Martyr Devasahayam Pillai to be Beatified on Sunday
December 01, 2012: An 18th century Indian lay martyr, Devasahayam Pillai,
will be beatified on Sunday in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Cardinal
Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside over
the ceremony. Four Indian cardinals, 40 bishops and 100,000 faithful are expected
to attend.
Bishop Peter Remigius of Kottar in his ‘Message to all the peoples
in the World’ said that “Martyr Devasahayam Pillai, born in the 18th century in
South India, a man of nobility, is shining out now in the 21st century as a great
convert, married person and first heroic Lay Martyr of our Indian soil in the Latin
Catholic Church - a great model of Christian Faith and of social equality!”
“It’s
a great moment not only for Kottar diocese but also for the devotees, cutting across
caste and religion,” said Fr Antony Gabriel, who has been heading the local committee
working for the canonization of Pillai for the last 19 years.
Bishop Peter
Remigius said that Pillai’s life teaches “how to witness our faith, "While undergoing
severe persecution, he never complained or was deterred. The spirit of evangelism
was strong in him.”
The king ordered Pillai’s arrest in 1749, charging him
with treason and espionage. Pillai was imprisoned, tortured and finally banished to
the Aralvaimozhy forest, a remote border area of Travancore. Pillai was a Catholic
for only seven years.
“In that short period, he was in prison for three years
under severe persecution for witnessing his faith. Finally, he was shot dead in the
Aralvaimozhy forest on January 14, 1752,” Fr Gabriel said.