A deathbed conversion

My grandfather Charles Stanley (CS) was born an Anglican. In 1924, he married Engracia Nonis, who was a Catholic. Their children were brought up as Catholics and whether in Negombo, Colombo, Wennappuwa, Matale or Jaffna, they attended Catholic schools.

CS is buried in the Anglican Section of Negombo's General Cemetery. But I had heard that he died a Catholic, having been converted on his deathbed at the insistence of his children. I now know the full story, thanks to a clipping from the Catholic Messenger dated 5 March 1944. (CS died on Feb. 11, 1944). Aunty B had saved the clipping.

The brief article is written by a Catholic priest, going by XYZ. He does not identify CS by name (only as Mr. X, an Englishman) nor does he even mention the town where the incident occurred.

The priest begins by saying that he "was summoned to the bedside of a 'very probably unconcious' Anglican. His wife and children were Catholics. On several occasions and umpteen times they they had entreated, begged of him to come to their faith but he had resolutely refused. Now he was dying. For the past five days he had been unconscious with but intermittent and faint signs of consciousness. Mr. X was an Englishman and in the house of Anglicans. I was summoned by his daughter and son."

When the priest reaches the house, he "could hardly step out of the car when the Anglican party rushed up to me and one of them, an elderly lady whom I presumed to be a sister of Mr. X taking my hand, very politely told me 'Look here Father, Mr. X has already expressed his desire to remain and die an Anglican. We brought our minister this morning. He has administered the last rites. Mr. X is now dying. In about 10 minutes he will be dead. Don't disturb the patient. He is also unconscious. We only ask of you to attend the funeral as a sort of consolation to his Catholic wife and children.' 

All the time the children were beckoning me to rush in to the
room before it was too late; but the lady was holding my hand.

'Look here' I replied. 'I sympathize with you. What your minister has done is right. But now that I have come let me just see the patient . If he is unconscious I can do nothing.'.

She replied 'He will be dead. You need not disturb him. Only at his funeral.'

I was bold. I plucked up courage. Saying 'His children want me' I rushed into the room. There was Mr. X breathing his last, surrounded by his weeping children.

'Mr. X' I called into his ear 'the Catholic priest is come. The Roman Catholic priest is here. He is speaking to you.' He looked at me. For the first time since that attack of his malady, he was fully conscious. I continued. 'Mr. X, do you wish to die in the faith of your beloved wife and children. Do you wish to be Catholic?' Faintly, he answered  (the first word he spoke in 5 days) 'Yes' - as he bowed his assent. His children almost shouted for joy.

'Mr. X' I went on 'do you abjure your Protestant faith?' Once more with labored breathing, bowing his head in assent, he replied 'yes'".

The priest gives CS the Extreme Unction followed by the Papal blessing. CS soon loses consciousness.

The Priest continues "I decided to remain with the dying man. To keep myself occupied to help the agonizing soul, and to drown the murmurs and complaints of those outside, I took a prayer book and recited loud in English the prayers for the dying." The priest says that "Mr. X died almost in his arms". He concludes "May Mr. X rest in peace and work out from heaven the conversion of his non-Catholic friends and relatives". (!) Note: The exclamation is mine.

And all for the same God.

Grandfather Charles Stanley Braine with his mother and siblings

Standing: Charles Stanley Braine (grandfather) and sister Muriel. Seated: great-grandmother Adline and her older daughter. Seated on the ground: brother John, who appears to be sitting on a leopard skin.

The Victorian clothes would place this photo in the 1890s. The location would have been a tea plantation in the Dimbula area. My great-great-grandfather came to Ceylon as a coffee planter in the hill country and, when the coffee plantations were wiped out by disease, became a tea planter. His son, Charles Frederick Braine, was also a tea planter. What made Charles Stanley, my grandfather, become a coconut planter in the low country remains a mystery.

A friend of the family

This photo, taken at "The Meet", the Braine residence at Boralessa, was previously posted on the blog, but with new information emerging, I decided to repost it.

From left, standing: Bridget (Bee), George, Amy, Rosie, Ben, and Kay (Cathleen). Seated: Lucy, Teddy, grandma Engracia Nonis, and Edith Brett, a family friend. 

My Aunty B often referred to Edith when talking about her days growing up at Boralessa. he said that Edith spent much time with the family and even referred to my grandfather as her dad. Last month, In London, I met Edith's son Paul Pulle and this is what he wrote to me about Edith.

"My mother Edith Brett was born in Penang in 1912 when her father Herbert Brett was on planting trips (HB)  was a buddy of Charles Stanley [my grandfather] as far as we know and we think that  HB somehow made CS a guardian for my mother , who was at a convent in Negombo and had special permission to stay with the Braines at Boralessa. Aunty B confirms this hence she was treated very much as part of the family. 

My father John Pulle was a frequent visitor to the adjoining estate and played cricket with Aunty B and the family and Edith who happened to be there on vacation. This resulted in their relationship ending in marriage."

In the photo below, which I believe was taken on the railway track adjoining The Meet", Edith Brett is standing at the center, with John Pulle next to her. On the extreme left is my uncle George Braine and next to him is my Aunt Kay.

Uncle George, like John, attended St. Joseph's College, Colombo, and they may have been classmates. John's home was next to "The Meet" at Boralessa. 

John became an All Ceylon cricketer in the 1940s, and also coached the First XI of my alma mater Trinity College, Kandy.

Edith Brett

Looking for Charles Frederick Braine

Charles Frederick was my great grandfather. Looking for my roots on the web, I read that he was buried at Dimbula, in the central hills of Sri Lanka, where he was a tea planter. Last year, my sister Beula, Bandara (who is married to my cousin Marie) and I drove up to Dimbula to look for his grave. He was an Anglican and belonged to the Church of England, now known as the Church of Ceylon.

The Pastor at the Dimbula church told us that the graveyards were at Warleigh and Bogawantalawa, a few miles beyond. Al Warleigh, we found a lovely stone church situated above the Casterleigh Reservoir. My grandfather was born in 1874 and the church was built four years later, so I am fairly sure that he had attended service here as a child.

But we could not find the grave of Charles Frederick. The graveyard, although it had been cleared of weeds, showed signs that it had been neglected for a long time. When the tea plantations were nationalized in the 1970s, the British planters, who formed the bulwark of the congregations at Anglican churches, left Sri Lanka and the churches fell into a period of decline. Now, Tamil parishioners, descendants of estate workers who had been converted, keep these churches going. The Christ Church at Warleigh is in good repair, as these photos show. We were told that it's popular among British tourists.

We drove onto Bogawantalawa, where we found a 
small Anglican church, St. Mary's, on the roadside. The Pastor, Bro Thivyapalan Gnanapragasam, came to help us search 
the graveyard. What we found was the grave of 
Charles Frederick's infant son, the younger brother 
of my grandfather Charles Stanley. The child's full name 
was Frank Wyndham Becher Braine (his mother's maiden 
name was Becher) and he had died on March 9, 1879, 
at the age of 11 months. 

We may have been the only relatives who turned up at this grave in more than a hundred years.

Charles Stanley Braine - My grandad

Charles Stanley Braine (1874 - 1944). This photo may have been taken at Mawatte Estate, near Dankotuwa, Sri Lanka, where he was the Manager.

His gravestone at the General Cemetery, Negombo, in the Anglican Section.

Aunty B and Aunty Amy - A photo from the 1940's

Aunty B at 91

Aunty B (Bridget Wambeek), the favorite aunt of the family, will be 91 on February 19. I visited her last month at her home in South Harrow, a suburb of London. These photos were taken during that visit.

Clockwise from left: Jude, Anne (Aunty B's youngest son and oldest daughter), Aunty's niece Delphine (Aunty K's daughter), and me.