Jesuit “water man” dies

By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, Feb 4, 2022: A Jesuit priest, who was credited with evangelizing and proselytizing naturopathy and homeopathy, died February 3 at Dindigul in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He was 77.

Father Joseph John Britto, a naturopath who was nicknamed “India’s water man,” was a member of the Jesuits’ Madurai province, but had served in the field of Alternate Medicine in Mumbai for many years, says a message from Jesuit Father Frazer Mascarenhas, a former principal of St Xavier’s College in the western Indian city.

A message from the Madurai Jesuit province on February 4 says Father Britto died at 4:08 pm as the ambulance was taking him from Madurai’s Meenakshi Mission Hospital to St Joseph Hospital in Dindigul.

The funeral will be held at Beschi Illam, Dindigul, later on February 4 “with restricted attendance in conformity with (Tamil Nadu) government burial protocols,” the provincial house announced.

Father Britto was a Jesuit for 58 years. He was born on March 11, 1944 and joined the Society of Jesus in 1963. He was ordained a priest on May 1, 1977 and took his final vows on November 13, 1986.

He started his healing ministry at De Nobili College, Pune, in 1977. After two years, he went to Dindigul’s Beschi Illam (House) to teach and conduct retreats for a year.

Father Britto served Holy Family Hospital, managed by the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Bihar, in its healing ministry until 1987 and then came to their Delhi’s Holy Family Hospital and worked there until 1989.

He was in healing ministry at St Xavier’s College Palayamkottai, Loyola Technical Institute Madurai and Hyderabad’s Satyodayam during 1989 and 1995.

He worked in Chennai and St Mary’s Mumbai for two years. His next appointment was to St Xavier’s School in Mumbai, Goa, Gujarat and other parts of India. He came back to Beschi in 2019 and worked there until his death.

“Father Britto was a naturopath & Homeopath – he conducted many workshops in Mumbai and Goa and treated thousands of patients, all over the world. He also trained dozens of lay people in alternate medicine and lifestyle and wrote several books on this theme,” says Father Frazer.

The Mumbai Jesuit thanked God “for the significant impact Father Joe Britto had on the quality of life of so many of us.”

Valerian, an educationist in Goa and a disciple of Father Britto, says the Jesuit had done “a yeoman service through his mission to make people aware of the efficacy of naturopathy and homeopathy.”

For this, Father Britto had conducted several health empowerment courses in Mumbai and its suburbs, in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, as well as in Malaysia, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, Valerian blogged in 2015.

Father Britto helped found the department of Naturopathy and Homeopathy in the Holy Family Hospitals in Patna and Delhi, working as a consultant in those institutions.

“The value of ‘Preventive Healthcare’ has gained credence and is a part of many top-line hospitals today merely as a promotional gimmick; empowering people isn’t part of their plan. Fr. Britto initiated this decades ago,” Valerian says.

According to him, families have “rediscovered the secret of good health through right diet” and managed and prevented “chronicity of illness through naturopathic means.”

A major achievement of Father Britto was that children who attended his courses and adopted his teachings have grown to become doctors, especially homeopaths.

Father Britto had “profound knowledge of indigenous medicines and home remedies.” He learnt acupuncture from Chinese doctors in Malaysia and held a diploma in Siddha Medicine from Madurai. He was also a master in the art of therapeutic massage.

Writing in individualizedhealthcare.blogspot.com, Valerian recalls that the Jesuit’s mission was able to bring affordable and safe health care to India’s middle class and rural population. He points out that most Indians spend their earnings on housing and food leaving them with meager savings, “often liquidated by medical and hospitalization expenses.”