1930

The bell heard in the wood

In Rome, Bishop Roche laid his people's homage before Pope Pius XI, and the Pope sent mementoes back for the most deserving Christians of Tuticorin. One of them went to the old sacristan of Vadakenkoulam, brother to a vicar general and to the superior of a convent, and still, at eighty-two, keeping the sacristy of this church. He was given the Bene Merenti medal. The Jesuits' magazine printed his years and his office, and forgot to print his name. It need not have troubled: the office was older than the man. Forty years before, a visitor had been told that the sacristanship here had been held in one family for two hundred years, and had been given the reason. A man and his wife, on pilgrimage to a pagoda, lost their road in a wood full of tigers. Night came down on them; they called on their gods, and nothing answered; and then, a long way off, they heard a bell. They went towards it and came to the door of a hut, where an old man set rice and bananas before them and gave them a bed for the night. In the morning they asked him the way on to the pagoda. He raised his eyes to Heaven, made the sign of the Cross, and began instead to speak to them of the God they had never heard of, and he spoke so well that they went no further. In a short time they were the most fervent Christians in the village. The husband was made sacristan of this church, and thought it no small privilege to ring the bell that had been the means of his own salvation. “The descendants of these good pilgrims are many in number,” the visitor wrote; “I have known several of them who are exemplary priests.”

DocumentedThis moment rests on 2 sources.

Mission du Madurép. 9

LA MISSION DU MADURÉ Î vous savez que ie ne mange pas tous les jours à ma faim. Depuis 40 ans cependant, je me prive un peu chaque jour pour avoir des messes après ma mort. Mais vous avez dit que le Saint Père demandait aux chrétiens de eo à la formation du clereé indigène : voici toutes mes économies ». EL il dépose son sac contenant une somme de 300 roupies (3.000 francs) faite surtout de menue monnaie. Monseigneur proteste : « [Il faut garder cela pour faire dire des messes après votre mort... » — « Non, non ; le Bon Dieu aura pitié de mon âme et me dédommagera largement de mon petit sacrifice. » — Le Saint Père est très ému. Tout aussi ému quand lPévêque de Tuticorin déploie un magnifique tapis confeclionné à lPintention de Sa Sainteté par les religieuses indiennes. Pie XI appelle son secrétaire : c’est un cadeau trop précieux pour n'être pas mis à part. À son tour le Saint Père veut bien présenter un souvenir aux chrétiens les plus mérilants de Tuticorin. Au vieux sacristain de Vadakenkoulam, frère d’un vicaire général et d’une supérieure de couvent. continuant, malgré ses 82 ans, ses bons services à l’église, «Oh ! la belle famille, dit le Pape, six frères dont deux ie etun Évêque. Quelle heureuse mère ! » la médaille bene merenti. Une médaille aussi à chacun de ceux qui ont fondé une bourse en faveur des clercs indigènes, sans oublier évidemment le bon vieillard aux 300 roupies. | La causerie se déroule, de plus en plus intime. Monseigneur Ro-

In English

"In his turn the Holy Father was pleased to present a keepsake to the most deserving Christians of Tuticorin. To the old sacristan of Vadakenkoulam — brother of a vicar general and of a convent superior, still, despite his 82 years, continuing his good services to the church — the Bene Merenti medal."

What this source establishes

The Bene Merenti medal to the old sacristan of Vadakenkoulam — brother of a vicar general and of a convent superior, still at eighty-two serving the church. Verbatim, and the magazine prints the words but not his name. IMPORTANT: the Pope's exclamation about "two priests and a bishop" belongs, in the same article, to BISHOP ROCHE'S family — the next sentence sends a gold rosary to Roche's mother. The sacristan had no bishop brother.