This is with reference to the news report ’Man who fought casteism is first layman saint of India’ (TGE May 16). The canonisation of the first Indian Christian layman Devasahayam Pillai ( Lazarus) by Pope Francis at the Vatican on May 15 is a watershed event in the Catholic church. What makes it significant is the conversion of a high caste Hindu to Christianity who worked zealously for the eradication of casteism and the equality of all people, only to meet with his death by shooting, 7 years after his conversion. As a tribute to the saint's martyrdom, it would be prudent for the church to confer on him an additional title of patron saint of the low castes and the marginalized of society who can now look upon the saint as their protector in these days of communal violence and hatred.
