Panaji: Twelve police inspectors have been handpicked by the Exposition committee to shoulder the responsibility of carrying the casket that contains the relics of St Francis Xavier from the
Basilica of Bom Jesus
, Old Goa, and load it onto the special carriage.
Held once every ten years, the Exposition of the relics of the revered Spanish saint will begin on Friday.
Unlike in the past, a specially-designed electric carriage will now be used to move the relics in a solemn procession from the Basilica to the nearby Se Cathedral, with senior policemen handed a significant role for the first time.
“Once the relics are at the door (of the Basilica), there will be 12 policemen, all Catholics, serving in different positions, who will load the relics on to the carriage,” convenor of the Exposition committee of the Archdiocese Fr Henry Falcao told TOI on Monday. “We have taken their help to unload the relics (at Se Cathedral) as well, so there’s no confusion with the process. They are being trained; rehearsals are scheduled as well.”
The Exposition committee initially selected ten police officers— called the ‘queue marshals’—for the task, but added two more, not knowing the exact weight of the casket.
“The stand that is made for the relics is quite heavy. We had to ensure that everyone is comfortable walking with the casket, so 12 is good enough. We chose Catholics who are in different positions, not necessarily high positions, but those serving society. We also wanted them because of their discipline (while following instructions). We don’t want any talking (between them) during the process, everything has to be done in a very solemn way,” said Falcao.
The queue marshals will walk alongside the casket all through the procession.
At Se Cathedral, once the special carriage reverses, the queue marshals will unload the relics and hand it over to the Cathedral canons, a group of senior clergymen who formerly remained the “senate and counsel” to the bishops and assumed administration of the diocese in the absence or death of bishops.
“When we conveyed the message that they have been assigned this special task, many of the police officers had tears in their eyes,” said Fr Lawrence Fernandes. “They said they never had such a moment in their life. These are the last officers of these ranks. We don’t have many Catholics joining the police force, so we thought this was our way of telling them that the community values them. Also, we want to encourage youngsters to join the police from among the community.”
Fernandes also said that police personnel were natural choices to shoulder this major responsibility, since
Goa Police
forms the inner cordon of the security for the Exposition.
“We wanted to make the police officers feel proud, be part of the celebration, besides also for the (effective) management of the procession. They are the loaders and unloaders of the casket. Christian officers were chosen because the carrying of the casket is very sacred for Christians.”
The Pilar-based priest added, “This was my idea since during the last Exposition (in 2014), there was a lot of chaos, a lot of jumping of queues. There was nobody to guard the casket in the end. We then decided to have 10-12 young police officers who have done our community proud.” Fernandes is a member of the Exposition Secretariat Committee 2024, the top-tier committee for the decennial event.
The police inspectors handpicked to carry the casket include Filomena Costa (PI, GRP, ‘A’ Coy), Diogo Gracias (PI, Cuncolim) Brendon D’Souza (PI, SPCR), Melito Fernandes (PI, ACB), John Fernandes (PI, Security), Nathan Almeida (PI, Fatorda), Marlon D’Souza (PI, traffic cell, Mapusa), Terrence Vaz (PI, SCRB), Alvito Rodrigues (PI, traffic cell, Colva), Theron D’Costa (PI, Betul coastal), Melson Colaco (PI, Verna) and Edwin Dias (PSI, Old Goa).
According to an internal order issued by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Omvir Singh, the 12 officers will perform the queue marshals’ role at the procession under the supervision of deputy SP Nolasco Raposo.
English (US) ·