An Appreciation to Rev. Fr. Miller S.J. of Batticaloa

One of the greatest gifts Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) received from the Western world was the Jesuit missionaries. They came from USA, Italy and France. A prized import was Fr. Benjamin Henry Miller from New Orleans who came over to Batticaloa in 1948 at the young age of 23. This was the age at which his contemporaries back home in the US were living it up in luxury, but Fr Miller who hailed from an affluent family from the State of Louisiana, answered the call of his Superiors to serve in far flung countries looking for Priests to nurture the young and guide the elders. He did not know where Ceylon was, and less did he know where Batticaloa was.

At that same gathering in the auditorium in New Orleans where he volunteered, one of his friends seated next to him volunteered to go to China only to be killed by the communists forces and entered martyrdom. By then the Jesuit priests had established three boys’ schools - St. Michael’s in Batticaloa, St. Joseph’s in Trinco and St. Aloysius’ in Galle. The Superiors based young Miller at St Michael’s, teaching Physics, History and English. He remained at St. Michael’s till he entered his rest, except for a couple of years at St. Joseph’s Trinco and a year back home in New Orleans.   

He played many a role at St. Michael’s as Teacher, Counsellor, Basketball Coach, Bursar, Prefect of Discipline, Principal and finally as Rector. In all these roles he mingled freely with boys telling the little boys stories and showing them tricks using his fingers, which left a lasting impression on all of us who were fortunate enough to be around him. He faithfully stuck to the Jesuit motto in teaching - “you give us a boy and we will give back to you a man”. Never did he or any of the Jesuit priests summon a parent to school to discuss any misdemeanour’s of a child. From the time the child entered College, they took full responsibility for the child and let the parents be free to deal with their own family and other issues. The three Jesuit schools dished out the finest educational and sporting curriculum which very few schools could have matched at that time. We at St. Michael’s enjoyed a variety of kiddies play tools, sports equipment and even sweets straight from new Orleans.

Year after year we were favoured with new bats, balls (cricket, basketball, soccer), laboratory equipment etc. etc. Fr Miller’s moment of glory came in 1960 when he was appointed Rector. Fr Miller took total responsibility to keep the home fires burning. Even though during the initial days when we received assistance from the New Orleans Province of the Jesuits, St. Michael’s was located in an economically under developed environment in comparison to the districts of Colombo and Kandy which were also called upon to support their own schools which decided to go private. He never allowed us to feel the lack of any of these. With the passage of time the assistance from New Orleans started dwindling due to their own demands, but he never let up on keeping the school going. Time did take its toll and the Jesuits could not take the strain anymore and handed the three colleges to the Government. After 10 years of struggle Fr Miller stepped out of the Rector’s office in 1970 and let the Government appointees take over. In my view he is the best Finance Manager this country ever produced. As to how he kept the College afloat with the limited funds he could draw from the environment, no one would ever know.   

With St. Michael’s out of his hands he settled down to pastoral work in several villages and towns in the Batticaloa district. He founded the Batticaloa Peace Committee and the Batticaloa Council of Religions which took the initiative to find a peaceful solution to the ethnic problem. In recognition of his nonpartisan role, the Government appointed Fr Miller to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Batticaloa. His moment of glory in this chapter of his life was when the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka awarded him the Year’s Citizens Peace Award in 2014. Fr Miller advancing in age into 80’s, rested in the Jesuit residence at the College and attended to the various religious needs of the faithful and found peace with his Creator until he was called to his rest on January 01, 2019. Thus ended the life of that young priestly lad from New Orleans after 70 years of service to a land he never knew before he set foot on, the then economically depraved Batticaloa.   
-Angelo M Patrick