How Devasahayam Pillai became a saint
On Sunday, Pope Francis announced an Indian layman (not a member of the Catholic clergy) as a saint in a canonisation ceremony at the Vatican. The man is Devasahayam Pillai. He is the first Indian layman to be honoured with sainthood. In the Christian community, a saint is a pious individual of the Catholic faith who has led a life of heroic virtues.
How does one become a saint?
We all know that it is a great honour to be conferred the title of a saint. But very few of us are know that a five-step process has to be followed in order to declare someone as a saint. Let’s take a look at them.
- To nominate a person for sainthood, there needs to be a minimum waiting period of five years following his death, in order to evaluate the case objectively. However, this waiting period can be waived by the Pope in exceptional cases where there’s a confirmation of that person’s holiness.
- Once the five-year period is over or a waiver is approved by the Pope, the Bishop of the Church where the deceased person used to reside, served and died needs to cultivate whether he led a holy life or not. Once approved, this is where the person is declared as a ‘loyal servant of God.’
- At this stage, a global Catholic group called The Congregation for the Causes of Saints takes over and further scrutinises the individual’s holy path and contributions. They aim to understand whether the person has motivated others towards Christianity.
- The Congregation then passes on their research to the Pope who in turn investigates whether the person has a miracle associated with his life, to be regarded as ‘Blessed.’ This process is called beatification where it is analysed whether the individual is really in heaven and can act as the mediator between God and humanity. However, a martyr who died for his faith is often exempted from this criterion and is directly declared as ‘Blessed.’
- Once approved, the person needs to be officially declared as a saint during a canonisation ceremony (the final step towards sainthood) held at the Vatican City. To reach this stage, a beatified martyr needs to have a second miracle associated to him. However, a martyr is exempted of this criterion.
Who was Devasahayam Pillai?
On 23rd April 1712, Devasahayam Pillai was born in a Hindu family in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. In 1729, when Travancore gained a new rule in the hands of Marthanda Varma (popularly known as the “Maker of Modern Travancore”), Pillai travelled from his hometown to the ruler’s court and offered his services. While serving here, Pillai encountered a Dutch naval commander. It is from him that he started gaining interest in Christianity. In 1745, Pillai voluntarily got baptised and took the name ‘Lazarus’ which literally means ‘God is my help.’
After he got converted into Christianity, Pillai had to go through really tough times. Unfortunately, he was falsely accused of treason and espionage that forced him to resign from his administrative post at the royal court of Varma. In fact, in 1749, when he continued to embrace Christianity even after repeated threats from various quarters, Pillai was imprisoned. Throughout his life, this devout Christan continued to preach equality. Unfortunately, on 14th January 1752, he was assassinated. Since then, he is regarded as a martyr.
Pillai’s journey to sainthood
In the year 2004, the Bishop of Kottar from Tamil Nadu’s Bishops’ Council, in collaboration with the Conference of Catholic Bishops, India, uncovered the story of Pillai’s exemplary life and his contribution to the Indian Christian community. After this, he was recommended for beatification. However, due to the delay in Vatican’s decision, in 2012, the Bishop of Kottar declared him as a ‘blessed’ saint, on the occasion of Pillai’s 300th birth anniversary.
Incidentally, on the same day, during his mid-day prayers, the then Pope Benedict XVI of Vatican described Pillai as a ‘faithful layman’ and pleaded the global Christian community to celebrate him and his contributions to Christianity. Two years later, the newly coronated Pope Francis, following extensive research by the Vatican, church nominated Pillai for canonisation. Finally, in February 2020, he was approved for sainthood, for wholeheartedly embracing Christianity in the face of extreme hardships and becoming a martyr in the process. Yesterday, on 15th May 2022, Pillai’s canonisation was officially fulfilled.