Basilica of Bom Jesus

The Basilica of Bom Jesus ('Good Jesus') was consecrated in 1605 by the Augustinian friar Aleixo de Menezes. It is the oldest surviving church in Old Goa and holds the relics of St Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary who died on Sancian Island off the Chinese coast in 1552 and whose body, returned to Goa in 1554, is venerated as 'incorrupt' — that is, allegedly resistant to natural decay. The basilica's facade combines Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns, an unusually plain Mannerist composition by the standards of Portuguese Baroque churches. The interior is Baroque-extravagant: a richly carved gilded altarpiece centred on St Ignatius Loyola, side chapels in Goa's distinctive Indo-Portuguese style, and a marble mausoleum donated by the Tuscan Grand Duke Cosimo III de' Medici in 1698 that holds Xavier's silver casket. Xavier's body is exposed to the public roughly once every ten years (most recently 2014–15) in a 45-day exposition that draws around 8 million pilgrims. UNESCO inscribed the basilica as part of 'Churches and Convents of Goa' in 1986. The site is paired with Sé Cathedral and the Church of St Francis of Assisi across the courtyard. Mass is celebrated daily; visitors are welcome any time outside service hours.