Devasahayam Pillai for the process of beatification to the Vatican . Early Life Devasahayam Pillai (named Neelakanta Pillai at birth), was born into a high caste Nair family at Nattalam in the present-day Kanyakumari District of India, on the 23rd of April, 1712. His father hailed from Kayankulam , in present-day