RIP - Mr. Innocent Regis

Dear Mr. Innocent Regis (1947-2020) passed away in the Government Hospital, Tirunelveli, on 22nd of August 2020, on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Apart from an occasional cough during mass, there was nothing in our valiant soldiers behaviour to give us the least suspicious that he would so soon leave us for a better life. On August 15, there was a smiling mention of possible covid 19 and that was it. There was not a single priest visited our mission who did not benefit from his unfailing and dedicated benevolence. Always willing to, I would even say, he had a real hunger to help the priests. How many hours has he spent on the wheels – so that our priests may have their rest on their mission run is truly mind-blowing! His piety was deep, childlike, and contagious. But his fidelity to the SSPX was giant-like. Nothing could and did move him even an inch away from the SSPX. “Father, the greatest pearl of my life is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass – and it is worth acquiring at any cost.” He always told me when I would ask him – ‘why volunteer to drive for another mass?’ Retired, reticent, unobtrusive, he made very little noise in his life, and one might have thought that his passing here would be hardly noticeable. Yet already he has left a real void in our midst. Being very faithful to his spiritual duties, he was a regular visitor of the Blessed Sacrament. I can confidently assert, along with dozens of our priests that he served the good Lord unflinchingly. We feel certain that he has been hailed by that Good Master with a well – deserved: “Euge! Serve bone; Well done, good and faithful servant, Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”. And all this happened on the feast of our dear Blessed Mother to whom he had always been so devout. I wonder whether he could have chosen a better day! Requiescat in pace.

Fr. Therasian Babu