Casket with SFX relics to receive ‘silver touch’ during Exposition

Old Goa: Churches in the former capital are getting a facelift and other infrastructure is being readied in a frenzy of activity, but an important detail will have to wait till the 17th Exposition of St Francis Xavier’s
sacred relics.
The 17th silver casket containing the relics of St Francis Xavier, popularly known as Goencho Saib, will receive a touch of care during the peak of the Exposition.“We have discussed the issue with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials and they have offered to clean it up during the 44-day period,” Fr Savio Barreto, SJ, rector of Basilica of Bom Jesus, said.
The sacred relics of the Spanish saint in the casket are kept in a mausoleum on the left side of the main altar in the Basilica. It has an Italian connection as it was donated by the mausoleum, on the top of which is placed the silver casket with the body of St Francis Xavier (1696), and was a gift from the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
A 17th-century Florentine sculptor, Giovanni Battista Foggini, had designed the casket and sources said it took him several years to complete the task.
Oxidization has slightly corroded the silver and the casket has lost its lustre. “ASI’s science branch of ASI, Aurangabad, will take up the work. The patina, or a film of green or brown hue forms on the surface due to oxidation. This can be treated with chemicals, but the antique look should not be altered,” an ASI source said.
Antique dealers prefer the patina to impart the age-old look to antiquities and try to create it artificially.
After the holy relics of the saint are taken in a ceremonial process to Se Cathedral and kept for public veneration from November 22, the casket will be kept aside for some time.
“During the novena period, the ASI will do the work, but we have suggested that the antique look of the casket should not be changed,” Barreto said.
The rector, who is the custodian of the holy relics, stated that there is no record of any work done on the casket for a few decades. The mausoleum had been restored by “Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence, an Italian institute in collaboration with ASI in 1997-98. Among various works, the moulded base and cornice built of mottled yellow marble from Sienne, which had developed several cracks, were reset by using lime-based binding material often reinforced with iron clamps and dowels during the Portuguese time.
“A pair of cherubs made of alabaster on the four sides of the upper tier had been cleaned from dust and dirt and the missing portions like wings, hands and fingers filled out with moulds in silicone resin,” a source said. tnn