My dearest Family and Friends, and all Alumni of St. Joseph’s Convent School Zanzibar,
Greetings on the Feast of St. Joseph 2021, The Year of St. Joseph.
As this is a very special year, I am writing in celebration of St.
Joseph’s Zanzibar, which undoubtedly touched our lives, via our school
and cathedral in the name of St. Joseph.
As I hail from Zanzibar, I have fond memories of my childhood school
days at St. Joseph’s which have come to the foreground this year ,
especially. I share my thoughts with much love.
With this, I salute all the early French Missionaries, the Holy Ghost
Fathers from Ireland , and the Precious Blood Sisters from Germany, who
founded our school and built our cathedral, and who were our teachers,
including the lay people who taught at our school, in Zanzibar, for
starters. Viva All!
These people with vision, consolidated all that our parents who hailed
from Goa, and who were the beneficiaries of the teachings of St. Francis
Xavier, and before him, St. Thomas the Apostle who brought Christianity
to Goa in 70AD , had wanted for us, their children. How can we ever
thank them? Our parents gave us the road map for our spiritual
well-being as well, over and above our educational needs , to assure our
place in heaven someday. Cudos to all our parents for their foresight
and splendid gifts to us their children. We , in our time, are the
beneficiaries of a rich heritage of the Faith and Education that was
imparted to us, and that molded us into what we are today. I am so proud
of this history in my life.
Pope Francis declared 2021 as the Year of St. Joseph. I feel sure that
The Holy Spirit inspired Pope Francis to select St. Joseph as patron
saint for this year, of all years ever, as God’s envoy to conquer
COVID-19, and save the world’s peoples, just as Moses was sent to free
the Israelites from the bondage of slavery in Egypt in Biblical times. I
feel very positive about this, and I revel in this thought, e’en as I
trust, that St. Joseph, Foster Father of Jesus, cares for all of us as
our very own foster-father as well, if we but invite him and so wish it.
I do so with all my heart.
Since Pope Francis’ s announcement , I’ve been remembering the influence
of St. Joseph in my life, as my heart goes back to Zanzibar the
wonderful island that housed our beloved St. Joseph’s Convent School,
and St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Their influence has been outstanding as
evidenced by the wonderful stories of all our fellow Zanzibaries ,
products of St. Joseph’s, who are spread around the world.
In an effort to do something special to honour and dedicate to St.
Joseph on his feast day, in appreciation , I decided to draw and paint
the main portal of St. Joseph’s Cathedral Zanzibar, to honour all my
former teachers, religious , classmates and friends , including our
non-Catholic friends who attended our school, and who like many of us ,
dispersed from the Zanzibar of yore, and now hail from around the
globe as well. How fortunate we were to have been born and brought up in
such a cosmopolitan isle as Zanzibar , a British Protectorate with an
Arab Sultanate. Hope you like my humble painting tribute to St. Joseph’s
Zanzibar on the feast of St. Joseph, our patron Saint.
So my dearest Family and Friends, have a wonderful feast day celebrating
the feast of St. Joseph on the 19th of March 2021, and sing as we in
Zanzibar once sang :-
‘O BLESSED ST. JOSEPH,
How great art thou worth,
The one chosen shadow of God upon earth,
The foster-father of Jesus,
Ah, then wilt thou be,
Sweet spouse of our Lady,
A father to me.
With much love and blessings.
Yvette de Souza-Muise
Antigonish
Nova Scotia Canada
My humble rendition of the portals of St. Joseph’s Cathedral Zanzibar East Africa