Daijiworld Media Network- Panaji
Panaji, Aug 29: A historic moment was celebrated at the Se Cathedral in Old Goa as an oak sculpture of Andrius Rudamina, the first recorded Lithuanian to set foot in India, was unveiled to mark the 400th anniversary of his arrival.
Rudamina, a Jesuit priest born in 1596, is said to have embarked on a perilous five-month sea journey before disembarking in Goa on August 22, 1625, over eight decades after St Francis Xavier’s arrival in the region.
The sculpture, carved in traditional Lithuanian wood-carving style by renowned artist Juozas Kalinauskas, was formally unveiled by Diana Mickeviciene, Ambassador of Lithuania to India, and Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao, Archbishop of Goa and Daman, in the presence of Lithuanian consuls from across India.
The ceremony was further graced by blessings from Pope Leo XIV, who, in a letter to the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, expressed gratitude for Rudamina’s missionary zeal and devotion.
Though Rudamina’s stay in Goa lasted just about eight months, he left behind an enduring legacy of service to the sick and elderly. Later, he journeyed to China, where he immersed himself deeply in the local culture, even authoring books in the Chinese language. He passed away there in 1631, barely five years after leaving Goa.
“Rudamina was the first bridge between Lithuania and India. He brought with him not only faith but also a symbolic connection between the Lithuanian language and Sanskrit,” Ambassador Mickeviciene remarked.
The occasion also witnessed the launch of a book by Laimonas Talat-Kelpsa, Lithuania’s Foreign Secretary, tracing Rudamina’s youthful journey to India. Meanwhile, Sigita Maslauskaite Mazyliene, Ambassador of Lithuania to the Holy See, reflected on the striking parallels between Lithuanian and Indian Christian art.
The exhibition, titled “Pilgrimage of Faith”, has thus added another chapter to Goa’s centuries-old legacy of faith and cultural exchange.
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