The newly-minted saint, St. Devasahayam, is the first layman from India to be canonized. He was married and his wife was the first one he successfully evangelized.
This makes me think of another married man from Tamil Nadu—a Protestant pastor who has given a new life to thousands of prisoners in the four Southern States of India, as well as Maharashtra and Andamans. Reverend S.T. Noah was born in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. His pious mother wanted him to become a pastor, but he dreamed of becoming a police officer. He did his schooling and his U.G. and P.G. degrees in Tamil in his home town. He got a job as a lecturer at American College, Madurai, and completed his Ph.D. in Tamil in Madurai Kamaraj University.
Those days college professors did not have ‘job security.’ Their families were anxious if they would continue in the job next year. The uncertainty affected their teaching too. Therefore, in the year 1979, all the professors and lecturers who taught in the colleges in Madurai decided to undertake a protest-rally through the city and finally hold a meeting in front of the District Collector’s office. Their rally was stopped by the police, who ordered them to disperse. Hundreds of lecturers and professors, who had gathered to press their demand, were in no mood to relent. As they continued their rally, they were arrested and produced in the court that awarded them a 15-day jail sentence.
Mr. Noah, who was in the jail along with all his colleagues, saw for the first time in his life what prisoners actually go through. He saw that there were two categories among them. A few were hard core criminals who had no scruples, no remorse for the crimes they had committed. Those who belonged to the other category were men who had committed the crimes in a fit of anger and now sincerely regretted them and felt sorry for the families of their victims. Many were there for petty offences.
Once he was shocked to see a ‘dada,’ who was in and out of jail regularly, address his fellow prisoners. He told them that once they come to the jail, they will always be branded as a criminal who was in jail. Therefore nobody would offer them a job. How then would they support themselves and their families? He advised them to boldly take to a life of crime.
A few days after Noah was jailed, his son came to hand over some clothes and a shaving razor. Seeing him and noticing his anguish, Noah burst into tears. He thought of the sufferings and feelings of the members of the prisoners’ families.
He was so deeply affected that, after his release, he started an NGO called Anaikkum Karangal (Hands that embrace) to serve prisoners and their families. He wrote a detailed letter to the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr. M.G. Ramachandran. Describing all that he observed inside the jail, he explained how the prison led them into a life of crime. Touched by his letter, the Chief Minister replied, asking what Mr. Noah would like to do for the prisoners. Mr. Noah said he and his fellow professors could take classes for them, so that they could finish their schooling or degrees that would help them find jobs after their release. In 1982, Mr. M.G.R. had a special G.O. passed, permitting him and his colleagues to visit prisons thrice a week to teach.
Fr M A Joe Antony SJ
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