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{{No footnotes|date=March 2026}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox saint
| name = Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares or Alvares Mar Julius
| image = Juliusthirumeni.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt = Alvares Mar Julius
| caption =
| titles = First Metropolitan of Goa and Ceylon
| birth_date = {{birth date|1836|04|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Verna, Goa]], [[Portuguese India]]
| home_town =
| residence =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1923|09|23|1836|04|24|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Ribandar]], Goa, Portuguese India
| venerated_in = [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]]
| canonized_place =
| major_shrine = St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian Church, Ribandar, Goa
| feast_day = 23 September
| attributes =
| patronage = Poor and Ill
| issues =
| suppressed_date =
| suppressed_by =
| influences =
| influenced =
| tradition =
| major_works =
| module =
{{Ordination
| denomination = [[Malankara Church|Malankara]] [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]]
| name = Alvares
| ordained deacon by =
| date of diaconal ordination =
| place of diaconal ordination =
| ordained priest by =
| date of priestly ordination =
|place of priestly ordination =
| consecrated by =
| co-consecrators =
| date of consecration =
| place of consecration =
| elevated by =
| date of elevation =
| sources =
| alternate name = Alvares
| bishop 1 = [[Joseph René Vilatte]]
| consecration date 1 = 29 May 1892
}}
}}

'''Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares''' ('''Alvares Mar Julius''') (29 April 1836 – 23 September 1923) was initially a [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]] in the [[Roman Catholic Church]] in Goa.{{efn|name=NameVar|Sometimes his surname is mistakenly spelled "Alvare'''z'''" instead of the standard Portuguese form "Alvare'''s'''".}} He joined the [[Malankara Church|Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] and was elevated to [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] of Goa, Ceylon and Greater India in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.<ref name="Kiraz2007">{{cite journal|journal=Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies|location=Piscataway, NJ|publisher=Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute and Gorgias Press|issn=1097-3702|last1=Kiraz|first1=George A|author-link1=George Kiraz|volume=7|issue=2|date=Jul 2004|page=158|title=The Credentials of Mar Julius Alvares, Bishop of Ceylon, Goa and India Excluding Malabar|url=http://www.bethmardutho.org/images/hugoye/volume7/hv7n2kiraz.pdf|access-date=8 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040823181903/http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol7No2/HV7N2Kiraz.html|archive-date=23 August 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref>


==Early life==
Alvares was born to a [[Goan Catholic]] family in [[Verna, Goa]], [[Portuguese India]].<ref name="StAlveres">
{{cite web
|website=StAlvares.com
|title=His Grace Alvares Mar Julius Metropolitan
|url=http://www.stalvares.com/docs/about.php|access-date=30 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928121615/http://www.stalvares.com/docs/about.php|archive-date=28 September 2007|url-status=dead}}
</ref>

==Priesthood==
Alvares was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1862 or 1864 by Bishop Walter Steins SJ, Vicar Apostolic in Bombay. Alvares began his ministry in the Archdiocese of Goa under the [[Archbishop of Goa]]. The [[Portuguese Crown]] claimed these territories by virtue of old privileges of [[Padroado]] (papal privilege of royal patronage granted by popes beginning in the 14th century). The more modern Popes and the [[Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith]] separated these areas and reorganised them as [[apostolic vicariate]]s ruled by non-Portuguese bishops, since the English rulers wished to have non-Portuguese bishops.

Successive Portuguese governments fought against this, terming this as unjustified aggression by later Popes against the irrevocable grant of Royal Patronage to the Portuguese Crown, an agitation that spread to the Goan patriots, subjects of the Portuguese Crown.

When, under [[Pope Pius IX]] and [[Pope Leo XIII]], the hierarchy in British India was formally reorganised independently of Portugal but with Portuguese consent, a group of pro-Padroado Goan Catholics in [[Bombay]] united under the leadership of Dr. Pedro Manoel Lisboa Pinto and Alvares as the [[Society for the Defense of the Royal Patronage]] and agitated against the [[Holy See]], the British India government and the Portuguese government in opposition to these changes.{{cn|date=March 2026}}

==Uniting with Orthodox Church==
Their agitation failed to reverse the changes. Angry with the Portuguese government, the group broke away from the Catholic Church and joined the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]].

==Bishop==
Alvares was [[consecration|consecrated]] as '''Mar Julius I''', on 29 July 1889, by the Orthodox Bishop of [[Kottayam]], [[Athanasius Paulose|Paulose Mar Athanasios]] to be [[Archbishop]] of autocephalous [[Latin Church|Latin Rite]] of Ceylon, Goa, and India.<ref name=BOCUK>{{cite web |url= https://britishorthodox.org/glastonburyreview/issue-122-an-apostle-of-faith-hope-and-charity/ |title= H.G. Mar Julius Alvares Metropolitan of Ceylon, Goa and India: An Apostle of ‘Faith, Hope and Charity |author= |date= |website= British Orthodox Church |publisher= |access-date= 27 January 2026 |quote=}}</ref>

While he was a priest of the Catholic Church, he was in search of the true Biblically Christian One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He was against the false devotion and religious exhibitionism. He objected to the Concordat of the Pope and interference of the Government in the Church administration. He could not withstand the harassment meted out to him by the ecclesiastical and civil powers. He went to Western and Eastern Churches and finally joined the [[Malankara Church|Malankara]] [[Syrian Orthodox Church|Orthodox Syrian Church]]. Credited with good faith and piety and true regard for others, he was consecrated as bishop by [[Joseph Mar Dionysius|Joseph Mar Dionysius V]], [[Gregorios of Parumala|Geevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala]], [[Mar Paulose Ivanios Murimattathilof Kandanadu]] and [[Mar Athanasios (Kadavil)]] in [[Kottayam Old Seminary]] on 29 July 1889. He was elevated to Metropolitan Archbishop of Goa-India-Ceylon(Presently Brahmavar) Diocese of the Malankara Church

When [[Joseph René Vilatte]] was soliciting for consecration by a bishop with orders recognised by the Catholic Church, he was guided{{By whom|date=July 2010}} to Alvares. Alvares, together with Mar Athanasios Paulose (d. 1907), Bishop of Kottayam, and Saint Geevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala (d. 1902), Bishop of Niranam (and later of Thumpamon), consecrated Vilatte in 1892 in [[Colombo]], [[British Ceylon]] and named him "Mar Timotheos, Metropolitan of North America," most probably with the blessings of [[Patriarch|Patriarch of Antioch]] [[Ignatius Peter IV]].

Alvares has a [[cathedral]] under the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]] in [[Colombo]], [[British Ceylon]]. Alvares had lived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for a significant time which is why he ended up having a Cathedral at this location. Alvares had also lived in the twin villages of [[Brahmavar]] and [[Calianpur|Kalianpur]], Karnataka, which is now where [[The Evangelistic Association of the East]] has a number of churches and has been doing extensive [[mission work]] to support the descendants of Alvares converts from his initial missions in these areas and also to continue his [[missionary work]]. Alvares died of dysentery in Ribandar, Goa and was buried there.<ref name="StAlveres" />

==In Portuguese Goa==
Since Alvares was not allowed by the rulers to work freely in Goa.<ref name="Cheeran2009">
{{cite book|location=Kottayam|publisher=K.V. Mammen Kottackal Publishers|last=Cheeran|first=Joseph|translator=Annie David|title=The Indian Orthodox Church of St. Thomas, AD 52-2009|edition=2nd|year=2009|oclc=768294822|page=306|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIlPAQAAIAAJ}}
</ref> he was mostly based in Canara region of Karnataka with the main base at Brahmavar. Along with Roque Zephrin Noronha, he worked among the people along the west coast of India from Mangalore to Bombay. About 5000 families joined the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]].<ref name=BOCUK /> He ordained Joseph Kanianthra, Lukose Kannamcote and David Kunnamkulam at Brahmawar on 15 October 1911.

Alvares and Pinto continued their efforts to draw many Goans from the Imperial Church and to Orthodoxy. The [[Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church]] (BOC) failed in this goal, for outside this group very few Goans moved to this sect.

==In British Ceylon==
Alvares was in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for more than five years. While there he consecrated Vilatte as bishop in the presence of Mar Gregorios of Parumala in 1892.

The denomination that consecrated Vilatte was a part of the [[Indian Orthodox Church]] that had a Latin Rite patrimony. [[V. Nagam Aiya]] wrote, in ''[[Travancore State Manual]]'', that Alvares "describe[d] his Church as the Latin branch of the [[Indian Orthodox Church]]."<ref name="Aiya1906">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{cite book|location=[[Thiruvananthapuram|Trivandrum]], IN|publisher=[[Travancore]] Government Press|last=Aiya|first=V. Nagam|author-link=V. Nagam Aiya|title=Travancore State Manual|oclc=827203062|year=1906|volume=2|page=200|hdl=2027/umn.31951p00335772y?urlappend=%3Bseq=242|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951p00335772y?urlappend=%3Bseq=242|access-date=14 May 2013}}}} Here, the surname Alvares is spelled Alvarez.</ref>

The Holy See sought to consolidate two co-existing jurisdictions, the [[Padroado]] jurisdiction and the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith jurisdiction.<ref name="AER1899">{{Source-attribution|{{cite journal|location=New York, NY|publisher=American Ecclesiastical Review|journal=[[American Ecclesiastical Review]]|lccn=46037491|oclc=9059779|volume=21|issue=1|date=Jul 1899|pages=1–13|title=Recent Schismatical Movements Among Catholics in the United States|author=s.n. |url=https://archive.org/download/americanecclesia21cathuoft/americanecclesia21cathuoft.pdf|access-date=5 March 2013|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/americanecclesia21cathuoft|archive-date=18 May 2007|url-status=live}}}}</ref>{{rp|page=6}} The Padroado was the privilege of patronage extended to [[Portugal]] which granted the right of designating candidates for episcopal and other offices and [[benefice]]s in Africa and the [[East Indies]]; in addition, it was an exchange of a portion of ecclesiastical revenues for missionaries and endowments to religious establishments in those territories. In time it was seen by the Holy See as an obstacle to missions: the Portuguese government failed to observe the conditions of the agreement; disagreed about the extent of the patronage by claiming the agreement was restricted by [[Pope Alexander VI]]'s [[Bulls of Donation]] and [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] while Rome maintained the agreement was restricted to conquered countries; and, contested papal appointments of missionary bishops or [[vicars apostolic]] made without its consent, in countries which were never subject to its dominion.<ref name="Brucker1911">{{Catholic|inline=1|volume=12|last=Brucker|first=Joseph|wstitle=Protectorate of Missions}}</ref> As part of the transition, churches served by [[Goan Catholic]] priests remained under the jurisdiction of the [[Patriarch of the East Indies]] until 1843. Later, this transition was delayed and extended until 1883-12-31. In [[British Ceylon]], it ended in 1887 with the appearance of a papal decree that placed all Catholics in the country under the exclusive jurisdiction of the bishops of the island. That measure met resistance. Alvares and Dr. Pedro Manoel Lisboa Pinto founded in [[Goa]], [[Portuguese India]], an association for the defence of the Padroado. Then, according to G. Bartas, in {{lang|fr|Échos d'Orient}}, they complained that the new diocese and vicariates were headed, almost exclusively, by [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]] prelates and missionaries, and petitioned the Holy See for the creation of a purely native hierarchy. Bartas did not state if there was a response, but wrote that Alvares settled the difficulty by reinventing himself as the head of his schism, appearing in Ceylon, and settling into the main old Goan Portuguese churches in the village of Parapancandel.{{Clarify|post-text=(place name)|date=June 2013}}<ref name="Bartas1904">{{Source-attribution|{{cite journal|location=Paris|publisher=Institut Francais des Etudes Byzantines|journal=Échos d'Orient|lccn=sc82003358|volume=7|issue=49|date=Nov 1904|last=Bartas|first=G|title=Coup d'oeil sur l'Orient greco-slave|language=fr|pages=371–372|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5QQAAAAYAAJ&q=Alvarez&pg=PA371|doi=10.3406/rebyz.1904.3573|url-access=subscription}}}} Here, the surname Alvares is spelled Alvarez.</ref> Alvares was a [[Roman Catholic Brahmin]].{{efn|
Aiya and Richards use ''brahman'';<ref name="Aiya1906">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{cite book|location=[[Thiruvananthapuram|Trivandrum]], IN|publisher=[[Travancore]] Government Press|last=Aiya|first=V. Nagam|author-link=V. Nagam Aiya|title=Travancore State Manual|oclc=827203062|year=1906|volume=2|page=200|hdl=2027/umn.31951p00335772y?urlappend=%3Bseq=242|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951p00335772y?urlappend=%3Bseq=242|access-date=14 May 2013}}}} Here, the surname Alvares is spelled Alvarez.</ref><ref name="Richards1908">{{cite book|location=London|publisher=Bemrose & Sons|last=Richards|first=William J|title=The Indian Christians of St. Thomas: otherwise called the Syrian Christians of Malabar|year=1908|oclc=5089145|url=https://archive.org/download/cu31924029361379/cu31924029361379.pdf|access-date=17 February 2013|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924029361379|archive-date=26 June 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|page=64}} a member of the first of the four castes of Hinduism, a sacerdotal class.<ref>{{Wiktionary-inline|brahman}}</ref>
Pearson uses ''[[brahmin]]'';<ref name="Pearson2007">{{cite book|location=London; New York|publisher=Routledge|last=Pearson|first=Joanne|title=Wicca and the Christian Heritage: Ritual, sex and magic|year=2007|isbn=978-0-203-96198-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Au_paUclEZkC|access-date=3 May 2013}}</ref>{{rp|page=129}} a broader term that also includes a scholar, teacher, priest, intellectual, researcher, scientist, knowledge-seeker, or knowledge worker.<ref>{{Wiktionary-inline|brahmin}}</ref>
}} Aiya wrote that Alvares, an educated man and the editor of a Catholic journal, was a priest in the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman|Metropolitan Archdiocese of Goa]]. Failing to maintain amicable relations with the Patriarch of the East Indies, Alvares left the {{abbr|RCC|Roman Catholic Church}} and joined Mar Dionysius the Metropolitan in [[Kottayam]] who consecrated Alvares as bishop.<ref name="Aiya1906" />{{efn|Marx and Blied noted that Fortescue believed Alvares was consecrated by the reformed group.<ref name="MarxBlied1942a">{{cite journal|location=Milwaukee, WI|publisher=Alumni Association of St. Francis Seminary|journal=The Salesianum|issn=0740-6525|volume=37|issue=1|date=January 1942|pages=1–8|title=Joseph Rene Vilatte|last1=Marx|first1=Joseph A|last2=Blied|first2=Benjamin J|hdl=2027/wu.89064467475}}</ref>{{rp|page=7}}<ref name="Fortescue1913" />}} Later, he returned with the title of Alvares Mar Julius ''Archbishop of Ceylon, Goa and the Indies'', and involved in his schism about 20 parishes in the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Jaffna]] and in the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Colombo]] on the island.<ref name="Bartas1904" /><ref name="MarxBlied1942a" />{{rp|page=6}}

Michael Roberts, in ''Sri Lanka Journal of Social Science'', describes three groups within early nationalism in British Ceylon. The most prominent group, "ultra-moderate constitutionalists", with culture and [[value system]] significantly [[westernised]], whose main goal was greater participation in government; the second group, "mild-radicals", represented by leaders like Pinto, was a [[labour movement]] with [[political radicalism]] and interest in more radical trade unions; the third group, "religio-cultural revitalists", [[traditional values]] [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] [[Buddhism in Sri Lanka|Buddhists]] "which expressed militant objection to changes produced by Western penetration." Roberts wrote all three groups interacted with the others and had indigenous, [[Indian people|Indian]], and [[Burgher people]] among members, in a complex social tapestry whose members also changed group affiliations over time.<ref name="Roberts1981">{{cite journal|location=Colombo |publisher=Social Science Research Centre, National Science Council of Sri Lanka |journal=Sri Lanka Journal of Social Science |issn=0258-9710 |volume=4 |issue=2 |year=1981 |last=Roberts |first=Michael |title=Hobgoblins, low-country Sinhalese plotters, or local elite chauvinists? |pages=83–126 |url=http://dl.nsf.ac.lk/bitstream/1/5012/1/JSS4_2_83.pdf |access-date=21 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219030128/http://dl.nsf.ac.lk/bitstream/1/5012/1/JSS4_2_83.pdf |archive-date=19 December 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref>{{rp|page=88}} A strike at the largest publisher in [[Colombo]], influenced by Pinto's propaganda, took place in September 1893. The next day, Pinto became president of the newly formed printers union. "The main grievances of the printers included low pay and bad working and living conditions."<ref name="ColinThome1985">{{cite journal|location=Colombo |publisher=Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon |journal=Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon |oclc=29656108 |volume=62 |issue=1–4 |date=Jan–Dec 1985 |title=The Portuguese Burghers and the Dutch Burghers of Sri Lanka |last=Colin-Thome |first=Percy |pages=199, 216 |url=http://www.dutchburgherunion.org/journals/vol_61_70/JDBU%20Vol%2062%20No%201-4%20-%201985(1).pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629134543/http://www.dutchburgherunion.org/journals/vol_61_70/JDBU%20Vol%2062%20No%201-4%20-%201985(1).pdf |archive-date=29 June 2015 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref>{{rp|page=199}}{{efn|See {{cite book|location=Durham, NC|publisher=Duke University Press|last=Jayawardena|first=Kumari|title=The rise of the labor movement in Ceylon|year=1972|isbn=0-8223-0268-3|pages=93–97}}<ref name="ColinThome1985" />{{rp|pages=199, 216}}}}

According to Peter-Ben Smit, in ''Old Catholic and Philippine Independent Ecclesiologies in History'', the [[Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic)|Union of Utrecht]]'s (UU) [[International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference]] (IBC) discussed a {{abbr|ICMoC|Independent Catholic Mission of Ceylon}} request for admission in 1902. Smit observed that past "experiences had made ... the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} cautious, which in his opinion was a reason for the failure of contacts with groups in ... Ceylon ... and other countries to develop into relationships of full communion."<ref name="Smit2011">{{cite book|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|series=Brill's Series in Church History|issn=1572-4107|volume=52|last=Smit|first=Peter-Ben|title=Old Catholic and Philippine Independent Ecclesiologies in History: The Catholic Church in every place|year=2011|isbn=978-9004206472|pages=50, 180–285|doi=10.1163/9789004214989_004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rE3HEeoXJNsC&pg=PA197}}</ref>{{rp||pages=193,196}} ''La Croix'', ''Catholic Messenger'' of Ceylon reported that the Alvares schism ended in 1902.<ref>
{{cite news|location=Paris|newspaper=La Croix|issn=0242-6412|language=fr|date=12 July 1902|page=3|title=La fin d'un schisme aux Indes|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k219764v/f3.image|access-date=16 September 2013}}
</ref> Bartas did not recount the significance of Alvares' ideology,{{efn|For Alvares' [[swadeshi movement|swadeshi]] mindset see {{cite news|location=Panaji, IN|publisher=Navhind Papers & Publications|work=Navhind Times|edition=online|oclc=60632493|date=29 April 2012|last=Kamat|first=Pratima P|title=Remembering H G Alvares: Mar Julius|url=http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/remembering-h-g-alvares-mar-julius|access-date=3 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220225717/http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/remembering-h-g-alvares-mar-julius|archive-date=20 December 2013|url-status=dead}}}} he only noted that the schism, around 1902, intended to convert corporately, to eastern orthodoxy. The cathedral in Colombo had one priest, Alvares, fairly advanced in age. He and his parishioners asked the [[Holy Synod]] of the [[Church of Greece]], in [[Athens]], to accept them under its jurisdiction and to send them an officiating priest preaching in Latin and English. Bartas wrote:
{{blockquote|A Greek Orthodox priest, delegated by the Holy Synod in Athens, to celebrate the Latin Mass and deliver the English sermons, in an independent Catholic Church of Ceylon in the cathedral of the priest who became Archbishop of Goa Indo-Ceylon by the grace of a Jacobite bishop of Malabar; that is the answer to a purely indigenous hierarchy, that ... Pinto and Alvarez demanded so loudly at the beginning of their schism!<ref name="Bartas1904" />|sign=|source=}}
But the Greek Holy Synod reflected on information provided by the [[Archimandrite]] Germain Kazakis, head of the Orthodox settlement of [[Calcutta]], in addition to the parishioners' application in which they declared themselves Orthodox but still held Roman Catholic liturgies, sacraments, and devotions. According to Smit, "presumably seeing an analogy between the respective emergences of the two churches," Stephen Silva, the {{abbr|ICMoC|Independent Catholic Mission of Ceylon}} secretary, complained to [[Gregorio Aglipay]] of the [[Philippine Independent Church]] in 1903 that the {{abbr|ICMoC|Independent Catholic Mission of Ceylon}} "cannot get sufficient priests to work independently of Rome."<ref name="Smit2011" />{{rp|page=258}} Bartas wrote, in 1904 that the Greek Holy Synod "will undoubtedly continue to defer its response" under these conditions.<ref name="Bartas1904" /> Smit mentioned that the {{abbr|ICMoC|Independent Catholic Mission of Ceylon}} also failed to create "a relationship with the Greek Orthodox Church in the 1910s."<ref name="Smit2011" />{{rp|page=258}} In 1913, [[Adrian Fortescue]] described Alvares' faction, in ''[[The Lesser Eastern Churches]]'', as "chiefly famous for the begging letters they write and the doubt they cause to people who receive these letters as to who exactly they may be."<ref name="Fortescue1913">{{cite book|location=London|publisher=[[Catholic Truth Society]]|last=Fortescue|first=Adrian|author-link=Adrian Fortescue|title=The Lesser Eastern Churches|year=1913|oclc=551695750|page=372|url=https://archive.org/download/lessereasternchu00fortuoft/lessereasternchu00fortuoft.pdf|access-date=17 February 2013|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/lessereasternchu00fortuoft|archive-date=21 June 2006|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Apostle of charity==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2013}}
In 1871, he started a charitable association in Panaji to render help to the poor, beginning with wandering beggars. After a few years he extended the association to other cities in Goa. During the last ten years of his life he concentrated his activities in Panaji. He worked with the poor and destitute as well as [[leprosy|lepers]] and [[tuberculosis]] patients.<ref name=BOCUK />{{explain|reason=Was this supported by a colonial government to isolate leprosy and tuberculosis victims?|date=December 2013}} He was a [[beggar]] without an income. One day Alvares requested a shopkeeper for a contribution, but the shopkeeper spat in the bowl. Without getting angry, Alvares said, "All right, I shall keep this for me. Now, give something for the poor." The shopkeeper contributed generously.

==Excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church==
After joining the Orthodox Church, Alvares was [[excommunicated]] from the Roman Catholic Church.<ref name=SL1>{{cite web |url= https://san-luigi.org/2013/09/23/90th-anniversary-of-the-passing-of-mar-julius-i-alvarez/ |title= 90th anniversary of the passing of Mar Julius I Alvarez |last= Kersey |first= John |date= 23 September 2013 |website= The Abbey-Principality of San Luigi and the Catholicate of the West |publisher= |access-date= 27 January 2026 |quote=}}</ref> He was persecuted by the Catholic Church and the Portuguese Government.<ref name=BODC1 /><ref>{{cite book
|last=Daniel|first=David
|title=St Thomas Christians
|page=245
}}{{Place missing|date=December 2013}}{{Publisher missing|date=December 2013}}{{Year missing|date=December 2013}}
</ref> Though he was advised by some of his old friends to reunite with the Catholic Church, especially when he was very sick, he refused and stuck to his Orthodox faith.

==Death==
Alvares died of [[dysentery]] on 23 September 1923 in Ribandar hospital, a charitable institution.<ref name=BODC1>{{cite web |url= https://bodc.in/spiritual-father-details/eyJpdiI6IkVabkVTMzN0ZEQ3bEQ3ZjkydGpmUWc9PSIsInZhbHVlIjoiVXdSa1huN01JUWpUZkVOWHM3WERaQT09IiwibWFjIjoiNDZiNDAzYTBmYzgzZDlhOTIwOWMwYTM0OWZmYTM0N2NiZTk3NjI1ZTcwMDk4NGMwYTY1MGEyODJjMTk2ODllZSIsInRhZyI6IiJ9 |title= Late Lamented H.G. Alvares Mar Julius |last= |first= |date= |website= Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Diocese of Bombay) |publisher= |access-date= 27 January 2026 |quote=}}</ref>

==Veneration==

[[Image:Holy Cross.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Alvares' grave prior to disinterment|Alvares' grave prior to disinterment]]
In 1927, his bones were collected by his friends and admirers{{Who|date=July 2010}}, placed in a lead box and reburied, under a marble slab. The slab was inscribed with the inscription "{{lang|pt|Em Memoria De Padre Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares}}, {{sic|Di|ue|expected=Quem|nolink=y}} {{lang|pt|Foi Mui Humanitario Missionario E Um}} {{sic|Gra|de|expected=Grande|nolink=y}} {{lang|pt|Patriota}}" (In memory of priest Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares, who was very humanitarian missionary and a great patriot) and the largest cross in the cemetery.<ref name=BODC1 />

In 1967, John Geevarghese, the first resident Vicar of St. Mary's Orthodox Church, Goa, rediscovered the forgotten grave of Alvares, and brought Metropolitan Mathews Mar Athanasios of the Outside Kerala Diocese to Goa to conduct services befitting an Orthodox bishop at the burial site.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://alvaresthirumeni.in/former-vicars|title=Former Vicars|publisher = St Mary's Orthodox Syrian Church}}</ref> A small church was constructed in Ribandar and, in 1979, Alvares' remains were disinterred and placed in the church by Metropolitan Philipose Mar Theophilos of the Bombay diocese.
[[Image:Goa Ribandar Church 1.JPG|thumb|right|alt=St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian church in Ribandar|St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian church, Ribandar. The location of Alvares' entombed remains]]
When the St. Mary's church was reconstructed in the same place, Alvares' remains were moved to the present [[ossuary]] which was specially made on the side of the [[altar]] by Moran Mar [[Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews II]], [[Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan|Catholicos of the East]], on 6 October 2001.

Alvares' remains are entombed at St. Mary's Orthodox church in Ribandar.<ref name=BODC1 /> Although the congregation was small, the Brahmavar Orthodox Community has survived almost a century after Alvares' death. His dukrono (memorial feast) is celebrated at St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian church in Ribandar during the week of 23 September every year.<ref name=SL1 /><ref name=BODC1 />

== Works or publications ==

*{{cite book|last=Alvares |first=A F X |author-link=Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares|display-authors=0 |year=1898 |title=Universal Supremacy in the Church of Christ ... Abridged from the original in Portuguese |location=Colombo |publisher=Clifton Press |oclc=771049027}} <ref name=SL1 />
*{{cite book|location=Ceylon|publisher=Victoria Press|last=Alvares|first=A F X|author-link=Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares|display-authors=0|title=Directions for the Treatment of Cholera ...|year=1896|edition=2nd|type=pamphlet|oclc=771049026}} <ref name=SL1 />

Alvares was also involved with several newspapers, including ''O Progresso de Goa'', ''The Times of Goa'', ''A Cruz'', ''A Verdade'' and ''O Brado Indiano''.<ref name=BOCUK />


==Notes and references==

===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Alexander |first1=George |last2=Philip |first2=Ajesh |year=2018 |title=Western rites of syriac-malankara orthodox churches |edition=1st |publisher=OCP Publications |isbn=978-1387803163 }}
*{{cite book|location=[[Panaji|Panjim]], IN|publisher=Azevedo|last=Azevedo|first=Carmo|title=Patriot & Saint: The life story of Father Alvares/Bishop Mar Julius I|lccn=88905901|oclc=556945748|year=1988|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kDkAAAAMAAJ|access-date=12 May 2013}}
*{{cite news|location=[[Panaji]], IN|publisher=Navhind Papers & Publications|work=[[Navhind Times]]|edition=online|oclc=60632493|date=29 April 2012|last=Kamat|first=Pratima P|title=Remembering H G Alvares: Mar Julius|url=http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/remembering-h-g-alvares-mar-julius|access-date=3 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220225717/http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/remembering-h-g-alvares-mar-julius|archive-date=20 December 2013|url-status=dead}}


*{{cite book|location=New Delhi|publisher=Oxford University Press|series=SOAS studies on South Asia
|last=Pinto|first=Rochelle
|title=Between empires: print and politics in Goa|year=2007|isbn=978-0195690477|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0l6cAAAAMAAJ
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvares, Antonio Francisco Xavier}}
[[Category:19th-century Indian Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Scholars from Goa]]
[[Category:People from Verna, Goa]]
[[Category:1836 births]]
[[Category:1923 deaths]]
[[Category:Christian missionaries in Sri Lanka]]
[[Category:Colonial Goa]]
[[Category:People acquitted of treason]]
[[Category:People excommunicated by the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Oriental Orthodox missionaries]]
[[Category:Converts to Oriental Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism]]

Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares - Revision history

HectorOtoole at 14:52, 17 April 2026