Covid kills Jesuit canonist

By Irudhaya Jothi

Dindigul, Jan 26, 2022: Jesuit canonist and lawyer and a former professor in Delhi’s Vidyajyoti theologate died of Covid-19 January 26 in Dindigul town in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He was 69.

Father Jeyaseelan Thomas Barnabas suffered a massive heart attack and died at 7:30 am as he was taken to a hospital for Covid-19 treatment. He had fever and cold for the past few days and was tested Covid positive.

A message from Father M. Devadoss, the secretary of the Madurai Jesuit provincial, said the funeral would he held at 3 pm on January 26 in Beschi Cemetery in Dindigul with restricted attendance according to the Tamil Nadu government’s protocol for burying Covid patients.

Father Jeyaseelan, as he was popularly known, was born in 1952. He was Jesuit for 51 years,

As a civil lawyer Father Jeyaseelan practiced both in the Madras High Court and its Madurai bench before sent to Rome to study the canon law.

After obtaining a doctorate in canon law, he was assigned to teach at Vidyajyoti. He also served at the Legal Cell of Indian Social Institute in New Delhi while teaching theology.

Father Jeyaseelan was in Madurai for the past 20 years, coordinating the works of the legal action under the Institute of Development Action Studies, with a special wing of Legal Action Advocacy services. He was the founding director of LAAS.

Father Jeyaseelan trained many paralegal professionals in Tamil Nadu through LAAS and was a much sought after person for the poor, says Jesuit Father A Santhanam, present LAAS director.

As a canonist he had helped many women religious congregations to amend and reformulate their constitutions. He also served as an expert in many congregational general chapters and assemblies.

Father Santhanam says Father Jeyaseelan had trained and helped scores of people on property rights and marriage related laws. “His absence will be dearly felt,” he told Matters India.

Father Jeyaseelan authored three books and published many articles both in secular and religious publications. Woman and Law, Sattam Oru Irutarai Alla (Law is not a dark room) Sattathin Maru Pakkam (The Other Side of Law) are the names of one in English and the rest in Tamil books.

His sudden death has shocked many Jesuit companions.

One of them, Father Britto Vincent says, “He was a multifaceted personality integrating knowledge and skills in civil and canon laws, humor, dramatics and music.”

His natural ability as a theater actor made many call him Actor Thyagarajan, Father Vincent told Matters India. In 1986, Father Jeyaseelan organized a street theater workshop.

Father Vincent, who is also theater person, said, “We both used to perform political satire. On a bicycle, we took out our street theater yathra into the blocks of Sri Lankan repatriates and villages of Dalits.”