A young priest dies at the hands of criminals
-After the memorial of the sacrifice on Calvary
He came to offer Holy Mass in the Burgida sub-station of Yellareddy parish (it is about 7 kms away from Lingampet). After the Holy Mass he joined for supper at the FCC convent. After the supper he left (9.40pm) the convent and was traveling in a motorbike towards Yellareddy.
-"Here is the man!" (John 19:4)
Next day the FCC Sisters (Sunday morning) were on their way to attend the Sunday Mass to his place at Yellareddy, Nizamabad Dt. of Andhra Pradesh. [This is located almost 140kms away from Hyderabad. This comes under the Archdiocese of Hyderabad.] To their great shock, on the way they found his body lying near the road side.
-"And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. " (Lk 23:34)
His mobile phone is found missing (the bike was found lying almost 7 kms away from the spot. There are visible signs of pulling and dragging Fr Thomas). There are 18 wounds (stabbing) on his body. All these clearly indicate that he was brutally murdered by some miscreants or dacoits. There is a heavy thrash behind the head, it is said, he must have died due to this heavy injury. Police found the knife, which was used to stab him. The hooligans took (may be ridden) the motorbike almost 7 kms and abandoned there, a place called Muslikonda.
-"For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Lk 23:29)
The Postmortem report reveals that he had faced a lot of struggle from the attackers. Due to the continuous blows and heavy beatings, his entire body is rather bruised. Left Leg was broken, and one hand was almost cut and broken. Fr. Thomas must have been attacked when he was just one km away from FCC Convent at Lingampet, where he offered Mass for them. It seems to be a plundering incident or a planned murder. Reasons are not yet known. (It is never an accident by the external evidences.)
After all an innocent and beloved person was killed for no reason. Kindly pray for him. We greatly miss a very dynamic and very able person. His dealing with people was very appealing and he was a friend of everyone. Village people had very high opinion about him. He was like a lute player among the people. He attracts everyone with his personality. He was a person who always smiles in spite of his sadness. He, definitely created a niche for himself, at all places, among everyone and at all times. The day of funeral most likely on the 20th of August as of now.
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Lk: 23: 34)
Exerpts from the e-mail of: Fr. Thomas T Chittettu CMISecretary to Fr. Provincial CMI PROVINCIAL HOUSE, BELLAMPALLI, AP, INDIA, as sent by Fr Jose Poovattil: jpoovattil@yahoo.co.uk
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