Gonsalo Garcia

Who was Gonsalo Garcia?

Saint Gonsalo Garcia, O.F.M., was a Roman Catholic Franciscan friar from India, who died as a martyr in Japan and is venerated as a saint. The first Indian to attain sainthood was born in the western coastal town of Vasai, now an exurb of the city of Mumbai, he hailed from the town -- then known as Baçaim in Portuguese, later Bassein in English -- during the time the town was under Portuguese colonial rule. The festival of St. Gonsalo has come to be held on the first Sunday nearest to the neap tide following Christmas in Vasai.