St Estevam

St. Estevam Church

The St. Stephen's Church is also known as St. Estevam Church, which is on top of a small hillock. The present church was not the first church on the island. The Jesuits first built a church here in 1575, which was destroyed due to fire on 25 November 1683 by Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj during the Maratha campaign against Portuguese. The Jesuits of Santo Estevam soon rebuilt their church. However, Maratha forces burned it down again in 1739. The present edifice was erected in 1759.

St. Stephen's Church was one of the largest churches to be built in Goa. Its exterior resembles a false dome surrounded by twin towers with lanterns. The church is built in the Corinthian style with a nave ceilings decorated with floral graffiti, side altars and pulpit. The main altar of the church is dedicated to St. Stephen, the protomartyr. The statue of St Stephen stands below a four pillared canopy.

The church contains seven side chapels. One altar is dedicated to Our Lady of Remedios, another to the Crucified Christ. An altar is dedicated to Nossa Senhora de Boas Venturas, which once served the nearby church of Tolto. The statue of St. Dominic in the Church is believed to have been brought from the convent of St. Dominic in Old Goa. On a hillock on the same island the villagers has put up a monument dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which was inaugurated on 26 December 1926 and is erroneously called by some as the statue of Christ the King. It was brought from Rome in 1926 by Fr Antonio Leandro da Rosa. There is another monument dedicated to Sacred Heart of Mary in the St.Stephen Church compound that was blessed on 31 December 1943.

St. Stephen's feast is celebrated on 26 December every year. Saint Stephen, known as the Proto martyr of Christianity, has his name derived from the Greek Stephen, meaning wreath or crown in Greek.^[1]