TN church beatifies India’s first ‘lay’ martyr
Devasahayam Pillai, the 18th century “martyr” who “sacrificed” his life for the faith in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore, was on Sunday beatified by Catholic Church here.
Pillai is the first lay person to be elevated to the rank of the “Blessed” in India as a procedure ahead of raising a person to Sainthood under the Canon Law followed by the Church.
Apart from representatives of Vatican, Indian cardinals, senior bishops, priests, religious and a large congregation of lay devotees attended the function at the Carmer Higher Secondary School ground under the Kottar Diocese here.
The Church considers Pillai as a person of unflinching faith and who sacrificed his life for the faith in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in the 18th century. According to Catholic rules, beatification is a procedure ahead of elevating a deceased person to Sainthood, known as Canonisation in church parlance. Those who have already been beatified in India include Mother Teresa.
The Church holds Pillai, who was born in a Hindu family as Neelakanta Pillai, as the first Catholic martyr from India. According to Church historians, Pillai (1712-1752) was born in a feudal Nair family and was an official in the service of King Mathanda Varma, the most powerful ruler of Travancore which encompassed southern Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu.
After the Kulachal war, he came under the spell of Dutch captain Eustacheus Benedictus De Lenoy, who, being caught a war prisoner, later joined Marthanda Varma’s forces.
De Lenoy was believed to be instrumental in converting Pillai to Christianity and he was rechristened as Lazar, but later came to be known as Devasahayam locally.
According to church chroniclers, Pillai’s conversion was taken as an affront by the feudal lords of the day and they repeatedly persuaded him to give up his new faith. As Pillai stood firm, he was arrested and tortured for three years and finally taken to a remote place and shot dead by on January 14, 1752.
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