Saint Lazarus Devasahayam:

Feast day : 14 January

Lazarus Devasahayam, popularly known as Devasahayam Pillai, convert and martyr is the first Indian lay Catholic to be canonized by the Holy Pope. He lived during the period 1712 – 1752 and was the Dewan of the royal court of Marthanda Varma, King of the erstwhile Travancore. He was born and raised a Hindu of the Nair caste but later converted to Christianity after learning more about the Christian faith from his Dutch friend De Lannoy who was the then Commander of the Travancore army. His conversion to Christianity and subsequent preaching invited the ire of the feudal lords, Brahmin priests, royal family members and other members of his community. They conspired against him and falsely accused him of treason and sharing secrets with enemy states and Europeans. He was dismissed from his royal duties, imprisoned and brutally tortured before he achieved his glorious martyrdom on 14 January 1752 when he was shot dead. He was beatified on 2 December 2012 and canonized on 15 May 2022 by Pope Francis.


Early Life:

Blessed Devasahayam Pillai was born into an affluent Hindu family at Nattalam in the present-day Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu on 23 April 1712. He was named Neelakanda Pillai at birth. His father Vasudevan Namboodiri, served as a priest at Sri Adi Kesava Perumal temple in Thiruvattar, Tamil Nadu. He was raised to be a devout Hindu, practising their customs and religious practices. At a young age he began serving in the royal palace of Maharaja Marthanda Varma, King of Travancore. Seeing his capabilities, he was soon promoted to the powerful and influential position of the Dewan of Travancore. As the Dewan, he was in charge of the state of affairs of the entire Kingdom.

Conversion to Christianity:

During this time, in 1741, the Dutch army under the command of Captain Eustachius De Lannoy, a naval commander, launched an expedition to capture the port of Colachel which was under the control of the King of Travancore. In the battle that followed, the Dutch army was defeated and Captain De Lannoy and a few of his surviving men were taken prisoners. The king later pardoned them and ordered them to serve in the Travancore army. De Lannoy soon won the trust of the King and became the Commander of the Travancore armed forces and won several battles and territories for the King. It was during this time that Neelakanda Pillai and De Lannoy became acquainted with each other. Neelakanda Pillai was drawn to the Christian faith of De Lannoy and keenly learned more about Christianity from him. He converted to Christianity in 1745 taking the name Lazarus or Devasahayam meaning ‘God is my help’. He was baptised under the Roman Catholic Latin rite church at Vadakkankulam, Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu by a Jesuit priest. His wife also converted to Christianity and it is believed that a few of his close relatives also later converted to Christianity. He dedicated four years of his life to preaching the Gospel. While preaching, he particularly insisted on the equality of all people, despite caste differences. This aroused the hatred of the higher classes, and he was arrested in 1749.

Persecutions:

The Brahmin chief priests, feudal lords and members of the royal family and Nair community conspired together and brought false charges against him. He was dismissed from all his duties at the royal court and accused of treason and sharing state secrets to Europeans and enemy states. He was arrested and imprisoned for three years during which he was severely tortured. His prison cell was as narrow as an oven. In 1752, a royal order was initially passed to execute him. Later it was altered to deport him from Travancore, into the Pandya country, at Aralvaimozhy. The order also contained instructions for taking him on a buffalo back to the Aralvaimozhy border and subjecting him to a series of torture by ten different karyakkars.

On his journey from the Padmanabhapuram Palace to Aralvaimozhy he was paraded through the crowded streets of Travancore on a buffalo back, sitting backwards as was the custom with treating criminals at that time. This was done to humiliate him. The journey took a few days and every day he was beaten eighty stripes. His nose and wounds were smeared with pepper and he was mercilessly exposed to the sun and given stale water to drink.

It is believed that he prayed on the way and whilst halting at Puliyoorkurichi, when he was refused good water to drink he knelt down to pray and a spring of water gushed forth from the rock to quench his thirst. The water hole is still found in the compound of a church that was later built at the site. It is also believed that the leaves of the Neem tree to which he was tied in the village of Peruvilai cured illnesses of sick people in the village. He was let off in the forests near Aralvaimozhy.

Death and Sainthood:

However his enemies were keen on executing him. It is believed that soldiers were sent into the forest to kill him. However, when they approached him, they were unable to shoot at him. Saint Devasahayam took the gun from them and blessed it and returned it back to the soldiers giving them permission to shoot him if they wished to. The soldiers took the gun and fired at him. Thus he attained his glorious martyrdom on January 14 1752. The soldiers threw his body near the foothills at Kattadimalai. Later his sacred remains were taken to the church in Kottar and buried. His sacred remains today are kept at the St. Xavier’ Church in Kottar. It is a pilgrim site where thousands of people seek his intercession in their needs and have testified to several miracles.

Devasahayam Pillai is the first lay person from India to be canonized by the Catholic Church. He was declared a Martyr and Blessed on 2 December 2012, at a solemn ceremony held in the Diocese of Kottar at Carmel Higher Secondary School Grounds, Nagercoil, near the place of his burial. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Angelo Cardinal Amato presided at the function as Delegate of Pope Benedict XVI. On 21 February 2020, Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Devasahayam thereby clearing his way to canonization. Today, May 15 20222, he was canonized by Pope Francis at a solemn ceremony held at Vatican.