By Verghese V Joseph –
The 339th birth anniversary of an Italian Jesuit missionary Fr. Constantine Beschi who is also called as Veeramamunivar (Father of Tamil prose) was celebrated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Periyanayagi in Konankuppam, in Cuddalore district of India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, on Sunday.
The festival included art literature, essay, painting and singing competitions. The students of R.C School, Puliyoor and Hearing impaired R.C school participated in the competitions.
Fr. Anto SJ, the rector of St. Charles Borromeo celebrated the Holy mass. Dr. Ku. Chinnappan, Registrar of Tamil University, Tanjavur delivered the keynote address on Veeramamunivar and his service to Tamil language.
Rev. Fr. Devasagayaraj, Shrine Rector and Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Olil Kumar, the assistant priest of the Shrine, Rev. Fr. Appoline, the spiritual father of the Shrine, nuns and the teachers participated in the event. Dr. Ku. Chinnappan honoured the students who won prizes in the competitions.
The statue of Veeramamunivar was garlanded. The parishners of Konankuppam and Tamil activists took part in the event.
The Legend of Veeramamunivar
Born in Italy’s Castiglione delle Stiviere in 1680, Beschi got his secondary education in the Jesuits’ High School at Mantua. After becoming a Jesuit in 1698, he was trained in Ravenna and Bologna from where he requested and obtained, from Superior General Michelangelo Tamburini, permission to be sent to the Jesuit mission at Madurai in South India. Sailing from Lisbon he reached Goa in October 1710, from where he proceeded immediately to South India. He arrived in Madurai in May 1711.
Inspired by what was done in China, Beschi adopted the native Tamilians’ lifestyle in his life and in his missionary work. For example, he adopted the saffron coloured robe generally worn by a sannyasi (Indian ascetic). He visited several important centres such as Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur and, of course, Madurai to learn the Tamil language. He met with persecution in 1714–15 and escaped a death sentence. This gave him more time to master the Tamil language in which he soon showed great proficiency.
During the first six years, he worked as a missionary in Elakurichy, a town near Tiruvaiyaru. Then he served as parish priest in Kamanayakkanpatti, one of the oldest mission centres in Tamil Nadu. He worked in the Thanjavur area till 1738 and settled in 1740 on the Coromandel coast where he remained till the end of his life.
The place where Perianayagi Madha Shrine is located was once a forest place. People used to come here for feeding their flocks. In the 17th century, Fr. Beshi, brought two statues of Mother Mary to be kept in the place where he worked, namely Elakuruchi / Thirukavalur (now in Kumbakonam Diocese). He preached all over Tamil Nadu and on the way to his place he happened to pass over this forest and due to tiredness he slept under a tree with the two statues. The boys, who were looking after the cattle, playfully hid one of the statues behind the bush. Fr. Beshi was shocked to know that one of the statues was missing and went to his place sadly.
The Story of the Church
Legend has it that there was a man called Kachirayar in M. Parur a village in Cuddalore district. He had no child. Every day he used to pray to God. One day Our Lady appeared to him in his dream and said, “Kachirayar, I’m alone in the forest if you build a chapel for me, I’ll give a child to you”. After saying this she disappeared. Hearing this, he was very much happy and began to search for the statue in the forest. As they cut the bushes and trees, they found the statue behind a big bush. This statue is placed in the shrine till today. People constructed a small chapel and placed this statue there and began to worship.
After some time Fr. Beshi happened to hear about this and came to Konankuppam and saw the small chapel built for the statue which he lost once. He was very much delighted and decided to make Konankuppam as his work place. He constructed the shrine which exists today. It is said to have been the first place of worship he erected and when it was completed he went to Madras and asked the Bishop of Mylapore to procure for him a statue from Manila, an image of the virgin, in native dress of Tamilnadu and bearing the child Jesus in her arms, fashioned after a model he had made. The image eventually arrived and was set up in the church.
This life-size statue stands on a pedestal about ten feet high and is made of wood and painted in bright colours. In honour of it and of the Church, Beschi composed his Tamil Poem ‘Tembavani’, which vying in length with the Iliad itself is by far the most celebrated and most voluminous of his works. He completed this work in the year 1726. The Tamil conference conducted in Madurai during 1728 – 1729 AD approved his work and published it to imbibe the greatness of this literary work.
He also helped build the Poondi Matha Basilica at Poondi near Thanjavur, Vyagula Matha Church at Thanjavur and Adaikala Maadha Shrine at Elakurichi. These churches are now Catholic pilgrim centres.
He died at Ambalakaadu in Thrissur, Kingdom of Cochin (now a part of the state of Kerala), and is buried at Sampaloor, where his tomb can be seen.
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லோங் லைவ் தி மெமரி ஒப்பி தி இன்ஸ்பிரிங் லைப் ஒப்பி வீரமாமுனிவர்