St.

Stanislaus College
Fr. Frederic Britto, S.J.
English Master
The Guyana Newsletter gives us this account of Fr. Frederic’s work in India and
in Guyana:

“Fr. Frederic Britto, after a ministry of 20 years in Bombay mostly in education,

spent his last 15 years in Guyana, also mainly in school work. On 25th July, 1983, he
arrived back in Bombay for a rest and medical treatment after a stroke and a heart
attack. Few would have thought that he was coming home to die. He passed to his
reward on Sunday, 18th September, 1983, after having been for some weeks at the
Holy Spirit Hospital and at Vinayalaya. He was buried at Chembur where he had been
born 70 years before on 27th July, 1913, the eldest of 5 brothers and 4 sisters.

“Fred’s was what in those days was considered a late vocation. On his 21st
birthday, he took the train for the south towards Shembaganur where he was to remain
for seven years as novice, junior, and philosopher. He taught at St. Stanislaus Bandra
before he began his theological studies at De Nobili College, then (in its pioneering
days) at St Vincent’s, and continued them in Kurseong where he was or-dained priest in
1946. Back in Bombay, he was immediately appointed principal of St. Mary’s E.T.
School. After a year at Vinayalaya as minister and parish priest of the new parish, he
did pioneering work at Manickpur as Superior and Principal. Manickpur is a strongly
Catholic area and one of the places visited by St. Francis Xavier. Then came his first
foreign mission. Together with two other Bombay priests, he was commissioned in
December 1953 to serve as military chaplain to the Custodian Forces of India in Korea.

“Fifteen years later, after having been Rector and Principal at St. Xavier’s and
Principal at St. Mary’s, Bombay, and at St. Paul’s, Belgaum, and being at the time
Superior of Sodality House and in charge of Jesuit education in Bombay and President
of the Bombay Headmasters’ Association, he volunteered for work in the Guyana
Mission. In July 1968, he was one of the two first Bombay Jesuits to be sent to Guyana
on a permanent basis.

“When he came to Guyana, the hope was that a school might be founded that
would serve the East Indian population, both Hindu and Christian. To this end, Fr. Britto
spent a year at St. Stanislaus College before moving to the Corentyne district. It soon
became clear that a new school was not a practical proposition, so Fr. Britto put his
effort into teaching at Berbice High School. Living either at Port Mourant or at New
Amsterdam, Fr. Britto taught English at Berbice H.S. for nine years.

“After retiring from teaching in 1978, Fr. Britto spent four years helping with
parish work, still in the Corentyne, at Springlands and Port Mourant. In July 1982, he
suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed and with his sight badly impaired. By
July of 1983, a partial recovery al-lowed him to make a delayed trip to India for long
leave passing through the U.K. on the way, and taking part in the ordination celebration
at Stamford Hill in July – but, all too soon after his arrival in India, came news of his
death.”

Fr. Michael Coutts, a fellow Bombay man, writes from Malgretout and gives us
more details, aided by Fr. Jerome Aixala, former Provincial of Bombay Province.

“If there are two descriptions that are tailor-made to suit Fr. Britto, they would be
priest and schoolmaster. Priesthood for him was traditionally sacramental - celebrating
the Mass and administering the Sacraments. We would be travelling the whole day
long, come home dog-tired with just two thoughts in mind: bath and bed. We were too
tired even to eat. As we opened the door, Fred would say, let’s celebrate Mass and then
we can tackle the rest. He always got his way. His next great love was students. He
made things easy even for the dim-witted. He did not promise you the sky, but he did
not give up. The exams would be around the corner, the student could barely tell a
subject from the predicate, and Fred would say, ‘Well, you will not get an A-grade, but
let us see what is the next best that is possible’.

“In July 1968, Bishop Guilly made his second trip to Bombay, asking for
volunteers to work in Guyana. Fred Britto and Mathew D’Souza were the first batch to
come to Guyana. Within weeks, he was teaching at our Jesuit College, St. Stanislaus.
The next year, he was back in pioneering work, opening a small house on the
Corentyne Coast. He and two young Jesuits began to teach in non-Catholic schools.
Fred continued teaching there for the next ten years. He was very friendly with the
students, who came to him not only for and A-level English tuition but also with their
personal problems. He was very popular also as a preacher for wedding, funerals, and
house blessings.

“When he was posted in the Corentyne, his confreres in Bombay really thought it
was a waste of talent. He was unknown in the Corentyne and he had to make a fresh
start; with a stroke of the pen, all his influence and contacts in Bombay were wiped
away. But Fred had always been a pioneer and he had always wanted to be in teaching
– plain and simple, not tied up with the red tape of administration. It was not for nothing
that he gained a First Class in B.Ed., a Master’s degree in English Literature, and a
Fulbright scholarship. One thing was certain: Fred Britto was happiest in a classroom
situation. His pupils, his fellow teachers, and many others benefited from his teaching
and counsel-ling and friendly interest in each one of them.

“His boundless energy kept him always on the move. He could preach a fine
sermon, sing a popular song, and crack a good joke. Straightforward, he would stand no
nonsense. A strict disciplinarian, he respected freedom and encour-aged initiative.

One of the four young Jesuits sent to Manickpur in 1955, when Fred was
Superior there, remembers Fred’s first words to him: ‘You know why you have come; I
expect you to be responsible enough to do your duty without my urging you’. Fred then
proceeded to show by example what he said in words. “While in the Corentyne, Fred
would often point to a spot in the cemetery at St. Francis Xavier’s, Port Mourant. You
must bury me there, he would say, just under the coconut tree. Little did he expect to go
back to India to be buried in the very parish in which his family lived.”

Requiescat in pace.

Reference: Toronto Saints Newsletter, Volume 23 , Issue 1 , 28 Mar., 2016