0204 John deBritto, S.J. 1693

Jack and Thom,
Good morning, I love you
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And yet another John. This one a Jesuit. And not an English Martyr.



February 4

John DeBritto, S.J. b. 1647 d. 2/11/1693


John deBritto was born in Lisbon. John deBritto was dedicated at birth to St. Francis Xavier. It does matter for whom you are named. It does matter to whom your parents dedicate you. It is important for you to be enmeshed in the family of clan and faith. You were not given to your parents by accident.

John deBritto was brought up in court. He was a noble friend of King Pedro. How’s your Western History circa 17th c.? The Court at Lisbon was riding high. So was the Church. So was the Society of Jesus. Look it up.

John deBritto entered the Society of Jesus in 1662, at fifteen. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I’d been accepted into the junior seminary after junior high school. Would it have been better to have been in Catholic NYC rather than protestant Portland ME at that time? Would I have learned the life of obedience sooner? Have I learned it yet?

In September 1673, John deBritto reached Goa. You can be sure that the biography of this Jesuit has all the details of his progression through vows and the selection of his mission field. He was following in the foot steps of the saint to whom he was dedicated.

Before taking up his work he spent thirty days in the Exercises of St. Ignatius. Before he finished the initial phase of his novitiate he had his first thirty days retreat. The second time Jesuits typically do the full Exercises is at the beginning of the year of their ordination. It would make sense for missionaries to undertake this renewal before launching into their new world. I recommend that you, too, avail yourself of the Spiritual Exercises. The full thirty days of course are best. The shorter versions are also inspirational.

John DeBritto apparently entered the Kshatriyas, a noble caste. The Jesuits were very much in accord with St Patrick’s approach to missionary work. Bring our faith and religion to the people to whom we are proselytizing. Be respectful of the culture. Communicate in the ways of the people to whom we are preaching. Oh by the way, going top down, converting the nobility is more efficient, never mind offering better accommodations.

John DeBritto’s dress was yellow cotton; he abstained from every kind of animal food and from wine. Blend in for the people. And stand out for Christ.

Early in 1674, John DeBritto traversed the Ghauts on foot and reached Colei in the Cauvery Delta, where he perfected himself in the language. I told you that the Jesuits had all the details. They make it easy for the encyclopedia to give us some flavor to what was the lives of our saints. Are you willing, like John DeBritto, to cross mountains, to walk barefoot, to bring our faith to those for whom you are sent to proselytize? E.g., should you be so blessed, your own children?

In 1684 John DeBritto was imprisoned in Marava, and, though freed by the king, he was expelled from the country. See, it paid off, starting off with the nobles. He had a friend in Court. Always handy.

In 1688 John DeBritto was sent to Europe as deputy to the triennial Congregation of Procurators. Resisting urgent attempts to keep him in Portugal, and refusing the Archbishopric of Cranganore, he returned in 1691 to the borders of Madura and Marava. Sounds like a Jesuit to me. The special vows of obedience don’t inure to the bishops; sometimes not even to the Pope or their own superiors. Still, John DeBritto would not have gone anywhere qua Jesuit without the permission of his superiors, whether willingly given or reluctantly.

Having converted Teriadeven, a Maravese prince. John DeBritto required him to dismiss all his wives but one. Among them was a niece of the king, who took up her quarrel and began a general persecution. John DeBritto and others were taken and carried to the capital, Ramnad, the Brahmins clamouring for his death. Thence he was led to Oreiour, some thirty miles northward along the coast, where his head was struck off, 11 February, 1693.

Think John the Baptist? Some stories are perennial. We assimilate our religion to the culture of the time and place. AND, there are absolutes, there is Truth, we have Right and Wrong. At some point, to be Catholic is to be obedient even to those Laws of God with which we wish to disagree or ignore, those rules of Church with which we take personal issue. Be we king or pauper, He is Lord, Father, and the Truth and the Way and the Life. Get with the program. Don’t lose your head over it; but if you must, John DeBritto is a story to remember.

John DeBritto led many to conversion during his life, established many stations, and was famous for his miracles before and after his death. He was beatified by Pius IX, 21, August, 1853. Some punchline to a life, huh? What will be yours?

I love you,
Dad
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