Among the various Provincials of Karnataka, Fr Ambrose D’Mello could be singled out as a missionary Provincial par excellence. He was the only one to be taken out of the mission field and made Provincial. Being the son of the local catechist of the noted missionary, Fr R. D. Sequeira, he had right from the start a missionary bent of mind. Here is an extract from Mgr. R.D. Sequeira’s My Rambles thro the Missions (1939) about Catechist Nicholas D’Mello, Fr Ambrose D’Mello’s father:
“Before I close this chapter I must say a word about my faithful catechist who has shared the joys and sorrows of life along with me for the last 20 years in the mission field. Whether in creating movement of conversions at Kokkada, Kadaba, Uppinangady, or building churches or chapels at Kadaba, Uppinangady, Sullia and Sampaje where he had to bear the brunt of the work, he sought always the glory of God and the salvation of souls and never his private benefit. You rarely come across catechists like him. He has sterling qualities of head and heart. People in the world are rewarded by the Church and State in recognition of their services with titles and honours. Here is an instance where a family-man has spent himself in the service of God and grown old in it. If I am not able to reward him more than I have done, at least let there be a record of it there.
He has a son who is sixteen years old; he has passed the SSLC. He was born whilst the father was superintending the work of the chapel at Kadaba in the year 1922. The father came to me asking for names with which to christen him. I said, “Ambrose Fabian” and he is Ambrose Fabian D’Mello. He is now my amanuensis (=secretary). He went round the missions taking photographs which he himself developed and printed. But for him the task of printing the second edition of “My Rambles through the Missions” would have been a job. That is how I find a place for him here” (p.66).
Ambrose wanted to be a missionary priest, and that is why he desired to be a Jesuit. But not having done any college studies, he was not admitted into the novitiate. So he joined the missionary diocese of Calicut. But after a year he was taken into the Society. No wonder we find him in various missions: Naganahally, Prakashpalayam, Belve, Bijapur, Nagaland, Mundgod. Even the Jeppu Workshops and the Belve Agricultural Colony where he worked were quasi mission places.
Though he was successful in positions of authority (Provincial of Karnataka, Provincial of India i.e. predecessor of POSA, Mission Superior of Kohima, Regional Superior of Darjeeling, Superior of Mundgod Mission), after each term of office, he asked to be sent to the missions. Towards the end, he wanted to spend his last years in the mission area of Nagaland. He was an inspiring presence to his confreres there in the Jesuit House at Guwahati: a friend and guide to many a bishop, priest, religious and lay person, till as a victim of cancer of the colon, he died there.
Ambrose was born on 20.1.1922 in a farmers’ family, in Puttur, a small town of Dakshina Kannada. His parents were Nicholas and Pauline. He did his primary education under Bethany Sisters in Kokkada, Middle School in the Parish school of Bendur, and SSLC in the Govt. High School in Puttur itself, where he studied staying as a boarder in a relative’s house. On passing SSLC, although fired with the zeal for the missions, and deeply desiring to be a priest, the family situation forced him to take up a teaching job in the newly started Parish school in Puttur and work there for four years, helping his parents in educating his younger brothers and sisters. But the inner longing would not leave him, and it resurfaced especially after the visit to Puttur of the Jesuit Principal of St Aloysius College Fr Leo Proserpio to preside over the School Day function of the Govt. High School, and he applied to join the Society in 1942. His younger sister joined the Sisters of Charity. As we saw, getting in through the Seminary door, within a year he found himself a Jesuit novice at Christ Hall on 18.11.1943.
Because he was considered to be a late vocation, his formation was somewhat rushed through. Two years of novitiate at Christ Hall under Fr Aldo Maria Patroni, six months of regency at SAC, Mangalore, back again to Christ Hall for the Juniorate (as he had already done some Latin in the Seminary), three years of Philosophy in Shembag, one year and a half of regency at the Seminary, Mangalore, 4 years of Theology at Kurseong, Ordination there on 21.11.1954, a pastoral year at the Seminary, and Tertianship at Kodaikanal under Fr Louis Leguen.
Among the different formation programmes, he recalls in his Down the Memory Lane account, what he enjoyed and benefited most was the regency at the Seminary. Besides his classes and regular duties, there were other side activities, like conducting type-writing classes on junk machines for the senior seminarians, (of whom the most illustrious was Bishop Basil D’Souza), arranging occasional film shows for the seminary Fathers (most of whom were over 70), film shows at the theatre, on films like Joan of Arc, St Thomas More, and occasional conducting of the famous Jeppu Band in the absence of the regular Band master Fr Belleri.
Although Jesuits in the Province and the Assistancy have come to associate Fr Ambrose with leadership positions in the Society, he was in fact and had always been a missionary at heart. This ardour for the missions he inherited from his saintly parents who in their early married life volunteered to work in a newly opened mission station of Kokkada with the celebrated missionary, Fr R.D. Sequeira, who having visited the scenes of labour of the veteran Jesuit missionaries, Frs Faustine Corti and Angelo Gaviraghi, wanted to follow in their footsteps. (He has described his missionary experiences in his famous book, My Rambles through the Missions.) Fr Ambrose’s father was the catechist and the village postmaster. This early exposure to missionary work was an important factor that determined his future vocation and work. That is why though obedience placed him in positions of leadership one after another, his heart was always in the missions.
An inveterate missionary, Fr Ambrose was sent to Hunsur immediately after his tertianship in 1958. Just the next year he was appointed Director and Manager of St Joseph’s Agricultural Colony, Belve, where he put the venture, meant mainly for the benefit of the Jeppu orphans on a firm footing with the help of volunteers from Germany and aid from all and sundry. Four years later, he was shifted as a Missionary to Prakashpalayam in Mysore diocese. It was when he was there that he was appointed Province Consultor. In those days it was almost a hallowed tradition that the Rectors of the three major houses in the Province, namely SJC, SAC and the Seminary would be appointed Province Consultors as if “ex officio”. For the first time in the Province, the great Fr J C Pereira took the bold decision to induct two missionaries, Fathers Ambrose D’Mello and Thomas Pinto into the Province Consult. With that Fr Ambrose began to move on a wholly new trajectory, viz. of religious administration for almost quarter of a century. Like his patron, St Ambrose who was raised by popular acclaim to be the bishop of Milan even when he was not even an ordained priest then, so too Fr Ambrose was raised to high positions of responsibility even though he had no academic degrees. But both proved their worth in no time.
In 1972, he replaced Fr J. C. Pereira as the Provincial of Karnataka. Just four years later Fr Arrupe picked him for the challenging post as the first Provincial of India. When he finished his term there, he volunteered for Nagaland and was appointed Superior at Jakhama in 1982, and later on in 1984 the Mission Superior. Three years later he was appointed the Regional Superior of Darjeeling. He was already 65! During his four years there, he carefully groomed his successor, handed over the charge to him and returned to the Province. He was happy to be the first Jesuit to start our Bijapur Mission in 1991, the Ignatian Centenary Year, together with Fr Denis Alvares. But his health situation necessitated that he be given a year’s sabbatical, after which he was appointed Mission Superior in Mundgod, when the Mission ventured from pastoral and social apostolates into educational and formation (RTC + Juniorate) ministries. Here he gave effective leadership to his fellow Jesuits and built them up as an enthusiastic, united band of brothers.
According to his own recollections, “of all the places, I enjoyed my stay at Mundgod the most, where I had only to encourage and support Fr Lawrence Pinto in his marvelous work of building up the Loyola educational complex, and to apply the brakes to Fr Frankie Serrao’s immense desire and efforts to reach out to the Siddhi and Gauli villagers in Mundgod and Hangal Taluks. And to top it all, we had the freak experiments of running an RTC as well as a Juniorate in Mundgod but not more than just one year.” But his heart was still in the North East. Therefore in 1996 he asked to be sent to the newly established Kohima Region and was stationed at Guwahati, the headquarters of Kohima Region, where he rendered invaluable service until his final illness and peaceful death.
Both as a missionary and as a superior, Fr Ambrose’s performance was simply outstanding. His spirit of availability to be shifted from place to place and to be entrusted with various onerous responsibilities was remarkable. With his characteristic vision, courage, charm and strength he always rose to the occasion. His secular studies did not go beyond School Final. In ecclesiastical studies too he had the normal studies of an ordinary Jesuit. But in reality Fr Ambrose was endowed with an extraordinary intelligence, insight and intuition, which with his capacity to enthuse, encourage and empower his fellow Jesuits made him an outstanding leader of men and a very successful superior and administrator. His humanity was genuine, his diplomatic skill superb. His talent to deal with all sorts of characters was the stuff of legends. His talent to blend firmness with friendliness was truly great. His unostentatious devotion, his unfailing fidelity to prayer, and his authenticity and integrity as a man, as a Jesuit and as a priest were remarkable. He was indeed a fine human being, an exemplary Jesuit and a model priest.
Ambrose, the man: The first thing we remember about Ambrose is his deep humanity. He lived life and lived it to the full. He enjoyed life wherever he was, whether in the outlying missions with scarce comforts or facilities, or in the metropolis with a surfeit of luxuries, Ambrose was a man who could adjust to the situation without moaning of deprivation or reveling in luxury. Because he was a man of integrity and transparency, he made everyone feel at home in his presence. He did not put on airs. He did not stand on ceremonies. He did not flaunt his status. Even when he held high offices, he could easily vibrate with the simplest, the poorest and the humblest. He enjoyed life, and wanted to live. Age and ailment did not bother him. He did not easily surrender to the melancholy mood of old age or sickness. That is why he was loath to be confined to the hospital bed, hated invasive intrusion of medical contraptions, and found it difficult to accept the doctors’ diagnosis of colon cancer as correct, not because he was afraid of death, but because he enjoyed living, loving and labouring for the Lord and for the Lord’s people. At the same time, Ambrose was a man of freedom and peace. Above all, friendship. He easily made friends and always cherished their company and was ever loyal to them.
Ambrose the Jesuit: He had no big academic achievements to his credit, but as a Jesuit, he was a man of excellence, of fidelity, of loyalty and of insatiable zeal for the Kingdom of God. Right from his adolescence he desired to be a Jesuit. When asked to do his college studies, he managed to get what he wanted without the college studies. In fact he was never a graduate even as a Jesuit. But he rose to some of the important positions of responsibility and prominence in the Society. He was a much loved and admired Jesuit – faithful to his vocation, to his prayer and to his mission. As a superior, he was friendly, but firm, skillfully blending strictness with kindness, observing everything, ignoring much and correcting little. He used to humorously quip at times, ‘you need to close one eye and shut the other.’ At all times, during his long life he joyfully placed himself in the hands of his superiors, some of whom were his own subjects, and a few he himself had admitted into the novitiate. He made his mind known to them, and then joyfully obeyed whatever the decisions were, without any fuss. Right to the very end.
Ambrose the Priest: Fr Ambrose’s piety was simple, not showy; his prayer was ordinary, not flashy; his ministry was usual, not extraordinary. But wherever he went he left an aura of being a man who lived by faith, a Jesuit who instilled hope and a priest who loved by Christ’s own love. It was this dimension of priesthood that came to the fore in all that Fr Ambrose did in his long life. He inherited an ardent love for the missions from his saintly parents. All his life he longed to spend himself among the poor of the missions. That was how after carrying out the tasks entrusted by Superiors in offices of responsibility, he landed in Guwahati and spent his final years rendering outstanding service with his quiet friendly presence, his active dynamic involvement, and his wise insightful counsel. He was an inspiring presence among the Jesuits, a friend and guide to the clergy and the laity, and now a powerful intercessor for all in heaven.
- by Fr Richard Sequeira, SJ
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