The royal official who accepted baptism and lost his safety

A man who had everything at court asks to be baptized, and from that day nothing is safe.

Devasahayam Pillai was born in 1712 into a Hindu family in the kingdom of Travancore. He served in the royal administration before receiving Catholic instruction and baptism, taking the name Lazarus.

His public adherence to the faith brought hostility, imprisonment, and prolonged suffering. He continued to profess Christ, and he was killed in 1752.

The Church canonized him in 2022. His story is not built around the romance of losing status. It is built around the harder question that followed his baptism: whether the truth he had received would still be worth keeping when it no longer made his life safer.

Name what your faith has cost you so far, and what you have not yet been willing to pay.

Lord Jesus, You gave Lazarus a name and a cross on the same day. Let me count the cost honestly, and then let me choose You anyway. Amen.