Moreno de Souza

Fr. Moreno wrote many hymns, books and articles, besides poetries. Many were Marian based. He loved the Our Lady, and was saved from near death in 1972 from a sickness with Her intercession. One of his first books was Nixkollonk Gorb Sombhovlelê on the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. He wrote books on the history of the Churches of Goa, in parts. They include Tisvaddcheo Igorzo, Bardescheo Igorzo, Saxtticheo Igorzo- Poilo Khonnd and Saxtticheo Igorzo- Dusro Khondd. The latter was his final book, released in Cavelossim, just a month before his death.

Besides he was the first person to use the term Old Goa, for Velha Goa, when he printed Old Goa as the address for the monthly in the 1960s. It led to problems in the mail services, as letters were being returned, as the postal officials did not realise it referred to Velha Goa in English. Velha Goa is the Portuguese name, which was used for more than a century. In his later years he said that he now prefers the Konkani names Adlem Gõy or Pornnem Gõi to Old Goa. Konkani was very dear to his heart.

Fr. Moreno studied for the priesthood and was ordained in Granada, Spain on 15 July 1958. As mother and family could not be present for his Ordination, he had Spanish God parents. He loved the local people, who treated him with love. He was given the name Cosmus, but he continued with the name Moreno. He took his last vows on 22 April 1978. He completed more than 50 years of priesthood at his death.

With the Lord's inspiration and on the advice of his maternal uncle Padre Leles de Souza, Moreno de Souza decided to become a priest and join the Jesuit order. He acknowledged later that he had not even heard of the Jesuits in his youth, but his maternal uncle Padre Leles, a diocesan priest and an acclaimed music conductor was impressed with the religious Order. Moreno entered the Jesuits on 8 November 1944.

Moreno de Souza (Konkani: Padre Moren) (3 November 1923 – 14 October 2007) was a Goan Jesuit priest and Konkani Marian poet, Konkani writer, translator and a historian. He was one of the translators of the Povitr Pustok (the Holy Bible) in Romi Konkani.

Born at his maternal house in Pilerne, Goa on 3 November 1923 to Maria Magdalena and Jeronimo de Souza, Moreno spent his early life in Marna and then Pilerne where he studied. He was born in a family that gave several priests to the Church: two of his maternal uncles, Pe. Leles de Souza and Pe. Cirilo de Souza are diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of Goa. Hard working and obedient he studied at the Institute Mater Dei in Saligão, Goa. Being persuaded by Mgr Ayres Fernandes from Siolim to write in his own mother tongue, Moreno, as a boy, began writing in Konkani.

Dor Mhoineachi Rotti, a Konkani monthly magazine started in 1915 in Karachi by Padre Vincent Lobo and dedicated to spread the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was shifted to Bombay around 1960. In 1964, Fr. Moreno was given charge of it and he moved into the old Jesuit 'Professed house' in the then almost deserted and desolate Velha Goa in 1964. He nourished it with his love and care and edited it for around 42 years until mid-2006.