Blessed Devasahayam Pillai – The First Lay Indian Martyr

January 14th is the feast day of Blessed Devasahayam Pillai, the first Indian lay martyr to be beatified.
Popularly known as Devasahayam Pillai (God’s help), he was born Nilakandan Pillai (1712-1752) into a Hindu family in the then Kingdom of Travancore (in the present district of Kanyakumari, in Tamil Nadu) southern India. Read more