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| Fr Angelo F.X. Maffei, SJ |
Reading through the source material on the life of Fr Angelo. Francis Xavier Maffei, one comes across again and again the remark that he was a saint and a scholar. We have but to add the third 'S' and we have the full picture of Father Maffei. In good old days a Jesuit confessor or spiritual father used to advise his spiritual confreres to ask for three 'S's to make them good Jesuits: sanctitas, scientia, sanitas (sanctity, knowledge and health) and Fr Maffei had all the three abundantly. One of the first nine Jesuits who arrived in Mangalore in 1878, he kept aloft the torch of intellectual flame bright and clear.
He had 'Sanitas'. Fr Maffei was blessed with good health. Tall in stature and stern to look at, he made a fine impression as one enjoying robust health. And with God's grace he made ample use of it in his strenuous and ceaseless work as a scholar and missionary. Only persons who enjoyed health could have stood the austerities he practised and borne the hardships he bore. No one, except those gifted with strong physical health, could have put in such an amount of work as a scholar, an administrator and a missionary.
From the time of his arrival on 31 December 1878 till his death on 31st May 1899, Fr Maffei's life was one of ceaseless activity for the salvation of souls. He was saturated with missionary zeal and ideal. On his first vows day he had joined the Society as a diocesan priest- he had taken the extra name of Francis Xavier. He lived up to that name almost blindly following Xavier's way and methods.
The first nine years of Fr Maffei were, we may say, pastoral. He taught in the Seminary; he was off and on assistant at the Cathedral and the Milagres church and even undertook to preach missions in other parishes. He just could not restrain his zeal for souls. Gifted with a keen intellect, a prodigious memory and fine health, he launched himself in all these activities with zest.
The story of Fr Maffei's missionary life reads like a romance. It is a saga of originality and simple daring which may raise a smile on the lips of the present-day organizers of pastoral activity. Nevertheless, he was a theologian and a scholar who had become simple for Christ.
To cite but one example of his untiring missionary zeal, here is how Fr Banfi describes Fr Maffei's mission to Kulur in 1879-1880. (cf. Among the Outcasts p.4)
"It is indeed a wonder that Fr Maffei could preach for hours in Konkani so soon after his arrival in India. God blessed his missions in an extraordinary way. The church of Kulur stood on a hill overlooking the sea which washed it on two sides at high tide. Two crocodiles lived in the river at the foot of the hill. One of them had devoured a boy not long before. Near the deserted church the Father stayed in a poor ill-ventilated and badly thatched hut, exposed to wind and rain. Less than fifty paces to the east was a temple dedicated to the devil to ward off harm from wind and rain. The Hindus used to come every year before the monsoon to carry the idol about in procession. The procession would wend its way quite close to the Father's dwelling, making a fearful din with trumpets and drums for three nights in succession, as Hindus usually celebrate their feasts at night. The Father had to bear all this patiently.
"The local christians had been long neglected and were falling victims to superstition. To bring them back to the faith, Fr Maffei had come to Kulur by sea on 17th, April 1879, with one Indian to help him. For the first night two young men offered to stay with him lest he should be afraid to sleep alone, as the burial ground was very near. Father Maffei simply remarked that in his hut there was room for only one person. On the following day he started his mission saying Mass on a portable altar. Only a few children attended his instructions. So he decided to rouse the people by visiting their huts. The chief men followed him out of curiosity. All were eager to receive him in their homes. To the head of the family he gave a medal, promising to return. He was looking for those 'devil-stones' called 'bombi' which they were hiding for superstitious rites; but he was not able to find any. Still people kept away from the church. The Father complained and threatened to go to other villages, to people more docile to his teachings. God inspired him to go from house to house like the Good Shepherd, to bring the straying sheep back to the fold. It was a hard job. Only occasionally was he able to get two families together, because Indians do not allow their girls to come out into the open and because each house is rather far from the next. Crucifix in hand, he went round explaining to them what they had to believe, enquiring also about the sick and exhorting them to use holy water instead of practicing sorcery. Then in a persuasive manner he asked if by chance they had any devil-stones, promising to give in return a fine statue of our Lady which he held out as an enticement."
Missions of this type became the regular apostolate of Fr Maffei. He organised one at Ullal regarding which Fr Mutti wrote (cf. Among the Outcasts, p.7)
"Fr Maffei with his sandals, Indian style, and often barefoot in order to cross the streams and backwaters more easily, went round the country, teaching in the houses. gathering those poor people under a shelter in order to administer the sacraments to them. He evangelized the principal stations of Ullal, and the people, seeing the Father's interest in their souls, would surrender themselves in the end and no one refused to be reconciled with God."
Fr Maffei conducted similar missions at Udupi and Kallianpur. In these places, particularly in highly non-Catholic places like Udupi, he boldly spoke about Christ to Hindus, individually and in groups. He preached alike to the rich and the poor, the high caste and the low caste. He went straight to the point and spoke about Christ and religion directly and almost demanded of his hearers to become Christians. For three months he tried this heroic missionary experiment. It turned out to be barren. But his zeal for souls would not admit defeat. He planned to change his approach and after the example of St Francis Xavier and Antony Baldinucci, he wanted to go about preaching in villages with a Crucifix in one hand and a picture of our Lady in the other. He planned to visit under very trying circumstances the Kharvi caste of fishermen, the villages of Manbail and Naravi. His travels lay through forests, rivers and streams, downhill and uphill, in the heavy south monsoon rain or in the summer's scorching sun. The young missionary braved it all. The saint and the healthy man in him carried him on. He had trained himself to austerity and poverty and he had plenty of it everywhere. His food was the simplest, congee with salt, dry fish, chillies and dry and stale bread when it was available. To these he added other sufferings such as going from place to place barefoot, long visits in chapels, when he could enter one, which meant sleepless nights.
Fr Maffei's missionary activities did not drive out the scholar in him. And a scholar Fr Maffei was in the strict sense of the word: one given to study and research in study. As a student at the Austrian Gymnasium of Trent he passed with honours. As a seminarian at the Gregorian University he took the Doctorate degree in Philosophy and Theology. In the Society of Jesus which he joined on Sept. 27th, 1871 he shone equally as a professor of mathematics, philosophy and history in the Tyrol and at Scutari in Albania. His versatile mind could grasp things quickly. Books were his best friends. He had a keen intellect and a prodigious memory and a rare gift for languages. When in 1878 he came to India these talents combined with incessant work as a scholar, no matter what other work he had as a professor, missionary, Principal and Rector, resulted in his writing the First Grammar of the Konkani Language and then the First Dictionary. These works are even today the standard works and have formed the basis of other works of the type. To these he added several other guides to help beginners in the study of the language. He even applied himself to the study of Sanskrit, Tulu and Kannada and when he was for a short period in Cannanore, to the study of Malayalam and Tamil. A writer of the time notes that he had a rare gift of memorising long lists of words by merely reading them from a dictionary.
Fr Maffei's scholarly mind was quick to note and make capital use of the historical places and material available in Mangalore and its neighbouring places. He began to make minute research and to collect material on the history of Kanara and Mangalore in particular. To cite one instance which shows the earnest care of a scholarly mind, he found time to make a research study and deliver a lecture on The Landing of Vasco Da Gama" on the occasion of the 4th centenary of the event. In his lecture he strove to prove that the Navigator reached Calicut or rather a place called Kollam not on 25th of May, as is commonly stated, but on 25th or 26th of August of the same year. The Government was quick to see the scholar in him and nominated him a Fellow of the University and an Examiner in History. The Government also offered to print and did print his Konkani Grammar and Dictionary and his lectures in History. Fr Maffei did not live to publish his History of South Kanara, but Fr Moore made full use of his MSS and published what is now known as The History of the Diocese of Mangalore'.
How was this prodigious work possible in spite of his many other duties in other fields? There is only one answer. The saint, the scholar and the healthy-man in him ran parallel. The saint in him urged him to spend himself in work for souls, the scholar in him was ever alert with pen in hand and the healthy-man kept him physically fit for the work. It is worth noting what a writer who knew Fr Maffei has to say about him. In fact, he sums up briefly the scholar and saint in him. "Saint and Scholar- these two words describe Fr Maffei well, and yet as a saint he was not exactly amiable, and as a scholar, not at All meteoric. Duty was writ large across his forehead, and to nothing in this world would that duty yield. You can hardly expect such a man to be popular. He was remarkable as a linguist. And yet as somebody else remarked, the Scholar who knew so many languages, did not speak any of them really well, not even his own Italian. He had sounded all the depths and shallows of the sweet Konkani language, and was the author of a Konkani Dictionary and a Konkani Grammar published by Government; and yet I have known lay-brothers who after moving among servants for a year in the kitchen or the garden, spoke my language distinctly better than Fr Maffei. But he was a deep man and one that took infinite pains. With what toil, for instance, he went through in collecting material for his voluminous history of South Kanara! Death came to him before he could publish the results of his historical research. But Fr Moore in his preface to the history of the Diocese of Mangalore acknowledges that the materials were mainly taken from a manuscript history left by Fr Maffei."
Another writer who knew Fr Maffei personally emphasizes the same trait in his character. During the eight years when as Principal of the College he guided its destinies, his striking personality and a remarkable earnestness which was one of the foremost traits of his strong character, were conspicuous at all times and in every work he put his hand to. Owing to the strict discipline he enforced and his naturally reserved and somewhat uninviting exterior, he did not gain the popularity which a man of his worth deserved. The task he was called upon to undertake seemed to weigh upon his mind and to fill him with alarm. And well it might, for he was one who every moment of his life was labouring as a creature that would one day have to appear before and be judged, by his Creator. If you have to give account of even one idle word uttered in your life', he would say, quoting St Matthew, to some of his students who, being found fault with for late attendance at College, attempted to evade censure by saying the thing that is not, 'If you have to give an account of an idle word, you may imagine how severe a reckoning you will be called to for telling deliberate falsehoods'. To one who was so keenly alive to the responsibility he incurred to the Supreme Judge for each and every one of his actions however trivial, his being entrusted with the charge and care of an institution where a whole generation of Catholic young men were being trained naturally appeared an oppressive burden. The firm control and the extreme watchfulness which he extended even to the minutest details, must have been highly irksome to many a pupil of the free-and-easy type; but to such as were earnestly bent on work it 'brought constraint to sweeten liberty'. It is this very serious way he had of looking at things that has been often hurled against the zealous and hardworking Principal. It was only natural that the rigid rule of life to which he had inured himself even from his earliest years, should have imparted a severe tone to all his ways and doings; but I believe that the rigour of his administration was due still more to a rooted conviction that the severe discipline and self-control which he practiced in his own life, and which he knew to be of immense service to himself personally, would likewise be of invaluable aid to his pupils to weather the storm and stress of their future years in the world. The burden of the duties of a Principal no doubt rested hard upon him during the eight years he held office. When he was retiring from it, he expressed his great satisfaction at being relieved of his onerous duties, and touching upon the charge that had been often made against him that he had been too strict in enforcing discipline during his administration, he declared that he had all the time been working with the single aim of promoting the good of those under his charge. But those who knew him well could, in the general appreciation of his sterling worth, easily afford to condone this defect, if such it was.
As a Scholar and keen observer he had a lot to say about Mangalore and Mangalorians but the saint in him seems to have hesitated to do so. for fear of uncharitable criticism. We may quote here from Mr. P. Vas, B. A.:
"During the long span of twenty years which Father Maffei spent in South Canara he became well acquainted with every nook and corner of the district and with the ways and habits of its people. His knowledge was naturally more accurate about Mangalore, where he was for the greater portion of the time, and a man of his keen observation must have detected many a noteworthy trait in the character of its inhabitants, especially of the Catholic portion of them. Yet, owing to his somewhat retiring disposition, he usually shrank from giving free expression to his views in public on current topics, and when induced by circumstances to do so, he was so guarded and cautious that it was difficult to form an exact idea of how he viewed the various movements of the Catholic body. He used to say, however, that the social side of the character of our Catholics in Mangalore had still to develop itself; that at present the father of the family was quite content with keeping to his home and making himself comfortable there in the bosom of his family, while social engagements that drew men abroad and banded them together in organizations for their mutual protection and advancement had but little charm for him. Until a more effective appreciation of what conduced so much to the progress and welfare of a community was fostered, there was little hope of improving the present state of things. Hence it is, he remarked, that though several associations had at times been formed for most praiseworthy objects and with the greatest enthusiasm at the outset, yet, owing to the lack of due appreciation and perseverance, their membership became 'fine by degrees and beautifully less', while the enthusiasm burned itself out as quickly as a wisp of straw."
As a Fellow of the University Fr Maffei tried his best to introduce certain useful changes in the syllabus. His keen mind and the Catholic in him had noted the harm done through Western philosophy. With his accustomed shrewdness and penetration Fr Maffei did not fail to observe that philosophy possessed an irresistible charm for the Indian intellect, and that Western civilization, in trying to undo the mysticism and mythology of ancient Hindu philosophy, had administered a remedy worse than the disease it proposed to cure", wrote Mr P. A. Vas, in his short sketch on Fr Maffei years ago. For a whole year Fr Maffei worked at the syllabus. He had the satisfaction to know that the scheme he had drawn up had the approval of Dr Duncan, Director of Public Instruction at the time, and of Justice Shephard. But when it came up for discussion at a meeting of Mental and Moral science it failed to secure the votes of a body of men better acquainted with Bain and Spencer than with Aristotle and St Thomas'". Here we see the scholar and the man of God pursuing his point anywhere and everywhere he gets an opportunity to do some good. At heart Fr Maffei was a missionary and he ever tried to use his scholarly mind and his strong health for that purpose. The day, therefore, he laid down his office as Rector and Principal of the St Aloysius' College, his heart once again longed for a missionary's life and he appealed to his superiors to permit him to go on conversion work. His superiors, though they felt that his talents and character did not fit a missionary's life, granted his request as he had also become a misfit in a community. Fr Frachetti, the Superior of the Mission, wrote on Nov. 2, 1898 to the Provincial in Italy: "Besides the few who can manage Konkani for the Christians, there is Fr Maffei who knows a little of every language and is about to be sent to a Mission among the non-Christians. But nobody in his heart believes him to be the man for the job, although he is a holy man". In another place it is noted, "The Superiors had to send him, because he had become impossible in the College, but all are of opinion that he is not the man. He is unpractical, strange and original; he is made to stay shut up in his room to study 18 hours a day rather than for the active life of a missionary. But he firmly believes that he is called and is full of goodwill and for that God will bless him". Reading through these remarks and the correspondence of Superiors at the time, one cannot help recalling the saying: "To live with saints in heaven is all glory, to live with them on earth is quite another story".
After obtaining the superior's permission Fr Maffei lost no time in going round the mission stations to find a place which would satisfy his apostolic urge. Bishop Cavadini writes: "Fr Maffei set out last week to visit some places and chose the most suitable one to begin his mission. The first of these was Panaje in Puttur Parish. It seems he did not find it suitable as you see from the enclosed letters which he wrote to me. He writes that he is setting out to Bela to visit another place. If he does not find that suitable, he will try Kokkada and if necessary Kela and even Bendur. Had he made use of his common sense he would not have set out from Puttur to go to Panaje under the rain and with unsuitable shoes. But it is useless to expect common sense from Fr Maffei."
Finally Fr Maffei settled down at Nellikunje. From here he wrote to his Bishop several letters in which he reveals his mind and how he himself looked at his missionary efforts. He wrote:
"I repeat that such and so many difficulties of every sort beset me that one needs the grace of a special vocation for this life to be able to endure it for long. In spite of this I am happy about it. God's grace is sustaining me".
"Meanwhile our Lord is pleased to try me a little by these adversities which will yield fruit in their own time, because I take them as good seed that will yield abundant harvest." And a short time before he died, he again wrote:
"If I have to judge from the presentiments which, as I think, God gave me when I came from Kumla to Bela, and even on seeing Nellikunje for the first time, I should rest more comforted by the thought that Nellikunje est requies mea et hic habitabo." (is my rest and I shall dwell here). Did he have a forboding of his death? It is difficult to say. His Bishop, who loved him dearly, seems to have taken his statement in its most obvious meaning, i.e., his permanent dwelling in the village. (The word used by Fr Maffei is 'sentimenti' which could mean 'feelings' or 'forebodings'). But the latin quotation may mean a mysterious divine foreboding, a vague expectation of coming events. The Bishop wrote to the Provincial :
"The road from Bela to Nellikunje is simply rotten but infinitely worse is the place chosen by Fr Maffei for his residence. His hut is at the bottom of a basin-shaped valley, without breeze, and the heat reverberating from the surrounding hills warms it like a furnace. Our Fr Denis Coelho, who accompanied me as my secretary, was saying that not even an Indian priest, though used to that climate, could have lived under that sun. Yet Fr Maffei spent all the hot season there. Oh, Father, if you saw the squalor and poverty of that hut! Although Fr Maffei had given me a minute description of his hut, or, as he called it, his 'palace', I was thousand miles from imagining what I really saw. The walls were of mud put together as it comes without any attempt at smoothing it a bit, and were cracked in four places from top to bottom, so that a hand could pass through and one could see what happened outside. A straw-thatched roof, badly leaking, supported by rough-hewn branches just as they came from the forest and tied together by ropes, completed the hut. In all the Mission he could not have found an unhealthier place than this. In a small cave behind the house which could shelter a man in sitting or kneeling posture, people say that the Father spent long hours in prayer.
"A good half of the house had been set aside as public chapel, where his Christians came on Sundays to hear Mass and his explanation of catechism. There he kept the Blessed Sacrament and spent much time in prayer. Two beams fixed in the walls with a plank on top served as the altar. Poor Jesus! He fared not worse in the stable of Bethlehem. Even non-Christians were taken up by this extraordinary man and they curiously enquired why such a man had come to stay with them. They regretted his death, saying that if he had lived, he would have done great things for them."
The same letter gives us an idea of his last days:
"The story of his last days, as narrated by those poor people in their native simplicity, was a thing that made one cry. He was alone, as he had sent to Mangalore his catechist and servant who had contracted fever, some good Christians had volunteered to serve and assist him as they could that his fever had been very high and his features had been altered. They said He had taught them how to prepare a chicken broth God knows what kind of broth- and they had kept it close to him.
Then he had told them that they should not come unless called, perhaps not to trouble them unnecessarily. The simple people had obeyed him to the letter, keeping watch day and night by turns near his door, in case he called them, without ever daring to enter his room.
When a non-Christian who was known to the Father had asked them one morning, about the Father, the Christians did not know what to answer because he had not called them. He opened the door and saw the Father lying unconscious on his bed, almost in his agony.
What had happened during all that time when he remained alone without taking any food or a drop of water, possibly being unable to call any longer, only GOD knows. When I got news of his death, I remembered what he had told me when pleading his cause in order to be sent to the Mission among the non-Christians: 'My Lord' he had written, if I cannot do more for those poor non-Christians, I shall be able at least to die for them? God seems to have accepted his sacrifice. He died for them!"
"With Fr Maffei's death" wrote Fr Frachetti, "it looks as if the devil has won and that the mission among the non-Christians has vanished. But I believe that the contrary will happen". Fr Corti who preached the funeral oration, perhaps inspired by his heroic example took up the work of a full missionary among the non-Christians. His efforts bore fine fruit.
Fr Maffei's sacrifice of his life established a tradition and opened a successful period of missionary endeavor. Until then no systematic efforts had been made to preach the Gospel to non-Christians in these parts. Fr Maffei was a pioneer. Leaving a comfortable life at the college he showed by example what a missionary should be, how he should live, what he should eat, what he should teach, what language he should speak. Fr Maffei tried a daring experiment in missionary activity. The fruit and success of it let the generations judge.
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