This is the most revered and famous of all the churches in Old Goa. It contains the relics of St. Francis Xavier, Patron saint of Goa, Apostle of the Indies and for most Goans " Goencho Saib ". Its construction was begun on the 24th November 1594 out of the funds bequeathed for the purposes by Dom Jeronimos Mascarenhas and was consecrated by the Archbishop Dom Fr. Aleixo de Menezes, on the 15th of May 1605. In 1946 it became the first church in India to be elevated to the status of a minor basilica.