiving Eucharistic Mass with Bishop of Mangalore Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza as the main celebrant. He also inaugurated the Adoration Chapel and blessed the new grotto of Mother Mary.

The Mass was followed by a stage programme, where postmaster general of Goa and former parishioner of Bejai Charles Lobo was the chief guest. Bejai Church parish priest Fr Victor Machado presided over the programme. Fr Ferdinand Gonsalves, Fr Anil Roshan Lobo, Fr Richard D'Souza and others shared the dais.

A power presentation detailing the achievements and programmes of Bejai Church over the past 100 years was shown on the occasion. There was also a musical play depicting the life of St Francis Xavier, the patron saint of the Church.

Former parish priests, assistant priests, vice-presidents, ward gurkars and Church association presidents were honoured on the occasion.

St Francis Xavier Higher Primary School centenary celebrations

St Francis Xavier Higher Primary School celebrated its centenary on December 2, 2015 during the tenure of parish priest Rev Fr Wilson L Vitus D Souza.

The celebrations started with a thanksgiving Eucharistic celebration held at 9am at St Francis Xavier Church, with Rev Fr Alwyn D’Cunha , parish Priest of Infant Mary Church, Katipalla as the main celebrant. The mass was followed by flag hoisting and prize distribution at 10am, with Hilda Clementina Pinto, ECO as the chief guest.

The grand finale of the celebrations was held at 5.30 pm presided over by Bishop of Mangalore Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza. The other dignitaries present on the dais were MLA J R Lobo, MLC Ivan D’Souza, MCC Mayor Jacintha Alfred, Rev Fr Jerald D’Souza-Secretary-CBE, Rev Sr Rita Vas-Provincial superior UFS, Rev Fr Robert D’Souza-Principal, Lourdes Central school and many others.

The centenary souvenir was released by the Bishop, followed by felicitations of various dignitaries. Ex-Correspondent Rev Fr Godfrey Saldanha was felicitated, followed by felicitations of retired Headmistresses namely - Lilly Pinto, Nelly Tauro, Catherine D’Souza, Vivian Lasrado, Lidwin D’Almeida, Concepta Noronha, Precilla Rodrigues and the present Headmistress Lona Rodrigues.

Parish Priests who have served the parish :

1. Rev. Fr. Sebastian Noronha S.J (1912-1915)
2. Rev. Fr. Joseph Peter Fernandes (1915-1922)
3. Rev. Fr. Antony A.E.C Colaco (1922-1937)
4. Rev. Fr. Leo Saldana (1937-1945)
5. Rev. Fr. C. B. Lobo (1945-1951)
6. Rev. Fr. Francis C. Castelino (1951-1955)
7. Rev. Fr. G.P. Nazreth (1955-1959)
8. Rev. Fr F.J.M. Pinto (1959-1964)
9. Rev. Fr. Aloysius Rebello (1964-1973)
10. Rev. Fr. Robert Pinto (1973-1981)
11. Rev. Fr. Casmir D’Sa (1981-1988)
12. Rev. Fr. Godfrey Saldanha (1988-1995)
13. Rev. Fr. Bernard L. D’Souza (1995-2003)
14. Rev. Fr. Joseph Peter Tauro (2003-2010)
15. Rev Fr. Victor Machado (2010 - 2014)
16. Rev Fr. Wilson L Vitus D Souza (2014 - 2020)
17. Rev Fr. J B Saldanha (from 2020 onwards)

Compiled by Catholic Time Staff with inputs from bejaichurch.com
Last updated in Dec 2020.

Related links : 

• About St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai, Mangaluru
• History of Rosario Cathedral
• 12-02-2024 - Lourdes Central School holds Silver Jubilee Thanksgiving Eucharistic Celebration
• 26-01-2024 - Silver Jubilee Celebration of Lourdes Central School
• 04-12-2015 - Grand Finale Centenary Celebration of St Francis Xavier Hr Pry School was Memorable
• 30-11-2015 - Mangaluru: St Francis Xavier School, Bejai set for centenary celebrations
• 14-10-2012 - Centenary Celebrations of Bejai Church Conclude on High Note
• 02-08-2011 - Bejai Church: 100 Years - To Rejoice, Celebrate and Dedicate