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The Mar Thomas
Syrian Christian Community of Kerala was an autonomous Church in the
unity of the Catholic Church, ever since its foundation in 52 A.D. by
St. Thomas, the Apostle. They remained one body and flourished in the
course of years, But in the seventeenth century, due to the
intervention of the Portuguese fathers, a schism occurred. A good
section of the Syrians eventually became Jacobites under the Patriarch
of Antioch.
Ever since the
schism, attempts at reunion were made. On September 20, 1930, the
Reunion Movement took shape with the reunion of two eminent Jacobite
Prelates the late Archbishop Mar Ivanios and late Bishop Mar
Theophilos. It was a triumph of ecumenism, as their reunion took place
as a Church, accepted with its liturgy, customs and jurisdiction. Thus
it prepared a way for a complete reunion of the Jacobite-Orthodox
Church of Kerala.
As the Reunion
Movement developed speedily, Pope Pius XI established the Malankara
Hierarchy for reuniting the people and created the Archdiocese of
Trivandrum and the Diocese of Tiruvalla, by the Apostolic
Constitution, "Christo Pastorum Principi", dated June 11, 1932.
Accordingly the
Diocese of Tiruvalla was erected on November 6, 1933 and Bp Jacob Mar
Theophilos was enthroned as its First Bishop. The diocese extended
from the River Pampa in the south to the River Ponnani in the north
and from the Arabian Sea in the west to the Western Ghats in the east.
The Diocese was further extended to the north from the River Ponnani
by the Decree of the Sacred Congregation for Oriental Churches by
Prot. N. 534/43. dated February 14, 1958 and brought under it the
whole Malabar region of Kerala the civil districts of Coimbatore and
Nilgiris, and Karoor taluk in Tiruchirappally district of Tamil Nadu
and the districts of Mysore, Mandya, Coorg, Hassan, Chickmangalur,
Shimoga and South Kanara of Karnataka.
Pope John Paul
II, by the Apostolic Constitution of October 28, 1978, separating the
civil districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode and Canannore of Kerala ,Niligiris
of Tamil Nadu and Coorg, Mysore, Mandya, Hassan, South Kanara,
Chickmanglur and Shimoga of Karnataka from the Diocese of Tiruvalla,
created the new Diocese of Bathery which was inaugurated on February
2, 1979.
Pope John Paul
II sent His Eminence Cardinal Wladyslaw Rubin, Prefect of the Sacred
Congregation for the Oriental Churches, as his delegate to the Golden
Jubilee Celebration of the Reunion Movement, which was held in
December 1980 at Kottayam, in the Diocese of Tiruvalla. The Golden
Jubilee of the Establishment of the Diocese was celebrated in January
1984 at St. Johns Cathedral Tiruvalla. His Eminence Achille Cardinal
Sylvestrini, the Prefect of the Oriental Congregation visited the
Diocese in February 1996.
Address:
Archbishop's House,
Marygiri, P.B. No. 4,
Tiruvalla - 689 101,
Kerala, India.
Tel: +91 469 - 2701319, 2730620 (O), 2600820 (P), Fax: +91 469 - 2600822
E-mail: diotvla@hotmail.com
Website:
http://www.tiruvallaarchdiocese.org
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