All his life, students had surrounded Father Christian De Brouwer. It was no different on his last journey.

Hundreds of former students, many of them high-ranking officials now, reached alma mater St Xavier’s College on Purulia Road in Ranchi with a heavy heart on Friday morning.

The body of their beloved Father De Brouwer lay in the college chapel from 9am to 1.30pm.

From there, the cortege went to St Mary’s Cathedral, barely 300m away for a two-hour Eucharist mass. Finally, a little before 4pm, Father De Brouwer was taken to his final resting place, the Roman Catholic Church Cemetery at Kanta Toli, some 2.5km from the college.

Father De Brouwer, 90, breathed his last late on Thursday evening at Orchid Hospital, Ranchi. A cancer survivor, he lived a busy life right up to the end, before he succumbed to age-related ailments.

Born on January 21, 1924, in France, he moved to Belgium as a boy. Father De Brouwer joined the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order in 1942 and arrived in Calcutta in 1946.

In 1957, after staying in Tiruchirapalli, Kodaikanal and Pune, he came to Ranchi to teach physics at St Xavier’s College.

This was to become his home for the rest of his life.

What the smiling educator who stressed on physics fundamentals as much as on fundamental ethics had achieved during his lifetime was visible in the tear-streaked faces of his students at the college chapel, cathedral and cemetery.

Among his former students who paid last tributes on campus were industry secretary Vandana Dadel, Ranchi SSP Bhimsen Tuti, BIT-Mesra senior official S.S. Akhtar and former city deputy mayor Ajay Nath Shahdeo.

Others included former vice chancellor of Ranchi University A.A. Khan, his successor L.N. Bhagat and many others educators.

“I have very fond memories of Father De Brouwer. He would always inspire me to work hard,” Dadel, who studied under him between 1987 and 1989, recalled.

“We former students used to refer to him as dibri (light). Last night, when we heard about his demise, we called each other up, saying the dibri has gone out,” said another alumnus Ratan Tirkey.

“He helped every single student. He lent books from his personal library. He’d ensure every student understood the concepts of a chapter before moving on to the next one. There was no bias, only affection,” said a tearful Kusum Tiwari at the college chapel.

Tiwary now teaches plus two physics at a Bariatu school.

At the cemetery, too, former students were inconsolable. “An era has ended,” said Prem Mittal, general secretary of Alumni of Ranchi Old Xaverians (AROX), also a BJP leader, after laying a wreath and lighting a candle in the memory of his teacher.

He was one among the 1,000-odd mourners, including Xaverian and Mandar legislator Bandhu Tirkey, Hazaribagh bishop Charles Soren and many priests, who came to the graveyard for a final adieu.

“He loved students, he loved teaching,” agreed Marc De Brouwer, Father De Brouwer’s younger brother, himself a Jesuit priest and director of a centre for rural development at St Ignatius School, Gumla.

St Xavier’s College principal Nicholas Tete recalled Father De Brouwer “dedication personified”.

“He was our guide. During his free time, he would do the college’s official work. He taught and worked for the college for 56 long years without a trace of fatigue,” said Tete.

N.R. Roy, former head of physics department, Ranchi University, who had been Fr De Brouwer’s colleague as well, said: “I knew him for over half a century. I was his student and then colleague. He gave the college its stature.”

Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo, at the Vatican now, sent his heartfelt condolences over phone. Ranchi MP Subodh Kant Sahay called him a “great educator and humanist”.

St Xavier’s College will hold a condolence meeting for students, alumni and teachers on campus on Saturday.

(With inputs from Achintya Ganguly)