TESTIMONY 3

TESTIMONY 3

Name: Thomas
Surname: Kurisinkal
Date of Birth: 25 October 1918
Profession / Occupation: Estate Officer – Retired, XLRL, Jamshedpur
Age: 83 years
Address: House No: 4/534, Oliyappuram Post, 686 679, (Via) Koothattukulam, Ernakulam District, Kerala, India.
Phone: 0485-252256.
Relationship: Direct Witness
Date of Interview: 27 May 2001

I was born on 25 October 1918. At the age of 9, I worked as sacristan. After passing 4^th class in 1929, I joined Jhansi Brothers (Diocesan congregation known as Franciscan Missionary Brothers of the Blessed Sacrament). I received the habit of O.R.S.T. on 29 October 1941 form Fr. Francis Xavier Fenech O.C, Superior Regular (OFM Cap.) I entered Novitiate on 1 November 1941 and left on 10 April 1942.

It was in the Catholic Church in Jhansi that I met Brother Joseph Thamby for the first time in December 1943. He was wearing dirty clothes and had filaria. It was a military Church. Thamby looked like a Hindu sanyasi. He was reading a big book. I asked him: “Do you know to read?” “Though you do not Know, I know”, was the reply. I was stunned by those words. That book was in half Latin and half English. It was his first visit to that Sacred Heart Church. From then on, we became friends.

Brother Joseph Thamby used to visit me in the Church’s sacristy, where I was living. I did not know where he was living. He used to beg in the military barracks kitchen during the day. He used to bring dry Chapattis to store them and to take with him. He never took alms in cash.

During one of our conversations, he told me that he was with the Franciscan Capuchin Order. He had to leave because of the incurable disease elephantiasis (filaria) on his right leg.

It was on a Friday afternoon, while I was reading life of a saint, Brother Joseph Thamby visited me. He sat on the ground and was listening to me. Suddenly he fell down. He was unconscious and I tried to wake him up. Then I saw blood was oozing from his hands, feet and side. Initially, I thought he was just bluffing me. But immediately, I realized that he was not cheating. I wiped the blood with cotton and that was recently handed over to the Capuchin Provincial Minister of St. Joseph Province, Kerala.

When he came to consciousness, I asked him, “What is happening to you?” I insisted so much to tell. When I took a pledge that I will not tell anyone, then he told, “Every Friday at 3^o clock, I get the pain of Crucifixion and shedding of blood.” Brother Joseph Thamby shared his feelings with me: “Our Lord is suffering. Expiation is needed”. Thamby used to get stigmata on Fridays. I had written down 6 to 8 pages about his spirituality in Malayalam (local language of Kerala State), but I destroyed later on fearing somebody will see it and the pledge I made to him be broken.

On a Sunday, after the morning Mass, I had a conversation with Brother Joseph Thamby. I left him at the Church and went to a convent to attend adoration. The Convent is 5 kms from the Church and I went by a bicycle. When I reached the convent, to my surprise, Brother Joseph Thamby was already in the middle of the chapel. I asked him: “How did you come?” Thamby answered: “I just came. When I want to go anywhere somebody comes and taps on the shoulder and lifts me up and brings me to the place.” He had the power of bilocation. Later when I visited Avutapally, Fr. Rasi, the assistant parish priest there also shared the same to me.

I gave him one of my khaki colour cassocks along with a black cord which is still preserved in Avutapally.

While in Jhansi, I had received a big rosary and a cross from Brother Joseph Thamby. After about a month, he left Jhansi without saying where he was going.

A few weeks later, I received a letter signed by Brother Joseph Thamby in Malayalam from Guntur. After a few weeks he sent me another letter with spiritual advice. He told me to read and follow 1 Peter 1:24-25 (For all humanity is grass, and all its beauty like the wild flowers. As grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of the lord remains forever). He wrote, “And this Word is the Good News that has been brought to you.”

Afterwards, I could not be in touch with him since he has not given me his address in his letters. Sometime in 1947 or 1948, while visiting the soldiers, I came across a soldier who had heard about Brother Joseph Thamby at Trichur, Kerala and he told me to write to Fr. Joseph Chungath of Trichur diocese. I wrote to him regarding my acquaintance with Brother Joseph Thamby. He wrote to me with all the information about Brother Joseph Thamby and that he died on 15 January 1945 and was buried at Sacred Heart Church in Avutapally. Fr. Joseph Chungath also said “After the death of a man you can tell all what you know about him. You can reveal the secrets to all about his holy life.”

I visited the tomb of Brother Joseph Thamby at Avutapally in September 1949. I met the parish priest Fr. J. B. Calderaro. Fr. Rasi, an Italian, assistant parish priest, advisor and confessor of Brother Joseph Thamby spoke to me very highly about him. He sent me to Boyapati’s family that accepted Christ because of Brother Joseph Thamby. Some 30 families were converted by Brother Joseph Thamby before he died. I also visited a second time in 1983.

I left the diocesan congregation of Jhansi Brothers on leave on 7 December 1952. I wrote my resignation letter on 21 January 1953. On 31 January 1953, I received the reply from the provincial who accepted my resignation. Then I joined the Irish Christian Brothers after one year of break during which I also worked in the backwaters of Murikan. I was driving the tractor in the paddy field. Then I got a post in Mar Ivanios Collage and worked in the office as a peon for two weeks. In the year 1954, I left for Kurseong to join the Irish Christian Brothers. After one year of novitiate I took first vows on 25 December 1965.

Then I worked in the press. After that, I was transferred back to the school. Eight years I worked in the school at Kurseong in Darjeeling district. As a Christian Brother, I was known as Thomas Mark. Some problems with the superiors made me feel bad. My mother died on 21 October 1963. I got a transfer to Patna in 1964. Fr. George Murikan S. J. was a close friend of mine. He helped me in drafting the letter for dispensation in 1965. Later I wrote a second and a third letter for dispensation. Another Jesuit priest arranged for me a job in Sr. Xavier’s Delhi. I was offered Rs.100, boarding and lodging. Another offer was a job in the estate in Jamshedpur with a monthly salary of Rs. 300, boarding and lodging. I accepted the second offer. It was the post of a post-graduate. My marriage took place in Jamshedpur on 26 March 1967. After 18 years of successful work, I retired from the Estate Officer’s post in XLRI (Xavier Labour Relation Institute) on 25 October 1983. Then I settled down in Vadakara.

I was helped by Brother Joseph Thamby many a time. I had fallen 24 times. Whenever I fainted Brother Joseph Thamby helped me. I sold my car and gave up the affluence. In my will 50% of the income is set apart for the M.S.T. Brother Joseph Thamby continues to help me even today.

I saw that he was very much interested in reading spiritual books. He was very charitable and generous. He would give his belongings without expecting to get them back. He bore difficulties and suffering with patience and magnanimity. Joseph Thamby was a very detached man. He truly lived the spirit of evangelical poverty. He was a trustworthy person. He never betrayed the confidence I placed in him. I also found him a man of modesty. He never spoke a vulgar word for joke. He was not at all interested in such matters. He loved purity of life and intense prayer to be united to God and Jesus Christ. His life of prayer was accompanied by extraordinary supernatural phenomena.