Brother Jesudas Gabriel Amirtham, a member of the Society of St. Paul who promoted peace clubs for children and ran mobile bookshops among other activities in India, has died.
He died on April 10 at the congregation’s house in Kochi, Kerala, following a massive heart attack. He was 67.
As a Pauline Brother, he served the northeastern Indian states for several years and was acclaimed for his zeal and enthusiasm for spreading the good news of Christ.
Brother Jesudas had a degree of Bachelor of Theology and a diploma in Multimedia Animation.
He achieved this through communication media and various initiatives such as motivational classes for students and youth, training programs for teachers and religious, mobile bookshop, and peace club.
He formed 175 peace club units involving 8,000 children as members from 55 schools. For this, the International Business Council awarded him the “Indira Gandhi Sadbhavana Award for Peace.”
He was also recognized and honored by Assam’s chief minister for his peace and educational initiatives.
He also served as the executive secretary of the National Assembly of Religious Brothers in India, deputy director of North East Social Communications, regional secretary, Bible Commission of North East, director, Guwahati Archdiocesan Communication Centre.
Brother Jesudas, as he was popularly known, was born on February 27, 1956, at Veeralur in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, as the second son of D. Amirtham and P. Arokiamary. He is survived by three brothers and two sisters.
Brother Jesudas joined the Society of St Paul at Mumbai on June 16, 1976. After his initial formation in Mumbai, he did his novitiate in Bengaluru in 1979-1980 and pronounced his first vows on June 30, 1980. After completing his juniorate programs at Mumbai and Allahabad, he made his final profession on December 12, 1987, in his home parish Church at Veeralur.
