- Brief History
St Thomas, one of the apostles of Christ, after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, set about the mission of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. A review of the life of St Thomas will prove how he fulfilled this great mission in India. According to the tradition, St. Thomas came by sea and landed at Kodungalloor (Cranganore) the capital of the Chera Empire in the year 52 A.D. He baptised several families in Kodungalloor and Palayur (Trichur). St Thomas preached the gospel wherever he went and founded churches. According to Malabar tradition St. Thomas founded seven churches, they are in Cranganore, Quilon, Chayal, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Paravur and Palayur. From there he went to Coromandel and suffered martyrdom near the Little Mount in Tamilnadu. His body was brought to the town of Mylapore and was buried in a holy shrine. According to “Ramban songs” St. Thomas converted 17550 people. He ordained priests and consecrated Bishops. The Apostle consecrated Kepa, a native, as Bishop of Kodungalloor and as the head of St. Thomas Christians and Paul as the Bishop of Mylapore. It is worth mentioning that the Apostle gave his followers a way of worship suited to their climate, culture and customs. Since 4th century, the Church in India started communication with the East Syrian Church and soon began to introduce Liturgical books and share rites. Thus, the Indian Church became a member of the Syro- Chaldean Patriarchate for practical purpose, not for doctrinal reasons. The head of the Indian Church was called The Metropolitan and Gate of All India and had jurisdiction all over the country. The Metropolitan See of India was called the See of St. Thomas. When the Chaldean prelates came to India as the spiritual heads of the independent Metropolitan province under the East Syrian Patriarch, the administration of the Indian Church was done by a native priest with the title Archdeacon of all India or Jathikkukarthavian. The residence of the Metropolitan was first at Kodungallur, then Angamaly etc. Because of the close association of the St. Thomas Christians with the East Syrian Church, the Indian Church of St. Thomas is classified in history under the Chaldean matrix of rites, as we read in CCEO C.28§2.
As Pope Pius XII said “during the centuries that India was cut off from the west and despite many trying vicissitudes, the Christian communities formed by the Apostle conserved intact the legacy he left them, and as soon as the sea passage at the close of the 15th century offered a link with their fellow Christians of the west, the union with them was spontaneous (AAS, XLV (1953) PP. 96 97). Thus, the Syro-Malabar Church, as Pope John Paul II said, “Never severed from the communion with the Church of Rome, in a continuity that the enormous geographic distance has never been able to break. (“Insegnamenti Giovanni PauloII.” III/2. Roma, 1980, P. 513). In the XV and XVI centuries the Metropolitans of the St Thomas Christians, who were then East Syrians, took Angamaly as their residential See. (cf. Bulls of Pope Julius III dated 10 March 1553 and 4 May 1553 in Giamil, “Genuinae Relations….” Rome 1902, PP. 17-18-24). In the history of the St. Thomas Christians the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries to India during the 16th century was a turning point. The western missionaries helped the growth of the Indian Church, at the same time it also distorted the juridical and liturgical identity of the St. Thomas Christians.
After the Synod of Udayamperoor (Diamper) in the year 1599, Mgr. Francis Roz, a Portuguese missionary, was appointed the first Latin Bishop for the Metropolitan See of St. Thomas Christians. On the 4th of August 1600 the Portuguese Padroado jurisdiction was extended to Kodungalloor and the Archdiocese of Angamaly was reduced as a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Goa. The residential See of the bishop was transferred from Angamaly to Kodungalloor in 1607 in the light of the letter of permission of Pope Paul V, dated 20th August 1605. On December 22nd, 1608, the Metropolitan status of the See of Kodungalloor was restored by Pope Paul V. He ordered the geographical division of Cochin and Kodungalloor -Angamaly (cf. Bull of Pope Paul V dated, 12th October, 1609 “Bullarium Patronatus Portugalliae” Vol II, P. 14) as a compromise formula for settling a jurisdictional dispute between the Bishop of Cochin and Bishop Francis Roz of Kodungalloor – Angamaly. On 22nd December 1610 Archbishop Menezes of Goa issued a decree restricting the jurisdictional rights of the Metropolitan of St. Thomas Christians to certain areas in the present states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh (cf. “Bullarium Romanu…” Vol. XI PP. 606-608).
The Policy of latinisation by the missionaries caused dispute and resistance among the St. Thomas Christians and it resulted in a revolt in the year 1653 called “Coonan Cross Oath” and the ensuing fraction of Puthenkoottukar. To remedy this situation the Propaganda jurisdiction was also introduced on the St Thomas Christians. The St. Thomas Christians were then divided among themselves under the two Latin Jurisdictions of Padroado and Propaganda. And the rebel bishops who headed the Puthenkoottukar in course of time separated themselves from the Catholic communion and became Jacobites. In the 18th century the Metropolitan residence of Cranganore was transffered to the neighbouring catholic centre, Puthenchira. In 1865 the jurisdiction of the East Syrian Patriarch over the Church of the St Thomas Christians was formally terminated by the Apostolic See. In 1886 the Metropolitan See of Cranganore was suppressed and the St Thomas Christians were put under Verapoly which was later raised to the status of an Archdiocese with the establishment of the Latin Hierarchy in India under the Propaganda Fide. The title of ‘Metropolitan of Cranganore’ was given ad honorem to the Bishop of Damao. When the See of Damao was annexed to that of Goa the Goan Archbishop began to carry the title of Cranganore also. On 20th May 1887, Pope Leo XIII of illustrious memory by the bull Quod Jampridem separated the St. Thomas Christians from Latin jurisdiction and erected for them two apostolic vicariates of Trichur and Kottayam. On 28th July 1896 by the bull Quae rei sacrae, the same Pope reconstituted the two vicariates into three vicariates of Trichur, Ernakulam and Changanacherry and appointed natives as bishops. These Catholic St. Thomas Christians were then called ‘The Syro-Malabar Church’.
In 1911 the Vicariate Apostolic of Kottayam was erected for the Southists. By the epoch-making constitution Romani Pontifices of 21st December 1923, Pope Pius XI erected the Syro-Malabar Hierarchy and thus restored, to some extent, the hierarchical rule of the St. Thomas Christians. But the form of Government was that of a Latin Metropolitan Province. Ernakulam was raised to the Metropolitan status and the eparchies of Trichur, Changanacherry and Kottayam were made its suffragans. In 1955 the territory of jurisdiction was extended to some districts in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In 1956 Changanacherry also was raised to the Metropolitan status. By the time the number of eparchies had increased to seven. The growth of the Syro-Malabar Church in the twentieth century is really marvellous. This energetic Church took up missionary challenges and thus from 1962 Syro-Malabar Exarchates began to be established outside Kerala, Chanda being the first. In 1977 the Exarchates were elevated to the status of Eparchies. In 1988 by the Decree: Pro Christifidelibus the Eparchy of Kalyan was erected for the Syro-Malabar migrants in Mumbai, Pune and Nasik. The Syro-Malabar Church, having 12 eparchies in Kerala under two Metropolitans – Ernakulam and Changanacherry – and 9 eparchies outside Kerala under Latin Provinces, was found in an anomalous situation when CCEO was promulgated in 1990. Taking into consideration the age old traditions and the enormous growth of the Apostolic and Indian Church and in order to rectify the above anomaly, Pope John Paul II, by the constitution “Quae Maiori”, dated 16 December 1992, raised the Syro-Malabar Church to the status of Major Archiepiscopal Sui iuris Church with the title of Ernakulam-Angamaly. The erection was published on 29th January 1993. The Metropolitan of Ernakulam, Mar Antony Cardinal Padiyara, was appointed the first Major Archbishop. The proper territory of the Major Archbishop was determined to be the territory of the two provinces of Ernakulam and Changanacherry. The Installation of the Major Archbishop and the inauguration of the first Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church was held at Ernakulam on 20th May 1993. From June 7th, 1995 to January 18th, 1997 Mar James Pazhayattil was appointed by the Holy See, as the assistant to Major Archbishop to serve the Syro-Malabar Church due to the ill-health of Mar Antony Cardinal Padiyara.
In 1995 the Eparchies of Trichur and Tellicherry were elevated to the Metropolitan status. A new eparchy of Thuckalay was erected in 1996 in the province of Changanacherry. Following the resignation of Mar Antony Cardinal Padiyara, Very Rev. Dr. Varkey Vithayathil CSsR was appointed as the Apostolic Administrator in 1996 and as the Major Archbishop in 1999. Bifurcating Tellicherry, the eparchy of Belthangady was erected in 1999. Another Eparchy was erected in Chicago for the Syro-Malabar migrants in February 2001. It is considered to be a remarkable event and milestone in the history of the SyroMalabar Church. Later, the eparchy of Idukki was erected in January 2003. On 21st August 2007 the Eparchy of Badravathi (Karnataka) was erected, bifurcating the Eparchy of Mananthavady. Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil appointed Mar Bosco Puthur the first Curia Bishop on 18.01.2010 and ordained him Bishop on 13.02.2010. Two new Eparchies, Ramanathapuram (bifurcated from Palghat) and Mandia (bifurcated from Mananthavady and Badravathy) were erected on 18 January 2010. At present the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church is having 18 Eparchies inside its proper territory under 5 Metropolitan sees and 11 Eparchies outside the proper territory and 4 Eparchies outside India. Consequently, upon the demise of the Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, Mar George Alencherry (Bishop of Thuckalay) was elected Major Archbishop on 24th May 2011 with the assent of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and installed on 25th May 2011. The Pope created him Cardinal in the consistory held in Rome on 18th February 2012. On 6th March 2012 the Eparchy of Faridabad was erected for the Syro-Malabar migrants in Haryana, Delhi and his Grace Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara became its First Bishop. The eparchy of Melbourne, the second eparchy of the Syro-Malabar Church outside India after the Eparchy of Chicago was established on 11th February 2014 and Mar Bosco Puthur the Curia Bishop became its First Bishop.
An exarchate was formed for the Syro- Malabar Catholics in Canada on 6 August 2015 with its headquarters at Mississauga and Mar Jose Kalluvelil became the Exarch by the Apostolic Constitution “Spiritualem ubertatem”. The Episcopal Ordination of the Bishop and inauguration of the Exarchate took place on 19 September 2015. Later, within 39 months the Exarchate was elevated to the rank of an Eparchy with the title of Mississauga by His Holiness Pope Francis on 22 December 2018. The inauguration of the Eparchy and the installation of Mar Jose Kalluvelil were solemnized on 25 May 2019 by His Beatitude George Cardinal Alencherry, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, at St. Alphonsa Syro-Malabar Catholic Cathedral, Mississauga.
Mar Stephen Chirappanath(Eparchy of Irinjalakuda) was appointed as Titular Bishop of Slebte and Apostolic Visitator for the Syro Malabar faithful of the Europe on 28th July 2016. On the same day Eparchy of Great Britain was established and Mar Joseph Srambickal became its First Bishop. On 10 October 2017, Eparchy of Hosur was erected in Tamilnadu and Mar Sebastian Pozholiparambil was appointed as the first Bishop. On the same the Eparchy of Shamsabad was erected and Mar Raphael Thattil was appointed as the first Bishop.
- Syro-Malabar Eparchies And Visitations
- Adilabad
- Belthangady
- Bhadhravathi
- Bijnore
- Chanda
- Changanachery
- Chicago
- Ernakulam-angamaly
- Faridabad
- Gorakhpur
- Great Britain
- Hosur
- Idukki
- Irinjalakuda
- Jagdalpur
- Kalyan
- Kanjirappilly
- Kothamangalam
- Kottayam
- Mananthavady
- Mandya
- Melbourne
- Mississauga
- Palai
- Palghat
- Rajkot
- Ramanathapuram
- Sagar
- Satna
- Shamshabad
- Tellicherry
- Thamarassery
- Thuckalay
- Trichur
- Ujjain
- Europe (Visitation)
- New Zealand (Visitation)