Palghar, Jul 25 (IANS): Fr. Francis D'Britto, a well-known Marathi literary figure, environmentalist who founded the 'Harit Vasai' movement, and a Catholic priest, passed away following a prolonged illness at his home near Virar on Thursday.

A Marathi Sahitya Academy Award laureate (2013), he was 81 and a native of his birthplace Jeladi village in Nandakhal, under the Holy Spirit Church home parish of the Virar region.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Congress state President Nana F. Patole, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) General Secretary Jitendra Awhad, Shiv Sena (UBT) National Spokesperson Kishore Tiwari and other dignitaries paid rich tributes to Fr D'Britto's literary prowess and contributions to environment.

In January 2020, he was elected the President of the 93rd All India Marathi Literary Conference held in Osmanabad, ranked as the most prestigious calendar event in the state literary world.

Among other works of literature, Fr D'Britto is renowned for his translation of the Holy Bible-New Testament, into lucid Marathi titled as "Subodh Bible-Nava Karar", a monumental work in a prose format that took him over 13 years from 1997 to complete, which became an instant best-seller with over three reprints.

With this, Fr D'Britto became only the second person after a Britisher and 17th century missionary priest Fr Thomas Stephens (1549-1619) had translated the Holy Bible to Marathi, titled as "Krista Purana" in a poetry form.

Besides, he penned over four dozen books in Marathi and scores of columns and articles in various Marathi publications, while transforming a religious magazine, 'Suvarta' which he helmed as editor for many years.

Educated in Palghar, he completed his priesthood training at the St. Pius College in Goregaon east and graduated from the University of Pune, before going to pursue his Masters in Theology from Gregorian University in Rome (Italy).

On return, he joined the Jeevan Darshan Kendra Trust in Vasai as a priest and later launched the 'Harit Vasai Sanrakshan Samiti' to prevent the 'ecological plunder' of the Vasai-Virar region in the 1980s-1990s by the realty sharks.

According to the Vasai Bishop House spokesperson, Fr Bernard Fernandes, Fr D'Britto's mortal remains were kept at his ancestral home in Jeladi where a large number of teary-eyed people, including many tribals with whom he worked in the social field, turned up to pay their last respects.

His final journey started from there to the Holy Spirit Church at Nandakhal and after the holy mass, the funeral rites were performed in the adjoining cemetery on Thursday evening.