Br Alvares was very close to Jesuit Fathers. They liked him much. Fr Santosh Kamath never spoke to him without addressing him as ‘monsignor’ and Fr Ronnie Prabhu without singing ‘apurbayechem khad’. Whichever Jesuit came to Mangalore during the time Br Alvares was there, made it a point to pay him a visit. At recreation he would call himself K.K.(Kirkol Kido), that is, wee worm, to which correspondingly the younger folk would retort saying, if you are K.K. we are all D.M.(Dhul ani Mati), that is, dust and dirt.
Br Joseph Alvares was born on 2 November, 1926 in Omzoor as the last child of his parents. Later on, as a Jesuit, his date of birth would be a source of endless innocent ribbing, even to the extent of some naughty Jesuits humorously singing happy birthday to the tune of dreary dirges. Br Alvares had three brothers: First was Mr. Peter Alvares. Since he studied much he worked in an office; the other, Mr. J.S. Alvares, became a famous Konkani writer and the third, Mr. Monthu Alvares, established himself as a builder. Brother Alvares had some measure of his brothers’ talents: he spent about sixteen years in Loyola Mandir as the under-secretary to the Provincial. He regularly wrote articles to ‘Patrician’ and other magazines. He had many lives of saints and prayer services to his credit. Most of all, Brother Alvares did not put up buildings, but he built people by his exemplary life of simplicity and prayer.
One of the brothers of Br Alvares, Joachim Santan, was a famous novelist in Konkani with a pen name, Jo Sa Alvares. In his autobiography while describing self he also gives us some information about his family: they were poor but righteous. They had to work and overwork to fill their stomachs. They levelled the hills, made fields and cultivated them in order to look after the family. However, this penury did not make them tread wrong ways: children were taught with utmost care to be truthful and devoted to God. When one of the brothers took money from home without permission he was punished severely just to communicate a message. Of course they never retired to bed without reciting the night prayers, which often were quite long.
True to his name - his full name was Joseph Aloysius - he modelled his life after those two great personalities: St Joseph and St Aloysius. He lived almost a silent hidden life with his characteristic simplicity and humility like Joseph. And of course, his white cassock and grey beard bore testimony for the efforts he made to be pure like Aloysius. It does not mean that he had no faults and failures, but he always wanted to be holy. In Down the Memory Lane we get quite a few details about his school days and his vocation. When he was a boarder at St Aloysius, Mangalore, Fr Albert Saldanha was the Director of the Boarding House. He was a stickler for correct pronunciation and diction. Many of the boarders could hardly speak in English. Each one spoke in his own way. But all understood each other. “It was something like the first Pentecost experience” says Br Alvares. “After the terminal exams, the marks cards were given in the class by the HM. It was like the Dooms Day.” We received the report with fear and trembling. We boarders had to take it to the Director for his signature. The marks of the subjects in which we failed were underlined in red. It was customary to ask each other: `how many red lines did you get?’ The director’s prescription was 2 cuts on the palm for every red line. In the first Terminal exam, I failed in two subjects and received 4 cuts. But as I look back, all this strictness helped me in moulding my character….
“As a little boy, I had a strong desire to be a religious; it was confirmed when I came to the Boarding House. I watched the religious life of Br Stany Pinto…I was impressed by his simplicity, humility, friendliness, hard work and devotion to duty. He became a role model for me. His life inspired me to become a Jesuit Brother...”
“On 16th June 1945 five of us (Alwy Lobo, Stanley Noronha, Cecil Saldanha, Stany Vas and myself) went to Christ Hall, Calicut …There Fr Patroni, the Novice Master, was waiting to welcome us with a broad smile. The following day, the other four who had joined for priesthood, began their novitiate with a short First Probation, while I started my postulancy of 6 months prior to the Novitiate. During these months I had to learn English and the duties of a Jesuit Brother. The severe trial, however, was yet to come; the medical test. I was declared medically unfit for the life of a Jesuit Brother, for I was told I had a weak heart. But thanks to our Lady of Perpetual Succour, to whom I made a novena, and my trust in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I passed that test and could begin my novitiate, and after two years, on Christmas night pronounced my First Vows.”
When one looks at Br Alvares one cannot miss his three important qualities: love for God; love for the community and love for his mission. Br Alvares was a man of God. He used to begin and end his day with prayer. During the day too he did not miss his examen, divine office. Besides this amidst his routine work he did reserve some of his time for the things of God – cleaning the chapel, adorning the altar, etc. He was a man of the community. He never counted it as a place of self- satisfaction. He was always an altruist. Besides the assigned tasks he would also mend clothes, bind books, type letters, give haircut, attend on the sick; whatever little he could do for the community he would do it gladly.
He was always a man on the mission. He worked in most of the houses of the province: St Aloysius College, St Joseph’s Seminary, St Louis Boarding House, Westbrooke (Kotagiri), Mount St Joseph, Loyola Mandir, St Joseph’s Indian High School, and Ashakiran. In some places he worked longer, while in some other places he worked for lesser number of years; in some places he had works of importance; in some other places not so important yet he worked with the same devotion, dedication and determination. His fairly long stint at Westbrooke, most of the time all alone, without even a cook, (he himself was an excellent culinary expert), brought out the essential authentic Jesuit in Br Alvares. When after a long term of service he was transferred to Mount St Joseph, both the then Bishop of Ooty and the incumbent Parish Priest of Kotagiri, came for the farewell dinner and paid handsome tributes to the personal integrity, religious fidelity and the unfeigned charity of Br Alvares. It was also at the time of his service at Kotagiri that he secured the permission of the Provincial to build 25 houses for the poor on a one acre of land at the edge of the tea estate as a centenary memorial of the Province.
Although, Br Alvares looked a bit pious and other worldly, he enjoyed humour and a game of Domino. It may not be totally wrong to say he had a weakness for both. But he would find it hard to take a defeat! He would insist on playing till he won or gave up in frustration. He would taunt in his own inimitable tone those who travelled abroad frequently: tumkam romak vechem mhulyar mhaka marketik gelle bari! (Going to Rome for you is like going to the market for me.) He had a good collection of jokes, which were carefully chosen and gleaned. Greatness of the man was that he could laugh at himself; he would narrate some of his life experiences in a humorous way: He said his early days in the Boarding House reminded him of Pentecost. Since English was made compulsory boarders had to speak in English even if they did not know what they were speaking. The beauty of it was that all understood each other perfectly.
His vocation is another interesting story: On examination the doctor through the Rector communicated to him that he was not suitable for the Society for he had a weak heart. This saddened young Joseph very much. He wept bitterly. It moved the Rector, Fr Gilbert Coelho, too. He told him: you do one thing. Start a novena to our Lady of Perpetual Succour. Immediately Joseph started the novena. When the doctor visited him again, he wanted to re-examine him, which is unusual. To test his physical endurance the doctor told him to run round the house. Joseph ran till he was asked to stop, which he did after completing ten rounds. After this he was considered healthy enough to be admitted to the novitiate, and he lasted the course much longer than his other batch mates who finished their race much earlier than him. The only other time in his life he ran like that was when the whole community of IHS had gone on a picnic to Thippegondanahalli. Standing on the bridge of a small river, all were enjoying the panoramic scene around. When a jeep passed over the bridge, a bee hive from under the bridge was disturbed at the rattling noise, and the bees attacked whoever was there, sparing no one, not even the cassocked Br Joseph. Incidentally, when the Late Fr J B Prabhu, the perennial quip-master, visiting his hospitalized confreres receiving saline drips and wearing oxygen masks, quipped that not all bees are so bad, for example, “Be honest, be humble, be holy” etc, Br Alvares was the only among them who kept his cool, gave his usual smile, and thanked him for his visit.
Not only humble, honest, holy and humorous, but Br Alvares was also trustworthy and available. His life could be summarized in these two terms. As undersecretary of the Provincial, he had access to all files and confidential matters. Yet never would he even by a slip give any inkling of what transpired. As for his availability the very fact that he has been Minister, Treasurer, in charge of kitchen and marketing, estate, sacristan, tailor, farm, in one word, ad omnia (all-rounder) is an eloquent commentary.
It was a happy coincidence that Fatima Retreat House, a beautiful Marian shrine with huge trees, was chosen to bid farewell to Br Joseph Alvares. The Marian shrine and the lovely trees around spoke a lot about his life. He always remained an ardent devotee of Mary. He tried to follow closely the man, Joseph, who did a lot of work with the wood and the lovely trees that have been the same for many years now. They are also a good testimony of the life of Brother Joseph: he continued to be the same with his characteristic white cassock, grey beard, modest talk and humble walk.
- By Fr Richard Sequeira, SJ
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