St. Joseph Vaz

St. Joseph Vaz was a missionary in Sri Lanka in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. He was born in India in 1651, ordained a priest in 1676, and left for missionary work in Canara, India in 1681. After three years there, he returned to his hometown, joined the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, and in 1687 left for missionary work in Sri Lanka. He spent the last twenty-four years of his life working throughout Sri Lanka in secret for part of that time because Catholicism was outlawed in the country. His priority in Sri Lanka was not only missionary work but also caring for the temporal needs of those he encountered throughout his missions in the country.