Saint John de Britto

[CyrilSebastian]

                    John de Britto was born on March 1, 1647 to a family of Portugal's high nobility.   
                    His father, Don Salvador de Britto Preyra, would be Viceroy of Brazil.   
                    At the age of nine, John entered the court in Lisbon as a page.     
                    At the age of sixteen, he entered the Society of Jesus.

[CyrilSebastian]

                    John was ordained to the priesthood in Lisbon in February 1673.   
                     His superior decided to send him to Madurai, a region in southeast India.

[CyrilSebastian]

                   Saint John de Britto was often called 'the Portuguese Saint Francis Xavier' by Indian Catholics.

[CyrilSebastian]

                          John was sent to India. He studied the sacred books of India, written in Sanskritt.   
                           He refused to make use of the horse he was offered. He travelled on foot instead.   
                           Morning and evening rice was his main meal.

[CyrilSebastian]

                           Father John de Britto arrived in Lisbon, Portugal in September 1687.   
                            He paid a visit to King Pedro II. The King tried to keep him in Portugal   
                             to entrust him with the education of his children.

[CyrilSebastian]

When he was in Madurai, Father de Britto baptized eight thousand catechumens in the space of eighteen months.   
He also had to regularize marriages and reconcile apostates.

[CyrilSebastian]

John travelled to the missions of Madurai. The Madurai Mission was a bold attempt   
to establish an Indian Catholic Church that was relatively free of European cultural domination.

[CyrilSebastian]

John de Britto tried to teach the Catholic faith in categories and concepts that would make sense to the people he taught.