We are all called to be saints. We all have our favorites - the stoic St. Peter, or perhaps the joyful St. Francis, maybe it’s the gentle St. Therese of Liseux, or her sensible sister St. Teresa of Avila (phenomenal parents, though not so creative at the naming, huh). Regardless of who we develop personal or sacramental connections, we often come to them to intercede on our behalf. The more often we pray to them, and the more we learn about their lives, the more they become like old friends, companions through the highs and lows of life. And yet, they can often seem foreign and intimidating. Many of them were members or founders of religious orders, like St. Ignatius or Mother Theresa, or were priests, like St. Thomas and St. Augustine. But the newest saint of our faith, Saint Devasahayam Pillai, who was canonized on May 15th of 2022, was a layman, like most of us. His story serves as a reminder to us all of our communal vocation - to live a life devoted to the love of God and of neighbour, no matter the cost.
Saint Devasahaym was born as Neelakandan Pillai into a wealthy Hindu Nair family, a high caste second only to the Brahmins in the region, in Tamil Nadu on April 23, 1712. His family had much influence in the royal palace of the then-king of Travancore, Maharaja Marthanda Varma, and Neelakandan went into the service of the royal palace as a young man. Trained in the art of warfare and a devout Hindu growing up, Neelakandan began his career as a soldier, where his wisdom and diligence quickly shot him up the ranks, eventually becoming a place official of the treasury, where Neelakandan happened to meet Captain Eustachius De Lannoy, a Catholic Dutch Naval Commander who had been incorporated into the royal court after his surrender at the Battle of Colachel. The two worked together to modernize the military under De Lannoy's efficient command, and swiftly became good friends, often spending much time together conversing in the evenings. On one of those evenings, De Lannoy noticed an unusual sadness in his friend, and Neelakandan revealed to him that he had suffered heavy financial and personal losses. These struggles had caused him to doubt his faith since he believed he was guilty of no wrongdoing.
De Lannoy introduced the troubled Neelakandan to the Book of Job, which his friend quickly found comfort in, realizing the redemptive nature of his suffering. So touched was he by the story of the persevering righteousness of Job, that Neelakandan converted to Catholicism and was baptized, taking the name Devasahayam, or Lazarus in English, meaning “God has helped”.
His conversion did not go well with the royal court, who was particularly upset by his insistence on treating all of God’s children equally, often eating and spending time with members of much lower castes. Rumours were circulated that St. Devasahayam used his position to “buy” conversions to Christianity with government funding. Accused of treason, he remained in prison for three years.
After pressure from Catholic Europeans who demanded his freedom, he was exiled. Seated backwards on a buffalo, painted with red and black spots, beaten every day with eighty stripes, pepper rubbed in his wounds and nostrils, and given only stagnant water to drink, the soldiers marched him out of Travancore and into the surrounding forested hills. Undeterred, Saint Devasahayam began intense prayer and meditation, and people from the surrounding villages began to visit him and convert. Infuriated, high caste Hindus sent a group of soldiers into the hills to shoot him. They killed him and threw his body out near the foothill at Kattadi Malai, where local Christians found him and buried him.
Inspired by his faithful witness, Christians in the region began to venerate him, but it was two hundred years before his cause for canonization was opened canonically in the diocese, in 1993. Relatively quickly after that, a ceremony of beatification and a declaration of martyrdom was held in the diocese of Kottar on December 2, 2012, six months after Pope Benedict XVI authorized the title of “Venerable”.
Saint Devasahayam Pillai reminds us all of our call to sainthood, no matter our vocation. He challenges us to be martyrs, literally “witnesses”, to the love of Christ at all times, in all circumstances. We never know what God could use to draw us, and the people we love, closer to Him, perhaps it’s even just a conversation with a friend.
Written By
Joel R Kattady