Church of St Paul

Location   On the road from Old Goa to Ponda

Significance Dedicated to St. Paul

Attraction Ancient ruins of the church

How to Reach Local transport within Goa which is easily available

The Church of St. Paul in Goa originally started as a Holy Faith institution. Two priests, Diogo de Borba and Miguel Vaz started the Santa Fe confraternity with an aim to train the young converts. The construction of the structure had begun in November 1541. It took approximately 2 years to complete its construction which finally concluded in January 1543.

The College of St Paul was one amongst the leading institutions in India. Apart from elementary education, higher education in Latin, Music, Arts and sciences was also imparted to the students. The degree of Master of Arts and the Doctorate were also given here. Some years later, the old college building was pulled down and two separate buildings were constructed, both linked to each other by a passageway. The College had a vast library with numerous books, a hospital and a house for the newly converts and the first printing press in Asia was set up in this College. It was from here the first printed publications came through.

In the year 1560, the Church was demolished on account of its fragile state and the foundation stone for a larger Church was laid on 25th January 1560. The building of a new structure in this place met with a rigid opposition of Augustinians and Nuns from Santa Monica. Some other enemies of the Jesuits set fire to the building four times between 1591 and 1675. There were some mortal remains of revered St. Francis Xavier deposited in a silver box in this College, which was later taken to Basilica of Bom Jesus.

The College and the Church were already in a devastated state by the year 1827. The Government finally demolished it fully in 1829. The material was taken to Panaji to be used for new constructions. The remaining archway of the portico of the Church lies on the road from Old Goa to Ponda just a short distance from the Gandhi Circle, on the left side of the road amid a bunch of trees.