Those who knew Fr Ligoury Castelino, especially during his last few years, were always struck by his incorrigible optimism, serene contentment with and his generous appreciation for what others did for him. This is very clear in his sharing in Down the Memory Lane. When he was once asked, says Fr Gregory Coelho, about the secret of these qualities, he seems to have said he was like the leper described in the Gospel of Mark.
He was born on 31 May 1919 at Kulshekar, in the suburbs of Mangalore, the fourth and last child of Jacob Castelino and Seraphine Mathias. The prayers of his pious mother that he be a priest and the edifying example of his elder sister who joined the Sisters of Charity, the guidance of his teachers, particularly of Fr John Peter Noronha SJ must have contributed to his Jesuit vocation.
He later recalled an interesting incident that occurred when he was in the IV Class. When the boy next to him was struggling to open the cork of his ink bottle, he accidentally splashed some ink on his neighbour’s clothes, creating some disturbance in the class. `What’s the matter?’ shouted the stern teacher Mr Maurice Pinto. `Gudthi Sir’, said the boy, pointing to the cork. The whole class roared in laughter. The annoyed teacher, to restore silence, sent both Ligoury and his neighbour to the Headmaster, Fr J. P. Noronha. The HM, on entering his office, called first Ligoury in, asked him many questions about his family, and finally asked, `Have you a desire to become a priest?’ `Yes’, said Ligoury. With a lot of advice he sent him back to class. He did the same with the other boy too. The saintly priest sowed the seed of vocation in them and followed them up during their entire studies till they joined the novitiate at Calicut on 30 June 1939.
Novitiate over, in the 2nd year of Fr Ligoury’s Juniorate his ailments began. Some injury on the spine while playing as a boy on the haystack now surfaced, rendering him immobilized and bed-ridden for several months. In fact this injury dogged him throughout his life in the form of spondilosis. Even when he pursued his studies lying prone on his bed, his superiors recognized in him a man destined to be a capable administrator, an effective leader, a committed pastor.
On the completion of his studies with jerks and breaks on the way due to ill health, he was ordained priest on 21 November 1952. His first assignment was as a teacher at St Aloysius High School, and as director of the Boarding House. In 1965 he was shifted to Mount St Joseph as minister of the house. Here in 1970 he got the call to be a missionary in Nagaland. During the five years as Minister of MSJ he turned the farm that was languishing into a viable enterprise. The way in which he planned it, the manner in which he got the cooperation of many government officials and used officials to build it up showed his practical bent of mind, his ability to plan every detail and to get the cooperation of people around him.
Education being the principal mission entrusted to the trio, they first established the Loyola School at Jakhama. But not confining themselves to education, they took up pastoral activities in the Southern Angami region. While Frs. Stany and Raymond continued their work at Jakhama, Fr Castelino was asked to take up the administration of St John’s School at Tuensang. But the irresistible desire to proclaim the Good News led him to venture into new areas. During the next 15 years he was a pioneering evangelizer, touring towns and villages. “From 1970 up to now (i.e.1999), he wrote, “I have been working in Nagaland where most of my pastoral work has been in Tuensang, Kiphire and Chakesang areas. During this time the Church made rapid progress, no doubt. But the success was not entirely due to my efforts. I give much of the credit to the excellent collaboration I received from the Ursuline Sisters who were working with me and took full responsibility in the day-to-day management of the several schools I had started, leaving me free to attend to my pastoral work.
“Another factor that contributed to the success was the participation of the laity in this endeavour especially in the Chakesang area where I worked for ten years which gave me the greatest satisfaction in my apostolate. The five Catholic communities I served had some very enthusiastic and dynamic young men with devoted leaders who were eager to take me to new villages to preach and spread the faith.”
“During my life in Nagaland, adventures and accidents were galore. Way back in 1970, when Fr Raymond and I were going to Nagaland to begin our life of evangelization, adventure was waiting to welcome us. The plane we were travelling by from Kolkata to Imphal was to have a brief halt at Silchar. When we were about to land there, the wheels of the plane would not come out. The plane went round and round, the fuel was running out, the passengers were warned about the impending danger of the plane catching fire due the friction of its rubbing against the ground. Fortunately God saved us from this tragedy.”
Fr Castelino shares also another scary experience, of a jeep accident, soon after his taking charge of Chizami parish. The jeep was brand new, and the driver too new. At a certain point, on a very rough road, he could not negotiate a sharp curve with a bolder in the middle of the road. He took the jeep too much to the edge of the road, with the result it rolled down the slope rolling side-ways 4 or 5 times and finally halted 100 ft. below the road, with its hood completely smashed, and its wheels pointing upwards, at each somersault the passengers inside jumping out one by one, all except Fr Ligoury and the driver, holding firmly the steering wheel or the handle, sustaining only some minor injuries, but escaping from the jaws of death.
Spending nights on the road because of roadblocks due to massive landslides or jeep breakdowns was a common occurrence especially in the rainy season. The fruit of such ceaseless labours are for all of us to see in the schools, Catholic communities and parishes that dot the Phek district today. He was lovingly called the missionary of the ‘Border Roads’ as he traversed the length of Nagaland adjoining Burma (Myanmar).
Fr Ligoury narrates an interesting incident during his missionary tours. Let’s listen to his own words:
Br Paul Pinto, a Jesuit Brother who was working at Loyola School, Jakhama, was very eager to see Meluri, Kiphire and Tuensang. One day he joined me when I was returning to Tuensang via Meluri and Kiphire. When we had crossed Meluri and had just 20 kms to reach Kiphire. There was a huge landslide that blocked the road. We were told that it could not be cleared for another 10 days, and that the road would remain closed till then. So, we made a right-about-turn to try our luck to reach Tuensang via Zunheboto and Mokokchung. Since it was already dark, we thought of spending the night in a roadside GREF camp. Nearby the camp was a small hotel owned by a Keralite. I wanted to find out whether it was safe to leave the jeep in the open near the hotel, and asked the man `Yahan chor hai?’(Are there any thieves here? Prompt came the reply: `Chor bi hai, chappati bi hai.’(chor in Malayalam, means rice). I didn’t pay much attention to what he said, but Br Paul who heard what he said, had a hearty laugh, and would repeat the incident to everybody he met.
While carrying on these hectic evangelizing activities, Fr Ligoury shouldered other responsibilities as well. For several years he was the superior of the Jesuits working in Nagaland. He also looked after their material needs as the Mission Treasurer. He was, besides ever available to those who sought his advice and guidance. He did all this despite the fact that his health was never robust. While his old infirmities continued to trouble him, new ones like diabetes, hyper-tension and problems of the heart began to assail him. But his spirit was not weakened, and his zeal never diminished.
When he had given a direction to the new mission and establishing many institutions and sub centres which have eventually become Parishes now, his superiors felt that his services were needed in the Southern Angami area. Hence in 1985 he was transferred to Loyola School, Jakhama as superior and parish priest, a post he held for a decade. However the exertions of the pioneer began to affect him and he was obliged to undergo open heart surgery. Here let us listen to his own recollections:
“My checkered career during my formation due to several bouts of illness was a constant cause of concern and anxiety to my superiors. But the sympathy and care shown to me by my superiors and companions was really great which convinced me that the Society of Jesus is the “Society of Love.” I remember with gratitude the care and concern shown to me by my brother Jesuits when I underwent open heart surgery at St John’s in May 1995. I was not aware of what was happening to me at that time; I came to know afterwards how much anxiety I had caused to so many when at a certain point the doctors had given me up for dead and arrangements were made for a coffin to take my body away. However, I recovered to praise God for His mercies. I must make special mention of Fr Hector who was by my side during that entire period, taking care of me like a mother. I also thank all those who volunteered to donate blood, 23 bottles in all, which saved my life. Many of these donors, including some doctors and the Administrator were calling themselves my blood relatives, because they gave their blood for me.”
But the spirit of the pioneer was not weakened by the surgery. His spiritual and human qualities, which were always evident, now began to shine. Rather than brood over his infirmities, he led an active life, rendering a variety of services till the very end. Though he showed a few signs of advancing age, he also appeared increasingly to be a man in a deepening communion with God, – signs of a man growing old gracefully and joyfully.
He was a man of gentle humour, not of boisterous laughter. He always made the people’s needs his needs. “He had the wisdom of Moses”, Fr Hector D’Souza wrote of him, “with the down to earth attitude of Joseph, the knowledge of Abraham, but the heart of a simple John. He was courageous like Paul and impetuous like Peter. He had the heart of Mother Mary and his love engulfed Jesus… He kept working, reading, reflecting and above all listening and directing people in his old age. Everyone who walked into his room, having encountered him came out refreshed and blessed. That was the charm of the Old Man.”
Fr Ligoury’s song is over; but the melody of the music lingers on. What can we do to make this melody go on? Not praying that he might be declared a saint, or erecting a statue in his memory. That would be doing injustice to that quiet man. He was a man behind the scene, not seeking the limelight, but doing all things so that things may happen and that love may grow. The best thing we could do is to do just what he did, adding love wherever we are, making the place where we live and work more peaceful, doing things without much ado, and leaving the world a little better than what we found it to be.
- By Fr Richard Sequeira, SJ
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