Saligao Serenade

by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

For the Golden Jubilee extravaganza of the Church of Saligao in 1923, it was unanimously decided that Manuel Antonio de Mendonca from Cotula (affectionately referred to as Manuelinho) would be the right person to plan and execute the entire affair. And this he did superbly.

For six months Manuelinho had all the youth in Saligao in training. He rounded up every single son of the village and made them wear Boy Scout uniforms. He had an army of 800 enthusiastic youngsters between the ages of 10 and 18. First it was drill. Then there were marches, followed by tableaux worthy of true professionals. The grandeur of the spectacle was something never been seen or experienced before. There was Manuelinho, baton in hand, directing the mass drill to the music of Goa’s top brass bands…five elaborate exercises, all in perfect synchronisation. The boys in scarves and with staves, crisp in their Boy Scout uniforms, provided the grand finale to the celebrations.

Manuelinho, son of Advocate Francisco Xavier de Mendonca and of Leopoldina Fonseca e Mendonca, was born on 8 May 1881. He manifested signs of future greatness very early in life. As a boy, his memory and love of study were a never failing source of wonder to his companions, who at the same time admired and loved him for his light-hearted goodness and the vivacity of temperament that he displayed. At the age of twelve he was sent to Aden, where his uncle, Pedro Antonio de Mendonca, was the Portuguese Vice-Consul.

He was kept under the vigilance of the French Franciscan Friars and always stood first in class. The power of his memory was soon very much in evidence. Ready, precise, and tenacious, it seemed to retain with the greatest ease everything presented to it-quotations from authors old and new, prose and poetry, anecdotes, jokes, proverbs — all were filed away securely, and repeated at opportune moments in class or in conversation. If among the boys of his native village he had been a favourite on account of his natural gifts and happy disposition, he was no less to his companions and brethren at every stage of his career, because of the love he had for all around.

When Manuelinho returned to Goa, he took up a teaching assignment at St Mary’s School. While he was there, a fellow teacher, Joao Francisco Siqueira was unjustly dismissed. As a result of the incident, another colleague, Anacleto Lobo, parted company with the school and later founded the Mater Dei Institution. Manuelinho Mendonca and Joao Marcelo Fernandes, who also left St Mary’s, helped Anacleto Lobo overcome the teething troubles of the fledgling institute and set it on firm ground.

Within a year and a half, Manuelinho, under force of circumstances had to leave this new establishment, as his own domestic affairs needed urgent attention. He left Mater Dei on 10 April 1911, and set out for Africa. After a few years he returned to Goa and took a much-needed break for about a year. He once more offered his services to the school and rejoined mater Dei on 15 June 1918. Anacleto Lobo summed up Manuelinho’s career in school as follows: “His scrupulous sense of honour and uprightness, his influence, unmitigated contempt for sham, hypocrisy, low cunning and intrigue, in short his personal life and example have been to those brought within the range of his influence and education, greater than that afforded by his discipline and friendship… A man of high thought and plain life, surely noble in character…though small in stature yet towering over the rest…”

Manuelinho also had a hand in instructing and directing the labourers who were constructing the new Instituto de Saligao (Saligao Institute) at Arrarim. It stands till this day as testimony to his memory as well as others who have gone to their heavenly abode.

In the late 1920s, influenza was wreaking havoc, afflicting many in Goa. Manuelinho became a victim in August 1929. He was taken to Miraj Mission Hospital by his sister Helen and Anacleto Lobo. Dr Simmons at the hospital did all he could but to no avail.

Manuel Antonio de Mendonca expired on 12 August1929 and was buried in the R C Cemetery at Miraj, mourned by his wife Olinda de Mendonca and two young children, the staff and students of Mater Dei Institute and the villagers of Saligao. Though long gone, he is still remembered as the high-quality Scouts-Master of Saligao.