The Charms of Santa Cruz of Yore - Part Two

Prof Archie D'Souza

Our parents and every parent of the parish insisted that we attend the 6:30 am mass every day. No coffee before mass as we had to fast for many hours if we had to receive communion. On Sundays it would be the children’s mass at 8:30 and Thursdays (Sacred Heart and St. Theresa’s convent were closed on Thursdays) the crusader’s mass at 7:30. There was Sunday school on Sunday evenings followed by Benediction and the sodality meeting ever Thursday after mass. So, we were well instructed about how to live this life so our next life would be spent in the right place.

The children’s mass was just that. The church filled with children. There was a children’s choir and the only adults you saw in church were the celebrant, the organist and Fr. Prax who conducted the children’s choir. There would be choir practice every Thursday after the sodality meeting and every Sunday after Sunday school. The parish children’s choir meant that zonal rivalries were forgotten and ever boy and girl would sing for the greater glory of God.

Almost every boy in the parish studied at Sacred Heart Boys’ High School and girl at St. Theresa’s Convent. There were a few girls who went to St. Joseph’s Convent in Bandra and the boys either to Bombay Scottish or Campion School. Why their parents made them go so far when these two schools were a walking distance from all the houses in the parish, I failed to understand. After school we, the boys of Sacred Heart, would all play hockey or football, depending on the season, on the grounds. Those from Campion or Bombay Scottish had to go for Hindi tuitions after school. So, we only got to see them at Sunday school. They couldn’t join the Sodality or the Crusaders as theses met on Thursday.

Mass was a solemn affair especially the children’s mass. The children would all be sitting in pin-drop silence with the choir members around the organ. Then on queue the organist would start playing and the choir would start singing the entrance hymn with the congregation joining. The entire church would resound with the singing. It was like heaven on Earth with the Cherubim and Seraphim right here in the church.  After mass the members of the choir and the alter-boys (alter-girls weren’t allowed then) would be given buns and coffee. That was the incentive for attending practice and forgoing our play-time.

Our school principal was Fr. Dick who always carried his stick. Rhymes, doesn’t it? Well we’d made a one stanza ballad about him:

Fr. Dicky...Dicky....Dicky

Has a sticky....sticky....sticky...

He drinks a lot of rum

And he hits you on the bum

Very apt indeed! There were no laws then against corporal punishment and Fr. Dick believed in the maxim “Spare the rod and spoil the child”

Punishment for any misdemeanour committed would mean one or more whack on the backside with Fr. Dick’s cane and/or a session of kneeling down.   The quantum of punishment had no correlation with the severity of the crime. It depended on Fr. Dick’s moods. The boys devised all kinds of tactics to escape his cane. I found one which worked very effectively. Make him laugh. Or if he was questioning the whole class, own up. I remember one day the whole class was making a noise and he was outside. He walked in and asked who was shouting. Two of us put our hands up and we escaped punishment.

[Part three to follow]

 

Sacred Heart School lit up for Christmas -