At a distance of 33 km from Panjim Kadamba Bus Stand, 28 km from Vasco Da Gama Railway Station and 3.4 km from Margao Railway Station, Our Lady of Grace Church is situated in South Goa.
Our Lady of Grace Church, Margao, Goa is called ‘Nossa Senhora da Graca em Margao, Goa’ in Portuguese. The Church, is also popularly called ‘The Margao Grace Church’ locally in Goa. Our Lady of Grace Church, Margao was originally a chapel called the Capela de Batalhao, chapel of the Battalion – founded by the 1st Infantry regiment in 1812. The chapel was constructed at the initiative of Commander Brigadier Agostinho Jose de Mota who later became General of Salcete in 1804. His quarter (barrack) was functioning in the nearby building where, after its extinction, the “Reparticao dos Services de Fazenda” (Revenue Office) was installed. This ancient building was demolished in recent years and a four storied building constructed therein, where the Office of the Collectorate is now functioning.
On the 6th of January, 1812, on the Feast of Epiphany, the inaugural stone of the construction of the chapel was laid, and the construction was completed within five months and the first mass was celebrated on 3rd May, the same year, on the Feast of Holy Cross. The building was elegant, standing out majestically, highly visible due to the elevation of the locale, with a large open space, facing the municipal garden.
Besides the Sunday mass and novenas of the Patroness and St. Augustine, there were, on all Fridays of Lent, Way of the Cross with sermon and ‘beijo do Senhor Morto’.
With the opening of the railway line in 1888 (the railway station being located only a few metres away) and with the starting of ‘Mercado Novo’ (New Market) the following year, the importance of the location of the chapel increased, as many people who were coming to Margao on Sundays to sell their market products, as well as those coming to make their purchases, would go to the chapel for the Sunday obligatory mass, and one could see dozens of baskets with vegetables, fruits, fish, stored for a while in the compound.
Then, in 1922, with the launch of the first ‘carreira de caminhetas’(ancient bus trips) from Margao to Cortalim and the bus stand being placed near the chapel, many government offices were located around, serving Salcete and all of South Goa. Thus the ‘Capela de Batalhao’ became advantageously earmarked at the crossroads of Margao town.
The last military chaplain was Pe. Venancio Felicio da Piedade Almeida of Velim, who retired in 1891, after being promoted to the post of ‘Alferes’.
In the decade of the thirties, a priest, with a broad vision, was posted as the chaplain, Bacharel Pe. Caetano Santana Lourenco, a Portuguese primary teacher, who retired with appreciation. It was due to his zeal and efforts that the chapel was renovated and the attached parochial residence built. Pe. Lourenco himself contributed with some thousands of rupees and also some neighbours. In 1941, in appreciation of his services, a marble with an inscription and his portrait in oil was placed there by the parishioners.
The chaplaincy was detached from the parish of the Holy Spirit, Margao and elevated into the full fledged parish of Our Lady of Grace Church, Margao in 1959. The present Our Lady of Grace Church, Margao building was designed on modern architectural lines and was inaugurated on January 1, 1977.
The church conducts mass service in Konkani in the mornings (6.30 am, 7.15 am, 8.50 am) and evenings (5.40 pm) on weekdays; while on Sundays it is at the service of nearly 4,000 parishioners with the reverend clergy celebrating Holy Mass at 6 am, 7 am and 8 am in Konkani and 9.15 am mass in English; and further to cater specifically to the younger ones in the parish The Holy Eucharist is celebrated every Sunday at 10.25 am for more than 300 Catechism children associated with the parish during the Catechetical Year. The 5.30 pm evening Mass on Sunday draws people from all over the Salcete Taluka, with the church being left overwhelmed with the number of the attendees. One can also witness a serpentine queue to receive the sacrament of reconciliation after the 8.50 am mass on week days.
