The Se Cathedral
nearby is dedicated to St. Catherine, as
it was on her feast day, 25th November 1510,
that Alphonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa.
Believers are awe-struck to hear of the Cross
of Miracles, which is placed in the cathedral,
its earlier church having been destroyed.
People have had a vision of Christ on this
cross and the rock on which it was found
was said to spout water while, today, the
Cross is slowly growing. Earlier, it was
at Se Cathedral that the sacred relics of
St. Francis Xavier were shown to the public.
The Cathedral was commissioned by the Portuguese
Viceroy, Redondo to be "a grandiose
church worthy of the wealth,power and fame
of the Portuguese who dominated the seas
from the, Atlantic to the
Pacific".
The final edifice is bigger than
any of the churches in Portugal itself. The church
is the largest church in Asia and the prestigious
seat of archdiocese of Goa. |
