The end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were times of turmoil and confusion in the Indian sub-continent for the reason of politics. India was fighting for its independence from the British. Many people suffered in various ways in seeking their identities and survival. It was verily true of the people of southern Tamil Nadu who had their roots or connections in Sri Lanka.
Tuticorin (Thuthukudi), a rich port-city having a considerable amount of Christian presence from the earliest times after the arrival of the Portuguese in India, happens to be the geographical arena wherein the history of our great personality begins. A historical note presents that the Pereira family was definitely a well- known and one of the wealthiest families of that time .
Surprisingly it happened to be the same day, that was 11th of February 1854, on which the great Saint John de Britto was declared a martyr, that Augustine was born as the first born in Pereira family to Mr. Ignatius Pereira and Mrs. Michaelammal. It was the same year in which Mother Mary also was declared as “Immaculate conception” .
Though there are no written sources regarding his childhood and school days, many approve that the family gave him a solid spiritual formation right from the beginning. His mother used to take him to the church whenever she visited it. Augustine happened to be her unique companion whenever she visited the Repartrice Convent . This childhood experience was the source of inspiration toward the spiritual life that he would lead later. But at the same time one should also remember that the early life of Pereira was not so smooth. For, the expectation of the family, particularly of his father, was different from what he decided to be.
During this period (1871-72) Rev. Fr. Julius Larmey was appointed parish priest of Tuticorin. Obviously there developed an amicable relationship between him and the Pereira family. Later Rev. Fr. Larmey would become the key person to decide the life of Augustine.
Augustine finished his primary and higher education in Tuticorin itself. Ignatius, his father, thought that to be the right age in the life of his son to be introduced into the domestic business. Hence he sent him to Colombo. But it was a wrong calculation of Mr. Ignatius. Augustine did not resist the formation even for a few weeks and was sent back to Tuticorin. The fact had highly irritated his father Ignatius. Looking for a good solution for the life of his son, Augustine was taken to Rev. Fr. Larmey.
Fr. Larmey who already knew the inner inclinations of Augustine received him and kept him under his custody. The young man accepted the new situation enthusiastically and began a new life that would be coherent with his personal convictions and feelings. Thus he he became a collaborator in the works of Fr. Larmey in his parish.
After two years of service as parish priest Fr. Larmey was transferred to St. Josephe’s College, Nagappattinam in the year 1873. Augustine went with him without even getting permission from his parents. There Fr. Larmey put him in the school to continue his college studies . The head of the institution found in him a trustworthy, responsible person and made him the assistant prefect of the boarding .
The new responsibility of Fr. Larmey lasted only for two years. In 1875 he was again transferred. This time it was to Panjampatti , a poor undeveloped village at the outskirts of Dindigul town . As he was in dire need of a faithful assistant in his work, Augustine presented himself for a new venture in the year 1876. Despite the travel difficulties, he reached Vellodu station in a train and took to his feet to finish the rest of his journey asking direction to go to Panjampatti.
Augustine was rather dismayed, one should say, on seeing the condition of the people. The basic Christian faith of the people had largely been disturbed because of the presence of the separated brothers and the Goan Missionaries. He saw only a mass of disinterested Christians who compromised themselves with a number of local Hindu customs and practices. In a parish of thousands of people, only a group of countable persons attended Sunday Eucharistic celebrations. His conversations with the common people made him realize that the reason for all this was their ignorance of faith. This happens to be also the awakening moment in the life of Augustine in responding to the call from the Almighty .
Thus everything was set. They, Fr. Larmey and Augustine, began to work together in the vineyard of the Lord to make it yield abundant fruit. It was for twenty five long years they worked together. God blessed their work. Soon Panjampatti was declared the best parish in the diocese of Trichy. Fr. James Plachard called Panjampatti “a mini-Rome”. There were new converts to Catholicism and a new way of living bloomed in the parish.
Augustine was a good teacher and a preacher. His simple mode of preaching attracted the people and made them understand even difficult concepts. The zeal for preaching as a true missionary made him go out to villages to spend three to four days in a week . There he used to preach the youngsters during the day time and the elders in the evenings. He was tireless in doing this work. It was like a Spiritual retreat to the people of these villages. At the end of the week Fr. Larmey would come to celebrate the Holy Eucharist. This, in fact, brought Augustine so much of respect and reverence in the midst of the people. They literally began to love him for his sacrifice and tireless service.
Though the mission work went on well, it was not so easy to handle the elderly people. Both Fr. Larmey and Augustine realized that it was necessary to concentrate on the little ones. Given the financial situation was so poor, Fr. Larmey obtained helps from friends in abroad. They put up schools for children and gave them a good catholic education. Seeing their effort in the field of education government began to give subsidy. There were twenty five schools run with the government aid of Rs. 2079/. The children who studied in the schools were taught catechism regularly .
The schools that were under the supervision of the Goan missionaries , with a special accord between Rome and the Portuguese government, came under the supervision of the Jesuit missionaries. Panjampatti was one among them. This gave great joy to our missionaries giving them total freedom in their the zealous work.
Together with preaching Augustine served also as a physician to many. He did not separate here people as Christians and non-Christians. The service was rendered to all equally. Often sick people, particularly the one at the point of death, sought the help of Augustine. Thus he was able to gain more souls for Christ.
The good works of Augustine naturally attracted many people to surround him. Taken up by his life example, some young women wanted to follow him in all what he did. They were ready to sacrifice their life and virginity for the sake of the service of the Lord. They approached Fr. Larmey for his counsel. He, seeing that he could really make use of these young women for uplifting the parish, directed them towards Augustine. For, he knew well that he cannot do anything without the help of Augustine. But things were not that easy as expected.
Being very poor and illiterate women, these young ladies could not be sent to any other existing congregation. They were so poor that they could not afford to pay the dowry expected from them. Providentially help came through Fr. Chinnappan, the assistant parish priest. He was ready to give Augustine a sum of Rs. 300/ from selling goats to help the volunteers in the year 1896. In addition, Mr. Francis Xavier, one of the brothers of Augustine helped him with a large sum of money . Augustine used that money for the construction of a house to these volunteers. It is also true that Augustine obtained helps from one of his nephew Ignatius Xavier Pereira . Thus “the Little House of the Immaculate” was built for the “Beates”.
All these years Augustine served in the parish of Panjampatti under Fr. Larmey. Without even telling him, Fr. Larmey was preparing him spiritually and mentally to receive the Holy Orders . For, he desired to see Augustine a priest for a very long time, i.e. from the time he saw Fr. Chinnappan as his assistant parish priest. But on the contrary, due to his humility, Augustine thought that he is not worthy of becoming a priest. He wanted to spend the rest of his life only in teaching catechism to the people of Panjampatti. In his present condition he thought that he could do the menial works much better. Also he thought that by becoming a priest, he may have to abandon the good work that he has taken up in preparing the Beates sisters .
With all his rich apostolic qualities, Augustine was presented by Fr. Larmey to Mgr. Barthe S.J. to ordain him a priest. On his visit to India (18-11-1897 to 25-07-1898), Rev. Fr. Sceorraille, the than Provincial Superior of Toulous province, shared the same opinion of Fr. Larmey. For, he had heard already about the exemplary life of Augustine through Fr. Larmey. As the proposal had a positive reply from Fr. Sceorraille, Fr. Larmey conveyed it to Bishop. Barthe. The Bishop readily accepted the proposal .
The positive reply that he got from the Bishop brought immense joy to Fr. Larmey. Right away he started taking the necessary steps that were needed in promoting Augustine to priesthood. He began to teach him grammatical Latin and made visits to Trichy to finalise Augustine’s entry into the Seminary for his theological studies.
Though the news of Augustine’s departure brought much sadness in the midst of the people of Panjampatti, the reason for his departure brought joy to everyone. Thus in 1899 he left for Trichy and stayed in the Bishop’s house for a while. In November he was given the cassock, the official clergy dress with which he visited Panjampatti. In a month’s time he had to go back to Trichy to continue his further intellectual formation.
Having overcome the Moral Theology examination, he was given the four minor orders on 23rd December 1899. On 27th December he was made sub-deacon and on the following day 28th December 1899 he was made a deacon at the Cathedral Church of Trichy diocese. He returned to Panjampatti this time as a deacon. Subsequently, on 14th January 1900 Ignatius was ordained a priest by Mgr. John Marie Barthe s.j. on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The following day he celebrated his first Holy Mass in the same church where he was ordained and the following day he celebrated his Eucharist in the Church of Our Lady of Snow with the intention of getting back to Panjampatti as early as possible. In fact on 17th January 1900 he was already at Panjampatti.
Things did not go smooth as one would have expected. The man who did everything for Augustine to see him a priest fell sick and was brought to Trichy for treatment and rest. On 30th January 1901 Fr. Larmey breathed his last. The whole burden fell on the shoulders of Fr. Augustine.
Fr. Visuvasam was made the new parish priest of Panjampatti and Fr. Augustine was asked to take his residence in Silukkuvarpatti , a quasi parish of that time. Despite the inconveniences, he accepted the proposal happily and continued his mission life. The “Beates” were the ones who really felt and suffered the absence of Fr. Augustine . But within a short time, as his health was deteriorating, Fr. Augustine was called back to Panjampatti by his superiors. In about two years (1904) Fr. Nespoulous was appointed new parish priest of Panjampatti.
Naturally, Fr. Nespoulous gave the necessary freedom to Fr. Augustine in continuing his special interest in the formation of the Beates sisters.
- Augustine used to make his meditation after the Holy Mass together with them. He encouraged them to share their personal experience in meditation.
- He used to visit the convent every evening and without any hesitation he was always ready to make corrections and suggestions. Being uneducated women, to correct them must have been a tough job for Fr. Augustine. At times he used to inflict himself, beating with whip, he suffered for them. Asked for the mercy of God upon them that they may grow better .
- As many of these girls were illiterate he taught them to read and write. Once they had picked up the language, he made them read the history of the Saints and held discussion over the readings. This helped the sisters very much in their spiritual formation .
- He felt that it was necessary to give, together with spiritual formation, also human and psychological formation. He helped them to be fully matured and fully human. He made them teach and conducted programmes that would free them from their unwanted fear .
- As Fr. Larmey, Fr. Augustine also was interested in educating the sisters. So he sent some of them to Dindigul and some others to Trichy to do their lower grade Teacher training in the Servite convent. Impressed by their exceptional good behaviour invited them to join their congregation.
In 1906 he had to make visit to Tuticorin to assist his brother F.X. Pereira in his death bed. In September 1908 he was sent to Palayamkottai for treatment. On 2nd November 1908 he came to Colombo for recuperating his health. On 27th December the same year he returned to Panjampatti and took up his regular mission activities. But his health did not permit him to be free as he wanted.
On 3rd February 1909 he once again came to Tuticorin to bless the marriage of his nephew I.X. Pereira and returned to Panjampatti. But he could not stay long. For, he had to go back to Tuticorin on 18th February to assist the death bed of his father.
In the mean time the number of the Beates sisters increased. Both Fr. Nespoulous and Fr. Augustine did not know what to do in this situation. The pastoral visit of the Provincial Fr. Joseph Clove s.j. solved the problem. He suggested that a New Congregation should be founded for these young women. Soon Fr. Augustine brought out a booklet containing rules and regulations to be followed by these sisters. It was also decided that the novices be sent to Madurai to be trained by the novice mistress of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyons.
Coming back from Madurai, Fr. Augustine fell sick again. He was taken to Colombo for treatment in June 1911. In July he was taken to Courtallam to take some rest. But his heart was thinking always of Panjampatti. He returned to Panjampatti and rested there.
In mid October his health deteriorated badly. He was confined to bed . His thought was on the little sisters whom he left in Madurai. On 20th October 1911 he was given extreme Unction. The following morning he made his Religious vows of a Jesuit and breathed his last the same day at 10 p.m. It was a Saturday. Fr. Augustine had foretold that he would die only on a Saturday, the day dedicated to Mother Mary. It happened to be so.
The following Sunday at 5 p.m. the burial ceremonies were held. His beloved nephew I.X. Pereira built a white marble grave with a fitting epitaph, “To bring good news to the poor” (Lk 4:18). Surprisingly, on 25th April 1986 when Fr. Augustine’s grave was dug open, they found the complete skeleton lying there without any damage after seventy five year after his burial.
The man was known for his unflinching love for God , humility , his thirst for mission and love for the poor , particularly the poor of Panjampatti. His piety towards the Sacred Heart of Jesus was extraordinary. In the month of June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, he used to blow trumpets in all the street corners of Panjampatti. People hearing the sound of the trumpet rushed to the Church to participate in the liturgical ceremonies already prepared by Fr. Augustine . He did the same thing in the month of May to promote the devotion to Our Lady . He willingly talked to others about the Blessed Virgin Mary in all the possible occasions. He served also as a judge in solving the disputes that arose among the people. He never let them go either to the police station or to the court to be judged. He was a peacemaker and brought peace and joy to them. When they went home, they went happily always .
He dared courageously to inculcate in the minds of the people the values of the Kingdom of God.
May God Bless him.
Bibliography 1. Congregation of the Immaculate Conception- History Book 1899-2001, C.I.C. Publications, Madurai- 2001. 2. Amalavai Kanda Arul Thanthai Augustine Pereira, C.I.C. Publications, Madurai-2010. 3. Roots Bearing Fruits, C.I.C Publications – 2011. 4. Rev. Sr. Stanislaus Mary, Muriyaa Uravin Moovar, C.I.C Publications, Madurai - 1987. 5. Rev. Sr. Stanislaus Mary, Padarum Kodikku Pavazha vizha, I.C.I. Publications, Madurai-1986. 6. Amala Avai Kanniyar, C.I.C Publications, Madura-1954. 7. Collection of letters of Rev. Fr. Augustine Pereira, C.I.C Archives, Madurai.