Bishop Deogupillai,
A man of sturdy faith and courageous leadership !

Thousands of old boys from many of the catholic colleges in the North of Sri Lanka will gratefully remember Bishop Deogupillai as their great teacher, guide and disciplinarian and numerous priests, religious and people from the three catholic dioceses of Jaffna, Mannar and Trinco-Batti will proudly salute him as their courageous leader of faith in their turbulent times. He stood tall, erect and fearless among his colleagues and contemporaries and among friends and foes The disciplined faith and character imbibed from his family and through his formation in renowned catholic institutions, at home and abroad, stood him in good stead to make him a Teacher par excellence and a Leader courageous and outspoken for the times.

Bastiampillai Deogupillai was born into a large catholic family in Kayts – named Esthaaki family- a title earned by his father Bastiampillai for his role of Esthaaki in a country-drama (Naaduk Koorththu). When a European missionary expressed his wish that the youngest son Deogupillai in the family could turn out to be a good priest, the father bluntly retorted “ so, you ask him first and then come to me”. Young Deogupillai was one of the youngest among the minor-seminarians of his time. Cradled in the traditional catholic faith, educated and disciplined in the traditions of the catholic colleges in Jaffna - St.Antony's College of Kayts and St.Patrick's College of Jaffna - formed and ordained as a priest in Rome in 1941, he worked for over five decades as a Priest and Bishop in filial obedience to God and his church till the last days of his retirement in 1992.

After a brilliant academic career at the then Propaganda College (now Urbanian University ), back at home he obtained his Bachelor of Arts from the London University and the Diploma in education from the Ceylon University. He served as Rector of. three Catholic colleges of the then Jaffna Dioceses – St.Joseph's College, Anuradhapura, Sacred Heart Colleges, Karaveddy and St. Henry's College, Illavalai. and the Tamil Teachers' Training College, Colombogam. With the transition of the Training College into government hands in 1961, he resigned as Rector and opted to serve as Parish Priest in Illavalai.

In 1967 he was called to be Bishop-Auxiliary to Bishop Ignatius Glennie SJ of Trincomalee. After a few years of episcopal experience, he succeeded Bishop Emilianuspillai in 1971 as the first Diocesan Bishop of Jaffna. A greater part of his Episcopal leadership in Jaffna was conditioned by the turbulent times of the seventies and eighties, both for the church as well as for the country.

He was preceded by a well known Bishop Jerome Emilianuspillai OMI, who with a clear vision and a practical mind made quick moves (he had played soccer for the Ceylon University team), to suit the transition from colonialism to independence and from white missionary service to indigenous clergy. Before the Second Vatican Council in which he participated came to a close, he had opened up new missions into the jungles of Wanni, initiated boldly the services of the laity, and laid the foundations for the future of a local church with an indigenous clergy. Thus Bishop Deogupillai, took advantage of his Roman education to interpret faithfully the Documents of the Second Vatican Council and build on the foundations of his predecessor.

On the one side, he was called to use his Roman mindset to discern scrupulously the strong winds of change attributed to Vatican II , and guide the people so as not “to disturb the faith of the people”. He was called to be a firm Teacher of orthodoxy exhorting his priests and religious, and if necessary warning them, to remain steadfast in faith and in obedience to Rome .

On the other side, he had genuine compassion for all the Tamil people, be they Hindus, Muslims or Christians - suffering injustice in the hands of the government and its forces. He saw the people torn between two forms of leadership - a weak leadership of the elected MPs and a growing militant leadership of the Tamil youth. The courage of his convictions made him a fearless leader speaking up from within the borders of his office. To the VIPs who visited him, whether it be a Prime Minister like Mr.Premadasa or a foreign diplomat, he was an outspoken and uncompromising leader. Though he had his personal convictions and openly and fearlessly stated the grievances of his people, both among his colleagues and in public, he almost prohibited the clergy, in deference to the teachings of the Holy See, from getting involved in the politics of the day and advocated an apolitical stance limited to humanitarian aid for the suffering. He called a spade a spade and was incapable of any double-talk.

Being a historian and an educationist for a greater part of his life, he encouraged his clergy to study the history of the church as well as of the tradition and cultures of the Tamil people.
He had already imbibed from his family a preferential love for the arts and cultures. He went a long way to promote the initiatives of Rev.Fr.N.M.Saverimuttu through his Centre for Performing Arts and others who tried to preserve Tamil drama . In recognition of his services to the heritage of the Tamil people, the Jaffna University conferred on him an honorary doctorate . Even in his advancing age, he would entertain visitors with his singing of Tamil lyrics called Ammanai

The work his predecessor initiated for the diocesan clergy, was taken further by his sending many priests abroad for higher education. One of his courageous achievements was the establishment of St.Francis Xavier's Major Seminary at Columbuthura i , Jaffna for the education of priests from the Tamil dioceses of Jaffna, Mannar and Trinco-Batticaloa. The ethnic situation and the questionable safety of Tamil students in Kandy hastened his vision for the future and made him establish the Philosophate in Jaffna in 1981, which later became St.Francis Xavier's Major Seminary, affiliated to the Urban University in Rome.

Realising that the diocese was too extensive for better pastoral care, he advocated the birth of new dioceses, first in handing over the Anuradhapura region to the Oblates under the leadership of Bishop Joy Gunawardene OMI and then creating the Mannar diocese with sufficient clergy and its first Bishop – the present Bishop Savundranayagam. The latter succeeded Bishop Deogupillai to Jaffna in 1992.

In October 1995 when 500,000 people moved out of Jaffna and the city became a ghost-town, after weeks of bombing and artillery shelling, in spite of many exhorting him to move to better places, he stayed put in Jaffna along with his Secretary Rev.Fr.Selvarajah in Jaffna. It was an eloquent sign of his deep conviction that whatever happens Jaffna belongs to him and he belongs to Jaffna. Thus the last eleven years of his life were spent again at St. Martin's Minor Seminary, Jaffna where at the age of eleven, before 75 years, he started his ecclesiastical life.

Bishop Deogupillai is gone out of sight, but his clarion call to a life of faith and courage will continue to ring loud and clear among a people still struggling for the light of the day. The man who lives by the Truth comes into the Light

Fr. S.J.Emmanuel, Germany 26.04.03