Fr Cyprian Albuquerque Pai (aka Swami Supriya) was born at Bejai, Mangalore of Lawrence and Josephine Albuquerque on 24 September 1927. On his mother’s side he was the uncle of Fr Alexis Menezes. Two of his sisters joined the Sisters of Charity.
Having had his early education at the Parish school, he proceeded to St Aloysius for his Middle School up to Intermediate. For a year he worked in Bombay for the Reserve Bank of India. Drawn to follow close his Master and Lord Jesus, he joined the Jesuit novitiate at Christ Hall, Calicut. He had his first year of regency at St Louis Boarding House as prefect, and the second year at SJC Hostel as sub-warden. He was ordained at Kurseong on 18.3.1959. Before Tertianship he had some missionary experience at Suntikoppa, and after Tertianship, a year’s studies in Catechetics at Lumen Vitae, Brussels, where he took his Last Vows on 2.2.63.
Back in the Province, he served for a year in Mount St Joseph as Minister and Procurator, and had a short stint at Fatima Retreat House, Mangalore, teaming up with Fr Frigidian Shenoy. He spent seven precious years in Gulbarga. Seeing that the faithful had no church of their own, but had to attend Sunday service in the CSST convent school, he worked with might and main to erect a beautiful church in the local Moorish style, dedicated to the Mother of Divine Grace. It was blessed by Bishop Ambrose Yeddanapally OFM of Bellary on 25.11.1974. It was a true mark of inculturation. In this labour of his love, he himself worked at the site along with other workmen, and succeeded in raising a beautiful edifice which became a center of attraction. In the bargain, however, his health was ruined. When Gulbarga became a diocese, this church became the Cathedral. Later (2015), however, to build a bigger Cathedral on the same spot as the previous church, Fr Pai’s masterpiece was demolished.
Fr Cyprian next moved to Dharwad to do his MA in Kannada. During the two years that Fr Pai prosecuted his studies for the MA degree in Kannada, he had rented a house not far either from the Karnataka University campus or from the railway station, and he named this Viraktashrama. It was while he was residing there that he wrote his early books. The movement into North Karnataka had been his suggestion with the assurance that it would not be difficult to get Bishop William D’Mello to assign to the Karnataka Jesuits the Mundgod Taluk for evangelization and development. He had also offered to share in the work of evangelization by combining his research into Karnataka folklore for the Ph.D. Degree by training a group of artists to give Yakshagana (field drama) programmes on Biblical themes.
So that the training of these artists would neither disturb other people nor would other people be a source of disturbance to the trainees, he planned to buy a secluded place in Mundgod Taluk. However he could find a congenial cove only in the neighbouring Haliyal, where he had already seen the place and selected it – a hillock a few Kms from Haliyal town. However, as the Province was not in a financial position to buy the plot, he was told that he could go ahead with the purchase if the money could be got through donations. The plot, however, would be a property of the Province. Thus Viveka Pragati became the residence of Fr Pai from the commencement of 1980s.
Viveka Pragati became synonymous with diffusion of knowledge through the written word. Fr Cyprian Pai began seriously gathering material for his Ph.D. degree on folklore. This was done by recording the folklore in different parts of Karnataka and in other languages besides Kannada. Unfortunately everything was reduced to ashes when in his absence some mischief-monger set fire to it. The material and equipment worth nearly two lakh of rupees was lost. But the indomitable spirit did not yield. Unable to pursue the original goal, he directed all his energy and devoted all his time to the diffusion of knowledge writing books and pamphlets in Kannada and Konkani. The books published earlier and released at the time of the Centenary Celebrations were added other books on hagiography, spirituality, Language and Literature. The place too was systematically developed by planting variety of fruit trees, especially cashew and mango which in course of time brought income. His list of books is really fabulous.
The drawback for Fr Pai was the question of sale/disposal of the books. He could attend to the writing, getting them printed, bound, but what next? The number of copies sent out as complimentary to Jesuits and others were limited. There was no publicity means, no display opportunity, and no sales mechanism. Hence where could he get the funds for further books? Prakashalaya at the Seminary helped him to a certain extent in the sale of books. He had to go himself to the book shops with his books offering them handsome discounts. But that too was not enough. Hence his unsold books remained in plenty.
Fr Pai’s was a multi-faceted personality, blessed with such a variety of gifts. His was a brilliant mind: there were so many subjects on which he could discourse at a very high level of knowledge: theology, philosophy, Scripture, literature – English, Kannada, Greek and Latin, Indian and Western Art; he was a prolific writer, mostly in Kannada and Konkani on linguistics and folklore; he wrote a large number of spiritual books in both these languages; he had been working on the translation of the Old Testament into Konkani with scholarly notes; he had published the first three volumes of Kannada-Konkani Dictionary. He was fluent in several languages. He consulted the original Hebrew text when translating parts of the Old Testament. His literary genius won him the central Government Sahitya Academy Award in 1996, and Sandesha Award 1996. Also his book Konkani Bhasechem Mansha Shastir- 1995 edition – got the Dr T.M.A.Pai Best Konkani Book Award -1998.
Fr Pai was not only a writer; he was also a poet and musician, and had composed several large and small poems and set them to music. He did not attend any computer course, but could make the maximum use of his computer. He was in a way an architect, a builder – we saw about the magnificent church he put up in Gulbarga with a touch of Islamic art design – a mechanic, electrician, a plumber, a book binder, an excellent cook, a farmer; he could sew, knit, do crochet work. One year he knitted mufflers for all the scholastics in Vidyaniketan! He was a brilliant genius! An all-rounder par excellence!
What strikes remarkably in Fr Cyprian Pai was his spirit of faith. When his Provincial, Fr Ronnie Prabhu, told him he was not happy with his staying all alone in that remote place outside Haliyal, he would immediately snap back, -`Who says I am alone? The Triune God is with me – and I live with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It did need much courage to stay alone like that- his cook and farm hand would come only around 9.30 a.m. and leave by 6 p.m. –particularly after that attempt some years earlier to burn down his house. But he carried on like that for 19+ years! It was this spirit of faith that underlay his great zeal, a zeal that attracted many to him. Mr Aithala, a not too distant neighbor of Fr Pai once told Fr Ronnie, that he frequently visited the latter, and that they generally talked only spiritual matters.
During the first part of his priestly life, after a year’s special training in Catechetics in Belgium and a short ministry at Mount St Joseph and at Fatima Retreat House, Fr Pai was engaged in evangelizing ministry in remote places like Suntikoppa, Shahabad and Gulbarga. Wherever he went he slogged for his people and for the proclamation of the Gospel. To thousands of people he showed filmstrips on the life of Christ and of Saints, and was instrumental in bringing some adults to the faith. He gave himself to his mission without counting the cost, labored without looking for any reward, toiled looking for no rest. This was particularly so in the late 70s when there was severe famine all over N. Karnataka, and Fr Pai strained every nerve to help his starving people. As a consequence his own health broke down, and he could not continue any more in the mission field.
It was at this time that Fr Pai went back to his intellectual pursuits. On completing his post-graduation in Kannada, he set up in 1982 his center for spiritual, cultural, communications and folklore research called Viveka Pragati at Haliyal. At that time the concept of Regional Theology Centers was just beginning to be mooted, and it is amazing to see how even in those early days Fr Pai had drawn up a clear blueprint of an RTC for Karnataka, and how Theology should be imbibed in a context of inculturation and in the vernacular. In all that he did Fr Pai was a workaholic and a perfectionist. He could not stand anything sub-standard, or any shoddy work. He couldn’t stand any injustice or falsehood. He believed in calling a spade a spade. And thus Fr Pai came across to many as an angry man who spared no one, whether companions, officials or even his superiors. So, many were guarded in their dealings with him. But for all that, Fr Pai was deep down a loving person and had very good friends with whom he kept good contact.
It is true that Fr Pai at times felt, rightly or wrongly, misunderstood, unappreciated and even rejected by others, particularly by fellow Jesuits and Superiors. How far these feelings were based on facts is debatable, but the feelings of rejection were real, but others were not always to blame. His apparently abrasive nature, and a somewhat sharp tongue; his habit of doing things on his own, with very little accountability, not always taking the Superiors and companions into confidence; combined with a deficient and difficult dialogue; his natural outspokenness and occasional aggressiveness rendering the relations of this fire brand with his Superiors as well as companions very fragile, fraught and fractious, resulted in his fellow Jesuits, being afraid of living and working with him, despite admiring, appreciating and acclaiming him for his brilliance. And thus, his wonderful work remained always an individual initiative without the Province really claiming it as its own, which he could not reasonably expect from them. Otherwise, a little bit of gentleness in speech, openness with Superiors, and appreciation of fellow Jesuits would have ensured that the stupendous work of this genius of a great Jesuit continued on its own steam, being effectively carried out by those he had trained. Unfortunately, this was not to be. His fantastic feat soon died a dismal death, for it was always closely identified with his person and not with the Society of Jesus, and no younger Jesuits were keen to be included and initiated in his path breaking work, although they were all greatly inspired by his accomplishments, and he himself was ever ready, with his natural largeness of heart and truly unfeigned affection, to welcome and guide them, and, some of them did make sincere attempts, but eventually gave up. The Lord certainly writes straight on curved lines! Cyprian loved the Lord, the Church and the poor, and in the midst of all these unnecessary hurt feelings and consequent loneliness, it was his strong and unshakable faith in God that kept him going.
Fr Pai did not like being put in the Province Catalogue as attached to Dharwad community, and not as part of North Karnataka Mission. He said he was the one who worked longest in N. Karnataka, and was in a way the pioneer Jesuit missionary in that area, and the Province had refused to acknowledge it! His sudden death seemed to have been the time it was acknowledged. After a short illness at Lourdes Hospital, he passed away. The question arose where to bury him. Generally Jesuits of Karnataka who died in Dharwad were buried in Mangalore. But since Fr Pai identified himself so fully with North Karnataka Mission and wanted to be so identified the Provincial decided he would be the first Jesuit to be buried in this mission field, in Dharwad. He was laid to rest in the Catholic cemetery of that town...
A true Jesuit Fr Pai bore witness to Christ both among the poorest people with whom he lived and for whom he toiled, and among the highest intellectuals and writers with whom he associated. He leaves behind for his confreres an example to follow and a challenge to measure up to. Fr General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach wrote to Fr Pai on the occasion of his golden Jubilee in the Society: “People who know you vouch for your keen intelligence, flair for languages, aptitude for music, artistic talents, literary genius, technical bent, theological depth, communication skills and a vast fund of general knowledge. I am told that more than all this, what people find in you is your sense of justice and fair play, honesty and transparency, deep sympathy for the wronged and readiness to raise your voice against cant and hypocrisy wherever these may appear to you to exist.”
- by Fr Richard Sequeira, SJ
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