[2] Vaz wanted to serve as a missionary in Ceylon, and therefore presented his request to go there to the cathedral chapter, which was administering the diocese following the vacancy created by the death of Brandão on 6 July 1678.

[2] The Padroado authorities in Goa were at conflict with those of the Propaganda Fide in Canara, led by the already incumbent Vicar Forane, Bishop Thomas de Castro.

[2] The source of the conflict was that De Castro's appointment as Vicar Forane of Canara by Pope Clement X on 30 August 1675 was not recognised by the preceding Padroado archbishop.

"[5] With great diplomacy and humility, Vaz met De Castro at Mangalore and after having convinced himself of the legitimacy of the documents, brought about a truce until a direction was received from the new pope, Innocent XI.

[2] Vaz's most important contribution, however, was the establishment of a large number of Irmidades (Confraternities) throughout Canara, where he would periodically celebrate festive occasions with great pomp.

Joseph Vaz and his servant John embarked, with great trepidation as, in keeping with their disguise as labourers, they carried no baggage and the sacred vessels for Mass and an altar stone were concealed about their person.

At that time the journey took 3 or 4 days and never more than a week but a very severe storm which burst soon after the ship put to sea delayed its progress and compelled the Captain to take shelter in Mannar.

As Joseph Vaz and his servant did not have a stock of foodstuffs and therefore depended on the charity of their fellow passengers who were themselves in short supply, they were put on shore in a state of exhaustion, famished, thirsty and penniless.

The sight of these two strangers lying ill and helpless moved the heart of a woman, who happened to pass by, to such an extent that she brought them every day a cup of rice cunjee.

He therefore adopted the expedient of wearing a large rosary round his neck and observing the effects of this emblem of the Catholic faith on the inmates of the houses at which he begged for alms.

After some time townsfolk of Jaffna who had benefited from the ministrations of Vaz feared that news of his presence might leak out somehow and decided to remove him to a village in the outskirts in which the Catholics would safeguard him.

Because of its smallness and relative unimportance, Sillalai had escaped the attentions of the Dutch; and it was able to preserve the faith intact because it had continued the system of appointing a Catechist to look after the Chapel, baptise the new-born, instruct the young, bury the dead and in the case of disputes act as an Arbitrator.

However, when he saw that owing to his presence the leading Catholics of Jaffna had to suffer a great deal by way of confiscation of property, imprisonment for life, and flogging, he had himself and John conveyed safely firstly to the Vanni and later to Puttalam which was in the domain of the King of Kandy.

This town was then inhabited by a large number of Catholics but although they had a church of their own and were free to profess their religion there had been no Mass or Sacraments or adequate instruction for over 36 years owing to the absence of priests.

When this became known to one Lanerolle, a Frenchman who was violently anti-Catholic, he denounced Vaz as a Portuguese spy and the king ordered that he be arrested and brought in chains to Kandy.

When the king was satisfied that he was a harmless person who spent most of his time in religious devotions and that John was really his servant, he ordered that they be placed in house detention with strict injunctions that they should not leave the premises.

After some time John and he put up a rough shed with an altar and a wooden cross and prayed therein, on their knees, morning, noon and night within sight of the public.

Concurrently with this relaxation he got the Catholics to build a church to replace the shed put up by him and on 2 September 1692 he requested his Congregation in Goa to send priests to assist him.

Three missionaries from the Oratory of Goa arrived in 1697 to help him, with the news that Pedro Pacheco, Bishop of Cochin, had appointed Vaz as Vicar General in Ceylon.

Between 1687 and 1711, he was at the head of a group of Goan Bamonn priests who under his leadership and inspiration, mixed and moved about under cover sustaining the persecuted Roman Catholic population in Ceylon.

Vaz humbly declined the offer made to him in 1705, to be the bishop and first Vicar Apostolic of Ceylon, preferring to remain a simple missionary.

St.Joseph Vaz and his nephew sought out those abandoned in the woods, accommodated them in huts erected for the purpose, and tended them twice a day carrying food, medicine and clothing collected by them.

Each time they washed the patient, cleansed his pustules, administered medicines, fed and clothed him and cleaned up the place, rendering the most menial services for which no persons could be found anywhere either for money or for love.

Eventually the patients overcame the fear of public opinion which has been the greatest obstacle to the spread of the Catholic faith in Sri Lanka and many of them begged St.Joseph Vaz to receive them into the religion of the God who taught such manner of charity and gave him the strength and courage to practice it in such circumstances.

When at the height of the pestilence there were as many as 10 to 12 deaths a day and sufficient men were not available for the work, the two priests had often to dress the corpses, carry the coffins, dig the graves and bury the dead with their own hands.

The number and influence of the Catholics in the Pettaha enabled Vaz to remain for some time, unknown to the Dutch, in different parts of the city and in the suburbs to carry out his ministry by night and to make several conversions.

With a prayer on his lips and confidence in his heart he stepped into the rushing waters with staff in hand and bade his companions to follow him, to the great amusement of the onlookers.

[13][14] King Vimaldharna Surya II, Vaz's patron, died in 1707, but Vira Narendra Sinha, his successor, proved to be an even greater supporter.

[16] The pope approved the vote by the Ordinary Session of Cardinals and Bishops in favor of canonization of the Indian-born priest and decided to summon a consistory shortly after.

[23] British current and former Labour MP's Valerie & Keith Vaz; the Parliament's longest-serving Asian member, are distant relatives of Joseph.