Readings
I - Heb. 4: 12-26
II - Mk. 2: 13-17
SAINT DEVASAHAYAM
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Devasahayam, an Indian layman and the martyr of the Catholic Church. Neelakandan Pillai was born in an affluent Hindu family on April 23, 1917 in Nattalam village in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. When he was put in charge of State affair, he came in contact with Captain Eustachius De Lannoy, the Dutch Naval Commander, who awakened his interest in Christian Faith. He and his family members were baptised in 1745 and Neelakandan took the name ‘Devasahayam’. “His conversion did not go well with the heads of his native religion. False charges of treason and espionage were brought against him and he was divested of his post in the royal administration,” the Vatican said in a note in February 2020. According to the Vatican, “while preaching, he particularly insisted on the equality of all people, despite caste differences”, which “aroused the hatred of the higher classes, and he was arrested in 1749”. On January 14, 1752, Devasahayam was shot dead in and was martyred in the Aralvaimozhy forest. His mortal remains were interred in Saint Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, Kottar, Nagercoil. He was canonised on May 15, 2022 by Pope Francis.
The Gospel passage of the day is about the call of Matthew the Tax collector, considered as sinner by his own people. At the call of Jesus, slighting the comments and the criticism of the people, Matthew left the tax office and followed him till the end of his life. We are chosen and called to be his followers through our baptism. Do we have the courage like the saint of the day and Matthew to give up all in the process of following him? May the feast we celebrate enkindle our faith and desire to bear witness to the Lord in every one of our word and deed. Let our mind and heart resonate with the prayer: “St. Devasahayam, Pray for us.”
