Saint John de Britto, also known as Arul Anandar, was the scion of a powerful aristocratic Portuguese family.
He joined the Jesuits in 1662, studying at the famous University of Coimbra. He travelled to the missions of Madurai, in Southern India, present-day Tamil Nadu, in 1673 and preached the Christian religion in the region of the Maravar country
John de Britto’s preaching led to the conversion of Thadiyathevan, a Maravar prince who had several wives. When Thadiyathevan was required to dismiss all his wives but one, a serious problem arose. One of the wives was a niece of the neighbouring king, the Raghunatha Kilavan Sethupathi, the King of Ramnad, who took up her quarrel and began a general persecution of Christians.[4] Britto and the catechists were taken and carried to the capital, Ramnad. Thence he was led to Orur, some 30 miles northward along the coast, where he was executed on 4 February 1693.
Saint John de Britto was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr, often called “the Portuguese St Francis Xavier” by Indian Catholics. He is also called the John the Baptist of India.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_de_Britto
2011 Census of India. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
de Britto, Fernando Pereira (brother of John de Britto) (1852) [History of the birth, life and martyrdom of Blessed John de Britto of the Society of Jesus, Martyr of Asia, and Protomartyr of the Madura Mission]
Roberts, Holly Harlayne (2004-09-01). Vegetarian Christian Saints: Mystics, Ascetics & Monks. New York: Anjeli Press. p. 198
