Discovering the roots that nurtured faith

The Catholic Register, 02 September 2020

One hundred years ago my grandparents’ wedding began an intercontinental and multigenerational adventure in family and faith.

On Sept. 5, 1920, Laura Cardoso left the family home in which she had been born to marry Salustiano Roque de Freitas. Nearly 100 years later, I visited that home, now deserted, in her village in Goa, India.

The 100 years since my maternal grandparents married took them immediately away from that historic family home in Loutolim to Mombasa, Kenya, where my grandfather had moved to find employment. Subsequent decades saw my parents born in Kenya and, in turn, make their way to Canada as young adults, where I was born. Last December, on a visit to India, Providence unexpectedly granted me the chance to visit the family home, now abandoned, of my grandmother Laura.

I was in Goa for the patronal feast of St. Francis Xavier and after spending the feast day in Old Goa at the Bom Jesus Basilica where the body of the great missionary is preserved, I shifted to Panjim at the kind invitation of Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrão of Goa, who also carries the impressive historic title of Patriarch of the East Indies.

The patriarch’s priest secretary, the kindly Fr. Joaquim Loiola Pereira, offered to accompany me for a day of visiting historic sites in Goa. I did not expect to learn about my particular family history.

Amongst Goans it is important to know one’s ancestral village, and when I told Fr. Loiola that my maternal grandmother was from Loutolim, he lit up with excitement. He had been the parish priest there 30 years before and there was only one Cardoso family that he remembered. He had, in fact, taken Holy Communion regularly to Alina, my grandmother’s youngest sister.

In a matter of minutes, Fr. Loiola confirmed the information on his mobile phone with relatives that I did not even know I had. With that, we were off to find my grandmother’s house. It was not easy to do. Down a narrow country road, it was situated in something of a gully below. But we managed to find it. It had been abandoned and was padlocked. Despite being in poor condition, it was evident that it had once been a grand house. There were the remnants of a family crest above the door.

I tell young couples that wedding anniversaries are feast days for families, a day to give thanks for the foundation of that family through the sacrament of marriage. As we should remember and celebrate our baptismal anniversaries, families should celebrate wedding anniversaries as the sacramental foundation of their life together.

One hundred years ago my grandparents’ wedding began an intercontinental and multigenerational adventure in family and faith. There is much for which to give thanks to God.

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