Belgian Jesuit who taught Indian seminarians for 55 years dies

By Matters India Reporter

Ranchi, Sept 18, 2020: Jesuit Father Erik Breye, a seminary professor, retreat preacher and a confessor and counselor for seminarians and nuns, died of cardiac arrest September 18 in Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand state in eastern India. He was 79.

“Bishops, Religious Sisters and fathers and lay faithful have always seen in Father Erik Breye a loving, compassionate father figure. He is known for his spiritual and scriptural talks to the members of various religious communities,” Father John Crasta, the president of Ranchi’s St Albert’s College where the Jesuit taught for 40 years, told Matters India.

Father Raymond Kerketta, socius (secretary) to the Ranchi Jesuit province, noted in a condolence message that Father Breye was a member of the Society of Jesus for 61 years and a priest for 48 years.

The funeral Mass was held at St. Albert’s College Ranchi at 2:30 pm on the same day. Jesuit Archbishop Felix Toppo of Ranchi led the Mass assisted by Bishop Binay Kandulna of Khunti, and Auxiliary Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas of Ranchi,

Also present were Jesuits’ Ranchi provincial Father Ajit Kumar Xess and his confrere Sudhir Minj, who narrated the life of Father Breye in his homily.

The burial took place immediately after the Mass in the nearby common cemetery. Father Xess led the burial services.

“Not many members could be invited for the funeral services in view of the Covid-19 related restrictions. Yet the funeral services were devotional and meaningful,” the president explained.

Father Breye was born on December 10, 1940 at Izegem in Belgium. He joined the Society of Jesus on Septemer 7, 1959 and was ordained a priest on June 3, 1979 at Heverlee,a town in Belgium.

Father Breye belonged to the Ranchi province, where he arrives in 1865 as a young seminarian. He did his regency at St. Albert’s College Ranchi. For his theology studies he went to Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth in Pune, western India. He completed his Masters in Philosophy as well as doctorate in Religious Studies from Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium.

Father Breye served as a professor of theology, formator and spiritual director at St. Albert’s College Ranchi for the past 40 years. He also was the president of the Faculty of Theology Ranchi for two terms, totaling 12 years, the rector said.

Capuchin Father Joseph Prasad Pinto, a former president of St Albert’s College, hailed Father Breye as “a good missionary in India,” who was brilliant in studies.

Father Breye “was very intelligent but humble. Many Brothers used to go to him regularly for counseling, advice and confession; Reverend Sisters too invited him regularly for spiritual recollections, talks and confessions,” Father Pinto said in a condolence message on his Facebook page.

Father Pinto also noted that St Albert’s College, a pontifical major seminary, used to have 275 students every year until 2009. “Now vocations are less and the number has come down.”

Daughters St Anne Sister Lalita Roshini Lakra said Father Brye used to come to their novitiate to offer daily Mass. The Ranchi archbishop assigns priests from Albert’s College to offer daily Mass in the novitiate. “He was committed, punctual, ever smiling, ever ready for any spiritual services,” she recalled.

“I liked his preaching both in Hindi as well as English. His English was simple to understand and as a novice I didn’t follow high and complicated English. I liked his child-like innocent smile,” recalled Sister Lakra, a lawyer who now serves the tribal department of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India in New Delhi.

She said the nuns in her congregation used to call him “Bhaiya (elder brother) Father.”

“He was always there on or before time for confession and talk. He also went to the sick room to hear the confession of elderly and sick nuns.”