Diogo Rodrigues

[1] Rodrigues island was named after him between 4 and 9 February 1528 because he had discovered it during his only return journey from Goa via Cochin (left on 15 January 1528) to Lisbon, where he was elevated to the rank of a knight (cavaleiro) by John III of Portugal.

He is said to have struck a wide arc east of Madagascar and stumbled upon the island of Réunion, which he promptly named ilha de Santa Apolónia (in honor of the St. Apollonia whose day it was, 9 February 1507).

Diogo Rodrigues set up his base in Goa, learnt the local language, was commander of the construction for the fort of Goa[4] and governor of the island of Salsette (later part of Bombay, present Mumbai) (called as ilha de Salcete do Norte at that time) as it was leased to him from 25 October 1535 to 1548[4][5] after the Treaty of Bassein between the Portuguese viceroy Dom Nuno da Cunha and Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate that placed the islands into Portuguese possession from 1534.

Diogo also owned the entire beach called "praia da Colva" (beach of Colva) in Goa that was passed on to his family descendants as a part of the family property, this is the same village where he constructed his huge residential house in 1551.Rodrigues was the Captain of Rachol in Salcette, Goa, the chief town during the earliest Portuguese conquest.

It can thus be called the mother church (Matriz) of the whole of South Goa and was named Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves.

It was the first Archbishop of Goa, Dom Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira who personally visited Margão and its surrounding areas to choose the location.

José Nicolau da Fonseca[7] has recorded that Diogo Rodrigues died in Colvá, Goa and was buried inside this mother church (Matriz) of Salcette of which he was the Captain of the fort at that time called Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves at Rachol with his grave's inscription reading: Aqui jaz Diogo Rodrigues o do Forte, Capitão desta Fortaleza, O qual derrubou os pagodes destas terras.

The grave inscription stone and his relics are still inside the church, near the altar of Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves from 1577.

[8][9] The exact date when the Captain Diogo Rodrigues descended upon the temple of Malsa devi (to be converted into a Church of Our Lady of Conception in future) in all fury was on 7 March 1567 just at the time when the priest was about to bedeck the idol of Mahalasa with silver ornaments.

It is also concluded[12] that the exact date of discovering the island of Rodrigues by Diogo Roiz was between 4 and 9 February 1528 as they had left from Cochin under the command and presence of Pedro Mascarenhas on 15 January 1528 with a fleet of four ships to appeal to the King.

Rodrigues married a woman belonging to the Prabhu (Prabhu Dessai - As today) family of Hindu feudal lords called Vitola Porob Dessay before 29 November 1512[15] and they had two sons, Dom Nicolau Roiz and Dom Inácio Roiz, as recorded in the letters available at the archives with document number ANTT: CC II, 35-162.

This monument was rebuilt to a bigger structure in 1857 and still stands intact from 2 May 1857, as one of the great grandsons of D. Diogo died suddenly due to illness at a young age of 38 years, namely Dom Sebastião Francisco Roiz.