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A Catholic priest from Kerala, Father Joseph Prasad Theruvathu, was presented the India-Lithuania Friendship Award at a ceremony in Rusnė this Saturday.

He was awarded for his long-standing effort to preserve and promote the memory of the Lithuania-born Bishop Mikolajus Šostakas (1710-1773), who spent more than 30 years in South India.

A broad list of dignitaries congratulated the laureate at the ceremony Saturday, including the Mayor of Šilutė District Vytautas Laurinaitis, the Indian Ambassador to Lithuania H.E. Devesh Uttam, Ambassador of Japan H.E. Ozaki Tetsu, the French Ambassador H.E. Alix Victoria Everard, the Lithuanian Ambassador to India H.E. Diana Mickevičienė, the President of the Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community Mrs. Faina Kukliansky, and Professor Alfredas Bumblauskas.

Father Prasad of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites comes from the South Indian state of Kerala, which was also home to Bishop Florence, as Mikalojus Šostakas, a native of Vilnius, is still known in India today.

Father Prasad was educated abroad and obtained a PhD in philosophy in Germany. He currently teaches philosophy at a seminary in Kerala. He speaks at least seven languages and has published a number of articles, including on current issues such as the place and role of faith in the age of artificial intelligence.

Father Prasad played a key role in producing and unveiling a memorial plate to Bishop Florence in Kerala. The white marble plaque with a Latin inscription was unveiled in 2016 in the magnificent neo-Gothic cathedral in Verapoly (Varapuzha), about 20 kilometres north of Kochi, the second largest city in Kerala.

Šostakas served 22 years (1751-1773) in Verapoly as Apostolic Vicar and is buried here. However, his tomb has not survived due to mass flooding in the early 20th century.

Mikolajus Šostakas was born into a noble family in Vilnius in 1710. At the age of 16 he joined the Order of the Discalced Carmelites and later continued his studies in Rome. In 1739 he was sent to the province of Malabar (now Kerala).

In 1746, Šostakas was consecrated a bishop and appointed Apostolic Vicar-Coadjutor of Malabar, with the right to take over the post. The Malabar Province at that time had no episcopal status and was directly administered by the Pope through his designated representative, the Apostolic Vicar.

In 1751, Šostakas was appointed the full-fledged Apostolic Vicar of the Ecclesiastical Province of Malabar, an office he held until his death on 26 July 1773.

The India-Lithuania Friendship Award ceremony has been organised in Rusnè since 2019. Previously, Rajinder Chaudhary, former Honorary Consul of India in Lithuania, Vytautas Toleikis, a teacher and social activist, Shimon Lev, an Israeli scholar and biographer of Hermann Kallenbach, the Rusnė community, and Vytis Vidūnas, a lecturer at Vilnius University and producer of a Sanskrit-Lithuanian dictionary, have received the award.

The award represents a miniature copy of the sculpture to Mahatma Gandhi and his closest associate, Hermann Kallenbach. Inaugurated in Rusnė in 2015, the sculpture by a distinguished Lithuanian artist, Romualdas Kvintas, celebrates the friendship between people and nations.