IFTTT Autopost 
Jacome Gonsalves was born on June 8, 1676 in Divar, Goa, Portuguese India, eldest son of a Catholic family of Konkani Brahmin lineage. His family had been Catholic for two or three generations, ever since the Portuguese ruled Goa, the smallest state in India.
Jacome received an excellent education at the Jesuit College of Goa, University of Goa, and his theology at the Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, also in Goa. In the seminary, Jacome was an organist.
In April of 1700, Jacome was ordained a diocesan priest by the Archbishop of Goa, but he decided to become an Oratorian priest early in his priesthood. In January of 1705, he was appointed chair of philosophy at the University of Goa, but he left position in the same year to become a missionary in the majority-Buddhist nation of Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka. There, he served until his death in 1742.
Fr. Jacome arrived in Ceylon on August 30, 1705. Through the years, he worked in many parts of this island nation, and he had the privilege of working with Saint Joseph Vaz, another Oratorian priest often called “The Apostle of Sri Lanka.”
Fr. Jacome brought to the mission field tremendous gifts, such as his facility for learning languages, writing skills, energy, and a great appreciation of the arts such as music and poetry. When he went to Ceylon, for example, he knew Konkani, Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish. On his journey to Ceylon, he studied Tamil and became quite fluent in it. He also learned Dutch, and when Fr. Joseph Vaz sent him to study Sinhala with Buddhist monks, he became fluent in that language also.
During his missionary life, Fr. Jacome converted many people to Catholic Christianity, and he helped the king stop a revolt.
Fr. Jacome was such a prolific writer, that he has become known as “The Father of Catholic Literature in Sri Lanka.” Because there were no printing presses on the island, he had 12 Sinhala clerks to copy his books. Some of his Sinhala and Tamil hymns and prayers are still used to this day in Catholic Masses in Sinhala and Tamil. By the time he died, Fr. Jacome had written 42 books: 22 in Sinhala; 14 in Tamil; 5 in Portuguese; and 1 in Dutch.
Fr. Jacome had the honor of celebrating the Sacrament of the Sick for Fr. Joseph Vaz before Joseph died.
Fr. Jacome Gonsalves died in Bolawatta, Ceylon on July 17, 1742 at the age of 66.
In July 2015, the parishioners of Piedade, Divar, Goa convinced Church authorities to open the cause for his beatification. He is now known as a Servant of God.
