50 named Joseph gather to celebrate feast

KOCHI: It was a mix of science and religion that set the tone of St Joseph’s Feast at Santa Cruz Basilica in Fort Kochi. The Basilica brought together around 50 people named Joseph from its parish to celebrate the St Joseph Day. The idea of bringing these people together was a matter of faith and the route to it was that of science.“We follow computerized documentation here under which we have complete records of all 1238 parishioners under us. This made it very easy for me track down people named Joseph. Overall, there are 101 adults with that name here and I thought of bringing them all together for the feast,” said Fr Francis Fernandez, Chief Priest, Santa Cruz Basilica.All these people were sent individual invitations for the get together. However, only around 50 of the total 101 could make it to the feast.“We gave them gifts of rosary. The best part was that one of the people named celebrated his 94th birthday on St Joseph’s Day,” said Fr Fernandez. The church now hopes to have such celebration every year and not limit it to just St Joseph’s Day but also include other special days like St Mary’s Feast when all the people named Mary in the parish will be brought together at the Basilica.