THE MARTYRDOM OF DEVASAGAYAM
as narrated in the 'Quinquennial Report'
Translated into English from the original Latin by
Frs.I.Kulandaiswamy and Fr. A. Gabriel and
revised by Fr. George Nedungatt, S.J.
Most Holy Father,
I am hereby submitting a report to Your Holiness regarding my pastoral ministry. Being solicitous about everything pertaining to the situation of the Diocese of Cochin, over which I, though unworthy, preside, as well as about matters regarding the discipline of the clergy and people and being anxious about everything pertaining to the salvation of souls entrusted to my care, I was at a loss as to what and how to say. Then I chanced upon the instruction of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, which Your Holiness had once drafted and signed as its Secretary, namely, the Instruction to Bishops concerning the manner of preparing a report about the situation of their Churches, which they have to submit to the same Sacred Congregation on the occasion of the Ad Limina Visit. This instruction freed me from all solicitude and anxiety as it both indicates and prescribes the most correct, the safest, and the best way to be followed. It only bids me to do my best not to deviate from it. Hence I shall do most willingly what! have been asked.
Thus while submitting willingly to authority, I am at the same time serving truth.... [omissis]
About the People
Once I was under the impression that the number of Christians in this diocese was almost immense. But the recent census, taken at my order by the parish priests and missionaries has disabused me of my error. According to this census they are not much more than one hundred and twenty thousand. About their manners and piety there is hardly anything special to be mentioned beyond what is ordinary and obvious. Hence, leaving out the rest, I shall report only their past and present conduct in preserving and defending the faith. Thus I shall expound the present state of religion.
Let me begin with the remotest parts [of the diocese], namely the Islands. In the year 1746 the King of Kandy, after plundering and destroying the churches, captured ten missionaries. He put them in chains for a few days and then expelled them from his kingdom, after threatening with capital punishment if any of them dared to step again into his kingdom in the future. The successor of the tyrant readmitted them in his fourth year, but soon after their return, imitating the impiety of his predecessor, he ordered the missionaries to leave again. Deprived of their pastors and denied nourishment, what will the sheep do among wolves? What wonder, then, if many perished or were scattered by the wolves or wandered and fell into precipices? Rather what is to be regarded as wonderful is that many of these unfortunate Christians repair to the missionaries outside the kingdom, making a journey of four, five, or sometimes twelve days, in order to be strengthened by the sacraments. Still more wonderful is the fact that a woman, who was already fagged out, set out with the others. Though unable to keep up with her companions owing to age, fatigue and trembling with a serious illness that overtook her unexpectedly she did not give up her journey. Making her way slowly, after a month, she finally reached the place of the missionary. She sought no other reward for so great a labour than to have the opportunity to purify her soul from her sins and to be refreshed by the heavenly bread.
Catholics living in the places under the control of the Dutch have suffered very much from them for refusing
to attend the sermons of the heretical ministers,
to celebrate marriages before them,
to offer their children to be baptized by them,
to send their children to their school to become imbued with their errors, and to do many other things of this kind which they are ordered to do through occasional laws and edicts.
Not a few were punished with fines and with imprisonment, others were exiled. Some were condemned to public labour, which they had to do bound in chains. Three were sent away to an island bordering on Tuticorin and ordered to serve in the same manner. One of them died there after four months; the other two endured unwaveringly the cruel martyrdom for five years. Professing openly their faith and religion, all the Catholics gathered before the magistrates in several places. Their request was to be allowed to live as Catholics or to leave the country. They said that they were subjects of the Dutch state and would obey it in all matters except what concerned their religion and their soul. In these matters it was not negotiable that they would obey God rather than men.
The firmness of these Catholics restrained the heretics for some time. The Governor of Colombo promised that nobody would be harassed thereafter on account of religion. He immediately released some from their chains, gave hope that others would be released soon after. But he did not stand by his promises altogether. Not all those who are in chains have yet been set free nor has freedom been granted fully to Catholics.
In the continent, all along the sea coast Christians both of the Fishery Coast and of Travancore have been enjoying full peace and tranquility from ancient times. This peace and tranquility was interrupted indeed at Angenga at Bisseldi, but soon restored, as I have mentioned above. Those living in the inland had been enjoying the same peace and tranquility for a long time. Last year there was some trouble in the district of Kamanayakkanpatti. However, soon everything was restored to the former condition, although not without some serious disturbance to a few merchants. The gentiles brought a high priest of their caste, I do not know from where; and this priest in order to highlight their caste tried to recall these merchants to the idolatry which they had previously given up. But in the Kingdom of Travancore (not in the coastal areas but only in the inlands belonging to the Neman Mission), a terrible storm broke out in the year 1749. Not a few escaped the danger in time. Those who could not or did not want to flee were all caught, and indeed a few were not so unwilling as to present themselves spontaneously. There were those who, as soon as they were arrested, denied their faith impiously, not from the heart but only outwardly, in order to escape imminent death. This was shown clearly enough when the anger of the king subsided to some extent, and they requested very earnestly to be readmitted into the Church. Some others endured for a long time imprisonment and tortures, offering most willingly their bodies unto death in order to avoid having to worship idols. But while the rest were at last set free, only one bravely reached the palm of martyrdom. His name in Tamil is Devasagayam. The Tamil Christians are used to assume the name of Devasagayam for Lazarus. For the name Devasagayam, composed of two words, means literally Dei adjutorium when rendered into Latin [that is, "God's help," in Greek Lazaros from Hebrew Eleazar, "God has helped"], the equivalent of Lazar. By the same token the Tamil Christians could use the name Devasagayam for Eleazar. I would certainly call him Eleazar rather than Lazarus, because like that most venerable old man Devasagayam embraced a most glorious death rather than a detestable life and willingly faced punishment and died readily and courageously for the sake of the most weighty and most holy laws, leaving behind the memory of his death as an example of virtue and fortitude not only to the young but to the whole people.
Nilam (for this was his name before he received that new name of Devasagayam in baptism as a new man) was born in the kingdom of Travancore. He belonged to the caste of the Nayars, which stands next to that of the Brahmins in nobility. To this caste belong almost all the prominent people and the king himself and the royal family. Devasagayam was in the military career as a soldier. As a soldier he was energetic, dear to the leaders, by no means unknown to the king, when at thirty years of age he chose to be enrolled in the Christian militia. Initiated by baptism he soon began to invite and exhort others to receive it. This was not without fruit, for it is said that he converted some to faith in Christ. He did convert his wife, in spite of the vain attempts made by her mother-in-law, who left no stone unturned to keep her stand fast in her errors.
But while Devasagayam was leading others to Christ, a Brahmin, who was very powerful in the kingdom and very close to the king, was trying with all his might to turn him away from Christ. This was done repeatedly through arguments, advice and promises. Finally it came to threats, the Brahmin asserting that he would see to it that he either put an end to his obstinacy or paid with his life. Without any hesitation he replied that the Brahmin could do whatever he liked, but he had better know that first he should relinquish his Brahminic superstition rather than he himself disavow the faith of Christ. Another Brahmin, the Chief Minister of the king, issued the threat that Christians were to be rallied round and made either to renounce Christ or to leave the country because they despised the gods, and in particular they trampled under foot the idol of the Pulayar. With the same firmness Devasagayam readily declared to him that, if it was decreed to be hard on the Christians, then the one to start with was close at hand; for he was a Christian, and he would most readily undergo exile or even die for Christ.
And indeed the start was made with him soon enough.
The Brahmins incited the king against the Christians. Devasagayam was the first to be arrested and put in a very narrow prison on the 23rd of February. On the following day he was condemned to death by the king and forthwith dragged to be tortured. He was going to face torture so full of joy that all eyes were on him and all hearts were moved with admiration. But he was summoned again by a fresh order of the king as he was already nearing the place of death. The order was that he was to be taken around through the more important and more populous towns of the kingdom for his ignominy. This was done for sixteen consecutive days. He was
pushed around as if he was being taken to daily death. The sole difference from others condemned to capital punishment was that he was not making his way by walking straight on foot, but was going around seated on a buffalo. This is the ultimate kind of mockery in this place. The other items were simply the same:
hands tied behind the back,
neck bound around with a garland of [Erukku] flowers, custody by the constables and soldiers,
the executioner holding in his left hand the end of the rope by which the prisoner was bound, and in his right hand a sharp and up-lifted sword,
the continuous beating of the drum, summoning the people by sounding the funeral call.
So large was the crowd of people that followed that Devasagayam once asked the constables jokingly whether they had ever seen a man whom the king wanted to honour, who was escorted on a horse or on a carrier couch with such a solemn parade and with so great a multitude in the train. Indeed it seemed that the invincible soldier of Christ was being led around in solemn procession. The ignominy so grievous and so prolonged did not vex him as much as it did redound to the triumph of faith through patience, joy, and praises of the divine Law.
When the parade was over he was handed over in custody first to the executioner, as is usual here, then to the soldiers. And after having been kept in the house of the executioner for a few days, he was taken to some other places twice. Left under the open sky, exposed to the burning sun, heavy rains, very cold north wind, and sometimes almost submerged in the mud, he endured very grievous sufferings until moved by pity the guards themselves constructed there a small hut made of palm leaves, so that he could be protected a little from the inclemency of the weather. For seven months he lay under a tree, hugging the tree itself with his legs bound in chains and tied to the tree with fetters, so that he could not move about or stand up or recline on the side, but was forced to sit up or to lie down on the back. After seven months he was loosed from the tree, but not from the fetters, with which he was kept bound till his death. In the midst of so many sufferings his only sorrow was the delay of death, the only fear that he might lose the crown of martyrdom. Far from requesting or desiring to be set free from the chains, he did not allow the guards to remove his fetters as they wanted to do when he was suffering from fever. And when one of those guards took the initiative to give him the chance to escape, he simply refused.
In chains he led a life worthy of a candidate for martyrdom. Every day morning and night he spent some time for the contemplation of heavenly things; and often during the day, with mind raised to God, he would pray briefly. Often he read books of piety, especially the lives of saints, with a clear voice, so that it benefited the bystanders also. In addition to the fast prescribed by the Church to all Christians, he fasted especially on Fridays and Saturdays. Thus he used to pay the tribute of this homage to the dying Christ and to the Divine Mother. Why may I not then consider that he was rewarded with the honour of a death for Christ in between those two days? that is, he died towards the middle of the night dividing both days, so that it is not possible to decide to which of the two is to be attributed the glory of this martyrdom.
He was always most obedient to priests, especially to his missionary, whom he used to consult whenever possible through messengers or letters. And he carried out his directions and counsels very promptly. Only thrice could a priest make his way to him at the dead of night. It is doubtful whose was the greater joy, the priest's or the prisoner's. The priest had the consolation of seeing a living martyr, who in turn was glad to be able to confess his recurring sins with compunction and be finally refreshed and strengthened by the most holy Eucharist. Once a priest brought it secretly and he received it with great piety and devotion. He would have done so oftener if he could, as he used to do before his arrest.
While access to him was very difficult for priests, it was easy for others. He used to welcome all most courteously in order to be of benefit to all. He would exhort the Christians to observe the laws of God and to persevere in faith. Many of them had denied the faith and he persuaded them to repent. Some of them were more than normally timid and he gave them courage and persuaded them to approach the Church showing themselves to be Christians. He proclaimed Christ to non-Christians not only with reason but mostly by deeds, that is, with so many examples of patience, constancy and all the other virtues he made known to them the truth and holiness of the Christian religion. There were not wanting those who acknowledged it and openly professed it, and showed their desire to receive baptism, even telling so to the Fathers.
His life style coupled with the fame of miracles, which were reportedly worked in him and through him in great numbers, procured for him such veneration, that nothing was more glorious at that time on the lips of all than the name of Devasagayam. Non-Christians not less than Christians came in throngs from everywhere to see him and hear him. The guards did not hinder those who came to him; indeed, they themselves are not to be listed last among his venerators. Finally a new Master of the guards was appointed who could not put up with it and forbade that no one should speak to the prisoner or approach him. Seeing that this prohibition was to no avail, he referred the matter to the king, from whom soon he received orders to see to it that the man was secretly killed.
A little before midnight between 14 and 15 January 1752, he was awakened by some soldiers, as though he was summoned to the Master of the guards. He told them to stop the pretence, that he knew why and where he was being called. With God's help, they were to get going. And he forthwith started to walk. But as the fetters hindered his step, he was carried by hand by the soldiers to the foot of the nearby mountain. There he asked for some time. He was allowed to pray on bended knees for about a quarter of an hour commending himself to God. Then he told the soldiers that he had done his duty, and awaited his death undauntedly. He was then shot by the soldiers. Five leaden bullets hit him. For the last time he uttered the very familiar words "Jesus, save me" and surrendered his blessed soul to God.
He had spent in fetters three years minus just for forty days. It was the fortieth year of his life, the seventh year of his Christian life. The fetters were removed from his body and were bought by the Fathers of the Society for a sum of money. The body was castaway into the forest to be torn up by wild beasts. The Fathers spared no diligence to get hold of the body, but in vain, because neither they could approach the place, nor did any of the Christians dare to do so. All were afraid of the royal anger and of the vigilance of the soldiers who were tarrying close by. Here it is forbidden to bury the bodies of those who have been executed or to protect them howsoever from wild beasts. At last on the fifth day the bones were found, already bare of flesh. The tongue was lying apart from the bones, whole, although not incorrupt. It is preserved separately. The bones were gathered diligently and buried in the ground in the famous church of Saint Francis Xavier in Kottar. Over the tomb a stone was laid to tell posterity about the treasure hidden beneath.
After the martyrdom of Devasagayam one could have believed that the storm of persecution had been laid. Although some occasional disturbance was caused by one or other minister, this was felt to have been done without the king's authorization and not so much for hatred of faith as for the craving for money. But there was a recurrence in last July when not a few were again arrested. Out of these, seven are still detained in chains; the rest have been released. One does not know what is going to be their lot. At any rate they are resolved to resist unto blood and to subordinate everything to faith and soul. Perhaps at this time also inspired by the example of Eleazar the seven will triumph as invincible fighters against Antiochus......... [omissis]
Angengo, + Clemens Joseph
15 November 1756 Bishop of Cochin
Note: The words within square brackets have been added by the translators for the sake of clarity.
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