Goa readies for exposition of St Francis Xavier

Panaji, July 4 (IANS) The Goa government Friday formed two high powered committees including a Secretariat to oversee the organisation of the 'Exposition of St. Francis Xavier', a decennial feast organised in memory of the Spanish saint.

Both the committees are headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

While a 33-member committee comprising of top bureaucrats, local MP, nearly all Catholic legislators and Church authorities has been authorised to take expeditious decisions related to infrastructure and overall preparedness for the grand event, a six-member Exposition Secretariat will monitor the exposition-related activities on a day-to-day basis.

Every ten years, remains of the missionary saint, also called the 'Patron Saint of Goa', are kept on public display at an event called the Exposition of St. Francis Xavier at the Old Goa Church complex located 10 kms from Panaji.

Earlier, the body was on permanent display. However, after church authorities noticed deterioration of the corpse which for nearly two centuries had remained miraculously incorruptible, they decided to have it on view only once every ten years.

Over five million devotees are expected to attend the event scheduled from Nov 22 to Jan 4 next year.