DEVASAHAYAM PILLAI

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Context

• Devasahayam Pillai, who embraced Christianity in the 18th century, was declared a saint by Pope Francis at the Vatican, becoming the first Indian layman to be canonised.

About Devasahayam Pillai

• Devasahayam was born on April 23, 1712, in Nattalam village in Kanyakumari district, and went on to serve in the court of Marthanda Varma of Travancore.
• After meeting a Dutch naval commander at the court, Devasahayam was baptised in 1745, and assumed the name ‘Lazarus’, meaning ‘God is my help’.
• His conversion did not go well with the heads of his native religion. False charges of treason and espionage were brought against him and he was divested of his post in the royal administration.
• While preaching, he particularly insisted on the equality of all people, despite caste differences”, which aroused the hatred of the higher classes, and he was arrested in 1749.
• On January 14, 1752, Devasahayam was shot dead in the Aralvaimozhy forest.
• He is widely considered a martyr, and his mortal remains were interred inside what is now Saint Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Kottar, Nagercoil.
• While clearing Devasahayam for sainthood in 2020, the Vatican dropped ‘Pillai’ from his name, and referred to him as “Blessed Devasahayam”.

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