DeLanoy and Mr Neelakandan's [Devasahayam ]Spiritual Regeneration . : As a friend Neelakandan used to discuss every matter with his trusted friend Delanoy. and their friendship was growing day by day. . During that period of time Neelakandan's agricultural income was greatly affected due to bad weather, consistent hot Sun, drought etc . This economic loss affected Neelakandon so much and so, with great grief he met Benedictus De Lanoy [ Delanoy's full name] and Neelakandan's face looked melancholic and .Neelakandan narrated to DeLanoy about the economic losses and distress he had lately been put to., Church Historian C.M. Agur writes " De Lanoy discoursed seriously on the uncertainty of earthly riches and the vanity of all sublunary pleasures and urged on him to put his trust in God and secure eternal life. He also narrated the history of Job .In rapt attention Neelacunda Pillay listened to the story and his burdened mind felt great relief. This occurrence drew them into similar conversation day after day until Neelacunda Pillay was converted to the Christian faith and expressed his desire to receive Baptism and partake of Sacraments " [ C.M. Agur, Church History of Travancore , 1903, pp. 280 and 281 ]
Martyr Devasahayam [ Lazarus ]
Neelakandan was Baptised by Fr. Battari : Delanoy was highly pleased at the desire of his friend Neelakandan to take baptism and DeLanoy sent Neelakandan to the Catholic Parish Priest at Vadakkankulam in Tiruvelveli district Rev. Fr. R. Battari Italus . S.J. with a note But Fr. Battari hesitated to baptise Neelakandan until he received more information and particulars about Neelakandan . Observing the delay that Fr Battari was making , Neelakandan said , " There is no cause for delay, This is no compulsory baptism . I came here to receive the sacraments not by force but by my own free will and desire . I shall even give my life to maintain the Truth of which I received the light of which I am convinced " [ C.M.Agur , CHT, p. 281]. After hearing Neelakandan's firm assertion and declaration, Rev. Fr. Battari taught Neelakandan the Creed, the Commandments and some prayers etc, for 9 months and baptised Neelakandan changing Neelakandan's name as Devasagayam [ God's help] Though the native Christians of Travancore and South India to the present day generally call him Devasagayam Pillay his real baptismal name was Lazarus Lazarus means God's help , in Tamil it means Devasahayam
Devasahayam's Baptism News Became Public : From the day of his baptism , Devasahyam advanced in piety and grew to be an excellent Christian , endeavouring to preach the Gospel to others and to convert them. Devasahayam hated the practice of caste discrimination and valued the dignity of all Human-beings. . . Devasahayam loved God and respected his fellow human-beings. The news that Neelakandan Pillay had renounced the Hindu religion of his fathers and had become a Christian under a new name, Devasagaym. spread quickly among the people. . Many of his community members and Government officers who worked in Maharaja's palace started to hate Neelakandan Pillay on account of his conversion to Christianity.. Finally he earned the displeasure of the then Dewan of Travancore on account of a letter written by Neelakandan for permission to fell some teak trees for the construction of a big catholic church at Vadakankulam . On seeing this letter the Dewan abused Neelakandan Pillay and warned him with threatening words . The Dewan reported this matter to Marthanda Varma Maharaja and animadverted against the stand and conduct of Devasahayam and on hearing this the Maharaja became very angry and commanded Devasahayam to be produced before him at once. Raja Marthanda Varma ordered that Devasahayam should be fettered and sent to the prison and it was done so
Devasahayam Tolerated all the Tortures for the cause of his Christian faith : Maha Raja was not satisfied with this punishment and so the next morning he ordered that a garland of the shrub gigantea { Erulalai in Tamil ] must be put around Devasahayam's neck and he must be led to a jungle and be beheaded there . But this order was again cancelled . But Devashayam with Christ like patience bore all these tortures. At last his enemies mounted him on a buffalo and led him from village to village and battered him with canes, stuffed Chilli powder into his mouth, nostrils and eyes and made him to stand in the burning sun and he was given dirty water to quench his thirst.[[1] C.M. Agur ,Ibid p.p. 283 & 284 ,[2] Kumari Aathavn , Opcit, pp 114 to 117 and [3] Amalagiri Anthony Muthu and Amalagiri Ezhil, opcit , 2013, pp 96 &97] ]. C.M Agur writes that "the Lord only sustained him [ Devasahayam ] and gave him the strength to be steadfast in his faith [ C.M.Agur CHT, , p. 284].
Devasahayam Was Martyred at kathadimalai : Royal command was issued to take Devasahayam secretly to Kathadimalai near Aralvaimozhi and there to be shot down . During this time his relatives and friends persuaded him and tried every means in their power to make him to apostatize the new faith embraced by him , but amidst all these persecutions Devasahayam stood firm and undaunted . Devasahayam was led to the appointed place by the Sepoys in a cruel manner. The Sepoys fired at Devasahayam three plus one more time, the noble Devasahaym fell down crying ,' Lord Jesus save me " and died on 14th January 1752, at Kathadimalai. Devasahayam's body was carelessly thrown away near the foot of the hill . After some days from the martyrdom of Devasahayam , some Christians came forward and carried the Martyr Devasahayam's revered bones and interred them in front of the high altar of St. Xavier's Church at Kottar .A small church has since been erected at the place where Devasahayam was martyred . There is a fountain in the rock near the church at Kathadimalai and the current story about the fountain is that when Devasahayam was taken to the hill by the Sepoys and when he was panting for water , he [ Devasahayam ] in utter anguish rested his elbow on the rock and from that part of the rock water jutted out to quench the thirst of Devasahayam . It must be noted that after his baptism Devasahayam amidst all such trial continued to live seven more years as a pious, zealous,and noble Christian and was 40 years old when he was martyred
Conclusion : Martyr Devasahayam did many miracles during his life time and after his death. And on the basis of these miracle in 1986 Bishop Rt Rev Arockiaswamy took the necessary initiative for the canonisation of martyr Devasahayam . In 2003 Bishop Rt Rev Leon Dharmaraj sent the relevant Application to Rome for the same. Following this Bishop Rt Rev Peter Remigius sent all the necessary documents to Rome for the beautification of Devasahayam with Martyr title, As a result of these efforts Devasahayam was declared as Martyr Devasahayam on 28th June 2012. In 2016 the Kottar Catholic Diocese sent all the necessary supporting documents to Rome for the Canonisation of martyr Devasahayam It would be useful to get some idea about the name changing history of Martyr Devasahayam . Fr. Rev Narcheesan while writing the history of Devasahayam in a quarterly "Martyr Devasahayam Pillay" as a series for 9 years and in his write-ups Fr Narcheesan had mentioned the martyr's name as Devasahayam only not as Devasahayam Pillai. Bishop Rt Rev Leon Dharmaraj also has mentioned the name as Devasahayam without caste surname Pillai, in the 250th Year celebration Sovernir of Kottar Catholic Diocese. But Catholic Bishop Rt Rev Peter Remigius had written and mentioned Devasahayam as Devasahayam Pillai in his write-ups and correspondences and we do not know the real reasons for the same. However as a born-again baptised Christian and Martyr, Devasahayam was above caste affiliations he was a new creation in Christ and therefore it would not be correct to call Devasahayam as Devasahayam Pillai. More over nobody has the right to change, Devasahayam's baptised name in his absence . Fortunately Prof. Dr. S.. Lazarus and some others took needed initiative and had made timely representation to the current Pope Francis with proper supporting documents through the current Catholic Bishop of Kottar Diocese Rt Rev Nazarene Soosai to remove the caste name Pillai from Davasahayam and this request has been accepted by the Pope Francis. . Prof Dr. S. Lazarus , Ph.D, D,Sc told me in person that Martyr Devasahayam will be canonised on 15th May 2022 at Vatican City by His Holiness Pope Francis , as St.Devasahayam without his caste as surname. .All the born again baptised Christians are new Creations in Christ. and therefore Christians in India should be disconnected and liberated from their original caste surnames. Martyr Devasahayam has become a shining, galvanising and witnessing Milestone in the Church History of India and World. I end this Article with the following simple sentence," I thank God for martyr Devasahayam ".
END
By P. Babu Manoharan , M.A, [ All rights are reserved . This Article will be enlarged, modified or corrected later if needed ].
No comments:
Post a Comment