| Ucassaim Uskoi |
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| — village — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Goa |
| District(s) | North Goa |
| Nearest city | Mapusa |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area • Elevation |
• 15 metres (49 ft) |
Ucassaim is a village in Bardez Taluka, North Goa district, Goa, India.
Contents |
It is located at at an elevation of 15 m above MSL,[1] just a few kilometers away from Mapusa City. It is surrounded by the villages of Bastora, Succur-Vaddem, Nachinola and Moira, Goa. The village is surrounded by green hills and flowing riverlets. The temperature hovers from around 25 degrees in winter to 38 degrees in summer. The village is divided into 8 wards: Punola, Paliem, Paliem-Nogeira, Dumpem-Pajir, Igorz Vaddo, St. Anthony, Bela Flor and Pello Vaddo. The village community includes catholics, hindus and muslims. The parish church is dedicated to St Elizabeth. A new temple was built and inauguarted in December 2010.
On the hill behind the village lies a cave popularly referred to as 'vagbuyer.' It is believed that this is a prehistoric cave in the laterite rock. It is also believed that there used to be a tunnel connecting the cave to the neighbouring Pomburpa Church. The cave contains a small waterfall active in the monsoon, which in turn connects to the rivulet (vanv in Konkani) gushing through the village in the monsoon and connecting to the main river. From the cross on the hill one obtains a beautiful view of the village.
Ucassaim Wasonce is known as "Mistirincho Ganv", because of the number of musicians ('mistri') who flourished in this village.
Church construction commenced around 1618, and was completed in 1628. The Communidades of Ucassaim, Bastora, and Punola and Paliem, as well as many private individuals, funded the work of the building. Frei Miguel De Deus of the Franciscans helped in obtaining a site for the church, but was short of land. The land around belonged to a Hindu who was at first reluctant to sell, but a miracle happened so that the owner himself approached the Franciscans and donated his land free of charge. The new church was dedicated to the Queen of Portugal, St Elizabeth.
At the beginning of the 18th Century, a cyclone destroyed the church. It was rebuilt in 1708 on an enlarged scale. To reduce the cost, Fr. Francisco De S Boaventura, who was Vicar at the time, himself used to carry timber on his back. Seeing his example, the whole parish joined in building the church and helped in reducing the cost.
The church faces the north, as you enter the church property from the main road you can see the structure dedicated to Christ the King and as you walk along we have fields on both sides till you reach the main entrance where you can find the Pulpit which is used for sermons during lent.
This place was tarred in 1995. As you enter the church you can see the main altar and 2 small altars on both sides. On one of the main alter you can find the statue of St. Elizabeth whose feast is celebrated on 4th of July every year and since it is in the monsoon season, there is a local saying “Sant Izabel Ranni; Dimbhi Bhor Panni” which means when we have St Elizabeth the Queen we shall have knee deep water, which refers to the abundance of water which is required to cultivate the crops. Below on the main altar to the right we have small statues of St Luis Gonzaga and one of Our Lady.
On the side altars to the right we have statue of Crucified Jesus below which there are smaller statures of St. Anna and St Anthony. While on the left altar, we have the statue of Our Lady Health below which we have smaller statues of St Joseph and St Sebastian. On the left hand side of the church we have a pulpit used for sermons.
Some major repairs were done internally in 1996 and now in 2008 wherein the platform for the main alter and the face-lifting exercise was done under the leadership and guidance of then and now parish priest. The church has a well developed cemetery which was repaired and renovated around 10 years back.
The church now has 2 halls the bigger one used for gatherings and smaller one which houses the office of the church, besides these we have parish house where the parish priest stays. The house also has rooms for guest priests and Assistants who help the priest. Between the church and the house we have garden built as long as 18th Century still maintained by the Church. The Present Parish Priest Of The church is Fr Ave Maria Conçeicão Estanislau Fernandes Afonso.
Among the eminent sons of Ucassaim is Prof. Mariano Saldanha (1878-1975), professor of Marathi, Sanskrit and Konkani in Goa and in Portugal.