The Colva Church was a chapel built in 1630 and affiliated to the parish of Benaulim. In 1635, Our Lady of Mercy Church,became a full- fledged parish. Infant Jesus (Menino Jesus de Colva) is venerated in this church with special devotion. The ‘Fama’ i.e. the feast of Menino Jesus (Infant Jesus) celebrated traditionally with great pomp ant this church. Colva is the only place in Goa where the celebrations on the feast day are pale when compared to the festive atmosphere on the Fama day, the day meant to announce the start of the novenas that lead to the feast day.
History has it that the statue of Menino Jesus was found off the coast of Mozambique in the 17th century by some shipwrecked sailors led by Fr. Bento Ferreira, a Jesuit missionary. On his posting to Colva in 1668, Fr. Ferreira had the statue grandly enthroned on a special altar. The annual Fama began soon after, with the statue being kept for public veneration. Power struggles in Portugal which led to the suppression of the religious orders, forced the Jesuits to flee to the Rachol Seminary, carrying along with them the statue. Attempts by the Colva villagers to get back their statue proved futile. They decided to make a replica of the original. Their only possession a golden ring, believed to have been found after it slipped off the original statue, was mounted on the new statue. The devotion was thus restarted.
