Jesuit priest, missionary in the Tamil country, martyr of Oriyur · Feast: 4 February
Open in the Daily Word app“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25
John de Britto was born in Lisbon, Portugal, on 1 March 1647, into a noble family, and was brought up at the royal court. As a boy he was gravely ill, and his mother prayed for his recovery through St Francis Xavier. He entered the Society of Jesus in December 1662, was ordained priest in 1673, and in that same year sailed for India, reaching Goa in September. Older Jesuit accounts say that he then spent some time at the Jesuit house at Ambalakkad near Kodungallur in present-day Kerala, before crossing the mountains on foot to the Madurai mission in the Tamil country.
The Madurai mission had been shaped by Roberto de Nobili, who sought to present the Gospel in a way that Tamil people could recognise. John learned Tamil well and lived as a pandaraswami, an Indian holy man: he dressed in a simple saffron robe, ate no meat and walked barefoot through forests and villages. He became known as Arul Anandar, and he worked among people of many castes, including the poorest. He lived in the Kaveri delta and in the Marava country, in present-day Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga, baptising many and training catechists to carry on the work.
In the 1680s he was arrested in the Marava country with his catechists, chained, tortured and finally expelled. Called back to Europe on the business of his province, he reached Lisbon about 1687. The king and the court wanted him to stay, and he is reported to have declined even an appointment as archbishop of Cranganore. He chose to return to India instead, and came back to the Tamil country around 1690 or 1691.
He went back to the Marava country, where a local prince, known in the accounts as Tadiya Thevan, sought baptism after an illness. John told him that a Christian may have only one wife, and the prince sent away his other wives. One of them, a niece of the ruler of Marava, complained to her uncle, and the missionary was arrested early in 1693. He was taken to Ramanathapuram and then to Oriyur, and there he was beheaded, on the date generally kept as 4 February 1693. His body was mutilated and left on a stake. He was beatified by Pope Pius IX and canonised by Pope Pius XII on 22 June 1947. A great shrine stands at Oriyur, where Christians and people of other faiths come to pray.
He took on the language and the simple life of those he served, without changing the faith.
Court and honour were offered to him, and he went back to the poor and to danger.
He died because he taught the truth of Christian marriage.
Lay people suffered and worked with him and carried the Gospel with him.
Back in Portugal, John was urged by the court to remain, and he is said to have refused both comfort and high office. He returned to the land from which he had been expelled, knowing what he would probably face there.
When the prince asked for baptism, John could have looked the other way for the sake of a powerful convert. He did not. The dismissal of the prince's other wives brought about the complaint that led to John's death.
People at Oriyur say that the sand on the mound where he died turned red from his blood and has stayed red. Pilgrims still carry some of it home.
I await death, and I await it with impatience. It has always been the object of my prayers.
St John de Britto, letter to his superior before his death, 1693, in substance
He gave up home and rank for Christ (Matthew 16:25).
He walked and lived as the people he served.
He would not compromise the teaching on marriage.
Dear friends, St John de Britto could have lived comfortably at a royal court in Portugal. Instead he walked barefoot through the villages of the Tamil country, wore the simple robe of an Indian holy man, and spoke Tamil so well that people called him Arul Anandar. He belongs to the story of the faith in our land. His blood was shed on Indian soil, at Oriyur.
Jesus says: those who lose their life for my sake will find it (Matthew 16:25). John lived these words twice. He was expelled from the Marava country after chains and torture, and when he reached Lisbon, honours awaited him there. He could have stayed with an easy conscience, having suffered much already. He chose to go back, for he loved those people more than his own safety.
He was finally killed because of the truth about marriage. A prince wished to be a Christian, and John told him that a Christian husband has one wife. This cost him his life. In our time too, faithfulness in marriage may cost something. Let us thank God for husbands and wives who remain faithful, and for pastors who teach this truth with courage and with mercy.
When we come to the Holy Mass / Holy Qurbana today, let us remember that this faith was handed on to us at great cost, by missionaries and by catechists whose names we do not know. Let us ask St John de Britto to give us his love for the poor, his respect for every people and culture, and his readiness to pay the price of the truth. Amen.
Lord God, you gave St John de Britto courage to leave all things and to shed his blood for you in our land. Through his prayers, make us faithful to the truth of the Gospel and generous in bringing it to all people, with humility and love. Amen.