Kuravilangadu Church
K. Thomas Varghese
Dear J Kayani
The first Church at Kuravilangad
As per some very old records in my house, the origin of the first church at Kuravilangadu’ follows-
It is believed by most of the Christian sects in Kerala that, ST. Thomas reached Kerala and founded the Christianity by initially converting 4 Brahmin families to Christianity, at Palayooy near Kunnamkulom and Chavakkadu. ( I am against this belief and published my book “ Thoma Sleeha Keralathil- Satyvum, Midyayum”. The conversion of these families was done by ‘Cnai Thommen’s Bishop, during the 4 the centuary beginning , or by some small Christian groups reached Kerala earlier to Cnai Thommen). Cnai Thomeen established the ‘Mahadevar Pattanam’ at Kodungallore as the main Bazar for export purpose and other business. So most members of these 4 families moved to Kodungallore and stayed at the Northern market till AD. 1599. Knai Thommen established the Export market and other business centre by name ‘Mahadevar Pattanam’.The members of these 4 families moved to Mahadevar Pattanam. When the Mahadevar Pattanam was destroyed by the Muslim Invaders at different periods , many of the 4 family members moved to Kuravilangadu , between AD. 700 to 900, after a short settlement at Kaduhuruthy . At Kuravilangadu they built the first Church.
The Archdeakken of Syrian Christian sect ‘ The Marthomma VI’ recorded in his diary “……..after Ad.700, members of 4 families met ‘Vadakkinkore Swaroopam’ and with the Rajas permission and help , constructed the Kuravilangadu Church”.
During Potughese rule many of these family members joined the Catholic sect and known as ‘Puthenkoot’ and those who remained at Malankara Christians were known as ‘Pazayakoottu’ Christians.
Tele-tale episodes are there in the internet , but the reality is something else.
Roy Mavelikara
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Annamma John
J. Kayani
The Church of St. Thomas Christians Through the Centuries
I. Early Period
According to oral tradition, St. Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of Christ, reached the shores of Maliankara, Kodungallor (also known as Cranganore), India on November 21, 52 AD. He traveled by sea from Ethiopia to Socotora, an island in the Arabian Sea, and then landed in Kodungallor, Kerala, India. There were a few Jewish settlements in India at that time. Some of the settlements date back before even the first destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in BC 587. According to local tradition of the Cochin Jews, there is some historical and linguistic evidence of trade involving King Solomon's ships.
In those days India had the caste system: Bhramin (intellectuals and priests), Kshatria (warriors and kings), Vysa (farmers and merchants), and Shudra (labor class). (Note: The various denominations of the Dalits were below the Shudra). It should be understood that the caste system did not originate in India. The Aryans who invaded and migrated to India around BC 1500 probably introduced it as a survival technique because they were few in numbers. India developed a sophisticated civilization as a result of synthesizing the local Dravidian culture with the Aryan culture.
St. Thomas was able to attract some upper-class people to the monotheistic, or one god, concept of Christianity. It is believed that St. Thomas performed several miracles, which attracted some intellectuals to Christianity. One oral story is worth mentioning. While bathing in a pond, some Bhramins would splash the water up into the air as part of a pooja rite to god. St. Thomas saw this and asked them if their god could hold the water up in the air. They prayed but couldn't hold the water up, but St. Thomas could. Note that this pond is situated near the present-day St. Thomas Forane Church, in Palayoor, Trichur (also known as Thrissur).
Early converts to Christianity were mostly upper-class people. Some members of the royal families of Chera, Chola, and Pandya dynasties of south India accepted Christianity, as did several Bhramin families.
The present Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Christians as well as the Jacobites, Marthomites, and Surais are generally believed to be the descendents of the above Brahmin christians. Each of our families must develop its own family tree to figure out where in this puzzle it belongs.
According to tradition, St. Thomas established seven and a half churches in south India, namely at Maliankara (Note: The present church there is called Mar Thoma Pontifical Shrine, Jetty, Azhikode, Kodungallor, Thrissur), Kottakavu (in Vadakan Paravoor), Palayoor (in present-day Thrissur district), Kokkamangalam (near Shertallai), Kollam (also known as Quilon), Niranam, Chayal (Nilackal), and Thiruvamkode (half church – may be a small chapel). These church locations are all in the present-day Kerala State.
St. Thomas moved east and revisited the kingdom of Coromandel. At Mylapore, the metropolis of that kingdom, he began to erect a church. The prince, Sagamo, and the Hindu priests objected to it. But after performing several miracles, the work was allowed to proceed, and Sagamo himself embraced the Christian faith. His example was soon followed by great numbers of his friends and subjects.
This remarkable success alarmed the Brahmins, who plainly perceived that Hinduism was under serious threat of extinction, unless some method could be found of putting a stop to the progress of Christianity. Therefore, they resolved to put the apostle to death. A small distance away from the city was a tomb where St. Thomas often retired for private devotions. There the Brahmins and their armed followers pursued him and while he was praying, they first shot at him with a shower of darts, and then one of the priests ran him through with a lance. Thus it is believed that St. Thomas was murdered on July 3, 72 AD at Chinnamala (Little Mount, presently in Madras).
His body was taken up by his disciples and buried in the church he had lately erected at Mylapore. The present church there is called Santhome Cathedral Basilica, 19, Santhome High Road, Santhome, Chennai – 600 004. Pilgrims visit this church and the burial place of St. Thomas is located inside the church. The Portuguese opened this tomb in 1531 and a detailed description of the findings, including a type of brick found in Rome and dating back to the first century, were recorded. Those records are kept in Lisbon. Pope John Paul II visited this tomb of St. Thomas in 1986.
Tradition holds that the Apostle Thomas ordained two bishops, Kepha and Paul, respectively for Malabar and Coromandel.
In AD 190, St. Panthenos from Alexandria came to Kerala to help the Christian community there.
Archbishop Mar Yohannan represented India in the first ecumenical council in Nicene (AD 325), in Asia Minor. The Nicene Creed (written in Greek) adopted in that council is still used by all denominations of Christians as the Apostles' Creed.
In AD 345 a number of Christian families (believed to be about 400 members belonging to 72 families of Jewish descent) from southern Mesopotamia, under the leadership of Thomas of Kinai (also known by Kinai Thommen or Thomas Kinai), four priests, and bishop Uraha Mar Yausef, reached Kodungallor. It is believed that this immigration was directed by the Catholicose of the East at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital city of the Sassanian Empire of Persia, in response to an appeal from the St. Thomas Christians of India to strengthen their church, which was then greatly weakened by persecution. The Chera dynasty king, Cheraman Perumal, welcomed the families and provided assistance, including free land for their settlement. This group is generally known as Thekumbhavar (southists), since they settled on the southside of church.
The third ecumenical council in Ephesus (June 7, 431) was convened to defend Virgin Mary's right to the title of Theotokos (this Greek word literally means "God-bearer" or "Mother of God"). Ephesus, in modern Turkey, has been associated with Mary from the apostolic age. In Jesus' time it was the capital of the Province of Asia Minor; St. Paul visited it twice and wrote one of his most significant epistles to the Church there: the Letter to the Ephesians. An ancient belief, cited by St. Irenaeus, asserts that St. John wrote his Gospel there and was martyred there. Another belief is that Mary lived there in Ephesus, in the home of John, into whose care Jesus had given his mother while he was dying on the cross. The great basilica in which the Council of Ephesus met was called "The Mary Church."
The leader of the opposition to calling Mary "Mother of God" was Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, who had taken possession of the See of Constantinople in 428. This movement was generally referred to as Nestorianism, which was a heresy advanced by Nestorius. It declared that Jesus was two distinct persons, one human and one divine.
The councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) clarified the orthodox Catholic view that Jesus' two natures are inseparably joined in one person and partake of the one divine substance.
A gifted and clever speaker, Nestorius was nonetheless a weak theologian. One of his major deficiencies was his confused notion about the two natures, in the divine Person, Jesus Christ. Nestorius objected to Mary being venerated as the "Mother of God" since, in his own seriously flawed theology, Mary had given birth to Jesus the man, in whom God dwelt "as in a temple."
Nestorius' error was fundamentally philosophical since it presumed that a mother could give birth to a nature. The truth is that persons, and not natures are born, and the Person to whom Mary gave birth is a divine Person, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. St. Cyril of Alexandria soon pointed out Nestorius' error and reported it to the Holy See, which was then presided over by Pope Celestine I.
Nestorius remained adamant, however, even though the concept of Mary as the Mother of God was already generally accepted by the faithful throughout the Church; indeed, Theotokos by the year 431 was already a time-honored phrase.
While the assembled bishops and the Papal delegates at the council of Ephesus discussed and debated within the basilica, the Christian faithful waited outside. As the opening session went on, more people gathered for news. As soon as the report was given that Nestorius' view was rejected, the crowds of the faithful waiting outside cheered and surrounded the Council Fathers as they departed.
A torchlight procession then began, and the Christians of Ephesus escorted the bishops and other delegates through the streets while rhythmically chanting "Theotokos! Theotokos! Theotokos! …"
Incidentally, Nestorius continued to press his viewpoint. A faction of Antiochenes, who arrived in late June, tried to hold a council of its own, and attempted to excommunicate St. Cyril, who had chaired the first session. But when a delegation from Rome arrived, the Antiochenes found themselves excommunicated. Note that elements of Nestorianism survive in the modern Assyrian church, based mainly in the Middle East.
Similarly, Monophysitism (which means "belief in one nature"), is a heresy that developed in the 5th century as a reaction against Nestorianism. Monophysitism is a doctrine that in the person of Jesus there was but a single nature, which was divine nature. This doctrine was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon (451). For invalidating Chalcedon, the East was put under excommunication by the pope until the year 519. However, in Syria, Egypt, and Armenia, monophysitism dominated, and a permanent schism set in by 600, resulting in the creation of the Jacobite, Coptic, and Armenian Churches. It continued to be followed as a doctrine in the northern part of the Antiochene Patriarchate (West Syrian), by nearly the entire Church of Alexandria (and later of Ethiopia), by Armenia, and, in the 17th century, by a portion of the St. Thomas Christians in India.
National prejudices of Syrians and Egyptians against the Byzantines were a major factor in the adherence to and extension of Monophysitism in the early Byzantine period. The Byzantine emperors tried to eradicate Monophysitism from their empire in an effort to achieve civil and religious unity, but Empress Theodora (who was the daughter of a Syrian priest and the wife of Justinian I), promoted its spread throughout all of Syria, Mesopotamia, and other countries by sending a monk named Jacob Baradai (the Patriarch of Alexandria made Baradai an archbishop) into Syria to consecrate Monophysite bishops and to secure the foundation of the Jacobite Syrian Church.
The Syrian Monophysites are called Jacobites after Jacob Baradai (d. 578), who, during the persecutions waged by Justinian I against Monophysitism, secretly consecrated 27 bishops and some 2,000 priests, thus giving a strong hierarchy to the Syrian Monophysite Church. The modern Jacobite patriarch claims the ancient see of the Patriarchate of Antioch as his legitimate see, and resides in Damascus.
By about AD 450, the Indian church was linked to Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital city of the Sassanian Empire of Persia. Since St. Thomas Christians of Malabar were linked with the Persian church, many people suspected Nestorianism in the Malabar Church. From what many eminent historians say, one can conclude that probably they were influenced by the heresy, but because of the type of relationship they had with the Persian church, they were not in schism.
In AD 1295 the Venetian traveler Marco Polo visited Kerala, and spoke of the Christians of Malabar.
Chaldean Church ruled the St. Thomas Christians of Malabar from the 7th century until 16th century. On February 23, 1565, the Angamali Syrian archdiocese was established. The bishops were appointed by the East Syrian Patriarch (Chaldean church). The last foreign Syrian Archbishop, Mar Abraham, died in 1597, and was buried in St. Urumis' Church, Angamali, Kerala.
Apart from the scattered information above, the history of the ancient Indian church until the sixteenth century is not clearly documented. However, it is generally believed that we followed the character and traditions of the Chaldean rite. Aramaic (also known as Syriac or sometimes Suriyani) was the language used in mass and church prayers until the late 1960s.
A couple of observations may be made here. First, the Apostle Thomas planted the seed of Christianity into a well-developed and cultured soil with two major flourishing religions at that time - Hinduism and Budhism. The early followers of St. Thomas were men of wisdom and understanding. Also, the Hindu society, dominated by Brahmins, was generally tolerant to the new religion, and to its followers who were their kith and kin. This may be why we have had few martyrs in India.
II. The Portuguese Period
Spain and Portugal became the most powerful naval powers in the West towards the end of the 13th century. Both the kings were Catholics. In 1494 by a treaty, Portugal and Spain divided the whole world into two parts. Portugal was given the eastern parts from Capo Verde Islands. In 1495 Pope Alexander VI confirmed this treaty. Seeing the enormous possibilities of missionary activity in the newly discovered or conquered lands, Pope John XXII made the King of Portugal the Grand Master of the newly founded Christus Order, with the goal in mind of conquering lands and propagating the Christian faith. At the same time, the Europeans were looking for a sea route to India.
The first Portuguese ship under the leadership of Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut (Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast in May 1498. The "discovery" of a sea-route to India by Vasco da Gama led to its "conquest" by the Portuguese King. In fulfillment of the conditions of the treaty and as Grand Master of Christus Order, the Portuguese King had the duty to Christianize India. From the arrival of Vasco da Gama on, ships from Portugal carrying missionaries and military men reached India regularly.
The Portuguese undertook missionary activity in India on a large scale and the first Latin diocese was established in Goa in 1533. A second Latin diocese, Cochin, was established in 1558. These two dioceses were for the Portuguese migrants and for the newly converted. For the St. Thomas Christians, there was already the ancient See of Angamali.
The Portuguese Latin Christians had a good relationship with the Christians of St. Thomas in the beginning. Problems began to surface, however, when they tried to oust the East Syrian Bishops and to force the St. Thomas Christians to adopt the Latin ways with the aim of subjugating them to the authority of the Portuguese King.
One of the main arguments of the Portuguese was that the East Syrians were Nestorians, and consequently the Christians of St. Thomas also. Since the Chaldean Church ruled the St. Thomas Christians of Malabar from 7th century until 16th century, many people, especially the Portuguese suspected Nestorianism in the Malabar Church. As mentioned earlier, from what many eminent historians say, one can conclude that probably they were influenced by the heresy, but because of the type of relationship they had with the Chaldean Church, they were not in schism. Some evidence such as bell inscriptions (see Appendix III) indicated that the St. Thomas Christians accepted and venerated Virgin Mary as the Mother of God, which was against Nestorian beliefs.
In 1597 when Mar Abraham, the last East Syrian Bishop to rule the Church of the St. Thomas Christians, died, the Portuguese had effectively blocked the arrival of any new East Syrian Bishops and had begun to enact their plans for the St. Thomas Christians.
One need not be under the impression that the actions of the Portuguese were totally in bad faith. In the Middle Ages, western canonists considered Christianity not merely as a spiritual force but as a republic extending itself to the entire world under the supreme authority of the Pope. The communion of churches was no more to be found because all the Eastern churches had drifted away from the Roman communion. The only church that was Catholic was the Western or Latin Church, which was headed by the Patriarch of the West, who was also the Supreme Pontiff. Thus the idea of Catholic (the word "catholic" means "whole") became identified with Latin. The persons who restored the communion with Rome were allowed to practice their particular rites as an exception in the Latin church. The rites for a medieval western canonist were nothing more than a few differences in some external acts.
It was the official teaching that the Pope had total power in both the political and the spiritual realms. As a result, a separation between religion and politics was unthinkable. Bishops often were civil rulers. Everyone owed obedience to the Pope as the representative of Christ on earth. In this atmosphere heretics and schismatics were not to be tolerated. They had only two options: be submissive to the Roman Pontiff or die. All Eastern Christians were considered to be heretics and schismatics and consequently their bishops had no power of governance, or jurisdiction, according to the Roman teaching.
The Christians of St. Thomas generally followed the East Syrian Liturgy, which, according to the Portuguese, was Nestorian. Therefore they felt duty-bound to bring back these Christians to the true fold using any means, including force. There was also the added idea that the Portuguese Padroado (patronage) rights were absolute, making any intervention, even by the Holy See, impossible. The land discovered by the King's people was his property and it was his duty to Christianize the land.
As the first step towards bringing the St. Thomas Christians to the obedience to the Pope, on June 20 to 28, 1599 a synod of the representatives of the Church of St. Thomas was convened at Udaiamperoor (also called Diamper), a small village parish not far from Cochin, by the Latin (Portuguese) Archbishop Alexio Dome Menezes of Goa. 153 priests and 660 lay representatives took part in this Synod of Diamper, and nine meetings were held. One interesting feature of the Synod was that the invitation sent out by Archbishop Menezes obliged the representatives to participate in the Synod under pain of excommunication. This shows that they were not separated from the church. Heretics were considered excommunicated by the very fact of being so. Obviously Archbishop Menezes' claim that he brought the St. Thomas Christians to the Catholic faith is not true.
It is often asked whether the Archbishop had any right to convene the Synod. Strictly speaking, the answer is no. However, no such consideration seemed to have troubled his conscience. He was prepared to use any means necessary to achieve his aim, which was to establish his jurisdiction and the political powers of the Portuguese crown over the St. Thomas Christians.
In the Synod, decisions that would affect the very existence of St. Thomas Christians were made, in spite of protests. Changes were made in the liturgical texts. Books, alleged to have contained Nestorian errors, were publicly burnt. These books could have certainly shed more light into the history of the St. Thomas Christians. The decrees of the Synod were written earlier by Archbishop Menezes and were only read in the Synod. The participants, though they did not understand most of the decrees, were forced to sign them for fear of excommunication. The Archbishop's own men accused him of adding many more decrees and making corrections in some of the decrees after the Synod.
A book written by Fr. Antonio Gouvea about the Synod got wide publicity in Europe. It was the first systematic book that they got about the history of the St. Thomas Christians. In his book, Fr. Gouvea repeated the claim of Archbishop Menezes that the St. Thomas Christians were Nestorians, and that he made them Catholics in the Synod of Udaimperoor. Ever since, except a few, all histories written by Europeans repeat this statement of Fr. Gouvea.
The Synod of Udaimperoor had its positive aspects. A number of abuses were corrected, and a Western and apparently superior order to functioning was established in the Church. Nevertheless, the negative aspects outnumbered the positive and were far more devastating. The Synod was convened against the will of the St. Thomas Christians.
In 1600 the Padroado rights of the Portuguese King were extended to the archdiocese of Angamali. It gave the right to the king to nominate any person he wanted to the See of Angamali. Accordingly, in 1601, soon after the Synod, a certain Catalan priest, Fr. Francis Roz SJ, was appointed the first Latin bishop of the St. Thomas Christians at Angamali. Thus, for all practical purposes, the Church of St. Thomas was reduced to an archdiocese under the Portuguese Padroado. To the Portuguese, the new developments translated into success in bringing the St. Thomas Christians to the obedience of the Pope; but to the St. Thomas Christians, it was the loss of identity of their Church.
During the time of Bishop Roz, the See was transferred to Cranganore in the year 1609 as requested by him. The territory of Cranganore, which previously covered all of India, was restricted to certain areas of South India following a dispute between him and the bishop of Cochin.
The Latin bishops, who came with the afore-mentioned concept of Church and rite, began to rule the St. Thomas Christians with complete disregard for their traditional systems. The post of the Jathiku Karthavyan (Archdeacon) was reduced to nothing. Palliyogams - monthly meetings of the elected representatives of the lay people and the parish priests to discuss and decide the spiritual, educational, and financial matters of the parish - were reduced to the status of consultative bodies or even less. Liturgical texts were translated from Latin to Syriac. Candidates for priesthood were given a training that was not appreciated by the St. Thomas Christians. No native was ordained a bishop. The total contempt for the age-old systems and the people brought to an open defiance which culminated in the Coonan (crooked or not straight) Cross Oath on January 3, 1653, which marked the beginning of division, and the schism later in the Church of the St. Thomas Christians.
The Coonan Cross Oath was a desperate act of some of the St. Thomas Christians against the oppressive rule of the western missionaries. Its immediate cause was the refusal of Archbishop Francis Garcia, the occupant of the See of Cranganore at the time, to give permission to the St. Thomas Christian representatives to meet Mar Ahtalla, a Syrian Bishop, whom the St. Thomas Christians were awaiting at Cochin. Instead, a false rumor was spread that Mar Ahtalla was drowned by the Portuguese off the coast of Cochin. As a protest against this heinous act, the Archdeacon, some priests, and some lay people of the St. Thomas Christians gathered in the Church of Our Lady of Life at Mattacherry and passed six resolutions by which they declared that they would no longer obey Archbishop Garcia or any other prelate from the Society of Jesus, nor would they admit the Paulists (Jesuits – The Jesuits were called Paulists because they came from St. Paul's College in Goa) into Malabar or their churches. They chose Archdeacon Thomas Parambil as their ecclesiastical governor and assigned to him four prominent priests as counsellors, and promised to uphold his authority even at the cost of their lives. Then, placing a crucifix with lighted candles over a buffet in the center of the church, and touching a bible at the main altar, the Archdeacon and the priests together confirmed their resolutions with a solemn oath. The lay people put a rope around the stone Coonan Cross in the churchyard, and all holding the rope, repeated the solemn oath.
The more indirect cause for the Coonan Cross Oath was the general disrespect and contempt of Archbishop Garcia and other missionaries for the traditional systems of the St. Thomas Christians and the refusal of the Archbishop to concede the rightful authority of the Archdeacon. According to the Archbishop, the exercise of the traditional authority of the Archdeacon was an abuse that needed to be corrected. The Archbishop was not prepared to execute any of the directives of the Holy See, making the excuse that they were not cleared by the royal chancery at Portugal.
On May 22, 1653 the Archdeacon Thomas Parambil was "ordained" bishop at Alangat by twelve priests with the authority they claimed to have received from Mar Ahtalla through a letter that was sent to the St. Thomas Christians while Mar Ahtalla was in Mylapore. Some of the St. Thomas Christians followed the "native bishop." Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Bishop Garcia sent word to Rome.
III. The Portuguese – Propaganda Period
The period between the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653 and the erection of two apostolic vicariates exclusively for the St. Thomas Christians, namely Kottayam and Trichur (Thrissur) in 1887, is one of the most troubled periods in the history of the St. Thomas Christians. This period may be called the Portuguese - Propaganda Period because of the role these two agencies, namely the Portuguese Padroado and the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, played in the history of the St. Thomas Christian Church during this time.
The Holy See was slowly getting tired of the reign of the Portuguese King under the Padroado agreement in the newly conquered lands. The King gave priority to his political and commercial gains rather than to evangelization. Hence the Holy See waited for an occasion to intervene. The rebellion of the St. Thomas Christians against the Archbishop Garcia SJ who was appointed under the Padroado agreement was the perfect occasion.
A commission was sent to India by the Congregation of the Propaganda Fide to reconcile the St. Thomas Christians who remained dissident after the Coonan Cross Oath. Fr. Hyacinth of St. Vincent was appointed as the commissary. He took two companions, Frs. Giuseppe (Joseph) Sebastiani of St. Mary and Mathew of St. Joseph. All three were members of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites. They reached Malabar in the middle of January 1657.
The work of the Commission was not easy because of the opposition from the Padroado authorities. In any case, many of the St. Thomas Christian community rallied behind the commissary. A group under the leadership of the pseudo-bishop Thomas Parambil did not accept the leadership of the commissary because of his demand that he be accepted as a bishop.
Though the participants of the Coonan Cross Oath did not want to make a schism, in the course of time the rebellion fell into a schism under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas Parambil who did not want to give up his "episcopal" authority.
In January 1658 Fr. Sebastiani left for Rome to report the situation in Malabar to the Holy See. In the meantime Archbishop Garcia, the Padroado bishop of Cranganore, died, and Pope Alexander VII decided that Fr. Sebastiani should go back to Malabar as Vicar Apostolic of the Archdiocese of Cranganore. He was also given episcopal ordination, which had to be kept silent because of the possible Portuguese opposition. The Vicar Apostolic had the powers to divide the Archdiocese of Cranganore and consecrate an Indian as Bishop and to choose his successor and ordain him if needed (Bull: Pro Commissu Nobis). He landed in Cochin in May 1661.
Fr. Sebastiani continued his efforts of bringing the Archdeacon and his companions to his camp, however, he did not succeed. He had to leave Malabar in 1663, with his work unfinished because the Portuguese had lost Cochin to the Dutch, who were anti-Catholics.
Taking into consideration the fact that the Dutch would not allow him to stay back in Malabar, Fr. Sebastiani chose and ordained Palliveetil Chandy (Alexander de Campo), a St. Thomas Christian priest, as his successor on January 31, 1663, and excommunicated the pseudo-bishop (Thomas Parambil) on February 1, 1663. This split the community into two; one in communion with Rome, and the other eventually establishing new allegiance to the Jacobite Church of Antioch.
From 1665 to 1670, the Jacobite Bishop Mar Gregorios of Jerusalem, who came to Malabar and stayed at Angamali and later at Vadakan Paravoor, helped to establish Jacobite beliefs and order for the dissident group, and brought them under the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch. They were called Jacobites, and sometimes Puttenkuttukar. The St. Thomas Christians who stayed with Bishop Palliveetil Chandy and who were obedient to the Pope were sometimes referred to as Pazhayakuttukar.
It may be noted that Bishop Chandy was the first ever bishop from the St. Thomas Christian community who were in communion with the Pope in Rome and about whom precise information is available. He was acceptable to the majority of the St. Thomas Christian community and was held in high esteem by the Dutch also. He fought against the pseudo-bishop and made many conversions also. In spite of the bishop being a St. Thomas Christian, the dissident group under the Archdeacon did not unite because of the Archdeacon's stubbornness to be accepted as bishop. Other than this, it seems that the community was united under Bishop Chandy.
Worn out by advanced age, Bishop Chandy requested a coadjutor with the right of succession from the Pope. Accordingly, the Pope sent four Carmelites to Malabar with the instruction to appoint a coadjutor bishop. The instruction further specified that the successor could be a secular or a religious priest but never a European. Only a native of the place would be eligible.
Everyone expected that a St. Thomas Christian priest would be ordained bishop and unity would be restored, but things took a different turn when the Carmelites who carried out the instruction chose Rappel de Figuerdo Salgado, the Vicar General of the diocese of Cochin, as the successor of Bishop Chandy. He was of Portuguese descent, but was not a European in the sense that he was born and brought up in Malabar. One could say that the Carmelites went against the spirit of the Roman instruction in choosing Salgado. Though Bishop Chandy refused to ordain Salgado as bishop, he was finally forced to do so by the Carmelites. Bishop Chandy died on January 2, 1687.
Bishop Salgado was a failure. He led such an immoral life that he was suspended from office. With the appointment of Salgado the St. Thomas community was again divided. Thus there were now three groups. To worsen the situation, the diocese of Cochin and the archdiocese of Cranganore, which were under the Padroado authority, were more often than not without resident bishops and the Dutch did not allow any interference from the Goan ecclesiastical authorities in Malabar. Finally in April 1698 an agreement was concluded with the Dutch, permitting Belgian, German, and Italian Carmelites to reside in Malabar and continue their missionary activity. Following the agreement Fr. Angelo Francis of St. Theresa, who was the superior of the seminary at Verapoly, was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the "land of the Malabars or of St. Thomas Christians until the archbishop of Cranganore and the bishop of Cochin have personally occupied their respective sees." Thus the Vicariate of Malabar came into existence.
In effect, the erection of the Vicariate was the beginning of the loss of identity of the St. Thomas Christians who had already lost much of their distinct character with the territorial restriction of the Metropolitan See of Cranganore. In the new system, both the Latins and the Syrians were under the Vicar Apostolic of Malabar.
Since the new bishop-elect could not get ordained from the Bishop of Cochin or from the Archbishop of Goa he had to find other alternatives. At that time there was a certain Bishop Simon in Malabar from the East Syrian Church who was on a mission to bring back the dissident group under the Archdeacon. The Carmelites requested Mar Simon to ordain Fr. Angelo Francis as bishop, which he seems to have done willingly. However, it is worth noting that Mar Simon was forced by the same Carmelites to confine himself in a house in Pondicherry where he died in August 1720.
Troubles were again awaiting the St. Thomas Christians. The Portuguese, who knew about the appointment of the Vicar Apostolic, appointed their own bishop to the See of Cranganore. This further divided the St. Thomas Christian community, and strengthened the group that remained dissident after the Connan Cross Oath.
The fight between the Portuguese authorities and the Holy See in Malabar continued until the publication of the Papal Bull Multa Praeclara of April 24, 1838, by which the Apostolic Vicariate of Verapoly was erected. With this, the former Malabar Vicariate ceased to exist. The Carmelites used the occasion to consolidate their position in Malabar. Carmelites were appointed Vicars Apostolic in Verapoly also.
Throughout these years, the St. Thomas Christians were working in all possible ways to restore the unity of the community by bringing back the Archdeacon's group to the mainstream; but very little came out of it. It is unfortunate that the very same hands of the Holy See and the missionaries were instrumental in perpetuating the division. For example, one of the instructions that Fr. Sebastiani received from the Holy See was to cultivate the knowledge of Latin among the young St. Thomas Christian clerics so that they would give up their rite willingly and accept the Latin rite. This method of the Holy See divided even the Clergy who remained united to the Roman See. The appointment of Bishop Salgado as successor of Bishop Chandy was a great blow to the unity of the St. Thomas Christian community. This act of the Carmelites shows also that even the good intentions of the Holy See can be spoiled easily by the people who are entrusted to execute them. The missionaries proved their selfishness and ambition for power by getting episcopal ordination from Mar Simon and then removing him from Malabar. They had not even the slightest doubt about his orthodoxy. The East Syrians were always under accusation of Nestorian heresy, and they were forced out of Malabar under this same accusation. They had no hesitation, however, of getting episcopal ordination from one such bishop and then banishing him from the scene.
The Carmelites were fighting among themselves also: Germans against the Italians. Finally tired of the missionaries, the St. Thomas Christians sent a delegation of two priests, Joseph Kariattil (who had earned Ph.D., D.D. from Urban University, Rome, August 2, 1766), and Thomas Paremmakal (born in Kadanad, Palai, in1736) to Rome to present their case directly before the Pope and the Roman authorities. Their mission almost succeeded. Fr. Kariattil was nominated Archbishop of Cranganore (Kodungalor) on December 16, 1782, and he was ordained as Archbishop of Cranganore in March 1783 at Lisbon, under the Padroado and was given necessary faculties to receive the dissident group and their head with episcopal dignity.
But, unfortunately, before completing his mission, Archbishop Kariattil died in Goa on September 10, 1786, on his way back to Malabar from Europe. He was buried at the Cathedral Church of St. Katharine in Goa.
Following the death of Mar Kariattil, Fr. Paremmakal, his companion, was appointed as the Governador (administrator) of Kodungalor by the Archbishop of Goa. He pursued the path of Mar Kariattil in regard to the reunion of the dissident group, but did not have any effect because of the opposition of the bishop of Cochin. Msgr. Paremmakal was in charge of Cranganore until his death on March 20, 1799. Fr. George Sankurickal, another Malabar priest, was appointed as administrator of Cranganore following the death of Paremmakal. But his successor was a Portuguese.
In 1838 the Pedroado jurisdiction in Malabar was abolished temporarily and the Vicar Apostolic of Verapoly became the exclusive ruler in Malabar. During this period two schisms occurred as a result of the longing of the Malabarians to establish their own identity. The first was in 1861 caused by the presence of Mar Thomas Rocos, an East Syrian bishop, sent by the East Syrian Patriarch. The second was in 1874 caused by another East Syrian bishop, Mar Elias Melus (Note: On October 25, 1874, Rome sent out an order to excommunicate him), which lasts to the present day in Trichur, where a party of the schismatics finally accepted a Nestorian bishop and formed a group of their own called Surais.
In the meantime, the main dissident group adopted the Antiochean (west Syrian) liturgy and belief in an attempt by the successors of the pseudo-bishop to get episcopal ordination. Already a few Syrian Jacobite Bishops looked after their affairs between the years 1665 and 1763. In 1772 Mar Thomas VI received episcopoal ordination from a Jacobite bishop, which definitely paved the way for the introduction of Antiochean faith among the dissidents.
Around 1818 the Church of England missionaries came to Kerala and the dissident group welcomed them. The English missionaries tried to spread the Anglican faith and were somewhat successful. Seeing that the reunion with the Catholic Church would not occur, a group of Jacobites fell under the influence of the Protestants and formed the Mar Thoma Church in 1876. Mar Matthew Palakunnath, who was expelled by the Jacobite Patriarch, led the Mar Thoma Church. Some dissidents followed the Dutch and English churchmen and became Protestants.
By the time the Latin Hierarchy of India was erected on September 1, 1886 ("Humanae Salutis Auctor" of Pope Leo XIII), the St. Thomas Christians were in a number of camps. Some under the Latin archbishop of Verapoly remained Catholics; others became Jacobites; still others became Mar Thomites; yet others Protestants; and finally some became Nestorians. Even the Catholic St. Thomas Christians were almost reduced to an amorphous group scattered under different Latin bishops without a head of their own. Yet they did not give up their struggle to restore their unity under a leader of their own.
The latter half of the 19th century saw the beginning of the first Institute of Consecrated Life in the St. Thomas Christian Church, namely, the Third Order of the Discalsed Carmelites, which is now known as the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI). This order was fashioned after the Jesuits, and its first monastery was started at Mannanam in 1831. Regular religious life began in 1855 under Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805 – 1871) with the blessing of Bishop Bernadine, the then Vicar Apostolic of Verapoly.
Approximate Numbers of Members of the St. Thomas Christians in the Major Branches (as of 1998):
Roman Catholic Church: Syro-Malabar – 3,500,000 (this includes about 131,000 Knanaya Christians); Syro-Malankara – 300,000
Syrian Orthodox Church (Methran Kakshi) – 1,100,000
Jacobite Syrian Orthodox (Bava Kakshi) – 1,000,000
Mar Thoma Church - 500,000
Church of the East (Nestorians/Surais) – 100,000
Independent Jacobites (Thozhiyur) – 9,000
Note that the Latin Catholics, and other protestant church members are not included above. Also note that the titles Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Methran Kakshi, etc. are present-day terms which are used to identify various factions of the St. Thomas Christians.
IV. Modern Period
On May 20, 1887 Malabar was divided into two Vicariates for the Roman Catholic Syrians, namely Trichur and Kottayam, and came under the direct jurisdiction of Rome ("Quod jam pridem" of Pope Leo XIII).
On September 13, 1887, Bishop Charles Lavinge was made Vicar Apostolic of Kottayam. The Vicar Generals were Msgr. Emmanuel Nidhiry (1889-1892), Msgr. Joseph Thayyil (1892-1896), and Msgr. Mathew Makkil (1888-1896). On October 1, 1890, the headquarters of Kottayam Vicariate was shifted to Changanacherry.
In 1887 the daily catholic newspaper "Nazarani Deepika" started publication from Mannanam. Fr. Emmanuel Nidhiry (generally known as Mani Kathanar) was the first managing editor. In 1939 the name was changed to Deepika, and the headquarters was moved to Kottayam.
Rome reorganized Malabar again. On July 28, 1896, the Vicariates of Trichur, Ernakulam, and Changanacherry were erected ("Quae rei Sacrae" of Pope Leo XIII). The Kottayam Vicariath for the Thekkumbhagam was erected on August 11, 1911 ("In Universi Christiani" of Pope Pius X).
On September 20, 1930 Mar Evanios of Trivandrum and Mar Theophilus of Thiruvalla of the Jacobite rite returned to the Catholic Church and they are called Syro-Malankara Catholics.
On January 6 to 18, 1950 the first synod was conducted in Bangalore, India. His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Gilroy presided.
On July 25, 1950 the diocese of Palai was erected (Quo Ecclesiarum of Pope Pius XII), carving out a part of the Vicariate of Changancherry. Information regarding other Syrian dioceses is given on the next page.
On December 6, 1953, the relics of St. Thomas were removed from Mylapore, and taken to Ethesa and from there to Ortona a Mare, Italy. From that, a hand bone was brought back by Cardinal Thissarand, and placed in the Pontifical Shrine at Kodungallor.
Pope John Paul II visited the Syro-Malabar-Malankara church in Kerala for two days starting on February 7, 1986. The Pope elevated the late Fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sr. Alphonsa to the rank of the blessed at a ceremony at Kottayam on February 8, 1986.
On January 29, 1993, His Holiness Pope John Paul II elevated Syro-Malabar Church to a Major Archiepiscopal Church (Que majori christifidelium), and appointed His Eminence Anthony Cardinal Padiyara as the first Major Archbishop of this church, with headquarters at Ernakulam.
On May 27, 1995 the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church's official headquarters of "Mount St. Thomas," at Kakkanad, near Ernakulam was dedicated by Major Archbishop Padiyara.
As of 2001 there are twenty-five Syro-Malabar dioceses, which include fourteen dioceses in Kerala (four of which are archdioceses), ten dioceses outside the state of Kerala, and one in the USA. There are about 2,200 eparchial (diocesan) and 1,500 religious priests. Women religious number around 21,000. In addition, hundreds of priests and religious are working in Latin dioceses, not only in India but in every part of the globe.
The Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church
Syro-Malabar Eparchies (dioceses) inside India (year erected/ approximate population as of 2000)
Province of Ernakulam-Angamali:-
1) Ernakulam (1896/ 445,377) 2) Kothamangalam (1956/ 489,700)
Province of Changanassery:-
3) Changanassery (1887/ 380,000) 4) Kottayam (1911/ 143,383) 5) Palai (1950/ 338,000) 6) Kanjirappally (1977/ 188,000) 7) Thakala (1996/ 22,000)
Province of Thrissur:-
8) Thrissur (1887/ 431,000)
9) Palaghat (1973/ 65,075)
10) Irinjalakuda (1978/ 254,863)
Province of Thalassery:-
11) Thalassery (1953/ 289,569) 12) Manathavadi (1973/ 163,500) 13) Thamarassery (1986/ 117,105) 14) Belthangady (1999/ 20,000)
Outside Kerala:
15) Chanda, MP (1962/ 12,877) 16) Sagar, MP (1968/ 6,500) 17) Satna, MP (1968/ 2,640) 18) Ujjain, MP (1968/ 2,602) 19) Bijnor, UP (1972/ 1,896)
20) Jagdalpur, MP (1972/ 6,411) 21) Rajkot, Gujarat (1977/ 1,000) 22) Gorakpur, MP (1984/ 2,225) 23) Kalyan, Maharashtra (1988/ 100,000) 24) Adilabad, AP (1999/ 10,500).
Syro-Malabar Eparchies outside India (yr. erected/ approximate population as of 2000)
25) Chicago, Illinois, USA (July 1, 2001/ 100,000)
In 1996, the Major Archbishop Padiyara appointed Apostolic Visitors to study the pastoral situation of the migrated faithful of the Syro-Malabar Church in North America and Europe: Bishop Gregory Karotemprel (Bishop of Rajkot, also Chairman of Synodal Commission for Migrants) for the USA and Bishop Joseph Pallickaparambil (Bishop of Palai) for Europe.
On July 1, 2001, Bishop Jacob Angadiath was ordained in Chicago, Illinois, USA, as the leader of the first diocese for Syro-Malabar Catholics outside of India. He was ordained by Major Archbishop Vithayathil (successor of Major Archbishop Padiyara). Bishop Angadiath leads the newly-created Eparchy of St. Thomas of Chicago of the Syro-Malabar Catholics, with the Marthomma Sleeha Church, 5000 Charles Road, Bellwood, Illinois 60104, Phone 708-544-7250, in the suburb of Chicago. Bishop's House address is: St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago, 717 North Eastland, Elmhurst, Illinois 60126, Phone 630-530-8399, e-mail: janga...@aol.com, fr_zac...@yahoo.com.
Other Catholic Rites and Dioceses in Kerala:
Syro-Malankara Hierarchy/(year erected/ approximate population as of 2000)
1) Trivandrum (Thiruvanathapuram) (1932/ 225,000)
2) Thiruvalla (1932/ 49,951)
3) Bethery, Wayanad (1978/ 23,431)
4) Marthandam (1996/ 46,000)
Latin Hierarchy/(year erected/ approximate population as of 2000)
1) Kochy (1558/ 164,714)
2) Verapoly, Ernakulam (1709/ 266,060)
3) Kollam (Quilon) (1886/ 204,948)
4) Kozhikode (Calicut) (1923/ 25,825)
5) Vijayapuram, Kottayam (1930/ 81,365)
6) Trivandrum (1937/ 203,262)
7) Alapuzha (Alleppy) (1952/ 135,000)
8) Punalur (1986/ 38,657)
9) Kottapuram (1987/ 78,886)
10) Neyyatinkara (1996/ 128,309)
11) Kannur (1998/ 50,192)
Attachment 1
22 Autonomous Catholic Churches
There are six rites and twenty-two autonomous Churches or Churches sui juris within the Catholic Church. Each autonomous church comes under any of the six rites. Except Roman Church (Latin), which is the Western Church, all other twenty-one Churches belong to Eastern rites. The names of these churches and the approximate number of Catholics (as of 1998) belonging to each church are given below:
Eastern Churches
I. Alexandrean Rite
1. Coptic - 167,000
2. Ethopian - 133,000
II. Antiochean Rite
3. Syrian - 186,000
4. Maronite - 2,176,000
5. Syro-Malankara - 300,000
III. Armenian Rite
6. Armenian - 143,000
IV. Chaldean Rite
7. Chaldean - 628,000
8. Syro-Malabar - 3,500,000
V. Byzantine Rite
9. Byelorussian - 30,000
10. Bulgarian - 15,000
11. Greek - 2300
12. Hungarian - 253,000
13. Italio-Albanian - 62,000
14. Melkite - 1,147,000
15. Romanian - 1,563,000
16. Ruthenian - 462,000
17. Slovak - 400,000
18. Ukranian - 4,195,000
19. Krizevei - 49,000
20. Albanian
21. Russian
Western Church
VI. Latin Rite
22. Latin Church – 880,000,000
The Mozarabic and Gallican Churches came in the Latin tradition, but were absorbed into the Latin Church, and now do not have separate identity. No information is available on the Albanian and Russian Catholic Churches because of the previous communist rule. The Ukranian Church, with more than four million faithful, is the largest Eastern Catholic Church. The Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest Eastern Catholic Church with about three and a half million faithful.
Each of these individual churches is ranked as either Metropolitan Church, Major Archiepiscopal Church or Patriarchal Church. Patriarchate is a form of government, an autonomous, self-governing federation of dioceses under the jurisdiction of a chief bishop, called "patriarch," and his synod. Patriarchates have existed from ancient times.
The Pope, the head of the Universal Church, is also the Patriarch of the Roman Church. Six of the twenty-one Eastern Churches are Patriarchal now. They are: Alexandria of the Copts (residence in Cairo), Alexandria-Antioch-Jerusalem of the Melkites (titular, residence in Damascus), Antioch of the Maronites (Bkerke, Lebanon), Antioch of the Syrians (Beirut), Babylon of the Chaldean (Baghdad), and Cilicia of the Armenian (Beirut).
According to the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Church, a Major Archiepiscopal Church is presided over by a Major Archbishop elected by the Synod and confirmed by the Pope. He has authority equivalent to that of the head of a Patriarchal Church, except that the election of the Major Archbishop needs the Pope's confirmation, whereas that of the Patriarch needs only to notify the Pope.
The Indian Catholic Church is a composition of the Latin, the Syro-Malabar, and the Syro-Malankara Churches, which have kept their own identity.
J. Kayani
St. Mary's Forane Church Kuravilangad – A Brief History
According to traditional belief, four ancient Brahmin christian families from Palayoor (one of the ancient Christian centers) - Kalli (or Palli), Kalikave, Sankarapuri, and Pakalomattom - moved to Ettumanoor via. Angamali and South Pallipuram. It is believed that these families eventually moved to Kuravilangad in AD 105.
There is a legend on the origin of the church at Kuravilangad. According to the legend, St. Mary, in the form of an old lady, appeared to Nazrani (an old term for Christians) children in a school. She picked up some stones from the ground, which became food, and gave it to the children; she dug a small well, fed from a spring, and gave them water to drink. When the children reported this incident, the parents came rushing in. The old lady reappeared, showed them the spring, and requested that a church be built there in her honor. According to tradition, this incident occurred in AD 335. Based on this, a church was built in honor of St. Mary in AD 345.
This church was rebuilt several times. The southern altar of the main church was believed to be part of the old church; the present structure there was built in 1550. The present main altar of the church was built in 1670, and the north altar of the church was built in 1680. A major portion of the main church, except the altar area, was rebuilt in the middle 1950s under the leadership of Rev. Thomas Manakat. Presently this church is under the Diocese of Palai.
The above referenced spring is very shallow, and flows with water all the time. It is located at the back of the main church, and is well-maintained even today.
In addition to the Valiya Palli (the large main church), there are two smaller churches - St. Sebastian's Church, built in 1668, located on a nearby hill southeast of the Valiya Palli, and St. Joseph's Church, built in 1690, inside the large cemetery, east of the Valiya Palli.
There was another church to better serve the needs of members of the Dalit communities, but was abandoned as time went by. This church was demolished in the 1960s to build the present Deva Matha College.
Soon after the Coonan Cross incident of AD 1653, bishop Mar Sebastiani visited Kuravilangad. He consecrated the vicar of the Kuravilangad church, Rev. Chandy Palliveetil, as the first local bishop of the Syro-Malabar Christians on January 31, 1663. The St. Sebastian's Church was built in honor of Mar Sebastani. St. Sebastian's feast, called Patham Thiyati Perunal, is celebrated every January 19 and 20.
There is a three-day long festival called "Moonnu Nombu" (literally meaning "three days of fasting"), celebrated at the Kuravilangad Valiya Palli every year around late January to early February. It follows a lunar calendar, and falls close to the full moon. The second day, Tuesday, is the most important day. On that day there is a Palli Prathaskhinam, which is a joyous and pious procession lasting about three hours, starting at about 11:30 am, with a Kappalottom, which simulates a ship voyage in the sea, as the culminating event.
The Kappalottom is a remembrance of the prophet Jonah of the Old Testament. Jonah was born in Israel and called by God to preach repentance to Assyria (the capital city was Nineveh), the nation that was shortly going to destroy Israel in 772 BC. On receiving the call, Jonah's nationalistic spirit would not allow him to offer salvation to the pagans, so he attempted to flee from God by ship. To avoid a shipwreck due to rough seas, he was thrown overboard, swallowed by a great fish, and disgorged on the shore after spending three days inside the belly of the fish. He finally obeyed God's command by going to Nineveh to preach. The people of the city of Nineveh, about 120,000, repented, and they received God's salvation. Jonah's experience in the fish is used as an example of Jesus' burial.
During the procession, the Kappal (ship) is carried by hundreds of people. The voyage starts in calm sea. When the sea gets rough, the prophet Jonah is thrown into the sea. With that, the sea calms, and soon the procession ends. The people of the neighboring village of Kadappur have the honor to enact the Kappalottom.
One popular story tells of a time when one of the merchant ships of the Kadappur people got into rough sea. They prayed and were saved from shipwreck. In gratitude, they made an offering to undertake this Kappalottom at the Kuravilangad Church every year. This offering continues to this day. The Kappal is about forty feet long, eight feet wide, and twelve feet tall, and is always well-kept.
Moonnu Nombu began as an offering for safe voyage in the sea, but now it has been transformed into an offering to safeguard against any danger. Hundreds of thousands of people of all religious factions, including Hindus, participate in this festival with prayers and offerings. People who migrated to distant lands return to pray and make offerings at this time.
A beautiful statue of the Blessed Mary holding the child Jesus, generally called "Muthiamma" (old mother), stands on the left side altar of the church. This stone statue was brought from North India in the 16th century from a church, which was destroyed due to persecution.
A stone cross, about forty-eight feet tall, stands in front of the main church. The cross was carved out of a stone and was erected in AD 1575.
The famous church bells at Kuravilangad helped people keep time in the old days when no one had a clock or watch to find the time. Church bells were rung to announce mass times, at six in the morning, noon, and at six in the evening. They were also used to call an away priest, to announce funerals and other special occasions. There is a bell made in AD 1584, with the inscription "Mary the Mother of God." This has some historical significance in that it shows that the St. Thomas Christians were not Nestorians, as claimed by Portuguese. Note that Nestorians did not accept the doctrine of "Mary the Mother of God."
There is another bell that was cast in Portugal and brought over to Kuravilangad; the writing on this bell is still not deciphered.
There are three other big bells that are kept in a special building by the side of St. Sebastian's Church. These were made in Germany in 1910. The three bells look similar but are of varying sizes. The biggest one is about six feet tall. All three are attached to a lever which can be pushed down by foot to ring all three simultaneously. The sound can be heard around a two-mile radius.
Every Sunday during Lent there used to be a meal called "Pachor," which is a rice pudding, served at about 11:30 am at the Kuravilangad Church. This practice is discontinued now. On Palm Sunday, however, a special offering called "Thamuk" is served. This is a mixture of specially prepared rice with banana and brown sugar, and is a specialty of the illustrious people of Kalathoor. A similar type of offering was practiced in many ancient churches in Kerala for protection from wild animals. The history behind the Thamuk at Kuravilangad is as follows.
The police superintendent, Mansingh, during the time of King Bala Rama Varma of Travancore, raided the Kalathoor area to find illegal tobacco collection and trade. Mansingh persecuted Christians maliciously. The Christians filed a case in the court against Mansingh for unbearable persecution. People were afraid of a police raid at any time, and the people of Kalathoor decided to offer Thamuku at their church in Kuravilangad to obtain God's blessings. Thamuk is still offered, and thousands of people from all religious backgrounds and neighboring villages participate in this fun-filled, sumptuous and delicious meal.
The following sixteen churches are under this Forane church:
Christhuraj Church, Jayagiri; St. Mary's Church, Kalathoor; St. Sebastian Church, Kalikave; St. John the Baptist Church, Kanjirathanam; St. Mary's Church, Kattampack; St. Joseph's Church, Kudallore; St. Thomas Church, Kurichithanam; St. Sebastian's Church, Mannackanad; St. Francis Assisi Church, Maraghattupalli; St. Thomas Church Monipalli; Perpectual Help Church, Palackattumala; St. Thomas Church, Ragthnagiri; Mar Sleeva Church, Sleevapuram; St. Joseph's Church, Udayagiri; St. George Church, Vayala; and St. Sebastian's Church, Vakad.
Kuravilangad parish is the largest in the Diocese of Palai in area and population. Presently it has about 2,400 families, and has approximately 12,800 members. About 3,000 children attend religious education on Sundays. Many members of this parish have migrated to various parts of India and outside, including England, Germany, and the USA. A vicar (pastor), and two assistant vicar priests are in residence. A few retired priests and priest-academicians from the nearby Deva Matha College also live there. Administratively, this parish is divided into twenty-nine wards. Each ward sends an elected representative to Palliyogams, which take care of the budget, and administration. The Kayanis are members of the twelfth ward.
It should be noted that the St. Thomas Christians in the Pakalomattom (this is a family name as well a location name) and Kuravilangad area who joined the dissident group moved away after the Coonan Cross incident, and migrated to places like Tiruvalla, and Edathua.
Some illustrious priests of the Kuravilangad parish, or associated with this ancient parish, may be of interest. For better understanding let us define a few terms:
Kathanar – priests were called by this name before the Portuguese came Malpan – a senior priest who trains young people who aspire to become priests Jathiku Karthavyan (generally called Archatiyacon or Archdeacon, equivalent to the present Vicar General) - a well respected senior priest administratively in charge of each diocese from the 4th to the 17th century.
Jathiku Karthavyan
A number of Archatiyacons, who ministered to Kerala churches from the fourth to the seventeenth centuries, were of the Pakalomattom family of Kuravilangad. The burial places of some of these Archdeacons are still maintained in the back of the church at Pakalomttom, 1½ miles south of Kuravilangad.
Panamkuzhakal (Jacob) Valyachan (1479 – 1543)
Born to Kurien and Aley of Panamkuzhakal, Kuravilangad in 1479, Jacob became a priest in 1504. Soon he became the vicar of Kuravilangad parish. He was a scholar and a saintly man. Many sick people were cured after praying to him. Thus he came to be called Valyachan. He trained several young men to become priests, and therefore became a Malpan. He died on October 26, 1543, and is buried inside the main church. His death anniversary is celebrated on November 5, because of the difference between the old Julian calendar and the present Gregorian calendar.
The previously used Julian calendar, created by Julius Caesar in BC 64, was about eleven minutes out of sync with the solar calendar. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII (1572 – 1585), aided by astronomer Luigi Lilio Ghiraldi and Jesuit mathematician Christopher Clavius, corrected this error and issued the now famous Gregorian calendar.
The Pope fixed the timing problem by directing that everyone simply skip eleven days from October 4, 1582 to October 15 in order to get the sun and the calendar back in harmony. In other words, eleven days from October 4, 1582 to October 15 did not exist. The old October 5, 1582 became the new October 16, 1582.
All the Catholic countries of Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar immediately. However, the Protestant English resisted the idea of a papal system of time-keeping until the middle of the 18th century when they could no longer ignore that spring was showing up much earlier on the wheat fields than on the calendar. Britain and its colonies fell in line, leaping from September 2, 1752 to September 14 and adopting the Gregorian calendar. Some people were outraged at the idea of being cheated out of eleven days' rent, and there were reports of disturbances and rioters crying, "Give us back our eleven days!" Britain also moved the new year from the old March 25 to January 1, as required by the Gregorian calendar.
Bishop Palliveetil Parampil Chandy (1663 – 1687)
The first ever bishop from the St. Thomas Christian community was born in Kuravilangad. He was the vicar of the Kuravilangad Church. Bishop Sebastiani chose and ordained Chandy Kathanar as the bishop of the St. Thomas Christian community, as his successor on January 31, 1663. Bishop Chandy ruled the community with Kuravilangad as its headquarters until he died on January 2, 1687.
Nidhiry Mani Kathanar (1842 – 1904)
Mani was born in Kuravilangad. He became a priest, and was the vicar of the Kuravilangad Church from 1875 to 1904. He was a genius with enormous talents in different areas: a scholar, well-versed in a number of languages, a literary leader, a Bible translator to Malayalam, a Jacobite – Catholic reunification leader, the first editor of the daily Deepika newspaper. He started missionary work among the Dalits in Kuravilangad.
When Mani Kathanar was the vicar of the parish, he opened an English school in the church music room and the adjoining portions of the rectory, on the north side of the church. In 1901, when the new rectory was built on the south side of the church, the school was moved there. Later, a plot of land was acquired and a new school was built. In 1925 this school became the high school.
Archbishop Joseph Mittathani (1931- )
The present Archbishop of Imphal, Assam, was born on July 12, 1931 in Kalikave, two miles south of Kuravilangad. He became a priest in 1959, and in 1969 he became the bishop of the Tesspore Diocese. He was elevated to the Archbishop of Imphal in 1980.